Dempsey Jo Killebrew thought she had it all. She's employed as a lobbyist for a powerful Washington D.C. public relations firm with an attractive older man as her boss. However, she believes her greatest achievement is her independence from her flaky mother and perfection-driven father. It all disappears in the blink of an eye when the FBI announces its investigation of criminal bribery involving the firm and a congressman. The FBI snatches Dempsey's files and whisks her computer away. Dempsey finds herself fired and on the defensive. She flees D.C. and accepts her father's offer to rehab and flip a home in Guthrie, Georgia, that he recently inherited.
Guthrie sounds like the perfect place to lick her wounds and restore some sanity into her life. Then Dempsey gets a look at Birdsong, the family homestead. Once upon a time, Birdsong was a stately Southern mansion; now it's a crumbly pink wreck, inside and out. With her usual single-minded determination, Dempsey tackles the project. Hindering her progress is a distant relative who claims squatter rights. Dempsey cannot throw the mean-spirited old lady out on the street. Being a talented lobbyist, Dempsey will use her charm and personality to eject the lady. She is not successful. Help does arrive in an assortment of town characters, especially one cute country lawyer.
Slowly Guthrie's Southern charm works, leaving Dempsey looking forward to a future, but first she needs to gather her courage and clear her name. With the FBI's aid, Dempsey will nail her scum-sucking boss to the wall.
Once again, Ms. Andrews creates a warm and touching story laced with her signature humor. She uses that humor to balance the hardships Dempsey endures and eventually triumphs over. THE FIXER UPPER is a heartwarming, entertaining read that is sure to delight.
The delightful New York Times bestselling author returns with a hilarious novel about one woman's quest to redo an old house . . . and her life.
After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. 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, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise when she arrives in Guthrie. "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.
Furthermore, everyone in Guthrie seems to know Dempsey's business, from a smooth-talking real-estate agent to a cute lawyer who owns the local newspaper. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the pesky FBI agents who show up on Dempsey's doorstep, hoping to pry information about her ex-boss from her.
All Dempsey can do is roll up her sleeves and get to work. And 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 expectedβback home again.
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