Secretly Yours is the third book I’ve read by Tessa Bailey and it’s full of alternately silly, steamy, and swoony moments I’ve come to expect from her.

Julian is a relentlessly regimented professor who’s returned to Napa to write a book, and Hallie is the messy, curvy, type B gardener hired to turn his whole world upside down. I loved that this book balanced big feelings — panic attacks and anxiety, grief, loss, and family dysfunction — with an absurd rom-com-esque premise: she drunkenly writes him an anonymous letter confessing her feelings.

Secretly Yours is You’ve Got Mail (if Joe wasn’t a villain) meets Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn, which is a huge compliment (I adore both those things).

I’m very much looking forward to Julian’s sister’s book, which comes out this summer!

I don't feel like this book was for me, but I do give it a little bit more credit because I love Tessa Bailey. The story is good and it definitely is reminiscent of It Happened One Summer, but for me it just had a few areas that were difficult.

The story is easy to read and I ended up really loving more the side characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the Napa Valley setting, and as always Tessa delivers when it comes to the funny names of the stores in a given area. I loved the Uncorked and Corked rival, I loved the dogs too! They made a lot of chaos, but you can't go wrong with fun furry friends! I am eager to ready the next in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an advance copy of this title for review. All opinions are my own and are honestly given.

Ever since she was a teenager, Hallie Welch, queen of chaos, has been hung up on Julian Vos, king of order and scion of the Vos family winery. Fifteen years after their first fateful run-in, Julian has returned to their Napa Valley hometown to write his novel while on sabbatical from his Stanford professorship. Hallie and Julian are thrown in each other’s paths while Hallie tends to the gardens on his family’s estate and Julian joins Hallie in her crusade to save a local wineshop. Convinced they would be too different to successfully navigate a relationship, they agree to stay just friends, which Hallie is fine with…mostly. After a tipsy night out, Hallie decides to write Julian an anonymous love letter expressing her admiration and longtime crush. To her shock, he writes back, kicking off an anonymous correspondence between the two. At the same time, the chemistry between real-life Hallie and Julian is getting harder to ignore, and Hallie must decide if she can risk her burgeoning relationship with Julian to tell him the truth about her secret admirer letters.

Secretly Yours was a lot of fun, with a lot of classic Tessa Bailey tropes— a beautiful, out-of-her-depth heroine, a starchy hero who finds himself reluctantly drawn in, humor, and chemistry. She is one of the biggest names in contemporary romance for a reason, and Secretly Yours is another winner from her. 4 stars, and a definite purchase for our collection in physical and digital formats.


Note: This review was withheld in support of the HarperCollins Union. I am pleased that HarperCollins leadership agreed to the union’s terms and hope the company will continue to support the labor rights and well-being of their hardworking employees.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I recently discovered Tessa Bailey and now I cant get enough of her work. Her writing is always amazing so that the story flows so smoothly and before you know it you are half way through the book.. The one negative in this one is that it is a slow torturous burn. The spice doesn't arrive until about half way through. Other than that, readers will love Julian and Hallie. I can't wait for more.

Tessa Bailey has quickly become a must have part of our romance collection. Secretly Yours is a nice addition. Hallie and Julian reunite over updating Julian's family winery. A past teen crush has the potential to turn steamy. The only issue is that Julian has changed a lot since those days, and Hallie isn't quite sure how to connect. After one drunken night, Hallie sends Julian a secret admirer letter. Julian can't get the potential secret admirer or his thoughts about Hallie out of is head.

As always, Tessa Bailey brings the spice. It's intense and steamy. The plot was fun to read as well. Expect small town romance, opposites attracting, second chance at romance, and plenty of miscommunication. While I don't think this is Bailey's best work and it certainly misses some of the tension seen in the Bellinger Sisters series, it's still a hot romance and definitely worth picking up.

I’ll be honest, you’re either going to love or hate this one. I’m a huge fan of this author but this book fell flat for me. There were parts I found to be okay and others that I really hated. From the beginning I found the story to be too slow. I struggled to get interested and I kept putting off reading this one because I didn’t care about the plot or the characters. When reading a romance novel, I want to feel something. I go into them expecting to feel some type of emotion whether it's happiness, complete sadeness, or even annoyance. Sadly, this one made me feel absolutely nothing. It also had the miscommunication trope which is my least favorite and wasn’t needed in this story. Overall, I would say skip this one but remember this is just my opinion. Something I do love about this book is how pretty the cover is but that’s about it.


Thank you so much to @ for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tessa Bailey never misses! Ever!! Her banter, wit and humor (AND SPICE - PHEW!) is seriously so special and I will read her work every single time, without question.

I absolutely adored Hallie to bits and felt myself relating to her many times throughout this book. Hallie's mom took her up and down the coast of California, chasing different interests, men and hobbies and never really giving Hallie a chance to sit down and figure out who she is and where she'd like to be. When her grandmother took custody and they began living in St. Helena full time, Hallie finally felt grounded and secure. But when her grandmother passed, she was lost again and became a hurricane of chaos, tardiness and eccentricity.

