As a huge Tessa Bailey fan, and especially a Bellinger Sister fan, I was SO excited to be approved for this book. Definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2022.

The story of Fox and Hannah was good, but not *great*. I think that Fox's fixation with his "problems" kind of weighed on the story, he was very preoccupied with what it meant to be someone worthy of Hannah, and I felt it slowed down the plot at times. Fox goes through a bigger transformation than Hannah, and I like when couples kind of "meet in the middle". I felt that Hannah was completely prepared to drop everything for Fox, and I wasn't crazy about that. I also thought this would have more of a friends-to-lovers, make the other guy jealous storyline, but both characters were pretty open about their feelings (to themselves) right off the bat. I wish

I loved the subplot of Hannah discovering bands as a music supervisor, and her connection to the sea shanties her father wrote. I felt that added a bit of local color that It Happened One Summer had a lot of, which I really enjoyed.

Overall, I think this was a good book and if you're a fan of the first one you'll like this too, but it doesn't quite match up.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5*
Loved it!!! I always enjoy when I see characters in books persuing an ambition that I am interested in because I love the insight it gives me and I got exactly that from Hannah. It was so interesting to see how mine and her brains worked so similarly. Hannah and was such an easy character to relate to with her connection/love for music and her feelings of imposter syndrome and being a side character in everyone else's stories. The plotline was so compelling and I found myself unable to put it down. The chemistry between Fox and Hannah emanated from the pages and I wouldn't expect anything less from Tessa Bailey. I appreciated how Hannah helped Fox become more comfortable with who he was and made him the best version of himself. Definitely recommend it if you're looking for a book that will leave you swooning.

After reading It Happened One Summer, I was so excited to sink my teeth into this beauty! It was everything I hoped for and more. Hilarious, sexy AF, and oh so heartfelt, I was drawn in by Hannah and Fox’s personal journeys and growth. I can’t wait to find out that there’s a secret third Bellinger sister, because I’m not ready to be done yet!

Full review will be posted on blog and GoodReads

I typically love a friends to lovers troupe, but I am not so sure about this one. I don’t love when characters don’t think themselves worthy of love, and in this book, that is so true. Fox is overly concerned with being like his father, and he lets comments from others detail everything he wants. I found this to be quite frustrating. He wouldn’t accept what Hannah saw in him, and wouldn’t let her make her own choice regarding him. It is not my favorite when characters constantly degrade themselves and are “saved” by another character.

With that being said, there is some great romance in here. I loved the slow burn, and the undeniable pull of these two lovers.

Posted on Instagram @MzCookzBookz today. Will post to Amazon on pub day

After months of long distance texting over their mutual love of music, Hannah and Fox have become fast friends. When a change of plans causes Hannah’s movie production to be moved to Westport, she agrees to stay with Fox during her stay. As their close proximity brings feelings to the surface, Fox helps Hannah try to land her crush - the movie’s director - while fighting his own feelings for her.

Let me preface this review by saying I did not realize this was part of a series (I know! Where the heck have I been?!) And I think I missed out on some of the backstory that the other, featuring Hannah’s sister Piper, had laid out about how and when Fox and Hannah met and how they became friends. That being said, this was still able to serve as a stand alone book and I learned enough from tid bits here and there to fill in any gaps.

This is the first book I’ve read from Tessa Bailey and I would say it was a solid read. It was entertaining, engaging, and although a fairly predictable plot-line (which I mean most rom-coms are, aren’t they?), she had my attention to the end. Hannah and Fox are both well developed 3-dimensional characters, who have strengths, weaknesses, career ambitions, etc. If I had one bone to pick, it would be the repetitiveness of Fox’s self-doubt throughout the book. I get it, he’s scared! And those around him have pretty much treated him like crap. But on more than one occasion, I felt myself wanting to slap him upside the head during his roller coaster rides of internal monologues.

If you are looking for a cute friends to lovers rom com with an HEA, and a good bit of steam, this is definitely a book for you! I will definitely be reading more books by this author.

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins and Avon Books for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Tessa Bailey dug deep writing this friends to lovers book – easily making it one of my favorite contemporary romance books to date. "Hook, Line and Sinker" is the sequel to her wildly popular contemporary romance book, "It Happened One Summer", that features Piper and Brendan. "Hook, Line, and Sinker" continues this story of Brendan's right hand man and best friend, Fox Thornton, and Piper's younger sister, Hannah. Bailey does an excellent job leaving bread crumbs of Hannah and Fox's budding romance in her first novel of the series, making you want more from them the second you put the book down.

