Hallie has had a crush on Julian since high school. When he comes back to town and Hallie is hired to tend to the garden at his family’s vineyard, those feelings come rushing back to her - but he does not remember her at all. Hallie makes a drunken decision to leave him a secret admirer letter, and when she starts falling for him in both real life and the letters chaos ensues. The two are complete opposites who just might be perfect for each other.

This one was steamyyyyyy as we’d expect from Tessa Bailey, and I am here for it! I loved these seriously flawed characters - Hallie being wild and impulsive, Julian being structured and timely. It was an interesting way to portray how anxiety can affect people differently. And now let’s talk about the sexual tension between these two - wow! Thank you Netgalley and Avon for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

You know how rom-coms aren't actually usually that funny? Tessa Bailey writes these hot, sweet stories that are genuinely hilarious. Great dialogue, great pacing. This one was no exception. Grumpy-sunshine, plus size lead, AND second chance romance? I'm hooked out of the gate.

I loved Julian Vos as the perfect romance hero archetype--total wish fulfillment MMC. Hallie was a lot more fully developed than many romance heroines. I feel like in another author's hands, she would have ventured into manic pixie dreamgirl territory, but I feel like her back story justified her quirky behavior and she felt like she could be a real person.

The plot of this book was honestly a little thin (the Corked vs Uncorked winery plot was a little underwhelming and I think the entire secret admirer thing could have been scrapped from the story), but I really enjoyed the characters and their banter. The setting of this book (Napa Valley) was also a perfect setting for an escapist read.

If you are looking for something low angst, pretty spicy, and fun, I recommend this book (and really anything by Tessa Bailey). I was so excited to see that the next one in the series is going to be about Julian's sister.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is cute, gooey, Romcom goodness. An adorable second chance romance with a chaotic gardener and the hot professor (not hers) that she’s been listing after since high school. The angst was perfect in my opinion, and I love the mental health representation!

4.25/5 ⭐️
I fully plan on reading the sequel!

Read if you want:
❤️ A chaotic FMC
❤️ Dreamy winery setting
❤️ Anxiety and panic attack representation
❤️ Second Chance romance
❤️ Lots of personal growth

I love this authors story telling. This was great,
The communication between the character's of the story. I enjoyed this and can’t wait for more from this author.

Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved the Tessa Bailey books I have read so far, but this was a big miss for me. I liked Hallie’s angle of trying to get the attention of a former crush. I liked Julian’s rigidness and the evolution of him losing the need to have control over everything based on past events. I liked that it was a typical spicy Tessa book. I liked the friendships and small-town setting.

What I did not like was Julian’s domineering tendencies towards Hallie, even when he was not sure who she was. The sexy scenes were awkward, and the virginity angle felt unrealistic and gross. I also did not feel like the secret admirer notes were insignificant. To me the bigger story was the changes Julian made to overcome his past was a more compelling story.

2 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #avonbooks #ltbreaderteam

Secretly Yours was a fun read about a messy landscaper with a messy life and a huge lifelong crush on her uptight, staunch neighbor. There are some secret admirer letters exchanged and lots of wine since it's set in Napa valley. Oh, and it has Tessa Bailey's signature hero giving good dirty talk.

I'll forever read Tessa Bailey's books, but this one felt a little too formulaic for my taste.

Tessa Bailey consistently writes books I absolutely can't put down. Secretly Yours is such a good read and I would honestly recommend it to any romance lover. Who doesn't love a sunshine-y character with a strictly in-control one? You need to pick up this book if you're looking for something that'll satisfy that romance (and winery) craving.

Unfortunately this book was a miss for me. I read through 40% of the book and I just couldn’t care less about either of the main characters. I never felt any chemistry at all between the two and their story was not compelling me to read more about them.

I get where the author was trying to go with the two wine stores, but with their names being so similar it ended up confusing me a lot of the time.

I DNF’d this one, it’s not what I typically would expect from Tessa Bailey and I will for sure give her new books another try in the future.

If you love Tessa Bailey's smut and the grumpy/sunshine trope, then there's a good chance you'll like this book! While this wasn't my favorite Tessa Bailey read, as I didn't particularly connect with the characters or the secret admirer plot, it's a fun, opposites-attract story with steam and heart. I'm looking forward to Natalie's story in book #2!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager via Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you @avonbooks for the #gifted copy of SECRETLY YOURS.

Okay so I love Tessa Bailey. Her Bellinger Sisters series is one of my favorites so I was incredibly excited to receive a copy of her newest release, SECRETLY YOURS. But this one just did not work for me.

I found Hallie to be incredibly chaotic and immature. First of all, she’s harbored a crush on Julian for 15 years. She’s so obsessed with this man that she watches YouTube videos of his lectures and talks to them. She’s so in love with the man she thinks he is, that no other man can compare and she’s a virgin at 29. I found it all a little stalkerish and much.

And then Hallie finally meets Julian again as an adult and does she act like a normal adult? No. She instead decides to write him a secret admirer letter like a child. When he later mentions the letter to her, instead of owning up to it, she plays dumb. It drove me nuts.

I kept reading because I loved the glimpses of Julian’s sister Natalie. She cracked me up and I’m excited for her and August’s book which comes out later this summer, UNFORTUNATELY YOURS.

SECRETLY YOURS came out on February 7, 2023!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5327690794
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Coz6mFgJbQB/

4.5 stars. Tessa Bailey is the best in the game. Another winning start to a great series and within seconds of finishing the last page I was ready for more.

