Fox has always been a flirt and everyone knows it. But his friend Hannah seems to be immune to his charm. When work brings Hannah to town and she stays with Fox that all changes. The more time they spend together the more their mutual attraction grows, but Fox doesn’t do relationships and Hannah is not looking to be another one of his one night stands. But can Fox change his ways and show Hannah how much he cares about her?

I loved It Happened One Summer and if its possible I might have enjoyed this book even more! Tessa Bailey is the queen of steamy romances so get ready for a very hot ride. Fox and Hannah were the ultimate friends to lovers couple with chemistry so off the charts I spent the first part of the book DYING for them to act on the steam between them. But more importantly, I love how fully they saw each other and were able to look past how others perceive them to truly get to know each other for who they are at the deepest level.

As I kind of mentioned, both Hannah and Fox really let how others perceived them impact their own self worth. Hannah felt she was more of a side kick than a leading lady, which at first stopped her from taking chances, asserting herself, and asking for the things she wanted. On the other hand, Fox had been labeled as a womanizer from an early age and the slut shaming that went along with that led him to believe he was incapable of loving/being loved and being in a relationship. Seeing their journeys and how they were each able to get past these misconceptions of themselves and find their self-worth was truly beautiful (especially Fox’s journey).

Thank you to Avon Books for the advanced copy!

3.75 Stars!

I've had high hopes on this one. I mean Fox and Hannah?? Come on!! It started well, I love their relationship, the "would they won't they vibe.." Fox helping Hannah gets Sergei's attention etc.

To be honest, this book makes me giddy at first. But somehow, I kinda felt bored once Fox spills his secret. His fears. I understand him.. really, I do. But it's been on repeat so instead on feeling their sizzle, I felt flat. Got bored and want it done.

A hot, spicy read that Tessa Bailey is known for. This is once again a slam dunk in terms of romance and adventures. Fox and Hannah were old friends, but now that she is in town and has set her eye on her co-worker, Fox is starting to see her in a whole new light. Now, they are fighting attraction to each other and on a sexy adventure.

Tessa Bailey will forever be one of my favorite authors! Everything she writes is everything I love about contemporary romance, and her newest book isn't any different.

This book takes place in the same fishing town as 'It Happened One Summer'. In this romance, we get to know Hannah and Fox. Fox is a good time charlie kind of guy that has been taught from a young age that he's the kind of guy you bed, but not one you would ever take seriously enough for a relationship. He and Hannah have been texting each other as friends for the last seven months, and when they start hanging out together again, sparks fly.

I can't say enough good things about this one. Fox was the kind of guy that you really feel for. He wants so badly to change his stripes, but has been boxed in by his reputation in a small town. Hannah tried so desperately to make him see that he can be more, but Fox doesn't want to sully her reputation by being with her. Their chemistry was so amazing, and the slow burn bringing them together doesn't disappoint in the least. A really original twist on the usual boy meets girl that had me finishing this one in one sitting! I don't know how she continues to do it, but each Tessa Bailey book I read just has me begging for more.

Thanks so much to Avon Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Confession: I requested this ARC back in October without having any real clue who Tessa Bailey was or that this was the second book in this series. After finally reading It Happened One Summer a few weeks ago, I could not wait to dive into this one. I was NOT disappointed.

I love Hannah and Fox so much! The author does a fantastic job of conveying their degree of compatibility. It was impossible not to root for them. It was also so clear why they struggled to figure themselves (and each other) out. My heart broke for Fox but I really liked that he was forced to work through his issues and things were not just magically resolved because Hannah walked into his life.

Also the harmonica story? DYING. My kids have harmonicas and I could just picture the scene with Hannah and Piper… READ THIS BOOK.

I was pretty nervous about reading this one because I loved It Happened One Summer so much but obviously shouldn’t have worried since I loved Hannah so much!

Friends to lovers isn’t normally my jam but Tessa still gave us all the tension between Hannah and Fox.

What a treat to be back in Westport!

Let me start off by saying that Fox and Hannah's friendship is everything. I have never seen a such a realistic depiction of friends to lovers. I don't think it can ever be an easy thing to go from friends to lovers, and this one portrayed the hardships of doing so, so well.

There were so many times when I wanted to reach into the pages and give Fox and Hannah a hug, I wanted to protect them at all cost. To be honest, there were times when I wanted to grab Fox by the shoulders and just yell at him to get out of his head and be honest with Hannah. PLUS!! The way they were there for one another and encouraged each other was what made me fall for them even harder.

Overall, such a sweet, beautiful book. A slow burn, but so worth it.

