‘HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER’
…

★★★★

Thank you Avon Books and Netgalley for this e-arc! Run and grab yourself #2 in the Bellinger series! Tessa Bailey needs to be one of your favorite contemporary romance authors; if she isn’t already! We pick off with Piper’s little sister, Hannah and love interest Fox.

Fox is a fox, or as Hannah refers him: PEACOCK 🦚. Fox can have any woman he wants but falls head over heels with Hannah. The romance is a slow burn due to insecurities on both parts. Fox is such an emotional mess 😭 (I did feel like that dragged on a bit - I just wanted to see him happier). I love that this book focused more on the male characters growth. We saw it through Fox’s POV and Hannah’s of how emotionally unavailable Fox’s trauma has made him. I love that Hannah wanted to score music for Hollywood 🎥. I enjoyed the music aspect of throughout. I wish Piper was in the book more than she was! Hannah was such a key character in the first book so it would’ve been a nice addition to the second book.

Also, are we saying bye to Westport? The epilogue made me happy though 🥲

Highly recommend if you want a light blend of steam 🔥 mixed with some complicated emotions and a happy ending romance.

I thought this book was a great time! I enjoyed it almost much as I did the first book in this series. I love to pick up a fast paced rom com in between more heavy reads, and this one (I would consider) was an excellent palette cleanser. A solid 3.5+ stars. A definite recommendation! Happy publication day.

I'm a firm believer that Tessa Bailey can pick pretty much any basic trope or story element and make a fantastic romance out of it because I don't think I've read a single one of the books where the romance didn't practically set the book on fire.
Is this basically another book of hers with the location, names, and basic elements changed? Pretty much. Is it still incredibly enjoyable and swoony? Of course!
The friendship between Fox and Hannah is incredibly sweet and it's adorable to see them fight their immense attraction just to save that friendship. It's also incredibly hot to see them give in to that attraction, and even better to read them fight and grow and change to make their relationship a reality.
I particularly appreciate how Bailey goes deep into the toxicity of pushing a sexual personality onto a kid from a pretty young age just because he's ridiculously good-looking and his dad was a certain way. The feelings and insecurities Fox has to battle in order to feel like he deserves the chance to have a relationship with Hannah are what make this book for me. It goes deep into a very nasty, often ignored, societal perception and it shows all the angles of how wrong it truly is. It was a little nugget of truth I was not expecting, but that I think adds a lot of depth to the characters and plot.
And did I mention that it's super swoony and downright smexy? This truly is a romance to curl up with and enjoy.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the fantastic early read!

4.5 ★

After reading It Happened One Summer, I was SO excited for this book, and it did not let me down! This is a friends to lovers, forced proximity, reformed playboy romance. Fox has been a playboy for years, and has some serious doubts about his worth, especially when it comes to Hannah, because of his past. Hannah has always played the side kick role, never fully allowing herself to be in the spotlight. I love that they each help each other to truly be the best versions of themselves in this book. Fox helps Hannah trust her abilities and talents, while Hannah sets out to prove that Fox is enough and that she truly values him. This had the perfect mix of humor, tension, witty banter, swoony moments, and everything I love about Tessa Bailey's writing!

The only reason this wasn't a 5 star read for me is because I felt like Fox's constant self-doubt and hatred of his past seemed to take over so much of the plot, and that meant we didn't get to see them together for as much as I would've liked. However, I still absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it!

4/5 stars!

This book features the evolving relationship between a fisherman hero and his leading lady heroine. When the heroine's work coincides with her late father's hometown, the hero and the heroine becomes temporary roommates. The two has become "friends" but this ongoing closeness with each other reveals the thin veil of the attraction residing between them. How can their relationship change when inner demons and a producer crush stands in their way towards a happy ending?

This is the second book in Tessa Bailey's Bellinger Sisters duology. It features a couple that grows together and individually throughout the story. This book shows the friendship that sprung up from the first book and how it evolved to a romantic relationship in their own story. It was nice to see the closeness that the hero and the heroine through their interactions via text messages and conversation. Of course, there is the usual misunderstandings that makes their appearances in the story, which can be seen between the couple and the people close to them. Appearances by secondary characters like the heroine's sister and the hero's best friend helps make the story better. However, my personal preference for details in some areas of the story and the need to investigate the hidden depth of certain characters were a bit detrimental in my enjoyment of the story. Overall, this is still a solid Tessa Bailey book.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

Hannah and Fox are back in this duology following It Happened One Summer. Fox has the reputation of the king crab fisherman that can't keep a solid relationship, just the way that he prefers. Until he meets Hannah. She's immune to his charms and seems to enjoy his personality. Hannah's back in town for work and is crashing at Fox's place. Hannah knows that their relationship is strictly just friends, and she has her eye on a colleague anyway. But the more time that she spends with Fox, the more she gets to know the true man behind his exterior....