Hallie is a curvaceous, chaotic gardener who lives her life unapologetically bold and never planned beyond the next hour. She has harbored a secret crush on Julian Vos, the serious Stanford professor, since the two were in high school. Julian is back in town trying to write a novel and battle his anxiety, which led to him leaving the family wine business four years ago. She is sweet and wholesome and he is serious but can’t control himself (or his filthy mouth) when he’s around her and the chemistry truly doesn’t get better than this folks.

Not only does she create incredibly lovable and messy and fun characters, but she always puts them in the perfect backdrop too. I could totally picture every aspect of this sweet small town.

I liked this book. It was a cute live story with a little tension added in. It could have been four stars but I found the secret admirer letters a little corny.

Tessa Bailey has a way of just pulling you into a story and keeping your interest. I loved these two characters and their interactions through out the book. It was playful and fun and still had that bit of reality that keeps you interested till the end.

Tessa Bailey is one of my auto buy authors. So, when I saw this one was coming out, I honestly could. not. wait. But sadly, I was kind of disappointed! I loved the premise of a messy gal and a clean cut guy, but it was almost TOO overdone… if that’s a thing.

She changed far too much, and too quickly, for it to be believable. Same for him… too quick to be “in love” with someone that’s a mess when he’s used to MEGA tidy.

I loved the idea she was a gardener who could just lay down the law and call it a day, but she seemed almost unbelievable as a character as much as he did. She was a 29 year old who had never loved… really? Truly? And he forgets about her after a steamy night in the vineyard and can’t place her years down the line, yet loves her immediately? Yeesh… it just went way too quick for me.

Loved the idea of dogs and a sister who had a traumatic time, too, but the character development just wasn’t there, along with lack of plot development, too. Thanks for the ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This book was pretty good! I've really enjoyed previous books from Tessa Bailey, so I was excited to read this. I enjoyed it a lot and read it super quickly, but I wouldn't say it's my fave of hers.

This book is the first in a new series from the author, and I definitely want to read the next in the series when it comes out. I really enjoy Tessa's writing style and she certainly knows how to bring the steam! The romance in this book was very open door and hot, hot, hot! I enjoyed the character's confidence and the body positivity.

There was just something lacking in this book and I'm not even 100% sure what it is. I felt like while I liked the characters, their relationship seemed a little forced at times. They didn't seem overly compatible to be honest. I really liked the wine country setting and I loved the quaint little restaurant called Corked. To me, a lot more attention could have been given to that aspect of the story.

While not a fave, this book was still really good and if you enjoy the author, I'd pick it up!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This book was cute and will be great for fans of Tessa Bailey, but I didn’t quite connect to or love this story. Hallie is a gardener in Napa Valley who has always had a crush on her high school crush Julian. Julian comes back in town to take a break from being a university lecturer, when he instantly feels a connection with Hallie, even though her chaotic energy is really different from his straight-laced vibe. This had a couple of things that are classic Bailey that I think her fans will love: alpha male, dirty talk and dominating open door scenes, and some witty banter. But I thought this book was too slow and too long, and by the time I cared about the characters, the book was almost over. I did like the grand gesture at the end, but at that point I was not really invested in the characters. I did enjoy the side characters and world building, so I will still be reading the sequel in this series, based on Julian’s sister. I recommend this book for fans of Tessa Bailey, second chance, open door, contemporary romance.

Delayed this review due to the HarperCollins union strike: https://linktr.ee/hcpunion

Another fun romance from Tessa Bailey an if you like a slow burn, this a good one for you. Unfortunately it was a little too slow for me, and I found the main male character to be a bit two-dimensional this time around. Good for fans of the author or slow burn romances, but overall there are other Tessa Bailey novels I’d recommend over this one.

Despite the mixed reviews I’ve seen, I really liked this one!! I loved as we got to watch Julian become unhinged over Hallie! They seem like complete opposites, but their undeniable connection is unstoppable. This was a slow burn, but definitely picked up the spice in the last half. I can’t wait to read Natalie’s story next!

Thank you Avon and Netgalley for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

What would you do when your childhood crush was suddenly back in town? Well, for Hallie Welch the answer is... write him secret admirer letters, of course!

Being in love with Julian Vos from afar for many, many years, Hallie can't believe her luck when he decides to move back home for the foreseeable future. But now that she finally has Julian's attention, whatever will she be doing with it?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secretly Yours was a sweet and super sexy, opposites attract, romance! Hallie has been harboring a crush on Julian since she was a teenager, but when she and the schedule-driven professor meet again, their reunion doesn't quite go how she planned it...

After the loss of her beloved grandmother, Hallie has been feeling a little lost in the town of St. Helena. And when Hallie feels lost, the inner chaos she embraces has a way of making itself known...

Julian has returned home to his family vineyard after years of being away, to not only take a much needed break from professor life, but to finally write a novel. Enter in Hallie, who is chaos personified, and a disruption that he never saw coming...

This book was such a fun and entertaining read! Hallie and Julian's amazing chemistry heated up the pages of their opposites attract, relationship journey! Julian was a rigid rime-keeper who thrived on structure, while Hallie does life on where her whims and feelings take her.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book, and I loved all of the characters it introduced. Hallie was an endearing character who you wanted all of the best things for, while Julian was a protective hero, who would do anything to keep her smiling!

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.

This was such a perfect Valentine's Day read with a perfect amount of steam. The characters were well developed and I can't wait to read the sequel.