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    The Fixer Upper: A Novel
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    The Fixer Upper: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Fixer Upper: A Novel
    Ebook542 pages8 hours

    The Fixer Upper: A Novel

    By Mary Kay Andrews

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “Entirely satisfying, an expert balance of warmth and compassion, terrific supporting characters, a little steamy sex and just enough suspense to keep you from guessing how it will all go down.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    A hilarious novel about one woman’s quest to redo an old house . . . and her life, as only New York Times bestseller Mary Kay Andrews can tell it.

    After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left unemployed and broke. Out of options, she reluctantly accepts her father’s offer to help refurbish Birdsong, the old family place he recently inherited in Guthrie, Georgia. All it will take, he tells her, is a little paint and some TLC to turn the fading Victorian mansion into a real-estate cash cow.

    But when she arrives, Dempsey realizes that “Bird Droppings” would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol–pink dump with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk. There’s also a murderously grumpy old lady, one of Dempsey’s distant relations, who has claimed squatter’s rights and isn’t moving out. Ever.

    Everyone in Guthrie seems to know Dempsey’s business, from a smooth-talking real-estate agent to a cute lawyer who owns the local paper. As if that's not bad enough, pesky FBI agents keep showing up on her doorstep, looking for information about her ex-boss.

    All Dempsey can do is roll up her sleeves and get to work. Before long, what started as a job of necessity somehow becomes a labor of love and, ultimately, a journey that takes her to a place she never expected—back home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 23, 2009
    ISBN9780061888243
    Unavailable
    The Fixer Upper: A Novel
    Author

    Mary Kay Andrews

    Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels and The Beach House Cookbook. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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    Reviews for The Fixer Upper

