RomCom between rich boy and selfemployed girl. They are secretly falling in live in their dreams, but they dont know that they are also falling in live in the real life. Real life is not just about love and happiness but also dealing with their pwn demons and ovrrcoming them before letting love of your life in. - Sex is also nice. Not my favorite Tessa Bailey but it was good enough.

I was disappointed in this book. I have read Tessa Bailey’ s books before and enjoyed them but just could not get into this one

Absolutely loved! When I tell you I read this in one sitting. Did not get up, or stop at any point.. just read and read until the end. Cute, funny, and was everything I needed in that moment. I can’t wait for the next one!

A fun grumpy/sunshine romance. The main characters' attraction feels a little too immediate and under-developed, but their dedication and constant support and friendship makes their happy ending feel more earned.

Boy did I need this book! Fun, light, silly, laugh out loud goodness! Opposites in every way and both seemingly with very different lifestyles and attitudes, somehow they seem to make each other better. I anxiously await the next in the series.

Thank you Avon Books for my copy of Secretly Yours! All thoughts are my own.

It’s no secret I’m a fan of Tessa Bailey’s books. I like that they make me step back and get completely lost in the Romance because they’re a little absurd and always a good time. I was excited to dive into a new series by here and while I liked this book some, it won’t dethrone any of my other favorites. I didn’t vibe with the characters, I wish the plus size rep was a little more thought out, and things didn’t align for me.

Synopsis:

“Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small Napa town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she’ll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless—and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She’s eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt—and so unbelievably beautiful, he can’t focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he’s sucked further into Hallie’s orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian’s grey-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there’s something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down. “ —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Setting—Napa always makes me think of Nick Parker from The Parent Trap so I loved the setting so much. I haven’t explored much of the West Coast and this book made me want to book a trip to a vineyard ASAP.

Hallie—I liked Hallie! I found her fun and a little relatable, but the story was still aspirational. She definitely felt like a classic Tessa Bailey heroine in some ways, but she also felt a little two dimensional to me.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

The Tropes—Maybe it’s because I read another book that used letters so well, but I just didn’t buy into this second chance romance.

The Tone—Everything felt a little flat to me. Like, ultimately I just didn’t feel like what was happening made any kind of sense. I’m all for the suspension of disbelief, especially in a Tessa novel, but I couldn’t get into it.

The Structure—I think it came down to the structure and just feeling like the whole situation was just a little confusing to me. And I didn’t vibe with Julian at all!

Character Authenticity: 2/5 Spice Rating: 3/5 Overall Rating: 2.5/5
Content Warnings:

panic attacks, anxiety, PTSD, fire, grief, death of a parent

Another amazing story from Tessa Bailey. So sweet, sexy and fun. Julian and Hallie are such well written and amazing characters. Such brilliantly flawed but feel so real. A must read.

Another Tessa Bailey series? Sign me up. The buttoned-up male lead and wild female lead is a tried-and-true romance formula that's been done plenty of times (including by Tessa Bailey herself), and these two were so much fun the entire book. This book is pure candy -- can't wait for the next in the series.

This was my least favorite Tessa Bailey book so far.
I think she lost a little bit of her excellent dirty talk in this one. I cringed a couple of times in this one which is not something that I normally struggle with in romance much less a Tessa Bailey book.
The romance was pretty good though and I adored Julian for his buttoned-up nature. The anxiety representation in this book was really well done.

This book is a delightful twist on the classic grumpy-sunshine trope. Julian, a professor who thrives on structure, meets Hallie, a free-spirited gardener who is always late and can't stick to a plan. Despite their differences, they find that they need each other in unexpected ways.

I adored both Julian and Hallie as individual characters and as a couple. The chemistry between them is magnetic, and their banter is both funny and sexy. Tessa Bailey definitely knows how to write a steamy sex scene that will leave you swooning!

The supporting characters are equally well-crafted and add depth to the story. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next installment in this series.

