Thanks Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley for the digital ARC!

DNF'd @ 15%

I went into this excited based on the description! Unfortunately this is definitely not for me. I didn't feel any connection between the love interests and the way that Julian constantly only focused on her breasts from the first meeting was off-putting for me.

This was my first Tessa Bailey book, so i can't compare this to her other books!

Just finished this advanced readers copy, thanks NetGalley: I really enjoyed this and the characters. The characters really grow throughout the book, and I liked the side characters as well. It was a bit slow moving at first but then got plenty spicy 🌶️.

The Napa/Wine country setting was an interesting backdrop and I am looking forward to the next boom in this series!

This book was not Tessa Bailey's best. While I typically love opposites attract and small-town romance tropes, this book felt like it was trying to force both of these tropes together and let the tropes save the plot. I loved the spice and the tension between the characters. But the story outside of the romance was rushed and didn't always make sense. I love Tessa Bailey, but this book fell a bit flat. But I'm still excited for the second book in this series and hope I will love it like I love Tessa Bailey's other books!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Avon for letting me read an eARC of Secretly Yours! I’ve loved all of the Tessa Bailey books I’ve read so far, so I was the most excited to read this one!
Secretly Yours 3/5 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: A steamy new rom-com about a starchy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn...
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 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 to 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 gray-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.
I was so, so excited for Secretly Yours and as I was reading it, I was just so disappointed! It was so hard to stay in the book, because I just really did not like Hallie as a main character and I felt nothing for Julian as a love interest, so their story meant nothing to me and everything either of them did annoyed me. The whole secret admirer letters could have been such a fun element for their relationship, but nope, didn’t happen. The fact that they had a tiny bit of history was drawn out more than the baby kiss they shared should have been. I get why Tessa Bailey did the whole saving the small, local wine bar thing, but man, it felt so forced at the beginning and I was not a fan. The world seemed really cool though and I feel like there’s so much promise in this series, but this one just didn’t work for me. I know book two is about Julian’s sister though, and I already know that I’m going to like that book more, so I cannot wait to read it! So, overall, while Secretly Yours wasn’t 100% the book for me, I think if you’re bored and if you’re looking for an easy read (and you have a high tolerance for books that are a little annoying), definitely pick this one up, because book two is on the horizon!

Link to be added once post goes live

Hallie has had a crush on Julian Vos since high school, and he just returned to their small town for the summer. She’s planting flowers on his family’s estate, and all her feelings come rushing back. Julian, is a grumpy professor who has a type A personality and the polar opposite to Hallie a carefree down to earth wild child. After a drunken night, Hallie writes Julian a secret admirer letter to let him know how she feels.

I really enjoyed Hook, Line, & Sinker and It Happened One Summer, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. I was a little disappointed by Secretly Yours, but I also enjoyed it! But it was a lot of lows with little highs. The plot was slow, the characters were inconsistent and immature, and the secret admirer letters didn’t add anything to the plot for me, just added unnecessary conflict. The plot with the rivalry of the wine stores, just felt really immature and didn’t add much context to the plot. I did enjoy the romance and the spice, the polar opposite of the main characters. Hallie was really immature and just not an attractive personality, Julian was a very type A personality but then he would objectify Hallie and his dirty talk didn’t add up with his demeanour. This novel wasn’t my cup of tea.

My copy was given to me from Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review #ad

Romance: ❤️❤️
Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶
Plot points: 💥💥
Stars: ⭐️⭐️

I have a little bit of a love hate relationship with Tessa Bailey. I love her books because they’re fun and steamy as all get out.

But her men don’t always hit quite right.

I like Julian much better than some of her older MMC’s, but he’s definitely no Fox (iykyk). His character was a little rocky to me. The mental health part of his story was wonderfully fleshed out, but the some of him felt a little stilted and forced.

Hallie was sunshine through and through, though. I loved her quirks; they felt really believable.

The plot itself for this one was so stinking cute. It was really fun overall, but not my favorite by Tessa.

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

Tessa Bailey writes the most feel good, funny, romance books. I was grinning from start to finish during this dual POV opposites attract story.

This is the romance book for you if you love:
- wine
- saving a small business
- grumpy professors
- she falls first but he falls harder
- secret pinning
- a healthy amount of online stalking
- lite vandalism (totally justified, no worries)

Full of laugh out loud moments and a bit of spice, Secretly Yours will hook you from the start. It was released on February 7th and if it's not already on your tbr, it should be!
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Special thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing a free copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

I really wanted to love this as I love Tessa Bailey; however, I’m not sure why this book didn’t click with it. As expected, it is a summer, day at the beach type fluff read, but it took me several attempts to finally power through the book. I didn’t love the plot or characters. For a lighthearted read, it felt like the story dragged on way too long. I did love the small town, second chance of love setting though.

I love romance novels but this one was just ok for me. The main character is supposed to be 29 years old but it's not believable, especially the "secret admirer" letters she writes. And I like a good spicy sex scene but this book was cringey. This book was a no for me.

I struggled with this one. The story was ok and unfortunately I didn’t like the characters for some reason.

This one just wasn’t for me .

The plot for this one wasn't really my jam, but Tessa is always a treat. I can't wait to read the next one.

Tessa Bailey does not wrong. Sexy, funny, and fun. This is one of her best books yet. Tessa has my money each and every time she puts pen to paper.

I have loved literally every book I have picked up by Tessa ! I was SO glad to receive this on netgalley. Unfortunately I just got around to it but I am SO glad I didn't put it off any longer. I really enjoyed Hallie and Julian's story. It was fun, relatable and just another fast paced read I couldn't seem to put down all weekend. I honestly can't wait for the sequel and hope to read more about how Julian has adjusted to the newfound chais he has welcomed in his life thanks to Hallie.