    4/5

    79 ratings23 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I liked Dempsey, the main character. She'd fallen into a bad situation due to her cluelessness, as opposed to the corruption she's being accused of. She was a smart woman without the best judgement. As the book goes on, I discovered more about her character, good and bad.The book explores many kinds of family: a flaky mom; a dad that she really wants to imress, and who has a very different relationship with his new family than he ever had with her; an unknown uncle who left his house to some of the only family he had left, even though they were virtually unknown to each other; a remote cousin that resents her presence in town and her existence in general. Some of these relationships grow and change, others don't over the course of the book.The ending is a bit too happy, but that's probably to be expected, given the genre.
    • 3/5
      "Great self-discovery read - awesome characters!" Great author!
    • 5/5
      There were times in the beginning and sometimes in the middle of the book where I wanted to reach in and smack Dempsey upside the back of the cranium for her naivete and lack of gumption, especially when it came to how she let her ex-boss and her father try to run her over. But when Dempsey got her fire back...watch out! It was a sight to behold and I cheered. It was a slow rather steady process of Dempsey getting her life back on track. Starting with the renovation of Birdsong. She took one step at a time, realized what she could and couldn't do or afford for the house. Along the way, Dempsey also learned that she was more than someone's daughter or fired underling. She learned from her contractor that she was capable of sanding cabinets and floors, painting walls, stripping wallpaper, and all that fun jazz. She also found gumption in dealing with Ella Kate, the grumpy squatter in Birdsong. Of all the characters in the book, Ella Kate was my favorite. She didn't take any crap, but she did take furniture...Anyway, once Dempsey found and got her intestestinal fortitude...she ROCKED!! There were some definite cheering going on from me, especially in some of the scenes towards the end of the book. Five the girl found her rockin' fortitude beans.....
    • 4/5
      Dempsey Jo Killebrew finished law school and became a lobbyist in Washington D.C. Her boss, Alex Hodder is linked to a crooked politician and "Hoddergate" ensues. Dempsey is fired and set up as a scapegoat, so her father sends her to Georgia to check out a recently inherited house, hoping to "flip" it. When Dempsey arrives in the small town of Guthrie, GA, she can barely believe the state the Birdsong home is in. Not only is the house in tatters, but an elderly distant cousin is squatting on site as well. The FBI aren't far behind Dempsey in her escape to quite Guthrie, hoping to enlist her aid in turning the tables and incriminating Hodder. Throw in a handsome realtor/handyman and a handsome lawyer turned small town newspaper publisher and you have the makings of a great tale from Andrews
    • 2/5
      Not one of Mary Kay Andrews' better books or at least not one of my favorites. Discraced DC lawyer moves to a small Georgia town with the intent of renovating her family homeplace. Falls in love with her lawyer while being investigated by the FBI. The DC lawyer develops some pretty amazing do-it-yourself skills for someone with zero experience! On the positive side, I loved the name of the local small town lawyer - T. Carter Berryhill. Now that is the perfect name for a small town Southern lawyer!
    • 4/5
      I like a book that has me laughing as I turn the last page. The Fixer Upper is smart, funny, and pretty much charmed my socks off. The political story line is secondary to what I think is the main story - no, not the house rehab - I think its more about Dempsey fixing her life. Or at least, finding what she wants to do with her life instead of trying to measure up to her parents' expectations. In the process she meets some wonderful people in Guthrie who show her some of what life has to offer. If you're looking for a good book to read this summer, you can't go wrong with The Fixer Upper. It will be in bookstores on June 23.
    • 3/5
      After being framed during a political scandal, A young woman travels to Georgia to "flip" a house her father has inherited. She encounters an elderly squatter living in the home and many other quirky characters through her journey.
    • 4/5
      Dempsey Killebrew, Georgetown Law grad, has been caught up in a DC scandal at the lobbyist where she was employed. Fired and without means to get a good job for the near future, Dempsey heads to her father's ancestral home (he just inherited) to hide out and make the house ready for sale. Her arrival in the small town of Guthrie GA is not met with applause (not that she was expected it but she didn't expect hostility either.)While nursing her wounds, she is tracked down and threatened by the FBI to cooperate in a sting to catch the head of the lobby (her old boss) and a dirty congressman. At the same time, the house needs not just a coat of paint but major renovations which don't make an irascible elderly cousin/squatter very happy.The book was fun and entertaining and caused some very heated discussion at my book club.
    • 3/5
      A great summer read!
    • 4/5