I was so excited to receive this ARC! I loved the first book, and I was thrilled to read more about Hannah because she's such a fun character. I loved that this book intertwined so much music into the story (I'm a sucker for a character that loves vinyls as much as I do), and I really enjoyed watching both she and Fox grow as characters. I'm also really glad to see that there was more backstory of Hannah and her father that made them more connected. And how could I forget to mention the steam. PHEW. There are a bunch of great tropes in this book. Tessa Bailey really delivered it with this one. The epilogue wraps this duology up so perfectly, and I'm so excited for others to read this one!

Note: definitely read the first book in this series if you have not read it yet. You'll appreciate it much more! Also, Fleetwood Mac is pretty significant in this one, which I absolutely adored.

This book will be available Tuesday, March 1st! (Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: Hook, Line, and Sinker
AUTHOR: Tessa Bailey
FORMAT: Physical
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
PUB DATE: 3/1
RATING: 8/10
4 stars

Thank you so much @tessabaileyisanauthor & @avonbooks for the #gifted advanced physical copy & @netgalley for the digital copy!!

MY THOUGHTS

After absolutely DEVOURING It Happened One Summer in one sitting on the beach over the summer, I knew I needed to get my hands on this one & continue falling in love with the Bellinger sisters & the sleepy seaside town of Westport.

I absolutely loved the friends room lovers. You all know that’s my favorite trope and I just cannot get enough of it. This slow burn romance was truly amazing. I love Tessa’s modern, contemporary writing and witty dialogue. It makes for a laugh out loud story and perfect chemistry between characters. Again, you all know I adore stories with settings in beachy seaside towns so getting to go back to Westport was a major love for me. I also loved the connection that both characters had for music, and how it brought them together.

This love story in particular felt really real to me. While the romance was there, Tessa also touched upon a topic that really isn’t ever talked about in today’s society, nor is it represented in literature in regards to men and sexualization. For that, I had a deep appreciation and connection to this book. The character development and growth that we see as the plot unfolds is truly unique to Tessa as an author and storyteller.

My drawbacks with this were mostly to do with the spicy moments. I felt like some of the dialogue and behaviors were a little questionable and made me feel kinda icky. Additionally, the conflict and then the ending seemed a little misaligned with the flow of the story & it all wrapped up REALLY fast. And while I know that we did see a lot of character development for Fox, I think I would’ve liked to have seen more from Hannah!

All in all, a fantastic sequel to one of my favorite books. Highly recommend this series for some spice that’ll knock your pants off & stories about genuine self discovery and growth.

Thank you to Avon for my advance copy of Hook, Line, and Sinker in exchange for my honest review,

Hook, Line, and Sinker is the follow up to It Happened One Summer that came out in 2021. So many people have read that one and fell in love with Brendan and Piper and the town of Westport! Myself included... but honestly, as much as I loved that book (it was in my top 12 for the year!) I KNEW that I was going to love Fox and Hannah's story even more before I was done with IHOS.

And I was RIGHT. And I'm not even a huge fan of friends to lovers, so that's how dang good it was! 

Hook, Line, and Sinker takes us back to Westport as Hannah returns for an important production that she is assisting with. She is finally face to face with Fox for the first time in six months since they became friends through text messages. And she's sharing close quarters with him, too. So what if there's an attraction there. Fox only does hookups, and only with strangers. No relationships; he has his reasons. They just aren't compatible. But what if she's the exception? And what if she won't just be another hookup? What comes next is such a raw and emotional story that will be breaking your heart and anxiously waiting for that HEA that you know Tessa will deliver. 

This romance checked all the boxes for me. And even a few I didn't even know that I wanted checked! Here are some of the things that made it so great for me - but no spoilers! 
* a Prologue that is entirely made up of six months of text conversations - I LOVE it when authors use texts and it was the perfect start for Fox and Hannah's story
* friends to lovers + forced proximity
* slooooow burn, but with the perfect payoff 
* main characters that grow in their own ways
* the part that music and songs played in the story

I absolutely adore this series!! It makes you laugh, but it also explores deep topics. I loved Fox and Hannah's friendship so much. I like how she notices when something is off with Fox and his actions. I love that Fox is struggling with a topic that many think is a good thing. I seriously just love it all. I don't want to give much away, but seriously this pulled at all the heart strings and I was 100% rooting for Fox and Hannah to get a HEA with each other. Do yourself a favorite and read these books!!

