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
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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.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
It is a nice romance, but not for me.
I was expecting something different.

This is a Hate to Love Romance, and this is the first book in A Vine Mess series. This book is fun quirky mixed with some hot steamy times, and that was everything I wanted in a book right now. I think if you love books like The Hating Game by Sally Thorne then this is the book for you. I did not want to put this book down, and I really was rooting for the characters in this book. I really loved the dogs in this book. Great fun read. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Avon US) or author (Tessa Bailey) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

I received a copy of Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey from Avon and Harper Voyager via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Things I liked:
- Vineyards and chaotic gardens, definitely enjoyed this Niagara-on-the-Lake small winery town charm going on
- A serious brooding writer and the chaotic, big personality of the gardener; I was getting Love Actually, Jamie and Aurélia vibes here - though of course, without the language barrier and Hallie isn't actually working like a maid for Julian.
- The mental health talk - especially for men. I feel like I've seen and read more female MCs dealing with and overcoming their mental health issues but there's been like of the male MC version of it especially in contemporary romance fiction
- I'm big on any contemporary romance that also features healthy and strong female friendships

Other thoughts:
- I never know quite where I stand with plots where the MCs met as young adults, had a moment, and then years later, one is still incredibly infatuated with the other despite not having had more than that one moment. I can definitely believe in its believability - but then it becomes really important for me to see how that infatuation grows beyond that as they meet again as adults. I think that Hallie and Julian do develop that through this story and so it all worked out in my mind in terms of continuing to believe in their love.

Our RomCom queen is BACK with her new series, starting with Secretly Yours.

Hallie Welch has been nursing a crush for Julian Vos for 15 years (yes, you read that correctly). When Julian, a grump professor at Stanford, comes back to town to write a novel and spend some time at his family’s vineyard, Hallie is hired to re-vamp the gardens around the Vos estate and she is hoping to run into her long-time crush.
After a wine-fueled girls night, Hallie gets a crazy idea to write Julian a “secret admirer” letter spilling her feelings, and signs it Secretly Yours.
While they both realize they are complete opposites, they cannot get past their undeniable attraction to one another, all while Julian is trying to figure out who his secret admirer is.

I genuinely enjoy Tessa Bailey’s books, and this was no exception. However I had some issues with the plot. It seemed like there were way too many plots lines to follow throughout the small 300 page book and she left most unfinished. My biggest plot issue was the rivalry between Corked and UNCORKED. Hallie just randomly stopped terrorizing the rival wine shop when Julian started helping Corked succeed, but then what happened to it? Did they stay busy? Did they tank? I think this book REALLY could have used an epilogue to really solidify and finish the details in the book. (I did look at a finished released copy, and there was no epilogue there either). I know there is a second book, and chances are there wasn’t an epilogue for that reason, but it’s about a different couple and I still think it would have been justified.

Overall, I would rate Secretly Yours 3.5 stars ⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/3)
Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, second chance romance

I think Tessa Bailey’s writing isn’t for me. It Happened One Summer was her best book for me. The pacing was so slow at first, it was incredibly hard to really get into this.