Below is the complete list of Tessa Bailey’s Hot and Hammered books in publication order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Hot & Hammered Books in Publication Order
- Fix Her Up (2019)
- Love Her or Lose Her (2020)
- Tools of Engagement (2020)
About Hot and Hammered
Tessa Bailey’s Hot and Hammered series is a contemporary romance trilogy set in Port Jefferson, Long Island, where renovation work, family expectations, and small-town visibility create the backdrop for three emotionally charged love stories. The series centers around the Castle family and the people connected to their house-flipping business, giving the books a shared world that feels practical, busy, and lived-in rather than purely decorative. Bailey uses construction sites, family pressure, and workplace proximity to build romances where characters are forced to confront the gap between how others see them and who they are trying to become.
The first book, Fix Her Up, introduces Georgie Castle, the youngest Castle sibling, who works as a children’s party clown and is tired of being treated like the baby of the family. Her romance with Travis Ford, a former professional baseball player whose career has ended, begins with two people stuck in reputations they no longer want. Georgie is seen as sweet, silly, and unserious; Travis is treated like the charming fallen athlete who may not have much beyond his past glory. Their fake-dating arrangement gives the book its romantic-comedy setup, but the stronger thread is Georgie’s insistence on being taken seriously and Travis’s struggle to believe he can build a meaningful life after baseball.
Love Her or Lose Her shifts the focus to Rosie and Dominic Vega, a married couple whose relationship is already in crisis when the book begins. This gives the second installment a different emotional shape from a standard first-love or enemies-to-lovers romance. Rosie and Dominic still love each other, but affection has not been enough to fix the silence, frustration, and emotional distance between them. Bailey uses their story to explore marriage after the honeymoon period, especially the difficulty of communicating when both partners are hurt and one is more comfortable showing devotion through action than words. Dominic’s military background and Rosie’s desire to claim a fuller life for herself both matter to the tension, making the book feel more grounded in repair than pursuit.
The third book, Tools of Engagement, brings Bethany Castle into the center. Bethany is polished, controlled, and known for presenting a perfect image, especially in contrast to the messier realities of renovation and family competition. Her romance with Wes Daniels, a younger cowboy and single guardian to his niece, adds an age-gap and opposites-attract dynamic to the series. Bethany’s story works because Bailey gradually reveals the insecurity beneath her perfectionism. Wes challenges her, but he also sees the pressure she places on herself, and the renovation-show competition gives the romance a public stage where pride, vulnerability, and attraction collide.
Across the trilogy, Bailey keeps the tone funny, steamy, and emotionally direct, but each book has a different romantic problem at its center. Georgie and Travis are fighting old labels. Rosie and Dominic are trying to save a marriage before emotional neglect becomes permanent. Bethany and Wes are dealing with control, self-worth, family judgment, and the fear of being exposed as less capable than everyone believes. That variety helps the series avoid feeling like the same setup repeated with different names.
The Castle family connection gives Hot and Hammered its continuity. The siblings and their circle appear across the books, and the renovation-business setting keeps the stories tied to work, ambition, and local reputation. Bailey’s romances are known for high chemistry, but this series also pays close attention to confidence: who has it, who is pretending to have it, and who needs someone to believe in them before they can believe in themselves. The result is a tight trilogy about love, reinvention, and the messy process of rebuilding both homes and lives.