After party girl Piper makes some not-so-great decisions in LA, their step father threatens to cut her off. Hannah, being the selfless and kind sister she is, moves with Piper from their glam Hollywood mansion in Los Angeles to a dingy apartment above a bar in Westport, Washington for a Summer so Piper can prove herself. They soon find out that the bar once belonged to their deceased father and that they have a slew of history in this sleepy, quaint fishing town. When they arrive, Piper is the picture of a spoiled party princess and cannot wait to get back to her glam lifestyle. The complete opposite of her older sister, Hannah encourages both her and her sister to make the most out of the situation and they end up restoring their father's old bar. Whereas her sister wears designer dresses and heels, Hannah prefers sneakers and headphones to listen to music – her one true passion. During their stay, Piper finds herself falling for Brendan, a tall, moody sea captain, who becomes enraptured with her even though she's a fish out of water in Westport. Hannah on the other hand becomes good friends with a gorgeous, sexy, tattooed womanizer, named Fox Thornton. While Piper finds herself in a fast and furious steamy romance with the widowed sea captain, Hannah tries to teach Fox what it's like to be in a platonic relationship with a woman – even though she sees through the womanizing facade and finds herself falling for the man he really is. The pair fight against their growing attraction to each other that starts as daily texts over the course of seven months after Hannah's stay in Westport.

Once Hannah is back in LA continuing to work as a production assistant for an artsy director named Sergei, who she has a surface level crush on, she finds a way to suggest the fishing town of Westport as the set of his new film, Sergei readily agrees – because art – and Hannah is giddy to see her sister and her fiancé, anddddd maybe also her insanely good-looking fisherman friend she left behind.

Back in Westport, Fox finds himself constantly thinking of about Hannah and realizes just how bad he has it for her. He convinces himself that he will never be enough for someone like her and that their feelings for each other are purely based on friendship. With no where else to stay during the filming of the movie, Brendan offers Fox's sparse two bedroom apartment, for Hannah. When she arrives, their friendship quickly heats up, becoming flirty as they interact in person and in close quarters with one another. Hannah finds herself frustrated about her growing feelings, eagerly trying to make sense of them. Fox struggles with changing the beliefs he has about himself, the ones society has ultimately placed on him due to his good looks, before the woman of his dreams walks out of his life forever.

The palpable chemistry in this book is phenomenal and it made the story fly by. Hannah and Fox both have so much depth to them – way more than the average romance novel – that you feel like you are in it with them. I also loved that the challenges and barriers they go through together are very real relationship issues, not concocted or outlandish trope scenarios that make you want to scream at the characters and say "this can be easier!". The epilogue is also so sweet and ties both the Bellinger sister stories together. I adored Piper and Brendan, but this is definitely my favorite of the two. I highly recommend reading the first book, because it is also great and teases Hannah and Fox's story, but of course this can be read as a standalone.

Besides the well-written slow burn romance, I loved the character development of both leads on their own; the vulnerability of Fox. and Hannah's passion for music that helps her make discoveries about herself and her family.

You'll enjoy this book if you like:
- The guy having feelings first
- Friends to lovers
- Slow burn romance
- Close proximity
- Mid-level steam (*if you've read other books by Tessa Bailey, this one is tamer, but her scenes are just as good!)

Thank you, thank you to NetGally, Avon Harpers Voyage and Tessa Bailey for letting me read this ARC – one of my post anticipated reads of 2022!!

4.5 starts for me!!
This book made my heart ache in the best way possible. I loved both Hannah and Fox from book one and was so excited to see how their relationship would unfold. This book did not disappoint! I loved how Hannah really did her best to try and make Fox feel like he could be safe with her and never have to feel like his feelings were invalid. I also loved how Fox just understood exactly how Hannah was and liked her just the way she is. The way he spoke about her and how obvious it was he loved her so much was my favorite thing. One of the conflicts of the story being why Fox was preventing possibly dating Hannah at first was so sad and made my heart hurt for Fox on how he saw himself. However, I will say I wanted to shake him towards the end of the book. I get why he was thinking the way he was but it was frustrating to see him fall back into that habit of his insecurities right when he was about to get over it. While I do wish there was more of them together towards the end, the epilogue made up for it. The progression of their relationship was by far my favorite thing and the chemistry they had together was off the charts. I felt it through the pages and got lots of Fanny flutters reading. When that happens it’s how I know the build-up and romance is perfect!

The first one will always be my favorite because it truly is so unmatched it’s insane. BUT, I love this book so much and I’m so happy I got the chance to read it advance. Would definitely recommend going to read this book once it comes out! If you’re looking for some friends to lovers and forced proximity trope, this book is for you:)

Thank you so much netgalley and Avon and Harper voyager for the advanced digital review copy!!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review...

