Reviews

Tinkering with Love by Aliyah Burke

camillereadsbooks's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

andrea_author's review against another edition

This is a cute enemies-to-lovers, workplace rom com with physical humor. If you like sensually driven, insta-love, steamy contemporary romance, this book is for you.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

annahamburger's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

There are a lot of things I really enjoyed about this book! Overall a
Good entertaining read. Some elements missing to take it from good to great. 

The good

• Dawson won me over as a character!
• The dialogue and banter was fun and helped grow the relationship 
• The grouchy old man/father figure
• The goat that hates everyone but Dawson.

The meh

• The instalove/hate felt too much for the setting/situation. 
• I felt like Tully served as a device to showcase Dawson. He could have been more fleshed out for me.
• This book had most of the elements that make a 4-5 star read for me, but suffered from "telling" me about them vs showing me.
• I wished I'd been shown more about the found family, instead Of Dawsons internal monologue telling me this conclusion after a time jump. 
• Speaking of the timeline and jumps in time needed some finessing.
• Dawsons character and POV was about her and her growth. Tullys POV was about how he wanted and loved Dawson. He needed more character development. 

The ???

• The pet name "legs" just didn't do it for me. Idk how he laid eyes on her and in like 1 Second decided that's what he was gonna call her... 
• the possessiveness felt very "fated mates" during Tullys POV and out of place for this particular story. 
• Especially bc there was no reciprocity of this possessiveness during Dawsons POV. 

The bad

• The non communication of it all was okay but annoying to me as a plot device until the climax
• Idk how Dawson would believe what the creepy guy would tell her about Tully without asking or clarifying with him. And then not allowing him to clarify when he tried?
• In the epilogue the Link and Michaels significant others were referred to as their "women". But it felt so clunky. I recognize it was bc they are likely the characters of their own interconnected books, but it rubbed me wrong. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

smalltownbookmom's review against another edition

3.0

A charming enemies to lovers, forced proximity, reverse grumpy/sunshine, dual POV interracial romance that sees to rival mechanics sent on a company bonding retreat. This was a fun read and good on audio, I'm looking forward to the other books in the series and enjoyed that the female lead was a motorcycle loving boss babe!!

Steam level: contains open door spice

feralopossum's review against another edition

3.0

Maybe I was just in a mood when I read this?
I like Dawson's grumpy character. But she was all over the place with liking/hating Tully. I couldn't keep track of her mood in any given scene.
Tully had insta love vibes, but didn't make a real effort when push came to shove. (Also how is his mom pro-Dawson, yet acts like she wasn't a part of the issue?)

Plot Issues
- Calling the coworkers by their cabin names half the time was confusing AF

- There were times where it references off page events, but it felt like the scene was cut versus just being off page. (like hanging out with the girls, or Dawson magically having a SUV after her needing Maria to drive her around)

lifeasmrsbaker's review against another edition

2.0

This book was a miss for me. I loved the description, and the cover drew me in, but the plot fell short for me. The instalove of it all was not it for me. I had trouble buying into the premise of the love story. I typically love enemies to lovers but Tully and Dawson just weren't it for me.

kateslovedreads's review against another edition

4.0

*I volunteered to read and review an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own*

While reading Tinkering with Love, I had two different opinions about the beginning versus the ending. I really enjoyed the story line, however, the beginning did take me a while to get into to. I loved the banter and the setting, it just took me a little longer to read through. I think that came down to me just not having a lot of understanding of the characters until the second half. As I got into the background of Dawson and Tully, I began to feel truly absorbed into Rocky Falls. I read through the second half a lot faster

Side note: I loved how sweet Tully was with Dawson and that he could keep up with her stubbornness

brandece1's review against another edition

2.0

I'm such a "the covers cute, lets buy it" girl, and I really wanted to love this book, but I just did not. I honestly wasn't vibing with it from the start and I really should have DNF'd it but I really hate to do that. I'm usually one who can finish an audio book in a day or two, but it took me almost two weeks to read this one. Once I put it down I just did not want to pick it back up, but I was hoping something would happen to make me change my mind, but that was not the case. This book had so much noncommunication and I just wanted to scream. Also it was the most insane instalove I have ever read about. Also I don't care for with enemies to lovers is when it is truly one sided, and that is the case with this book and it was honestly unwarranted. Tully had no idea who Dawson was and why she was so hot and cold. There were a few moments that I did enjoy but not enough to make me root for this couple at all. I am not sure that I will read any of the other books in this series even though I was excited for them.

bookishneverland's review against another edition

3.0

I don't know if it's just the month of May, but it's been very hard to find books that really hook me. Tinkering with Love seemed like everything I'd love. Black FMC, breaking of gender norms. Slight enemies to lovers, but it just didn't hold my interest. To be completely honest, Tully creeped me out. Not once did he pump the breaks when it came to Dawson. The first 45% of the book was at a team-bonding retreat and I still don't understand the relationships of all the other characters' names.

There was something missing when I was reading Tinkering with Love. The secondary characters felt like an afterthought for much of the book and it was crazy 3 people given the most depth were at the very end of the story. The single mom and daughter and the grumpy old man.
There were so many throwaway details that could have been added to the plot but were discarded to the side. Personal details were given about both Tully and Dawson that seemed like they could affect the plot were never heard again.

Many people, will really love the grumpy girl/ sunshine boy. But Tinkering with Love had many flaws for me, and I couldn’t fully immerse myself in Rock Falls.
You could tell the writer has plans to have an interconnected series but unless the next book has been character growth. This series will not be for me.

mamas_gotta_read's review against another edition

4.0

Okay first of all, this book’s cover is GORGEOUS-I’m well and truly obsessed with it. This book was cute, but it struggled to get to the point. The enemies to lovers/miscommunication love story at the heart was all sorts of steamy, but a bit too insta-love for my taste. I really enjoyed the main characters-Dawson was all kinds of bad bitch, and Tully is everything you wish in a book boyfriend, but I struggled with their relationship. The lack of communication between the two was BAFFLING. The entire reason for their “feud” in the beginning is never really solved/resolved. Despite really liking the two MCs together, I was left wanting answers and a whole lot more to the story.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC. All opinions are my own.