      Fixer Upper by mary Kay AndrewsHave read many of the authors works and have enjoyed the books.This book starts out with her losing her job and her boss being investigated by the FBI. Dempsey relies on her father and he's agreed to fund her at a recent relatives passing and he's learned he owns the house, south of Atlanta.She travels there and assumes she will be fixing up the place and flipping it til her next job comes through. The house has a relative who's a squatter but it's is very disrepair shape.The townsfolk know all about her and her life, and family. Reporters track her down at her new location about her troubles with the law. The local lawyer will be handling her case. She's only a lobbyist, not a lawyer.Her lawyer has her come up with a timeline to help figure things out-this is when we learn all about the trip she had scheduled for a client, using her credit card. The feds want her to wear a wire, meet her old boss and have him speak as to what happened, to clear her name.Book also follows Keeley and others trying to find out what happened to her mother...Lots of action as she finally agrees to wear the wire and meet him... Book comes with recipes of food they make during the book.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 4/5
      Dempsey Joy Killebrew, Georgetown Law Grad, lobbyist for big firm in DC gets fired after she is implicated by her boss in a scandal involving procuring prostitutes for a Congressman (among other things.) Now at this point in the story, I was ready to say that Dempsey wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but for pete's sake--she graduated from Georgetown Law!! Anyway, she has no money, no job prospects, and therefore allows herself to be stashed away in Guthrie Ga to rehab an old house her father has just inherited from his great uncle. The house comes complete with the requisite dog (no southern story can do without a dog!) and a 79 year old curmudgeonly cousin Ella Kate who is squatting in the ruins and refuses to move.Now we won't say too much about Dempsey's absolutely miraculous makeover of the house --even Ty Bennington's crew couldn't have done that much work and fixed things up that beautifully on her pitiful budget in such a short time. But wait...there's more. Dempsey has to convince the FBI she's innocent and hire's the lawfirm of Berryhill and Berryhill to help her out of the mess. There's a romance. There's political and legal intrigue. There are courtly southern gentleman. There's a California moonbeam, spaced-out mother, and enough friendly, gossipy, nosey, and randy southern citizens of this small town to keep the reader turning pages and laughing out loud. And there's the star of the show: Ella Kate.In the end, Dempsey shows us what she's really made of, develops some self-confidence, pulls her brains out of storage, and becomes a heroine we can cheer for.It won't win a Nobel Prize, but it's a surprisingly good solid little romance for days when you want some chocolate with the marshmallow fluff. I loved it
    • 2/5
      Not a great book, but an easy summer read. I liked part of the ending but it left me somewhat dissatisfied.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book, the story, and the characters! I think this may be the first Mary Kay Andrews book I've read and I'm definitely planning on reading more by this author.
    • 4/5
      really enjoyed.....would make a cute lifetime film...
    • 3/5
      When Washington lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew's boss is caught in a scandal, he blames everything on her. Out of a job and unable to pay her rent, Dempsey takes her father up on an offer to fix up the family mansion in the small town of Guthrie, Georgia. Not as funny as some of her other books but a good, solid romance. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Dempsy is a junior D.C. lobbyist whose boss has just landed in a public corruption scandal so bad that it has -gate added to its title. That's bad enough, but when he has his secretary deliver a pink slip to Dempsy and Alex refuses to answer any of the 19 voicemail messages she leaves on his voicemail, Dempsy starts to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Then her father offers her a way to get out of D.C. and regroup. Mitch has just inherited Birdsong, an antebellum plantation house in Guthrie, GA. Dempsy can go tidy up the house and slap a new coat of paint on it to get it ready to sell. Mitch will even split the profit from the sale with her. Sounds great!So what if Guthrie doesn' t have a Starbucks, or a mall, or a Whole Foods? Dempsy can rough it at the Piggly Wiggly. Only, things aren't quite what she expected.Birdsong is in MUCH worse condition than Mitch believed. It's also occupied by the meanest, orneriest octogenarian Dempsy has ever met. Ok, she can handle this. She went to Georgetown for Pete's sake! Then the FBI rolls into town and tells her that Alex Hotter, her former boss and mentor has passed the public corruption buck; straight to one Miss Dempsy Killebrew. Now she's looking at a possible 15 years instead of 15 paint chips. But the FBI and Alex Hotter are not nearly prepared for what Dempsy can do once she gets going! -Sara
    • 3/5
      Very engaging book. Only comment is the amount of times the main character skips meals altogether...doesn't set a good example for folks of a certain age group (certainly not mine!).
    • 2/5