I LOVED Hook, Line, And Sinker. I recently read It Happened One Summer and was THRILLED to recieve early access to this book.

After leaving her sister and Brendan to their new life together hannh resumes her life in LA but remains in constant contact with Fox, Brendans' best friend. But now Hannah is back in Westport after 7 months to work on a film. While in Westport she will be staying with none other than Fox himself. Will the two be able to keep things friendly or will their chemistry have them taking things beyond friendship?

I really enjoyed the dialog between Hannah and Fox. What starts as a seemingly harmless friendship soon turns into 2 friends pining for one another. Hannah feels like she isn't leading lady material and Fox believes he's nothing but a player. I loved the banter and playfulness between the characters. They have great character development. Fox is the ultimate book boyfriend. Thank you Tessa Bailey for another fantastic 5 Star read.

Exactly what I come to a Bailey novel for - great characters with lovely growth arcs and fan yourself nearly every other page steam. I loved Hannah’s relationship with music and those first few pages of texts that were some of the best banter ever.

After reading the first book in this series, I was very interested to see what would happen for Piper's younger sister Hannah and Brendan's friend and colleague, Fox. I loved getting to see the sisters reunite when Hannah visits Oregon again, this time with her colleagues to film a new movie. Her growth throughout the story develops as she seeks to find a connection to her past and find a place for her future. She and Fox have been texting and having small talk continue for the seven plus months that she's been away, but they hit it off right away when they reunite in person. Hannah needs a place to crash while her film crew is working in town and her sister's place isn't available. I loved seeing how Fox fell for Hannah but had to take the time and effort to begin to heal from the pain of his past. In the words of the Bromance Book Club boys (by Lyssa Kay Adams) "Backstory is everything". That quote resonated a lot in my mind as I read Fox's journey of self evaluation and healing from the destruction of a toxic father, a cruel ex, and the harmful words that he's been labelled with almost all of his life. I appreciated that Hannah didn't try to "fix" him or magically make him better overnight. In a world where most women objectify Fox the moment they see him, Hannah stands up for respectful treatment and shows him that real relationships aren't based off of a few moments of physical pleasure.

Fox is used to light and easy romantic interactions but Hannah challenges his ideas about love and slowly he starts to realize how to navigate the tumultuous waters of romance in order to create the love life he's longed for with the woman he'd do anything to be with forever.

In some ways this is a slow burn, the sizzle of attraction is there but every time they get to close to declaring their feelings with a look or a kiss, something interrupts their moment. I loved the delay of that attraction and the time they had to invest with one another before pursuing a physical relationship. I love the atmosphere of this coastal fishing town, the musical and record loving Hannah, and the swoony way that Fox pursues Hannah and prioritizes her and her feelings throughout the book. This was a fast and enjoyable read, I didn't want to put this story down until these two found their way to their happily ever after!

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an advanced copy of this much anticipated book!! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed It Happened Once Summer and I gave it 4 stars so I was excited to get early access to Hannah and Fox's story! I honestly enjoyed this book more than the last. I couldn't put the book down and probably would have read it in one sitting if I didn't have work! The writing had a fast pace and I feel like the relationship progressed really naturally. I was not ready for the story to end!

A friends-to-lovers romance about a music lover who doesn't know how to see herself as a leading lady and a fisherman who wants to put his womanizing past behind him but doesn't quite know how.

I was so excited to get approved for this book l so soon after reading It Happened One Summer! Fox was such a great side character in It Happened One Summer that I couldn’t wait to read his book. This book is worth ALL the hype.
Fox and Hannah’s story was full of chemistry, angst, frustration , SPICE, and down right feistiness. This book embodies and elevates the friends-to-lovers trope to a whole new level. I flew through this book and loved reading about both characters slowly falling in love with each other and overcoming their fears.
This book is HEA with an addictive plot for the ages. I have to say, after reading this book I think Tessa Bailey has become one of my favorite authors! It’s books like this that make me fall head over heels for the romance section all over again!

Tessa Bailey is amazing at writing characters with such distinctive, unique voices. In comparison to IHOS, this book felt much more real in a way; both the relationship between the main characters and their own personal development was so well written as usual, but there was also an added depth with the friends-to-lovers aspect. As much as I adore Brendan and Piper, I think Hannah and Fox’s story might be my favorite out of this series. I wish we could have gotten a bit more after the resolution at the end, as it ended a little abruptly in my opinion. However, I really enjoyed the substantial time jump in the epilogue that gave a look back at the their relationship and allowed us to see into both couple’s lives.

