Friends to lovers. Emotional growth. So funny, spicy and witty. What more could you love?

Tessa Bailey has did it again. I absolutely fell in love with It Happened One Summer. It was one of my absolute favorite books I read last year. I was obsessed with dynamic enemies to lovers vibe that Piper and Brendan gave off. (I love him so much and seeing his POV was my favorite part..) I didn’t think anything else would top it but Fox has officially won me over.

Hook, Line and Sinker is a sequel featuring Piper’s little sister Hannah and Fox who is Brendan’s best friend, and shipmate. He is known for his ability to charm and woo the ladies, and his friendship with Hannah is too special to jeopardize so they are just pals. And the fact she is currently crushing on someone else is killing him.

Hannah becomes roommates with Fox and doesn’t realize he is having to resist temptation when she walks around in a towel. He is falling for her fast and while Hannah is attempting to catch the eye of her work colleague she asks Fox for advice. But the closer she gets to Fox, the more Hannah realizes that she might actually want to be more than friends but can’t handle being another notch on his bedpost. And Fox knows that he needs to work on his issues for her to give him, the Casanova of Westport, a chance.

5 stars, I am obsessed and will re-reading them both in the summer. Perfect duology. Highly recommend if you want a summery Romcom to warm up this winter season!

Thank you so much to Avon and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest book review!

Can we somehow discover a third Bellinger sister? Because after getting absorbed by Piper’s and now Hannah’s stories, I’m desperate for more from these characters and this setting.

Hannah might just be the best character in this duology. She’s kind and smart and motivated, and she’s admirable in how she sees past what people try to show the world and into their hearts — and she loves what she finds there, no matter what. She’s not as glitzy and exciting as Piper, but Hannah is warmer and steadier and is the kind of person you want in your corner. Meanwhile, Fox is a fun and flirty complicated mess who could most definitely benefit from a good deal of therapy. But what would contemporary romance be without at least one character who is so caught up in their own head and with their own flaws that some professional help would be useful?

While I think I preferred these characters and their relationship to those in “It Happened One Summer,” this book could have used a tad more depth and some plot outside of Hannah and Fox’s relationship. It’s fun being caught up in their world, but it gets just an eensy bit claustrophobic when most of the book takes place in Fox’s two-bedroom home. I wish that more happened in the book and that we got more time with the setting and other characters we met in the prior book. I did, however, like how Hannah and Fox aren’t idiots in love who don’t understand their feelings for each other; they’re just idiots in love who won’t act on them.

Yet again, Tessa Bailey has written a book that’s sickeningly adorable in the best possible way. The relationship is a wonderful mix of steamy and sweet, and reading this book gives you all the “ugh, I want that for myself” feelings you could dream of.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books, and Tessa Bailey for proving me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I love Tessa Bailey for something quick but emotional. And so another story from charming Westport was exactly what I wanted! And this time we get playboy Fox and music-obsessed Hannah and tenderness abounds. I think that this story was more compelling in a lot of ways than the first -- Hannah is more likable, Fox's internal struggles are something I've never read before in a romantic lead. I liked that tension and all of the extra characters that we know and love making appearances. I do wish there had been a life-or-death scene again, but I know that might have been overkill. I think this was paced a bit slowly and I wanted maybe one more big conflict for the climax, but otherwise it was worth the absolute bangxiety I had reading it!

4 stars.

After reading It Happened One Summer I was absolutely DYING to read this sequel. I knew I would love this book and Hannah and Fox’s relationship just from the few snippets we got from the first book.

Tessa Bailey just does such an incredible job making you fall in love with the characters in her books. The tension, the kind gestures, the shared love of music, the texts, everything about the relationship between Hannah and Fox was just SO good. My only wish was that it hasn’t ended as quickly as it did. I would’ve loved to have read more between the ending and epilogue. But besides that I really enjoyed reading and I can’t wait to see what Tessa Bailey has up her sleeve next.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Tessa Bailey has done it again! I think this might be my favorite novel of hers so far. This duology is definitely on my top ten list; they are simply superior.