      I've read several other books by Andrews and been entertained by creative story lines developed with southern charm. Honestly though, I didn't find this newest book about Dempsey and her move to flip a house while she hid away from her life to be believable on way too many levels. I had a hard time believing that someone unfamiliar with home repair could manage to turn around an old mansion? Besides that, my guess is that the old lady that was the "squatter" in the story was supposed to win her way into your heart. Sadly, I thought she was way too grouchy, too deceitful (hiding good from the home in her room), and too over the top. It was easy to see where that story was headed, but I just couldn't like her, and never did. Why the heck didn't she just kick the old lady out?!? The romance felt cliche, and her efforts to recover her good name from the scandal, all just seemed overplayed.Although I've liked some of Andrew's other novels, The Fixer Upper just wasn't one of those reads. The story is fairly simple, the characters over the top in some cases, and the situations unbelievable. Other reviewers have liked the light escapist fun, which I enjoy from time to time as well, but this one didn't fit that for me.
    • 4/5
      This was a fun read -- the first Mary Kay Andrews book I have read. The real fixer-upper in this book was the protagonist and the metaphor for it was an old Southern house in disrepair that the heroine fixes up. It was charming, funny and and I learned some things about hands-on rehab that I never knew. I only gave the book four stars, not five because it was a slow read. I put the book down and didn't feel any urgency to find out what would happen next but I did want to finish it. I may read additional books by this author, either from the library or maybe Book Mooch.
    • 4/5
      Is MKA my guilty pleasure? If I'm having a reading slump I can count on her to brighten my reading experience. No disappointment with this book. Her protagonist always quirky, smart, resilient, brave, resourceful and interesting. I forgive the chick lit pigeon hole for this rewarding tale.
    • 2/5
      Twenty-eight year old Dempsey Killebrew has just learned a hard lesson: the real reason people in power have assistants. One minute, Killebrew is a rising PR associate, Georgetown JD in hand, the next, she finds herself at the wrong end of a political scandal involving her PR firm and her slick, backstabbing boss. Looking for career advice, she looks to her dad who, in turn, offers her a less than stellar “opportunity” to flip a family property in Guthrie, GA. Dempsey reluctantly packs her high-gloss city life into her bag and heads south where she finds a shack, rather than a house, and a borderline psychotic, shot-gun wielding great –cousin who has taken up residence in the old place along with her grumpy cocker-spaniel. While she rails against the change in scenery at the beginning, Guthrie’s small town charm (and gentlemen) brings unexpected plot twists, sure to excite Andrews’ faithful readers.I have no idea why this book, cover or synopsis, appealed to me but it did. Not only have I read nothing previously by Andrews, I have reading next to nothing that constitutes as “chick lit”. That is not to say, as some assume, that I dislike female writers or even men writing about female protagonists. I just have not gotten around to the doilies and bachelorette parties because I fancy myself a reader of deeper things. I thought I should probably have a go at it and I do, to explain the cover fixation, occasionally like pink.The story itself is cute and fast paced, making a light summer read. I am not sure it had me hooked on the romance, though. For me, the love stories in romance novels always seem contrived. There is always one girl in town that the boys are after and she doesn’t seem to realize this until page 127. Eventually one lucky suitor wins out, leaving the others in the jolly, fraternal dust, and the rest is history (although not before a little bit of reluctant, soul searching on the part of the sought after protagonist). I will not drag this model across the coals as it is clearly a successful one and will resonate with many readers, no matter how many different ways it dresses up.I sat down to write my review, notes in hand, ready to go to town tearing apart character development, sexism, racism and a very loose concept of reality holding the piece together. And while I must get off my chest that I found Dempsey infuriatingly dimwitted and weak considering her place in Washington as a Georgetown Law School grad, I fear she is not based on complete and total fiction. Thankfully, before I launched into an essay on the pitfalls of female writers chucking their lady characters into the same bimbo category that many of their male counter parts are accused of doing, I remembered that this was not my usual reading; that it was, perhaps, just a piece of fiction meant for a breezy summer evening. Now, I will not for a second tell you that I’ve fallen highlighted head over Manoloed heel (look, I learned something: a Manolo Blahnik is apparently some type of shoe) in love with pink-pulp fiction but it was a silly fun read and for that I commend it.
    • 3/5
      I normally love Mary Kay Andrews. This one was just not up to her typical writing style and seem to drag on a lot more than normal for her. There were times that I just wanted to say get on with the story already please. Overall a decent story but the ending was completely predictable and partly unrealistic because life just doesn’t work that way. So we’ll move onto her newest one and hope for the best.
    • 5/5
      I love Mary Kay Andrews' stories. They are all written with colorful characters and a wit that is always refreshing. The Fixer Upper does not disappoint. Take one attorney caught in a scandal, add distant southern relatives and an inherited home to keep you busy. Shake it up and see what you get. ?