A review by annahamburger
Tinkering with Love by Aliyah Burke

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. 

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