I loved Fox and Hannah from the first moment we saw them together, and this book seriously delves into their relationship in a way I wasn’t anticipating, but it felt so raw and real in ways a lot of fiction relationships don’t, and I really appreciated that. Hannah is such a genuine sweetheart who cares so much about the people she loves that sometimes she forgets to put herself first, and I found that I related to her character much more than I did her sisters. Fox, on the other hand, is kind of torn between what others expect him to be and what he wants to be. He struggled a lot throughout the whole book, and for justifiable reasons, and it was so rewarding to see him overcome his fears in the end.

I’ve never been much of a “friends-to-lovers” fan, but this book may change my opinion of that. Even though Fox fell pretty hard in the beginning, their friendship was a huge factor for most of the book and it was delightful to read about. Fox and Hannah are like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly. This was all around a phenomenal book and it’s definitely a bittersweet ending.

Don’t even get me started on the epilogue because tears dotted my eyes as soon as I read the first sentence and it went downhill from there. My heart felt so full after finishing it. <3

Wow did I love this one. Really enjoyed Piper and Brendan’s story in the first of this series - and recommend reading before this one - but Fox and Hannah are fantastic. Their chemistry and friendship is through the roof. Highly recommend this one if you’re a fan of the friends to lovers troupe or like contemporary romance.

This is my third Tessa Bailey book, and so far I’ve enjoyed them all. This book was lighthearted, fluffy, sweet but with spice added. What more can you ask for?? It was a sloooooow burn, my god.

I actually enjoyed this book more than the first. I related more to Hannah than I did with Piper. It’s crazy to think that they are sisters since they are polar opposites.
Hannah enjoyed music, and vinyls and just seemed to be more down to earth. I also enjoyed her banter and evolving relationship with Fox. I was really excited to see there would be a sequel after the first book because you could really see little figments of their relationship growing.

You could also see Fox evolving through the book, but deep down he still had his bad side, which I don’t think will ever go away. Not that that’s a bad thing ;)

Some of the *scenes* were a bit cringey, if I’m being honest. And… I don’t always love the use of pet names; for some reason they always tend to be used way too early and haphazardly.



Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

Okay, so after reading “It Happened one summer” I had been dying to read “Hook, Line, and Sinker”. I wanted to read it so badly that I made a NetGalley account just so I could request to read this ARC. And for some crazy reason Avon & Harper Voyager approved my request. (THANK YOU!)
This book was everything I could ask for. It made me laugh, made me cry, and fall in love with the characters. Hannah is just an absolute gem. It was so refreshing to see a female character who is so ready to confront tough situations head on. Her love for music made me want to put my record player on and really listen to all my records.
Fox was just so beautifully broken. The fact that he really wanted to know and understand Hannah was so beautiful. He wanted to be a man that Hannah deserved.
Hannah and Fox were a match made in heaven. The epilogue made me cry.
I loved the friends to lovers trope
This book was a treasure. I’m going to miss the Bellinger sisters. 💖
If you love romance/rom-com books, you will enjoy this.
Maybe I’ll move to a small town, meet a local fisherman, and fall in love. ☺️

Slow burn. Best friends to lovers. He’s a player turned good guy and she’s a nice girl.

“How did I look at her?”
“Like a summer day showing up after a hundred years of winter”

3.5 ⭐️

I was lucky enough to get an arc of Hook, Line, and Sinker through Netgalley, and after binging It Happened One Summer I decided to dive right on into Hannah and Fox’s story. As excited as I was after seeing the two of them dance around each other in Piper & Brendan’s book, HLS was kind of a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Hannah & Fox together—their romance and the epilogue were perfect, but everything else I expected from this book fell flat. The banter I was used to in book one was nowhere present in HLS—Hannah was the queen of sass and that just fizzled out in the book. Plus the whole Sergio thing—you’re telling me she PINED after this man for TWO YEARS and then when he finally asks her out she’s like meh, no thanks? & that’s just after a good heart to heart with Fox about why he is the way he is? I expected there to be more turmoil and angst before she was all in, but nope. & don’t even get me started on her music career/talent search/producer thing she does—that was so interesting and it was just a blip that was mentioned in the epilogue?!

Overall the book isn’t bad, I just wish there was MORE…

Really enjoyed this book! Such a fun read with great character development! Such a fun one and great to grab!

