Tessa Bailey does it again. As someone who uses books as a way to disassociate from the real world I know that I can always count on TB to provide easy, enjoyable, reading. This book was so different. If you’re a fan of It Happened One Summer, Hook, Line, and Sinker, and My Killer Vacation- you’ll love this.

This is my first Tessa Bailey book after hearing rave reviews of her writing for the past few years. I did enjoy her writing and I think that the plot moved quickly enough to keep me interested. I didn't think there was anything special about the plot or characters. I wasn't really hoping for the main characters to end up together, and I didn't feel much chemistry between them either. I'd pick up another Bailey book because I know she has some hits, but I wouldn't say this one was great.

This was a cute rom-com and very steamy. Hallie Welch is a chaotic landscaper who is dealing with the death of her grandmother who was her rock and kept her grounded while her childhood crush Julian Vos is the epitome of staid and straight-laced to deal with his anxiety and panic attacks until they meet again and he can’t help but be drawn to her even though he doesn’t remember her from their almost kiss in his families’ vineyard when she was 14. This was cute and I liked the town and that even though it was Napa it had a small town feel with the locals who Hallie and Julien grew up with. Julian’s sister is a train wreck and I can’t wait to read the sequel which is her story with a fake marriage to get an inheritance which is always a fun trope.

Thanks to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

Well...this book has a super cute cover, but that's about it. I normally love books by this author, so I was pretty disappointed. The basic idea is really cute, but it just didn't work for me.

I feel like the plot was all over the place. Hallie is mad about a new wine store opening next to her favorite wine store...but she's a gardener, not the owner of the store...but then her high school crush is back in town and she does gardening work for him...and his family owns a vineyard...and she writes him a secret admirer letter. He's super rigid in his scheduling and she's a hot mess with barely any schedule at all. She's also a virgin (at 29 - which is fine, don't get me wrong, but the way things happen just seems off to me). They still hook up and the sex descriptions are CRINGY, which is so surprising, because in her other books, they aren't!

Ugh, I don't know. I can't even form my thoughts into a coherent review for this one other than I was super disappointed. I'll still read more from this author because I've LOVED some of her past books. This one just was not her best work.

I am so annoyed because I literally pre-ordered this book and read it in one sitting, but then it takes me FOREVER to post my thoughts.
Of course, to no one's surprise, this book was PERFECT. I'm screaming, I loved it so much.

Tessa always makes me laugh out loud. It's actually concerning and embarrassing how many times I laughed out loud at 2am reading this book. If you love grumpy sunshine you are going to eat this up. It was nothing new but an almost more realistic approach to this tripe because it came from the angle of anxiety, instead of "misunderstood" . It's definitely not a "you're mean to me because you like me!" kind of book. I love the way this tackled how much your life experiences, especially loss and grief affect the way you walk through life. It showed two very opposite examples, but I feel like I could always see a little of myself in both characters.

Overall, just BUY THIS BOOK. Like I'm so obsessed. I can guarantee it will put a smile on your face AND make your day better.

This book was SPICY! And I love it! There’s just something about a man who’s all prim and proper but has a dirty side! Really liked the characters and the storyline was entertaining! Definitely recommend!

I'm a little perplexed at some of the negative reviews. 🤔 You can't compare every Tessa Bailey book to "It happened One Summer". They're all different stories. Anyway, here's how I felt about it:

We've got a stuffy professor named Julian and chaotic Gardner name Hallie. Their story is set in Napa Valley. Hallie is hired by Julian's mother to do some gardening for the Vos Vinyards guesthouse on the estate. Hallie brings with her a unruly pack of dogs and is never truly on time. Her antics rile up Julian who is staying at the guesthouse. Julian is taking a sabbatical from his teaching career to focus on writing a book to prevent himself from having a mental breakdown. He witnessed one of his colleagues completely lose it at Stanford and now he is trying to look after his own mental health. But he does so by making strict schedules and planning every minute of his day to feel in control. Obviously, Hallie disrupts all of this. but Julian starts to realize that a little chaos in his life may not be a bad thing. The anxiety rep in this book was awesome.

