Review - - The Fixer Upper

The Fixer Upper
by Maggie Mae Gallagher
Echo Springs - Book 1
Publisher: Blushing Books
Release Date: September 6, 2019
Reviewed by PJ
 

Abby Callier is more in love with Shakespearean heroes than any real man, and she’s beginning to wonder if there is life for her outside the pages of a book. It doesn’t help that her esteemed parents tend to view her as they would one of their science experiments gone wrong. On the eve of finishing her dissertation, she escapes her staid existence to live in the house she inherited from her Great Aunt Evie in the small town of Echo Springs, Colorado. Because, let’s face it, when a woman starts comparing her life to horror films, it might be time for a break. 

Sheriff Nate Barnes believes in law and order and carefully building the life you want. In his spare time, he has been remodeling his house in the hope that one day it will be filled with the family he makes. But Nate doesn’t like drama or complications and tends to avoid them at all costs. And yet, when Miss Abigail Callier, his newest neighbor, beans him with a nine iron, he can’t help but wonder if she might just be the complication he’s been searching for all along. It doesn’t hurt that he’s discovered a journal hidden away by the previous tenant, and decides to use Old Man Turner’s advice to romance Abby into his life. 

Abby never expected her next-door neighbor, the newly dubbed Sheriff Stud Muffin, to be just the distraction her world needed. The problem is she doesn’t know whether she should make Echo Springs her home, or if this town is just a stopover point in her life’s trajectory. And she doesn’t want to tell Nate that she might not be sticking around – even though she should, because it’s the right thing to do, the honest thing – because then all the scintillatingly hot kisses with the Sheriff will come to an abrupt halt. Did she mention that he’s a really great kisser?

My thoughts:

There are some books I love, some I like, and some that are just okay. Then there are those few that I stumble upon and, within the first chapter, get that feeling that the author has written this story just for me. Everything syncs. This was my first book by this author but I had an immediate connection with the characters, the humor took me straight back to my childhood and the things we'd laugh ourselves silly over within my family, and I felt like I had a personal stake in the outcome of the couple's relationship. Gallagher had me laughing one minute, wiping away tears the next, and vigorously fanning myself the one after that. She's hilarious and writes with so much heart as well as some delicious heat. I adored both Abby and Nate and fell head over heels in love with Rufus, Nate's goofy dog. Gallagher really has the Great Dane personality nailed. So much so, that he darn near steals every scene he's in. Then there's the throwback love story featuring Abby's unmarried aunt, told through journal entries (his, not hers), that provides a guiding light for Abby and Nate's deepening relationship. That relationship, between two characters who had already passed on, engaged my emotions just as deeply as the one between Nate and Abby that was playing out on the pages. And yes, there were tears. 

Then there are the intriguing secondary characters, both male and female. Gallagher gives them enough page time - and drops just enough delicious clues about each of them - to have me already eagerly anticipating their stories. I'll be returning to Echo Springs for as many books as she decides to write. 

