Another super cute read from Tessa Bailey! I love her writing so much, and she always manages to make her Heroes scorching hot. It was really fascinating to read from a man's POV as he experiences debilitating panic attacks. The storyline is a little silly, what with the love leaders and the lack of transparency between adult lovers, but that's kind of a given for most romances. Still one of my go-to authors for contemporary romance <3

Was a much slower start than many of the books I’ve loved from Tessa, but I still fell in love with the characters by the last page. Love the dynamics of who Hallie and Julian are and who they become as they learn to love each other and themselves.

This book took ne a while to get through because my mood reading was kicking my butt. This is a more like cute read and is kind of on the cheesy side. It was also my first read from this author so I'm not use to her style. Overall, I would say it was a light quick read

Alright I am going to be brutally honest here… this was not one of my favorite books of Tessa’s. There was a lot going on (their relationship, their secret letters, Vos winery problems, Vos family problems, Julian problems, Hallie’s problems, corked problems) She was throwing seven different kinds of smoke at us! I also thought the relationship felt a little…. insta-y 😬. I mean overall it was an OK read. I see where Tessa was trying to go, and loved the premise of a small town wine country feel, and a female gardener/plant enthusiast. Hallie was a ray of sunshine and her personality was my favorite! And even though this book wasn’t an absolute hit for me, I’m still excited to read Unfortunately Yours (book 2) coming out later this year!

Tropes:
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- High school crush
- Insta-y
- Small Town
- Opposites Attract

[thank you @avonbooks for the free copy, all opinions are my own]

This was a fun, easy, and very steamy romance from Tessa Bailey. It wasn't my favorite rom-com, but I'm sure fans of her other books will love it.

This was a sweet look at the less-than-perfect female protagonist (she seems to have ADHD, and is disorganized) with a heart of gold and a professor who seems to have it all together but who suffers from anxiety. This wasn't my favorite of Tessa Bailey's romances, but the characters had cute quirks and lots of charm. I definitely felt that the supporting characters were far less interesting and the idea that this took place in Napa seemed a little out of place. Overall, the romance was spicy and the plot was a lot of fun.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I don't typically read these types of books (thought I'd attempt to branch out), so take my review with a grain of salt. Firstly, did not know there was going to be a huge smut element here, so that was a bit of a shocker.

In terms of actual storyline, it had one, but I did not find it terribly interesting. I felt the anxiety B-story was not super necessary and it led to a lot of unnecessary miscommunication and confusion at the end. Likewise, I didn't have any investment in the characters either way. If they ended up together or not didn't really matter to me. They were kind of one dimensional (i.e. Hallie -> no method to her flower planting -> therefore a huge mess; Julian -> professor of something I'm not sure you can be a professor in -> rigid). The characters developed very quickly so I didn't think it fostered very much investment in the outcome.

I probably wouldn't pick up another of her books, but if you are just looking for something light and sexy maybe this will be a win for you. Not typically my wheelhouse so I'll skip going forward!

Tessa Bailey is usually one of my auto-buy authors, but this one fell flat for me. I didn't especially love the characters, and the story was just okay. I felt like she was trying to do a little too much here, especially with the character of Hallie

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyer Publishing, Tessa Bailey, and NetGalley for this eARC!
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Hallie & Julian are the epitome of opposites attract! He has the next ten years planned down to the minute, and she hasn’t thought about what’s she will do ten minutes from now.
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Read if you like:
✉️ Anonymous Love Letters
🌀 Calm meets Chaos
💕 Returned Teenage Crush
📚 Professor Love Interest
👩🏻‍🦰 Quirky FMC
👿 If Shes Upset I’m Upset

this was a typical Tessa Bailey book that was more focused on the sex than building a romance. I also thought the crush aspect was a little weird for how into him she was after all the years.