I have loved Fox and Hannah since the moment they began their back and forth banter in IHOS. I related to Hannah and could not wait for her book, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. This is a slow burn, friends to lovers story that deals with a young woman named Hannah who’s always been a “supporting actress” in her mind, but never the main character. We follow her as she steps out of her sister’s shadow and discovers what she’s really capable of. She loves music and has a song for every situation. Then we have Fox, who is confident on the outside, but not so much on the inside. He is constantly slut shamed for his past promiscuous, playboy behavior, and always feels second best. He doesn’t feel good enough for Hannah and he doesn’t want to taint her reputation with his. But Hannah sees Fox for what’s inside, who he really is, not what others around them think he is.

I loved these two so much! I loved that Tessa touched on toxic masculinity and the effect that focusing too much on how a person looks can damage them emotionally. The prologue gave me everything I wanted to bridge the gap between where we left off with them at the end of IHOS and where HL&S begins. I loved seeing their friendship blossom and the cute little things they said to each other and that both of them were oblivious to how the other felt, even though it’s so obvious to the reader. These two help each other realize how to be the best version of their self and truly care about each other’s happiness. I was smiling through the whole book. I also felt that because they were friends first and tried really hard to resist their attraction to one another, it made me believe in their romance and love for each other even more so than Brendan & Piper. The only thing that kept me from giving this five stars is I felt the ending was slightly rushed, and I wanted a little more steam. Not necessarily more sex, but I needed a bit more tension and angst between them.
However, I loved the epilogue and the glimpse we got into their life (including B&P) so many years later rather than the typical “next step” epilogue where you just see them get engaged or married. This comes out March 1st and I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you NetGalley, Avon, and Tessa Bailey for the ARC!

Hook, Line, and Sinker might just be one of my favorite books this year! I enjoyed Hannah and Fox’s story so much more than Piper and Brendan’s (although I love them too!)

I honestly wasn't sure how two people that seemed so different were going to end
up together. I prefer to not know anything about a book before I read it. I want to judge for myself. In the past I would check movie reviews and not end up watching some
because “critics” didn't like it. But later i would end up watching it and really
enjoying it. I totally fell in love with the
characters in this book. I have read some books where characters descriptions are kind of flat or sometimes too detailed. Not with Tessa Bailey.

And the steamy scenes. WOW! The male
characters were portrayed very well; some writers tend to have guys react like
females would want them to but it comes across as unrealistic. Reading this
book was like I was watching a really good
movie. When I had to put the book down (to do normal life stuff; boring) it was as if I had left the movie playing without pausing so it felt like I was missing it!!

I’m still processing my emotions but this book is hands down wonderful, delightful, achingly vulnerable & raw & feels like a heartwarming hug after a long day. I am blown away by TB writing and ability to craft characters. This was everything I wanted in friends to lovers romance. A MUST-READ.

I received an eARC from NetGalley / Avon romance in exchange for my honest review

AHHHHH! Hannah and Fox are so perfect for each other! This book has made me Love the friends to lovers trope! Great character development! I loved how Hannah always called Fox's bluffs and was always patient even when it was hard. The dirty talk and sex scenes were some of the best I've ever read! I adored this book!

Fox and Hannah have such great chemistry in this second book of the Bellinger Sisters series. I really enjoyed their friendship and the slow build of the romance. I think this was better than the first mainly because I like the actual characters better. This is a cute story with some funny and steamy scenes mixed with some heart wrenching moments.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

“But being comfortable had kept her in the second-fiddle position so long…and tonight she was finally going to conduct the orchestra herself.”
— 𝙃𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙧, Tessa Bailey

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Oh my heart is 🥰 after finishing this one.

Both Hannah and Fox were incredibly complex characters, Fox more so than Hannah. He’s spent his entire life living under the cloud of this persona that was thrust upon him, and not matter how hard he tried to shake it, he couldn’t. So he stopped trying.

Until Hannah.

And Hannah is stuck in her career. She wants more than to just be some lowly PA for a production company. Thanks to Fox, and her father from beyond the grave, she finally gets the courage to shoot her shot and it pays off in ways she never could’ve imagined.

Fox and Hannah’s relationship was so damn pure. Fox fighting against his instincts to fuck Hannah and leave her, and Hannah seeing past the bullshit facade he puts on for the world, forcing him to open up.

In the end, they both teach each other about a love that’s worth waiting for, worth changing for, and that if you believe in yourself and your abilities, soon everyone else will, too.

Also, Fox’s dirty talk is God tier.

All in all, I loved this one way more than 𝙄𝙩 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧.

After “It Happened One Summer” I ran to request this book so fast, because I loved the first book.
And, well, “Hook, Line, and Sinker” was even better, in my humble opinion. I loved the romance in this one even more, as well as the story itself.

