It is not surprising that Tessa Bailey is romance royalty but I think we can all agree that she is also the Queen of Dirty talk because WOW Julian Vos is a serious main character. Bailey loves delivering men who are just obsessed with her female main characters, who just come undone at a single look from them and it is so fun to read. Hallie was really loveable, as were her motivations and mistakes. We also get to watch Julian really deal with some family trauma and anxiety while support Hallie in her work (behind the scenes) to clean up her disordered life. This was so good and you truly cannot go wrong with any Tessa Bailey book - I just hate that it took me so long to dive into this title!! Granted it has only been out since 2/07/23 BUT a month and a half feels like too much time to go without this book in my life.

This book was chaotic, and steamy with some of the best writing just as Tessa Bailey always does in her writing. A crush since high school = is the best and cutest but absolutely messy rom-com. This book was cute and happy I loved how completely opposite Hallie and Julian were but how perfectly they were together. As always I absolutely adored this novel and can't wait for more from the fantastic Tessa bailey.

I really loved this one. Tessa bailey is one of my favorite authors. Definitely will continue on in the series!!

Hallie is a humongous ray of sunshine throughout the book. This is my third Tessa Bailey romance. She fully delivered with Julian and Hallie. Their town was amazing and made me want to go visit. The author does a great job of developing the surrounding characters as well. The book made me laugh and it pulled at the heartstrings. Hope everyone enjoys the read.

I loved Tessa’s Bellinger Sisters series, so I was excited to read a new series from her - and that cover! I couldn’t resist requesting this one.

Julian and Hallie are opposites - he lives his life in absolutes, strict and scheduled, and she very much goes with the flow. But she’s also had a massive crush on him since high school and when he comes back into town, she can’t resist making sure they cross paths again. And when they do, it’s instant sparks, despite him not remembering her. One night, Hallie drunkenly leaves him a secret admirer letter, and then a whole new layer of confusion begins - he feels connected to the letter writer AND Hallie, and subsequently feels guilty. Meanwhile, Hallie writes a few more letters and also feels guilty. Chaos ensues.

I read this one fairly quickly, but overall, it was definitely not my favorite of hers. I wasn’t invested in Julian and Hallie as a couple, their decisions together and separately annoyed me, and I found the secret admirer plot line to be unnecessary. The best part of this book was Julian’s sister Natalie’s verbally combative relationship with August, who luckily will be the center of the next book in the series.

Ok, I’ll be the first to say that Tessa Bailey books are really hit or miss for me, and that half the time they’re so unrealistic that I can’t get into them but…I actually loved this one.

Hallie’s been in love with Julian Vos since their almost-kiss at a high school party when he found out she was a freshman and walked away (bonus points for not being a creep 👏). Now, 15 years later, Julian is back in town and Hallie has been hired to landscape the garden in front of his cottage. They know right off the bat that they’re completely wrong for each other but can’t seem to stay away.

I always love a complex manic pixie dream girl and having the love interest be polar opposite was fantastic. I also thought the anxiety rep was really well done, especially the internal struggle with believing you’re not good enough.

I hate a miscommunication trope as much as the next bookstagrammer but I was surprised by how well it worked in the story. I also loved that it framed “changing yourself for someone else” as more of a compromise between two people, since that’s basically what a functioning relationship is.

I'm basically just waiting for book 2 now because I freaking loved Julian's sister.

Secretly Yours, Tessa Bailey’s newest novel, is set in the Napa vineyards and features a romance between opposites Hallie and Julian. Haley is an eccentric, chronically late, mess of a gardner and Julian is a hot, uptight college professor. The two almost kissed in high school and Haley has been obsessed with Julian since…⁣
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⁣This was an easy read, but honestly I never quite got hooked by either Julian or Hallie. The secret admirer aspect of the plot didn’t really work and felt like a silly side story meant to add conflict. The pacing was SLOW and the rest of the plot was just iffy. I didn’t care about the vineyards or any of the side characters. ⁣
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⁣On a positive note, there is plenty of chemistry and fantastic smut. I just wish the plot would have been better! ⁣
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⁣Three stars! This isn’t Tessa Bailey’s best work, but I’ll totally read the next in this series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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⁣Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in return for my honest review.

I really loved the personalities in this book. Hallie, Julian, Natalie, Lavinia, almost all the characters in the book were great, funny, relatable. The spice was decent. That said, this book is a whole bunch of miscommunication/lack of communication trope on steroids. I really dislike this trope as a plot device because I'm really big on communicating, so books about characters that don't communicate and just make a lot of assumptions are frustrating and unrelatable. A solid 63% of this book would be non-existent if Julian and Hallie had just talked to each other. I personally like my books to have more substance than that, but I understand why some people like them. The characters were endearing enough to keep me reading though, so that's a bonus!

This book had all the marks of a good romance book, Location-Wine country Occupation-Florist/writer, and a crush that has been brewing since high school. And course there is some drama in there.

There was some really cute parts in the book, like he says he will do anything just to see her smile and he stepping in when someone is yelling at her. The only complaint I have is about the main character. Sometimes her actions just seemed so juvenile and I just didn't want to continue on with the book. Lucky I did, it turned at to be a sweet romance read. I ended giving this book 3/5 stars. I had to rank it against the authors' other books that I read and while this was good it didn't beat out her other books that I loved like "My Killer Vacation"

It started off with sooooo much potential….but it fell so flat. I ended up skimming a lot of the book bc it just dragged on so much. I loved the idea of the letters but they ended up being a big part of the book even though there were a total of 4 letters and then the lie by omission was annoying and seemed a bit overkill.

I will say Julian has my heart- and that dirty talk was literally 10/10!

Don’t get me wrong, I will be reading the next book and anything by Tessa I can get my hands on! She’s still one of my go to authors!