Tessa Bailey knocks it out of the park yet again with this friends to lovers romance.
Readers will love Hannah & Fox. We saw hints of them in the last book and Hannah seemed like such an interesting heroine that I was happy to hear she was getting her own book.
The tropes in this story are executed perfectly. The will they/won’t they (aka slow burn) aspect of the romance prolonged the angst and made their HEA more satisfying. This is an extremely well done friends to lovers. I haven’t read such a great one is a long time. I truly believed in Hannah & Fox’s friendship and it was nice to see their connection bloom into love.
Writing was superb as always with Bailey. She never disappoints!

After being borderline obsessed with It Happened One Summer, there was no way I was going to miss this story, and I dropped everything when I was approved for it.

I love love loved Hannah and Fox. They’re both unsure and find a steadiness in each other. Of course I was delighted to see bits of Piper and Brendan’s HEA, but I was quickly obsessed with Hannah and Fox. And JFC, you could choke someone with the chemistry.

Plot wise, it was a slow and steady climb and I was here for it. I enjoyed their honesty and open conversations (especially when they were hard topics) and could have done with a million more pages of them talking.

Overall, this series has been delightful and they’ve become new favorites that I know I’ll be coming back to.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

Oh my gosh I loved this story. Fox is such a great character and I loved Hannah so much. I enjoyed revisiting their town and watching this relationship grow. Definitely a great sequel.

Tessa Bailey does it again and this one could be even better than the first book in the series! There is a real palpable connection between the two lead characters and the setting and side characters really help the romance come alive!

am new to the world of ARC’s, but when I got this one, I audibly squealed. Loudly. My co-workers and I have passed around “It Happened Last Summer” for the past month, and we’ve had this follow-up on our radar for awhile. It did not disappoint. I may have even loved it even more (gasp-I know!). Heading back to Westport gave me all the feels, and I absolutely adored Hannah and Fox, loved the humor, romance, and spice that Tessa Bailey brought in the last book. It was all there again, and it was *perfect.* Getting to catch up with Piper and Brendan was the cherry on top! Honestly, no duology has any business being this good. And this loveable. But here we are. This one drops March 1st, and after you’ve read the first Bellinger sisters book, go ahead and preorder this one. You won’t regret it.
Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyage for this ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5-@lucywrazor4

I really thought I’d like this novel, but I thought it was just too repetitive. The hero would think about how he is undeserving of the heroine and how much he desires her. Then the heroine will wonder about the hero and think about how hot he is. Rinse, repeat. I think there was a much more interesting novel there because these were interesting characters who needed to overcome their insecurities, but the author just kept repeating these internal monologues.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

This was a really sweet and steamy romance novel that I think a wide variety of people would enjoy. However, I did have a few problems with the author's choices to include long-winded and repetitive inner monologues about small down life and the value of fishing. It got a little bit preachy in my opinion. Besides that, I really enjoyed the romance as well as the humor and writing throughout the book.

3.5 stars! Hook, Line, and Sinker is the second book in the Bellinger Sisters series by Tessa Bailey, and I enjoyed this book much more than book 1.

Fox is a much more likable main character compared to Brendan in my opinion - a mushy cinnamon roll instead of a grump. I adored Fox and Hannah's characters - but I almost preferred them separately! I didn't ~feel~ the romance as much as I wanted to. I loved watching Hannah figure out what she wanted for her career & chase her dreams, I feel like her character is extremely relatable to a lot of people.

I struggled getting behind the romance due to the extreme miscommunications throughout the entire story. It went from miscommunication to love VERY quick. It didn't feel super realistic, but what can you expect! The epilogue brought it all together for me, and that was definitely a major highlight of the book!

I am in LOVE with this book, with Fox, with Hannah, and their relationship. To get the obvious out of the way, yes Tessa Bailey delivered the steam we were waiting for! But what I wasn't expecting was the emotional aspect of this book. Fox was such a unique male character because he did not want to embrace the playboy persona and he wasn't cocky about it. He had a lot of personal identity struggles and I loved that Hannah was able to help him heal. Fox also helped Hannah become the leading lady of her own life and seeing her become more confident throughout the book was inspiring. This book had the perfect combination of love, steam, cute moments, and more serious topics that helped deepen the relationship. However, the best part of this book, in my opinion, is how Tessa Bailey tackled the topic of toxic masculinity and showed how it can impact the men themselves! It was well written in my opinion and these bigger themes were addressed while still tying into the romantic comedy genre!