When Hannah and Fox met over the summer when she helped her sister Piper rehab their father's old bar, she immediately pegged him as a ladies man and therefore she was not interested. They ended up bonding over music, but Hannah's heart was spoken for elsewhere (even though unrequited).

Fox saw Hannah as the little sister of his best friend's fiancee. Meaning completely off limits. But Hannah has been the only person who really sees him for him. When they form a friendship after she leave talking about anything and everything - though mostly music, neither of them want to break the bond they've formed by taking their relationship to another level.

I loved the connection between Fox and Hannah. The prologue featuring their budding friendship through text and song was perfect. I almost wish we had more of that buildup. But once they meet again and Hannah ends up staying with Fox, I thought that Tessa Bailey really played the tension well. As well as the feelings of wanting more but not wanting to threaten the friendship. This wouldn't have come across so well had Tessa Bailey not established it.

It's not only the relationship though. As seen in the first book, Hannah has ties to Westport from her father whom she never knew. She still has trouble feeling the connection that her sister Piper seemed to pick up on so easily. She wants to understand who her father was and I like that Tessa Bailey ties all this into Hannah's passion for music.

The idea of the connection of music is strong throughout the story. The feelings or memories that music can conjure are universal and infinite. Being taken back to a time or place through a song is something we've all felt, and I loved the moments when Hannah would line up how she was feeling in a certain moment with a song.

On Fox's side, we see the pressure of expectation. In this case, from a young age, Fox was always told he would be a heartbreaker that he was going to be trouble. It became so the expectation that was set for him was unavoidable and that's all that people saw, but it also made for an inaccurate portrayal of who Fox really is. It was maddening and sad to see people short-change him, but wonderful that Hannah truly saw him.

Honestly, the last portion of this book is one of the more wonderful that I've read recently. I don't want to ruin anything, but know it was heartening to see where we leave things.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved It Happened One Summer, and was looking forward to reading the second book in the series, Hook, Line, and Sinker. It's a slow-burn friends-to-lovers rom-com set in a fishing town in Washington State. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I didn't love it as much as It Happened One Summer. Tessa Bailey writes funny, sexy, delicious romances with quirky heroines and hot heroes, and I am here for it! I highly recommend checking out her books! Also, follow her on TikTok. She is very funny.

I did not think it was possible that I would like this book more than “It Happened One Summer” but boy was I proven wrong.

This story follows Hannah and Fox. Hannah is a music-loving production assistant (and sister to Piper) that struggles to feel like the main character in her life. Fox is known as the womanizer of his town and is best friends with Brendan (Piper’s love interest in the first book).

I knew I would love reading about Hannah and Fox’s slow burn and especially loved the layers of Fox that was slowly revealed over the course of the book.

This book was such a fast read with how much I loved it and I NEED a movie adaptation of both of the Bellinger sister books.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This is the second book in a romance duology by Tessa Bailey, and Hannah and Fox are the cutest couple to fall in love with! Hannah is back in the small fishing town of Westport to work on a film, and is just friends with the fisherman Fox, who has a reputation of being a carefree flirt who won’t commit to a relationship. Hannah and Fox became friends while Hannah was in town with her sister Piper (from the first book in this series); they bonded over their love of music and having an easy and trusting rapport. While Hannah stays with Fox in his apartment, sparks fly. This was more of a slow burn, but I enjoyed the respect that was given to Fox’s healing from his past and the pacing of how their relationship grew over time. Though a slow burn, this book definitely brings the heat, which falls in line with Bailey’s style. Definitely recommend this book if you’re a fan of Bailey and angst filled, sweet slow burns. I also recommend it for fans of contemporary romance, friends to lovers, and high steam.

Hook, Line, and Sinker was the perfect second installment of the Bellinger Sisters books! I loved the first book and was not disappointed in this one! Focused more on the growing feelings between Hannah and Fox, we get to read about these friends-turned-lovers and how much they genuinely care for each other. With Fox being the care-free flirt that he is, Hannah was pretty much immune to any of his advances to anything further than friendship after seeing just how many women keeps in contact with after a trip to the local record shop. With Fox coming to the realization that Hannah isn't interested, he's a bit confused as to why she bothers talking to him...and thus their friendship began! After keeping in touch through text after Hannah goes back to California for work, their connection through shared music tastes keep them from drifting apart while they're separated. But with a new location picked for Hannah's job, she finds herself back in that little fishing town she was in less than a year before. But with a heavy crush on her fellow colleague still going strong, Fox and Hannah's friendship is tested. Overall, 4/5 stars!