This one has my 5-star, feel-good, enthusiastic recommendation. 

~~~~~~~~~~

What's the last book you read that felt like the author had written it just for you?

Have you read The Fixer Upper yet?

Do you have a goofy dog in your life? Tell me about them.

Today's my birthday and you know what that means. Gifts for you! :) 

One person who comments before 11:00 PM (EST) tonight will receive a $20 Amazon (U.S.) e-gift card. 

One person who comments before 11:00 PM (EST) tonight will receive a package of books from my conference stash. (U.S. only) 

Excerpt & Giveaway - - The Fixer Upper

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maggie Mae Gallagher grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Maggie never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.

Maggie is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes erotic romance under the name Anya Summers. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.

Learn more about Maggie at her website. Connect with her online at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and BookBub.

The Fixer Upper
by Maggie Mae Gallagher
Echo Springs - Book 1
Publisher: Blushing Books
Release Date: September 6, 2019

Abby Callier is more in love with Shakespearean heroes than any real man, and she’s beginning to wonder if there is life for her outside the pages of a book. It doesn’t help that her esteemed parents tend to view her as they would one of their science experiments gone wrong. On the eve of finishing her dissertation, she escapes her staid existence to live in the house she inherited from her Great Aunt Evie in the small town of Echo Springs, Colorado. Because, let’s face it, when a woman starts comparing her life to horror films, it might be time for a break. 

Sheriff Nate Barnes believes in law and order and carefully building the life you want. In his spare time, he has been remodeling his house in the hope that one day it will be filled with the family he makes. But Nate doesn’t like drama or complications and tends to avoid them at all costs. And yet, when Miss Abigail Callier, his newest neighbor, beans him with a nine iron, he can’t help but wonder if she might just be the complication he’s been searching for all along. It doesn’t hurt that he’s discovered a journal hidden away by the previous tenant, and decides to use Old Man Turner’s advice to romance Abby into his life. 

Abby never expected her next-door neighbor, the newly dubbed Sheriff Stud Muffin, to be just the distraction her world needed. The problem is she doesn’t know whether she should make Echo Springs her home, or if this town is just a stopover point in her life’s trajectory. And she doesn’t want to tell Nate that she might not be sticking around – even though she should, because it’s the right thing to do, the honest thing – because then all the scintillatingly hot kisses with the Sheriff will come to an abrupt halt. Did she mention that he’s a really great kisser? 

 The Fixer Upper by Maggie Mae Gallagher

Exclusive Excerpt for The Romance Dish

Abby opened a bleary eye at the incessant knocking originating from the front door. The clock on her nightstand declared it was just after eight in the morning. On a Saturday, no less. When the knocking didn’t stop but increased in pace, she slid out of bed with a grimace, grabbed her robe and put her glasses on as she headed downstairs.

First order of business for today, kill whoever was at the door. Second, make coffee. Abby was not a fan of mornings. In fact, it was better just to leave her be until she’d had, at the very minimum, one cup of coffee—two were better, three were optimal. Did she have a problem where coffee was concerned? Probably. Did she care? Not in the slightest.

Who the hell was at her door at this hour? She was thinking maybe she should have grabbed her nine-iron until she heard a deep rumbling woof. Rufus, which meant it was Sheriff Stud Muffin banging on her door at this ungodly hour. It would be bad form to kill the sheriff, wouldn’t it? Running a hand over her hair, wishing like hell she had thought to run a brush through it, she unlocked and opened the door. Rufus’ hulking form barreled in, prancing around her entryway with his hello, I’m so excited to see you flair, while his owner stood in the doorway with a bemused expression, sexy as sin in dark jeans and a button-up royal blue flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled up to display his muscular forearms. It should be a crime that he looked so fresh and alert, tackling the early morning the way he appeared to do everything—with the utter assurance that the world bent before him. Abby cringed internally because she knew, when it came to mornings, she always looked like something the cat dragged in, and bemoaned her haggard appearance. Especially considering a part of her brain pushed past wakefulness into aroused as she stared at the way the flannel clung to his broad shoulders and licked her lips. Who knew flannel could be sexy?

“Morning?” Nate’s baritone voice resonated as if calibrated to the right dissonance and frequency to spark every cell in her body to stand at attention.

“Morning,” she croaked, her voice crackling from lack of moisture, making her sound more like a frog than the well-put-together woman she wanted to appear to be. Who the hell was she kidding? Part of the reason she was here, instead of hiring someone to handle her aunt’s estate, was to get a handle on her life and decide what she wanted. It was why she was dipping into her inheritance for the next few months. She had to figure out the right direction, meaning deciding on the university where she wanted to teach and potentially conduct research at after graduation. Both were huge decisions in the scheme of her life, with potentially cataclysmic ripple effects if she selected the wrong one. Perhaps she’d been part of her parents’ world of academia for too long. And while there was a part of her that didn’t want to choose, and would much rather burrow into reality here, she couldn’t forget that this wasn’t home—this was a stopover.

He quirked a lopsided grin in her direction and asked, “Did you forget our date?”

Abby’s brain misfired completely. Date? They didn’t have a date, did they? “What date?”

Date? When did Nate ask her on a date? She would have remembered that little detail. Surely, she wouldn’t forget Sheriff Stud Muffin asking her out. Her brain scrambled to recall their conversations, but it mingled with the romance novel she’d indulged in last night as her body whimpered for coffee.

Nate tilted his head to the side and gave her a perplexed stare. “Our firewood date, remember? Or am I that easy to forget?”

Her body simply went into overdrive at his flirting, with her ovaries doing a victory dance and the distinct urge rising to satisfy her oral craving for caffeine by latching her mouth onto various parts of his body. She stuttered, actually stuttered, flames heating her cheeks which she was certain must be fire engine red by now, and said, “N-n-n-no, I-I-I didn’t forget. Come on in while I make some coffee.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PJ, here. One thing guaranteed to draw my attention to a book is a dog on the cover. Even better if the dog has a fun role in the story. In fact, I can't walk past a book with a dog on the cover without stopping for a closer look. And I can't walk past a big dog in real life without stopping for a cuddle. 

What draws your attention to a book's cover?

Tell me about a dog (or other animal) who brings (or brought) joy to your life.

Two people who comment before 11:00 PM, September 12, will each receive a copy of The Fixer Upper. Many thanks to Maggie Mae Gallagher for the giveaway! 
(U.S. only)