What a delicious novel by Tessa Bailey!

I started reading Secretly Yours right when I needed to. It has endearing characteristics and is the ideal palate cleanser.

Even though it wasn't your typical grumpy/sunshine combination, Hallie the chaotic sunshine and Julian the strait-laced grump were in the same ballpark. Hallie is a hilarious female main character who occasionally made me laugh aloud. Her exchanges with Julian were sweet and funny. The character of Hallie's best friend Lavinia was one of my favorites. She strategically injected humor and color.

Slow burn, lots of wine, a small-town atmosphere, messages from secret admirers, and belly-laughs FMC

I had a love hate feeling with this read. It Happened One Summer and Hook, Line, & Sinker will continue to be her best work in my opinion! I loved her chaotic gardening and his strict schedule. Grumpy/sunshine & opposites attract!! I was not a fan of the letters and virginity scene. Overall, I was more invested in the sister’s story and can’t wait to read it when it comes out! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for a review!

Ya'll, it's no secret that Tessa is one of my favorite writers. I've probably said this before, but I'd read the phone book if she were the author. She always finds a way to make her characters a little different and quirky, yet relatable and relevant. Hallie definitely fit that bill as the unorganized gardener who needed a little guidance, especially when matched against our hero, Julian. These two characters could not have been more different, but it's true what they say: opposites attract, and while Hallie needed someone in her life to help her (for lack of a better term) 'clean up' a little, Julian definitely needed someone to make his life a little bit messy. And their chemistry was amazing.

My only issue was that I really thought the letters would be a bigger part of the story (considering the title of the book). It felt like there would have been more letters exchanged, and a bit more connection between the characters in secret while they were growing together in person.

All in all, though, as usual, Tessa knocked it out of the park with the start to this latest series, and I'm looking forward to what's next!

Oh man, the potential! I love a quirky curvy female main character, but just once could the guy be the one who is scattered with nothing figured out? Also, the shift in someone so buttoned up and reserved to straight up filthy talk...was a little bit much. Listen, I love some spicy talk (like a lot) but it was so out of character that I just couldn't get on board with this one.

I honestly don't shame anyone for their sexual choices, to either have or not have it. But when you have a MC who is 29 and (ugh I don't like any of the terminology I could use here) inexperienced, I have to imagine that even in the heat of the moment there's going to be some reservations. But no. Nope. Not for this MC. Straight to dj'ing and banging it out in the dirt.

The absolute most relatable moments of this book are Julian's anxiety attacks. Everything else, from the weak as heck "miscommunications" and the angst between then just fell flat for me. Typically, I am here for Tessa's sexy scenes, but this one had language that had me legit dry heaving. Like, why? Why? There's so many better ways to describe things sexually.

Did I have fun? For the most part. I'm not sorry I gave it a read, but it's not making.a fave list for the year. But, there's a book for everyone and there's nothing categorically wrong with it (except for one problematic comment about a non-matching outfit being schizophrenic, which isn't cool). I'll still read from the author, but I do hope to see more curvy rep in a book that I can rave about soon!

2.5 stars. I marked this book as read over a month ago, but I noticed recently that I’d actually stopped at 77%. I don’t feel compelled to go back and finish because—for a Tessa Bailey book—this story was weak. For me, the miscommunication between the MCs carried on too long which caused frustration and boredom. That being said, I’ll definitely read the 2nd book in the series because the next pairing appeals to me more.

So this author is a hit or miss for me. while this book was entertaining, it fell just a tad flat in some areas. I did enjoy the “grumpy x sunshine” trope ( wasn’t technically that) but you get my drift. I love when characters are opposite in books, it just brings so much depth of done right. I wanted more from the letters, I thought that would be a main point in this but it was like the author forgot and then made space to throw it in the story. I also really hate the miscommunication trope when done wrong and I just didn’t care for this one. 3.5⭐️

This book was fine.

It had everything you’d expect from a Tessa Bailey novel (big, protective man with a dirty mouth + stunning woman with a solid cast of side characters), with the addition of what I believe to be fantastic anxiety/panic attack representation, as well as a look at grief.

But I found myself skimming a lot and my inner “chemistry meter” never really went off for Hallie and Julian. The spicy scenes were hot, definitely, but the rest was just kind of… meh.

But will I still read the next book in this series? Duh.

I had an ARC of this book and I loved it so much I had to buy a copy the minute it was released. I am a huge Tessa Bailey fan and this book did not disappoint!

Hallie and Julian are so cute together, and I loved the grumpy-sunshine nature of their relationship. Hallie and Julian really had amazing character development throughout the book making me fall more in love with their characters and with them as a couple.

Such a good read, I would highly recommend to friends.

I wanted to like this book but it was really really not for me.

I didn't understand why the conflict was the conflict. The two MCs embodied their stereotypes in a way that wasn't cute...just annoying. I get it, one is chaos and one is organized. The both were also immature times 10...I spent a lot of time questioning their ages since apparently, we were the same age.

I also wanted to note, I was quite uncomfortable with the first sex scene (this isn't the first time with a TB book, Fix Her Up lives rent free in my head and not in a good way). it was his sexual fantasy and it just didn't work for me as the first intro. I spent a lot of time cringing.

I did enjoy the setting....Napa is such a setting more authors should use because it's perfect.

Okay we’ve got a gardener and an author and I honestly couldn’t ask for anything better. Wait… but this is grumpy sunshine too!! And it takes place at a CA vineyard!!

I truly adored this story, and in true Tessa Bailey fashion, I absolutely devoured it IMMEDIATELY after starting it. Tessa always incorporates wonderful family dynamics to accompany the romance, and while that’s not necessary, it does add so much depth and complexity to characters, making them feel real. I’m constantly impressed and amazed with Tessa, this book is no exception!