Review: ‘Love Her Or Lose Her’ by Tessa Bailey

June 27, 2024

Review: 'Love Her Or Lose Her' by Tessa Bailey

Review: ‘Love Her Or Lose Her’ by Tessa Bailey

Love Her or Lose Her

by Tessa Bailey
Series: Hot & Hammered #2
Published by Avon on January 14, 2020
SubGenres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
Format: AudioBook, Paperback
Pages: 347
Narrator: Charlotte North
Length: 8 Hours And 40 Minutes
Source: Library - Libby, Purchased
Audience: 18+/Adult
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three-half-stars

Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be, anyway. Now, Rosie's lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with 10 years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.
Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippie. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he's all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous - yet surprisingly helpful - assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they're getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret... and it could demolish everything.

Love Her or Lose Her is an interconnected standalone in Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. I’ve been meaning to pick up this book for a while now, especially since I read Fix Her Up when it was released. I own a physical copy of this book, but I decided to listen to it, so I borrowed the audiobook from my local library. 

I’ve only read a handful of romance books with a Marriage in Trouble trope, and sometimes, this trope can be hit-and-miss with me. Unfortunately, this was the case for Love Her or Lose Her. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed the book, but I didn’t love it, and it’s mainly because I didn’t understand some of the characters’ actions and why one of them was willing to give up their marriage while the other was willing to fight for it. 

Rosie needed more communication from her husband, even though he had been quiet and reserved for a while, especially after returning from a tour in Afghanistan in the Marines. She was tired of him not communicating and them doing the same thing over and over again, even though her husband was very protective of her and secretly did things for her without her knowing. What boiled down to their marriage was they needed someone else to tell them what was wrong, which is why they agreed to see a therapist, who ended up being a little eccentric at times with his methods. If only they would have communicated better, they probably would have never separated in the first place. 

I didn’t quite get Rosie’s character and why she decided it was best to leave Dominic. The first thing to fix a marriage is to talk to your spouse. She left him wondering what had happened between the two. When it came to Dominic, I understood why he was quiet and reserved, especially if he had seen some things while he served in the Marines. Not everyone is going to return from a tour overseas and be the same person. He was willing to fight for their marriage, while Rosie was willing to give it all up, especially after how she reacted at the last session with the therapist and then finding out what Dominic had been doing for her. 

There were parts of this book that I liked. I loved how they were finding out each other’s love languages while they were with the therapist. I loved that they were going on dates and finding love again. They had been together for years, so the whole time, I was rooting for them, but I do wish they had communicated from the beginning. 

I know some readers won’t mind the miscommunication, which is why I’m still going to recommend Love Her Or Lose Her to readers who enjoy the Marriage in Trouble/Second Change at Romance tropes. 

In the end, this book won’t be a favorite, and it gets 3.5 stars from me. I do plan on reading the last book in the Hot & Hammered series. Tessa gave tidbits about what is expected for the next book, and I loved how she included the previous couple from Fix Her Up in this book, too. 

Trope(s)/Element(s):
✓Small Town Romance
✓Marriage in Trouble
✓Second Chance

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About Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.

Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.

She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eight years and four-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

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