Tessa Bailey has quickly become one of my favorite romance authors, I devour her books usually in a day and I'm left with such a lighthearted feeling once I finish them. This book was just as swoony and heartwarming as the first book.

Hannah has convinced her boss to relocate to the small fishing town Wesport as the setting for the movie they're currently working on. Hannah is excited to see her sister Piper but also Fox, her best guy friend that she's been talking with since she left Westport. It's one thing having a close friendship with Fox over texts but now Hannah is staying in his guest room, and both are feeling the temptation to move from just friends to something more. Fox has always been known as the playboy though, the one that doesn't do relationships and he doesn't want to do that to Hannah. Fox tries his hardest to contain his feelings and even tries to be her "wingman" but how long can they hide their true feelings for each other?

My favorite part was of course the relationship between Fox and Hannah. The friends to lovers trope gets me every time and has become one of my favorite types of romances to read. I love the way the author writes these men as big, gruff guys that are actually complete teddy bears underneath it all. I also love that the author threw in a little bit of a love triangle, that was another favorite of mine due to the hilarious nature of it.

Tessa Bailey has a knack for making you obsess over her characters that will leave you wanting so much more. Just like after I finished the first book, I didn't want this one to end either.

*Many thanks to Avon Books for the gifted copy for my honest review*

It's gonna be hard to get everything I love into this one review but I also don't wanna give away any swoons moments you need to experience yourself. I love when you already know a book is gonna be one of your top romances of the year and March just started. Hannah mav be one of my new favorite leading ladies and Fox is my book boyfriend of the month and maybe forever. Hannah's love of music and just compassion for others is something I strongly related to. I just wanted to hug and shake Fox but his character growth over the book is one of the best I've seen from player to boyfriend. The is both a slow burn and super hot book. Also, the music throughout this book made me want to make or find a playlist of all the songs and listen along which as a huge music fan helped me feel even more connected to the book.

Overall, this is my favorite type of love story and l loved how the conflict was just about making their relationship stronger and growing as people. I loveddd Hannah for her openness to seeing to Fox truly was to her amazing taste in music. I love that this is a book about self confidence in yourself the encouragement of others. I will continue to read anything Tessa Bailey writes.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for my ARC

Hook, Line & Sinker🪝
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @netgalley & @avonbooks for the #gifted ebook!

Anybody put a book down and immediately want to read it again? That’s what happened when I finished this. Hannah and Fox are one of my favorite romcom couples ever. I loved their banter and how comfortable they were with each other.

This entire story was so cute that my heart was melting every step of the way. I also loved that Fox doesn’t give in to the society pressures men face and it shined a good light on the overall pressure of maintaining an image and reputation.

I definitely thought there were a couple cringey lines, but all in all, this story was fun and charming. Both of these characters encourage each other to grow and they grow together in the most beautiful ways.

Synopsis: King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he's a guaranteed good time--in bed and out--and that's exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She's immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his... personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is.

Now, Hannah's in town for work, crashing in Fox's spare bedroom. She knows he's a notorious ladies' man, but they're definitely just friends. In fact, she's nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport's resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker's eye... yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can't deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost.

Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she's walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and... man overboard! He's fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker.

Tessa Bailey does friends to lovers slow burn???

Tessa Bailey DOES friend to lovers slow burn!!! That’s it, that’s the review.

The friendship, the chemistry, the back story, the support, the dirty talk all perfection!

—Pub Day BOOK REVIEW—

Title: Hook, Line & Sinker
Author: Tessa Bailey
Publisher: Avon Books
@avonbooks
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Thank you @avonbooks and @netgalley for honoring my request to read and review this title.

Hook Line & Sinker is the second book in the Bellinger Sisters series. The first being, It Happened One Summer. I think you can technically read them out of order; However I think it will definitely enrich your experience knowing the characters if you read them in order. I fell in love with Hannah in the first book and was so excited she was getting her own book. Maybe I set my expectations too high because unfortunately I didn’t love this one as much I hoped for or as the first book.