Meanwhile, Hallie has been secretly pining over Julian for yearssss. So it's all so surreal to her once they start realizing their attraction to one another. Julian doesn't remember her, so Hallie starts writing secret admirer letters to tell him how she feels and how much she admires him as a person. All sorts of drama about the letters ensue. I won't get to much into it as to not ruin the story. It had a little bit of the "You've Got Mail" and "The Shop Around the Corner" vibe.

This story definitely has the grumpy x sunshine trope. I loved all the side plots. The cheese theft! BAHAHAHAH! That was golden. The side characters were kookie and so lovable. I really look forward to reading the upcoming book in this series about Julian's sister.

So to the spice- Tessa, mah gurrrrrrrllllll. The dirty talk in this book is soooooo good. The whole dirty knees bit. OMG. DEAD. Just go out and read it ya'll and pick up the copy from Target as it has an exclusive epilogue.

Not my favorite Tessa Bailey book, by any means. This one was cute and whimsical and gives the type of outlandish plot that somehow works Tessa is known for. Vineyard town? Cute. Gardener? Very cute. Secret letters? A little dated and corny.

But overall, the accompanying elements seemed forced and tropey. Julian was very one-note anxiety until he...all of a sudden...wasn't? With very little reason to let it all fall to the wayside and become A New Man. Despite that, as someone with diagnosed generalized anxiety, I think the manifestation of his anxiety was well-done. Hallie overly frantic and messy and it made her seem immature and unrelatable, despite my being the same age as her.

Their relationship flew just a bit too close to instalove for me. I have very little idea WHY Julian was into Hallie with no resistance so quickly, other than being faced with her very nice breasts. The steamy scenes were, as always with Tessa, well done and just the right amount of light dominant dirty talk. I also found this to have a bit too much miscommunication. There's no reason Hallie couldn't tell Julian about the letters other than she was immature.

This would be a perfect book to read in a single summer day: nothing important or long-lasting, but enjoyable enough to save the second book in the series for a similar summer day win.

I cannot get over how cringe this book was. I did enjoy most of the characters and that they had real life issues instead of perfect lives. However, the plot was just meh and there were SO MANY cringe parts like him masturbating thinking of her being broke down and can’t change her own tire. Also, him being possessive over her before they’re even dating (and during) is not romantic and is toxic AF in my personal opinion. That part and so many others similar just took me out of the story completely. Don’t get me wrong I like smutty books if they’re done right, but this one just wasn’t it for me in so many ways.

Tessa Bailey just knows how to do it. I’m not usually a fan of traditional grumpy sunshine, but how does one not love Julian. I loved the side characters as well and can’t wait to read Natalie’s story. And don’t even get me started on the spice, top tier. 10/10 would recommend if you’re looking for a small town romance, grumpy sunshine, and all over adorable story.

I like all of Tessa Bailey's books, and this one was good. It wasn't my favorite, but I still found it to be enjoyable. It had a sweet idea about how opposites attract and how the two main characters were very significantly different from one another. It was a sweet, sunshiny, grumpy romance with spice. Tessa never ceases to amaze us by giving our gruff male characters foul mouths. I was unable to relate to the characters, though. Miscommunication disturbs me, but that is a matter of preference. I continued to enjoy the world of this new series and the story of Hallie and Julian. I believe that my main issue was a slight pacing issue. It took me a while to become invested because the first few chapters were slow-moving. To be honest, I wasn't rooting for Hallie and Julian because I found them to be rather uninteresting, and neither their story nor anything about them particularly drew me in. Their chemistry didn't jump off the pages and compelled me to recommend this book to everyone. I did enjoy the Napa small town and the surrounding vineyards. The setting is ideal for romance.

Well this was a pretty cute read and boy was it steamy!!

-witty
-friends to lovers
-kind-of second chance romance
-instant chemistry
-secret admirer
-SMUT

I think Hallie and Julian had insane amounts of chemistry! Though Hallie is messy and a human tornado with Julian being organized and structured! They don’t fit from the outside but they have an irresistible magnetic pull to each other that neither can deny!

The love letters are a cute idea but frankly it felt like it didn’t really help the storyline at all. It didn’t feel like it was worth naming to book around.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that I think some of the thought processes from the characters were a bit more dramatic than necessary.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the gifted copy in exchange for my review!

This book is definitely not something I should have picked up but I was obsessed with the characters and actual story of It Happened One Summer so I was like I can deal with the spice of another Tessa Bailey book to get more of her characters.