This one is as funny as it is predictable, but I enjoyed it perhaps because of that predictability. There's something to say about a book with low stakes that manages to catch your attention with fun characters you can relate to.
Hallie is a bit of a mess. Her unorthodox upbringing makes her somewhat ditzy when it comes to making decisions and sticking to things, yet what makes her endearing is seeing how hard she's working towards finding some balance in her life. Julian runs his life as structured and scheduled as possible because that's how he's learned to cope with his issues, and it gives him a sexy, uptight vibe that really works within the story. You put them together and even they think that it's a bad idea, yet they somehow work perfectly together. They're the counterweight they both need to find balance in their lives.
It's inevitable that they figure it out, which is why I say it's predictable. However, getting to the point where they accept how perfect they are for each other is so much fun and filled with so many memorable and enjoyable moments that it perfectly illustrates why I love rom-coms as much as I do.
There's also the fact that the side characters are interesting and fully formed to the point where you really do feel like they're living their lives off the page as Hallie and Julian work things out. It made me interested in the world around the main characters and added extra depth to the story.
Overall, it's a fun, romantic, and highly enjoyable story that I'm happy I read.

Happy thanks to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the fun romance read!

Another sweet and charming romance from Tessa Bailey! When Tessa releases a new book, I'm definitely going to pick it up. Secretly Yours was a great read that was entertaining and full of swoon-worthy (and steamy) romance. I'm so excited to see how the series continues with Unfortunately Yours. While it's not my favourite of her books, it's still a solid romance that leaves you wanting more!

I just love Tessa Bailey so much. She does a great job at humorous, witty, quirky romance fun, and Secretly Yours has all of that wrapped up in the perfect Summer Romance packaged..

My first Tessa Bailey and I'm glad it was because I was not disappointed. I've read so many reviews about her books being a hit or miss but this one was definitely a hit. I adored both characters. The story was super cute. The only thing was the dirty talk, it had me laughing out loud every single time. What a turn off!!!

Yes yes yes. Tessa girl, you're my person. I feel like we get each other. Secretly Yours made me smile so big and I sped read finished in one setting. Hallie Welch was SO likeable. For fans of Tessa, this one is a no brainer. One click it. Thank you to Ms Bailey and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good not great Tessa Bailey book BUT I still couldn’t put it down and devoured it in one day. The best part of the book is Hallie and Julian. She’s a free-spirited gardener and he’s a type-A professor, opposites in every way. Their grump/sunshine dynamic was on point and their chemistry was really spicy!

So why was it just good?

I Loved:
💕 Hallie is a body positive woman with curves in all the right places.
💕 Hallie & Julian’s chemistry is so 🔥 Their relationship is a perfect mix of sweet and spicy moments.

I didn’t love:
▪️Hallie was low key obsessed with Julian in high-school and to be honest it came across as a bit borderline creepy
▪️ I don’t want to give anything away but their second hook up had a cringe element.
▪️ Supporting characters didn’t stand out at all.

I was so, so disappointed by this book. When I read a Tessa Bailey book, I expect fun characters, sexy times, and a tight plot. I didn't really get any of those at the level I expect from her. The characterization was messy throughout - I never really knew how the characters were going to react in a certain situation and neither of them really endeared me much, so I wasn't rooting for them. The plot was oddly paced. It also felt incredibly unbelievable that Julian wouldn't have realized who his secret admirerer was. I think the book was trying to do way too much with flat characters, so nothing really got accomplished over than disappointing the reader entirely.

This was a cute book and my first by Tessa Bailey! It was definitely more of a lust-based love, but Tessa Bailey’s witty and funny writing style definitely sold it for me. Excited to read the next one!

I love Tessa Bailey books, but unfortunately I didn't connect well with the characters of this one. It's definitely a case of me and not the book! I recommend if you are a fan of fun, steamy rom coms!

2.25

I picked this up because I’ve heard great things about Tessa Bailey, but it was mostly a miss for me. On the one hand it was a quick summery rom com, but for this book I found myself rolling my eyes more than anything else.

The characters felt like caricatures. Hallie’s quirkiness felt forced and tiring and I had a hard time buying into her whining that Julian was “the one who got away” when it turns out they’d had one conversation. And Julian’s 180 from anxious, uptight professor to dirty talking suave “sex god” was jarring. Also if this is indicative of how Tessa Bailey usually writes dirty talk/smut, I’m questioning everyone who has claimed she does it best because I was cringing through all of the sex scenes.

I will not be continuing the series because while I liked Natalie as a character, I did not love the arguing between her and the presumed love interest of the next book. The only thing that’s keeping me from saying that I won’t give Tessa Bailey books another chance is that other reviewers who are big fans of hers have some similar complaints to me on this one.