Tessa Bailey does it again! This book was fabulous and a great addition to this series. I could not put this one down and finished in one day!

Thank you for my copy in exchange for a fair review.

Release Date: March 2022 (but it now. you won't regret it.)

Tessa Bailey has outdone herself yet again! Hook, Line, and Sinker is now my favorite of her works. Hook. Line. And Sinker. She got me.

Let me start by saying, I loved Hannah way more than Piper in It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters, #1). This book only made me love her more.

Hannah has never considered herself to be a "leading lady" in life. She's always played more of a support role. (Oh man, can I relate...) Then you have Fox, the ladies man. He was thrown into the role at a young age and rather than escape it, he just accepted it. Both characters had their own journey's to go through and the support that they show one another throughout is so beautiful. Really makes you believe in true love again. That unconditional "I will always be here for you" kind of love.

The friends to lovers trope that develops between Hannah and Fox is perfection. And not only that, but they're so healthy. Hannah's communication skills are A+. She doesn't let Fox hide from his past or his fears and Fox learns to return the favor. Their foundation as friends really shined through when they'd easily recognize that the other still had a lot on their mind. They were open enough with each other to talk things out constantly, no matter how difficult the subject.

Hannah warmed my heart throughout the entire book because she knew Fox was worth the wait. She would stick by him and help him evolve no matter what. And they were much stronger in the end for it. (And can we talk about that epilogue - 10 years later - MY HEARTTT!!!)

I really enjoyed the first book in this duology, It Happened One Summer, but Brendan and his grumpy self weren't really my type. Fox, on the other hand, is <b>everything</b>. There is nothing about that man that I didn't like. Honestly, there was nothing about this book that I did not like. It was perfect for me.

Hook, Line, and Sinker is the supreme rom-com. My favorite thing is that there was no stupid, dramatic fight that makes the couple break up for the sake of a climatic point in the plot. Any arguments that are had are reasonable and real. The emotional journey throughout this book was so well done. (I have the urge to read it again!) Do yourself a favor, pre-order Hook, Line, and Sinker now.

Massive thanks to Avon Books & NetGalley for the eARC!

Tessa Bailey is making a name for herself writing sweet contemporary rom coms with a good amount of ~steam~. Sometimes rom-coms simply fade to black or cut to the end when it comes to heated scenes between the love interests, but Bailey isn't afraid to fully go for it. I believe she deserves praise for that. While Hook, Line and Sinker isn't as steamy as its predecessor, It Happened One Summer, there are still plenty of juicy moments. However I also feel this fits the characters story. Hannah is more down to earth as opposed to her sister and Fox is fighting his player reputation. While these two romantic interests don't have the raw magnetism of Piper and Brandon, their friends to lovers arch is just as compelling.

I would recommend this book to previous Tessa Bailey readers and anyone who is a seasoned romance reader but wants something with more spice.

Hook, Line, and Sinker is the third Tessa Bailey book I started, the second I finished and the first I actually liked.
Funnily enough, I DNF'ed the first book in this duology, It Happened One Summer, because nothing about it worked for me, but my biggest reason for dropping it was the pace of the relationship, which went by way too fast for me. This one, though, was near perfect. Yeah, they do kiss pretty early on. Yeah, they're kind of already in love with each other when the book starts. But the time they took to actually get together surprised me considering the other books I've read by Bailey. But I'll admit, it did get to a point where I started to get sick of it.
There was a lot of repetition, with Fox (also, can we talk about his name? Fox Thorton? Isn't just "Fox" bad enough?) just repeating the same cycle of thought pretty much every chapter. And while I prefer long, slow-burn romances, this one was just... too long. The book is huge. A good bit of it could've been cut with no injury to the story. Also, miscommunication at the 80% mark? Can we please leave this behind already. The conflict, too, fell flat after the third time of the characters admiting to it. Like, yeah, Fox is a manwhore with attachment issues. We got it the first time you said it.
But I did like it. It's not my favorite romance, but it's also not my least favorite, which must count for something, right? .... right?

I loved Hannah’s story even more than Piper’s. This follow up was great and being back in Westport on the water felt wonderful. Fox and Hannah’s friends to lovers story was so well done, highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Hook, Line, and Sinker! This book was everything I needed in a romance and I loved it! The tattooed fisherman who finds he’s more than just a body. A woman finding her confidence and becoming a leading lady in all aspects. Also Fox and his mother’s moments in the book were great! Tessa Bailey does it again