I was quite wrong on that front. This book is very spicy like nc-17 spicy, particularly in how our love interest talks sometimes and I can't. I made it through because I wanted to see Hallie and Julian have their happy ever after and while that was amazing it was pockmarked with so much smut or dirty talk or references to masturbation it was more than a little uncomfortable to read. Oh well, I've learned my lesson.

Other than that, the interactions between Julian and Hallie are adorable and I loved seeing Julian trying to be batman and help the women in his life without them knowing. The longing in this book both romantic and self-realization related is written so well and I really enjoyed that.

While this wasn’t for me, I can see other people enjoying this. The writing fell flat in this book for me which I was disappointed by because I really enjoyed It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey. However, I’m willing to give her another chance!

This was SO CUTE. I think it’s exactly what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. I was reading books that were too serious and this was perfectly playful and passed the time. I’ve heard great things about Tessa Bailey but never got around to reading any of her books and now I’ll definitely be on the hunt for others.

It was the perfect mix of second chance romance with sexual tension and playful banter between Julian and Hallie. A high school crush plays out fifteen years later and it just all comes together and works.

I also always enjoy a book that gives me perspective into something I’m not familiar with - in this case anxiety and panic attacks. It taught me a lot about how that can be for someone and it felt very realistic and relatable.

Thank you to Net Galley, and Avon and Harper Voyager for this advanced copy to review!!

It’s that time of year again. It’s the time when we think about hearts, and flowers, and writing soul-baring secret admirer letters to crushes that we’ve been pining over for 15 years. Well, maybe not that last one unless you’re gardener Hallie Welch and said crush is Ivy-League school professor Julian Vos who’s just come back to his childhood home for a break to write a novel.

Secretly Yours (Avon Books) by Tessa Bailey is the first of her A Vine Mess series and is set in Napa Valley in the present day: after the horrendous wildfire that happened there a few years ago and the COVID-19 pandemic. Hallie’s a gardener that has inherited her grandmother’s business since she passed away a few months ago. Julian’s mother, Vos Vineyard owner Corinne Vos, has hired Hallie to revamp the landscape around her guest house — the house that Julian is staying in while he writes his magnum opus.

While Hallie is ecstatic about seeing Julian again — and still crushing on him, Julian has no idea who Hallie is. But he is downright obsessed with her: her frayed small shorts, her knees in the dirt, and her aggravating habit of being late to everything. For Julian, who has an anxiety disorder, he’s developed habits and has his day planned out in blocks of time to combat any anxiety attacks. His writing blocks must be silent solo endeavors. He can’t have a woman riding up in an old truck on his property with three barking, slobbering dogs to plant some unnecessary flowers.

But when they meet, sparks fly, and so do the insults. This grumpy x sunshine novel is full of flying jabs and fiery banter. In fact, the whole town is rather quick-witted, especially Hallie’s British BFF Lavinia. Hallie and Julian start off as a low-angst pair that butt heads, but when Julian receives a letter from a secret admirer, the angst ramps up between the two. Hallie wrote and sent the letter on one drunken night, but now, she can’t stop, finding a catharsis in writing secretly to Julian.

More Than Just Messy Fun
Though these main characters get into a lot of fun, sometimes criminal antics (usually Hallie gets into the antics while Julian attempts to get her out of them), they aren’t merely because they’re fun people who live on the edge. Hallie’s a mess when we meet her: she’s grieving her grandmother’s loss and taking it out on a wine store that’s trying to edge out her grandmother’s best friend’s competing wine shop. Hallie’s grandmother was the one stable force in her life that helped keep her mess in check, and with that stable force gone, Hallie has ratcheted up her messy behavior and avoided anything substantive and predictable.

While Julian’s anxiety disorder has been with him since he could remember, one particular severe attack of anxiety and its aftermath has remained forefront in his memory, affecting how he’s lived his life since and kept him from connecting with anyone meaningfully. When he meets Hallie, his emotions are a riotous chaos — his mind rejects everything she’s about as it’s so opposite of the order and schedule keeping he values, and yet his heart would do anything just to have her around, schedules be damned.

The letters they unknowingly pass between them start out as secret admiration, but they quickly turn into a way to confront their traumas, confide in one another about their fears and to open up and explore who they want to be. Combined with their in-person conversations, and time spent together, they form an intense and unshakable bond.