Thank you so much to Avon and Harper Voyager and to Netgalley for an earc of Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey.

This one is for lovers of:
-secret admirer
-opposites attract
-grumpy/sunshine
-Spicy romance
-anxiety and panic attack representation

This one started out strong for me! I loved how quirky Hallie was and how serious Julian was. Their interactions were good at the start and you could see how they were both going to help each other develop. I felt like Julian’s personality changed so much from every day to steamy times and that was a bit jarring for me. While I loved the secondary characters, I felt like there were so many different possible story lines added to the novel that it felt a little all over the place and it didn’t allow for full resolutions for events that had already started. I also felt the 3rd act conflict and its resolution was a bit off to the rest of the story.

The writing was well done and while this is a solid 3 star read for me I know that many others will love it so much.

Love these books of the Napa siblings. This is the story of Julian who has returned to the vineyard to write a book. He runs into Hallie a crazy uninhibited grader, but doesn’t realize she has been into him they almost kissed during a party when he was a senior in high school. Julian is serious and all business, and Hallie is utter chaos. Can a little secret admirer spark life back into Julian?

I really enjoy Tessa Bailey as an author and adore some of her books, but I don’t think this particular book was for me.

I liked the beginning of this book but as it progressed I found it kinda odd at parts. It was not bad by any means but some of the plot points had me like confused and asking why.

The secret admirer letters were not my favorite, especially towards the end of the book. That ending conflict and resolution was just odd to me. It felt odd and quick.

I don’t know, I just have mixed feelings. Overall, it was an okay book but not one I’ll probably ever read again.

We have a cute enemies to lovers romcom set in wine country. Hallie is chaotic and free while Julian is rigid and schedule oriented.

This book just didn’t work for me. It felt as chaotic as Hallie was. I enjoyed the 3 letters we got and their interactions with each other but those were few and far between. If you’re going to write a book about secret admirer then do it don’t just throw a couple pieces in and be done because it left me feeling disappointed. I was also disappointed on how she grossed over Julian’s anxiety and panic attacks. What a wonderful addition to his character that could create amazing emotional moments, teaching/learning moments and yet we get nothing but a description of the attack and the fall out for him (sorta). We also don’t get resolution on the competing wine bar across the street which felt wrong after spending half the book talking about it and fixing up the local establishment. The only saving grace for this book was the pacing and humor.

The good: I love a good opposites attract, especially when the male love interest is the more regimented, uptight sort and the female character is complete sunshine in a bottle. That is definitely the case here. And for a lot of the book, I thought the banter between them was fun. It was kind of oddly paced at times though and the first spicy scene, whilst I didn’t mind it, felt a bit out of nowhere. Julian and Hallie have enough going for them in their interactions that I liked them and felt like I wanted them to get together. I enjoyed Julian’s bewilderment at his changing feelings for Hallie, how she began to throw him off his perfectly orchestrated schedule and how he wanted to do things that made her happy, even when those things were very out of character for him. I felt like this story had such promise…..but there were things that just made little sense.

I know it is sometimes common in romance for characters to be hung up on one interaction from years ago but honestly, Hallie is on another level. They almost kissed when she was fourteen and Julian stopped it because he was like 18 or something at the time. Okay, good. He should definitely do that. He didn’t realise that she was younger than him at first. But Hallie just….never basically has a meaningful relationship ever. She’s still stuck on this one time she went for a walk with someone when she was in her mid teens. My son is fourteen. Like how are you comparing everyone to one interaction that barely was, that happened when you were not even old enough to watch an MA movie on your own? It honestly gave vibes that were concerning, rather than cute. It wasn’t like it was a relationship that ended, or even several meaningful and lasting encounters. It was literally ONE walk that probably lasted a few minutes. And Hallie is still obsessed with it.

I think this might be my favorite of Tessa Bailey’s books yet! I expected it to be cute, fluffy, and smutty and it definitely was (the dirty talk was off the charts 🥵) but it was also surprisingly impactful. I loved everything about it.

As someone who struggles with panic attacks and control issues, it was really interesting to read Julian’s pov’s. His panics and the secluded silences that follow closely resemble my anxious and depressive episodes and it was beautiful to see him accepting those parts of him and learning to see them not as flaws but as symbols of his protective nature towards his loved ones.

The whole book seems to revolve around the idea that life comes at you fast and change comes whether or not you want it to. You can either let the current sweep you off your feet or you can learn to move with it. Sometimes the current isn’t so much a thing, but a person. And although you should never want to change yourself for a partner, there is an argument to be made for both parties to change and grow together. To me, nothing describes the realities of love in adulthood more than that: “A chance to grow alongside someone, to adjust together until you meet in the middle.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon US for an eARC of Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey in exchange for an honest review.

CW: sexual content, death of a loved one (not on page), panic attacks, mental health, dissociation, fire, emotional abuse, see full list on StoryGraph.

Hallie and Julian both find themselves back in the small town in Washington state where they grew up. Unbeknownst to Julian, Hallie has always had a crush on him and begins to write him secret admirer letters. Romance ensues.

*Le sigh* I was thoroughly disappointed and unimpressed with this first novel in Tessa Bailey's new series. I had a really hard time believing the chemistry between Hallie and Julian. The steamy scenes were, of course, steamy, as is expected from a Tessa bailey novel, but when the steam has no true basis in romance, it just feels out of place. I also found that the central conflicts did not hold enough water. It was kind of a rivalry between vineyards/wine tasting rooms, sort of an inner turmoil for Julian to overcome. Idk. Overall, I just thought the plot could have used more workshopping, as it felt a bit of a mess.

I'm as much of a fan of Tessa Bailey as the next romance reader, but this was not her best work.