This was my first Tessa Bailey book and it was just okay.. I had high hopes since everyone loved her recent book, It Happened One Summer. This one just really fell flat for me. I didn’t connect with the characters, and I thought the storyline jumped around way too much. It was weird to leave him secret letters. I felt like she was trying too hard to create the perfect love story. Overall, it’s a decent cheesy rom com that doesn’t stand out. I personally wouldn’t be running to stores on pub day to buy it.

Secretly Yours was a cute romcom that hit on multiple tropes including second chance romance (although I wouldn’t personally classify it as such), grumpy/sunshine and small town. It was a quick read that also touched on anxiety and dealing with panic attacks. I thought the main relationship felt a little more Insta-love than second chance so I would recommend if that is something you enjoy. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC.

Secretly Yours has a lot of delicious tropes a lot of us enjoy - small town romance, grumpy x sunshine, instalove and lots of spice and yet, it kind of missed the mark for me. Hallie is twenty nine and the fact that always being late and being scattered is sold as cute when she's a business owner just kinda made me instantly dislike her. Not to mention a lot of the mischief she partook in felt incredibly childish and it just did not translate as playful. The sexual tension between Julian and Hallie, while steamy (that kitchen scene!) felt like it lacked something - the chemistry just did not translate well for me which made the insta-love difficult to believe.

This was not the best Tessa Bailey. The romance was kind of weird and there was too much of a contrast of the instalove of the hero and pining of the heroine. It was bizarre. However, I did love the town and the characters of the town. They reminded me of the community in Gilmore Girls with its quirky, charming characters.

Honestly, Tessa Bailey books are gonna be a no from me from now on. I loved it happened one summer but every book I've read by her since then had fallen flat, this one included.
This book has small town vibes where the fmc becomes the gardener for her high school crush, but he doesn't remember her. I liked the small town set up that she described and I even like most of the characters in this book.
However, Julian, the mmc, just was really 2D. I felt like his whole personality was anxiety and sex. Another this I was disappointed by the storyline of corked vs uncorked. Literally we hear all about these two stores then about 2/3 the way through the book it's just like never mentioned again until the very end. This book just wasn't it.

Secretly Yours was hit or miss for me. My first reaction was fairly positive because I loved how much the characters seemed to genuinely love each other and respected their flaws. Anxiety rep in a male main character is a rare find too. But then as the story continues, the connection that Hallie created in her mind from one almost kiss with Julian was a little creepy for me, especially as she refuses any other man based on what she thought he might be like. The notes they leave for each other felt unnecessary and under used.

I can see how some readers will fall head over heels with this series though and always love mental health issues discussed in an upfront manner in books.

I’ve really enjoyed the last Tessa Bailey books Avon has published, I had high hopes Secretly Yours would be a win for me. I knew pretty early on into reading that this book was not working for me. The characters were very unlikable (in my opinion) and at 25% I did not care to read any further. DNF.

I really enjoyed this! the mental health rep was a surprise, and I enjoyed that it was a male who had the anxiety issues. The fact that they had an interesting and intricate past was a great addition as well. Plus the spice level here was perfect, Tessa Bailey does a great job

Thank you to Avon Publishing and Tessa Bailey for sending me an ARC of Secretly Yours. However, I will not be sharing my opinion or full review of the book until Harper Collins successfully reaches a deal with the union workers asking for better pay.

Update 3/2/2023: Harper Collins has reached.a deal with the union workers and they have since returned to work.

Unfortunately, I have DNF'd this book. I wanted to like it so much because I love Tessa Bailey's books. I really like the idea of premise and Hallie's chaos wherever she goes! But Julian's personality feels more like a cardboard cutout. I know he's supposed to be subdued because of his anxiety issues but it just feels like he has zero personality at all. Even his feelings for Hallie haven't made me feel anything.

I'm not saying that I'll never return to this book or series, but it's just not for me right now.

I've been TRYING very hard to get on to Tessa Bailey books. For some reason, they do not resonate with me! This one certainly fell flat, unfortunately. The one thing I DO love about TB books is that her spicy scenes are CERTAINLY spicy. They're top tier. The actual romance in this book, however, seemed to fall short for me.