Bring on the Steam
And boy, is it intense! For those who love Tessa Bailey for her hot and sexy love scenes, you will not be disappointed here. While her last duet the Bellinger Sisters series was a little tamer than what we’ve seen from Ms. Bailey, Secretly Yours is back to her steamy heat level. This is an intense slow burn for the first half of the novel, but once these two get together, it’s a full-blown fire.

Another hallmark of Ms. Bailey’s is to have main characters with “regular people jobs.” Some may feel that because the Vos family owns a vineyard, that she’s strayed from that character trope. She hasn’t. The Vos vineyard is a struggling small business in its own way and Hallie and Julian connect on that level as well, both literally getting dirty to work their businesses.

Secretly Yours delivers that trademark Valentine’s Day feeling of being drunk on love — and a few glasses of wine, swooning over letters of admiration and lots of flowers to boot.

Does anyone write sexy hookups filled with angst and passion better than Tessa Bailey?

This was an absolute delight of a book. Gardner and spot of sunshine Hallie is still working through the grief of losing her beloved grandmother when her old crush Julian Vos comes back into town to finally write his novel.

I don’t know if I would quite call this grumpy/sunshine but Julian lives his life according to a very strict schedule and Hallie upends that in the best way. I loved how Hallie got Julian to loosen up whole Julian also inspired Hallie to face her fears and take on new responsibilities.

Hallie writes Julian a series of secret admirers letters that do play a role in the book but for the most part the best part is just watching and enjoying the developing chemistry between the two of them as it sizzles over into a boiling point.

Thank you so much to Avon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 384 / Genre: Romance

I wanted to like this book, I really did. It started off great and I liked the leading lady Hallie Welch, who’s kind of a mess but still very likable. The grandmother who raised her did just die, after all, so she’s a little adrift. Her high school crush Julian Vos is also back in town messing with her head and her libido. The back and forth flirting between Hallie and Julian is sweet and hot.

And then it just gets dumb. She writes him a secret admirer letter and it’s so obvious she wrote it but of course he doesn’t figure out it’s her even though it does cross his mind. And he writes her back which makes her jealous because that means he’s writing to a woman that’s not her because he doesn’t know it’s her but it is her. Do you see how stupid this is getting? And then even after they have the super hot sex and are clearly totally in love with each other, the stupid idiotic letters keep weighing on their pathetic tiny brains so that they can’t fully commit to each other. The endless internal monologues on this went on and on AND ON. 😝🔫 The very premise of this book totally ruined what could’ve actually been a hot and spicy little romcom. I really wanted to give it a low 3 stars but the stupidity of it all just annoyed me so much I’m giving it 2 stars.

My roller-coaster reading relationship with Tessa Bailey continues. This was an okay romance for me. She starts by setting up a lot of fun plot-points (secret letters, a failing business, a declining winery, family drama), and then slowly, that all sort of fades into the background and is never examined again. And I love anxiety rep, it plays such a major roll in real life relationships. What I’m a little iffier on is “it’s good you gave me a panic attack, because it means I love you” as the third act confession? I don’t know, I was into the sizzling chemistry, our curvy chaotic heroine, and our possessive academic hero until about the 90% mark. It’s like Bailey didn’t know how to end it, so she discarded all the subplots but the library plants, slapped together a third act gesture, and let the two of them ride off into the sunset without us. I would recommend this to anyone who reads Tessa Bailey for the spice, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone trying to find something new after the Bellinger Sisters series.

P.S. It was unclear to me if our heroine was fat or midsize or what, so if you’re looking for fat rep, I’d look elsewhere.

Secretly Yours is the story of Hallie’s unrequited love for Julian. She’s a care free nature loving soul with a wine obsession. He’s a straight laced professor with anxiety and a family vineyard. Can the two save the local wine bar without catching feelings?

It’s no secret I love It Happened One Summer and Hook Lime and Sinker. BUT I couldn’t get into this one. The plot line had some tall tales…possible spoiler alert:

A 29 yr old saving herself for a high school crush (who doesn’t live in the same city) just seems out there to me. I couldn’t get past that storyline and therefore Julian was not the heartthrob I had envisioned. This book had too many things going on for me to focus on the romance.

If you are a fan of Tessa Bailey, grumpy sunshine and wine consider picking this one up!