Book Review for The Fix Up by Marina Adair

 The Fix Up by Marina Adair

Published:   February 26, 2026

Genre:  Sports Romance, Matchmaker

Taken from Goodreads:  Poppy Hart is one viral project away from hitting a million followers when she inherits a crumbling Mid Century Modern house in the Hollywood Hills—every DIYer’s dream. Even better, her eccentric Aunt Opal pulls strings to land her a full-production renovation show. The downside? The contractor is none other than Decker “Drill ’Em Hard” Jamison, former NHL legend, current shirtless menace, and the man Poppy once shared the most catastrophic blind date in the history of blind dates with. Walking away isn’t an option—not when this show could change her life and Opal is the only person who’s never abandoned her.

Decker isn’t exactly thrilled either. After a career-ending injury and one very unfortunate neon-orange-thong scandal, he needs a PR miracle, not six weeks trapped with a judgmental, freckled DIY princess who thinks a good time is alphabetizing paint samples. Still, the contract is signed, the cameras are rolling, and neither of them knows the the “renovation show” is actually Opal’s secret matchmaking experiment, and Poppy and Decker are her final, most chaotic test subjects. Soon they’re drowning in viewer-dictated challenges, mysterious house mishaps, and a rescue dog with better instincts than either of them—while the sparks they swore they’d never feel again start burning dangerously close.

But when the truth about the show explodes—on camera—trust fractures, loyalties snap, and Poppy is left wondering why being abandoned by Decker hurts worse than anything before. The only way to fix what’s broken is for both of them to take the biggest risk of telling the truth, choosing each other, and betting that sometimes the real love experiment isn’t filmed for television—it's the one that changes your life for good.

My Thoughts:  The Fix Up is an easy and quick read.   The story flows pretty much as expected.   There were a few little twists but nothing that shook up the story so much that I did not see it coming.   This is a book that goes as expected with relatable characters, a flirty storyline, and the HEA that is expected.

I enjoyed the secondary characters.   Decker’s brother and nephew add a great look at his home life.   The nephew is only 18 but had a very adult outlook on life, giving advice to his uncle.  Opal, Poppy’s aunt, is very unique and made me giggle a few times with her antics. 

Thank you Hambright PR for a copy of the book via BookFunnel in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Marina Adair is a New York Times author whose fun, flirty contemporary romances have sold over a million copies. She has hit #1 overall in Amazon Kindle Paid and her St. Helena Vineyard series was optioned and made into the original Hallmark Channel Vineyard movies: Autumn in the Vineyard, Summer in the Vineyard, and Valentines in the Vineyard. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a MFA from San Jose University and currently lives in Northern California with her husband, daughter, and two neurotic cats.

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