The positives? This book does a great job highlighting the sexualization of men. Main character Fox heard from a young age “Look at him…he’s going to be a heartbreaker” between that and a poor example he had as a father that really had an effect on him and navigating relationships. The other positives for me were the character growth for both Fox and Hannah. However, that growth mostly was separate. It honestly took until about 70% in the book for them to “hook up” then they were pushing each other away until the end. 😡🙄 Maybe the ‘Friends to Lovers’ trope isn’t for me.

I loved, loved, loved Hannah’s love for music, records and playlists. It was so quirky, sweet, and cute. Music is such a great form of expression. I’m glad she found voice at work and became “the lead character” she knew she could be.

Rating: Overall I think I would give this a ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. It has some steam, but not too much. Honestly, it didn’t feel too romantic, but more of both of them with an inner monologue of excuses. 😬 It was great to back in Westport, but I was hoping for more of Piper, Brendan, Opal, and the Del Rey crew. I think this probably a me situation as this book has a very high good reads rating…Give it a try!

I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t think Tessa Bailey is the author for me. I’ve read 6 of her books and pretty much hated 5 of the 6. Sooo yeah. I think I’m done for now. This book was just boring to me. Hannah was fine. Fox was fine. But nothing really happened. I was wanting steam and didn’t really get any. This could have been a novella in my opinion- maybe I would have enjoyed it more.

After reading It Happened One Summer- one of my favorite books of all time- I was clearly curious about Hannah and Fox. Both characters played such an amazing role in Piper and Brendan's journey, so clearly we needed to know more, right? Well, we got more, and it's wonderful.

The author did an amazing job intertwining the individual growth of these characters with their growth as a couple. Usually a friends-to-lovers, slow burn isn't a good fit for me, but the tension and swoony moments with these two made it barely noticeable. I loved the part that music played throughout the story, giving us additional insight into Hannah's character.

This story is funny and slightly angsty and just so very good. I highly recommend it.

A wonderful follow up to last year's hit, It Happened One Summer. Fox and Hannah have such a wonderful friendship that you really got to see blossom over text messages at the beginning of the book. They really become each other's best friend. Once they are back together in person, their chemistry is off the charts. What is with these fishermen?

I enjoyed following Hannah come into her own. From the little bit that we saw of her in the previous book, I thought she had such a great personality and getting to know her more was such a treat. Having a gregarious sister like Piper, Hannah always thought of herself as a supporting character in her own life. With the encouragement of Fox, she becomes leading lady material. She learns how to be more forward with her wants in a relationship as well as through her work. She's making moves to get what she wants. Along the way, not only does she finally find the connection to her late father that she never had, she finds love.

And then we have Fox. Charming, lighthearted Fox. The guy who's always down for a good time because that's all he's good for—just ask everyone around town. He kind of broke my heart. The false bravado that has carried him through life is finally slipping, all because of Hannah. She doesn't let him get away with how he puts himself down—even when he tries to push her away. All his life, Fox has been compared to his deadbeat father, a love em' and leave em' kind of guy. As young as elementary school, people commented on his looks—"a real heartbreaker" or "he's gonna get all the girls." By sexualizing him at such a young age, his entire identity was tied up in sex and women. People only saw him as the party guy who only did the bare minimum to get by. No one had any faith in him, so he had no faith in himself—until Hannah showed him that he has worth.

Both characters really went through wonderful character development that led to their electric chemistry. Favorite couple alert!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was everything I love about romance. It’s sweet, emotional and the build up between Hannah and Fox is so steamy. Even the first kiss scene is hot.

Fox is trying to get past years of being told his success with women is his worth. He’s struggling to realize he can be more than he believes, but Hannah is there to help him. She has her own problems, to include needing to stand up for what she wants and needs.

I loved the small fishing town vibes mixed with Hollywood, the emotional connection between Hannah and Fox and the musical moments that really added to the feelings. Both books in this series are amazing.

Tessa Bailey does not disappoint in the sequel to "It Happened One Summer"! I honestly think I liked it better than the original. Basically picking up where we left off, we now get to see Fox and Hannah's romance play out. It is definitely a slower burn than Piper and Brendan's. But just as fun as the first one. If anything this one feels a little more grounded, since Hannah wasn't as big of a personality as Piper, which maybe makes her more relatable. But overall it was a good rom-com. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

No surprise here, I adored this book! Tessa Baily never fails to work magic in creating dreamy book boyfriends and the perfect situations for tension and spice. I will definitely be recommending this book and will be anxiously awaiting the next!