Enter Julian Vos, whom Hallie shared an almost-kiss with her freshman year of high school in St. Helena before her mother whisked her away, and has subsequently been obsessed with ever since (unbelievably relatable). In order to distract herself from her growing urge to sabotage a winery that moved next door to her late grandmother's favorite shop and to thus sate her curiosity regarding a man she hasn't seen in 15 years, Hallie is hired as the gardener to spruce up the guesthouse of Vos Vineyards where one Julian Vos is staying while on sabbatical from teaching at Stanford to write a novel.

From the very beginning these two made me laugh and I found myself rooting for them IMMEDIATELY. Despite their major differences - Julian's severe anxiety and reliance on time, structure and staying on schedule, vs. Hallie's chaotic vagueness and chronic tardiness topped with winging it 99% of the time - they somehow worked together. Really worked together. I love that throughout laying the foundation of their relationship neither of them faulted the other for their quirks, issues or trauma and instead embraced them, refusing to make the other change to fit into their lives because they found they rather liked each other the way they were. But in doing that, they managed to change themselves for themselves, and this allowed them to come together in a way that worked and was healthy and best case scenario for everyone.

Natalie, Julian's sister, had her own issues and conflicts that weren't resolved, though she was such an excellent side character, and seeing that the second book in this little world is focused on her and August, I am STOKED and have hopes she gets her closure in her own story!

I loved this little romcom! Hallie was spunky and so relatable to me, I really connected with her feeling lost after the death of her grandmother and feeling like she didn’t really know where she fit into the small town in napa after her passing. I also thought her character was so fun, I loved her chaotic energy. She made me laugh so much! I also loved how her love for the town and things that reminded her of her grandmother ! Like her quest to help the wine tasting store that was her grandmother favourite from the flashy bar next door. Than we have Julian, he is from the town also and unknown to him he and Hallie shared a sweet night in high school and she has been pining for ever sense. When his mother hires her to do landscaping around the guest house he’s staying why he attempts to right his novel. Julian is type A he follows a schedule and loves list and controls his anxiety this way. But when he meets hallie he can’t help but feel like there’s something special to him. But to hallies surprise he can’t seem to place her, as she continues to work on his guest house on his family’s vineyard they start to really connect and he finds him self straying away from his list and schedule and just embracing her chaos. I thought this one had great character development, between both characters separately and together! I also thought it did great to build up this small town in Napa with the other characters we will soon get books about! ( can not wait for Natalie’s!!) I also thought the description of the town was so nice and I seen it so vividly and wanted to live there my self especially in hallies back yard with her 3 dog babies!

Thank you so much for Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the early e-arc review copy!

If you are a huge Tessa Bailey fan, and you most likely have read her previous books, you are definitely going to enjoy this novel! And if you are new to Tessa Bailey, here is why you might like this book:

- grumpy x sunshine
- highschool "friends"
- small town vibes
- cozy and bubbly, full of with laughter

I have enjoyed this book, overall it was a cute romcom, ideal for spring time! The steamy parts were chef's kiss and I enjoyed the chaotic banter between the Mcs. However what really bugged me (the book is enjoyable if you look past this), was how much Julian objectified Hallie's appearance, seemingly making this the only important thing.

I could not get into this one. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and nothing exciting was really happening.

This book gave me whiplash. The characteristics of the hero and heroine seemed to morph based on what situation they were in. Their connection was hot but the dirty talk (a hallmark of the author) came way out of left field. The hero especially came across as a mess. Overall I enjoyed it but wish there was more cohesion.

This book was sweet, body-positive (in all the right ways), and had the usual Tessa Bailey signature 🌶️ scenes. I loved reading about a plus-size woman, without it being the entire point of the story. I enjoyed Julian, but his character felt one-dimensional to me. His anxiety is portrayed in such a dramatic way, that it didn't feel real to me. Everyone interacts with anxiety disorder in different ways, so I don't expect his anxiety to mimic mine, but the theatrics felt so off and I didn't love it being the driving point of Julian's story. That said, I found this book a wonderful, sunshiney book and I will always pick up a Tessa Bailey book.

The conflicting personalities of Hallie and Julien made for a fun read. I wanted more secret admirer letters, more little encounters. With Tessa Bailey you know what you are getting, and what you are getting is a hot read. This book had me ready for spring--wanting to get into the garden. But maybe not as ready as Hallie was.

I thought this was a fun, light read, but had some really interesting depth to the characters that kept the story going. It’s not a good fit for my library, but I will recommend it to friends and book clubs!

This was a very unique book. I loved the vineyard setting with the fancy professor and messy landscaper. By the end I wasn’t fully convinced this couple would last very long after the book. I didn’t love the secret admirer aspect, but it was a very quick read and the spice scenes were very well written. I’ll still read anything Tessa Bailey!

This is a great second chance, friends to lovers romance that kept me glued to the book. I liked the characters and the Napa setting.
Hallie Welch has had a crush on Julian Vons since high school. Now she’s a free spirited, accomplished landscaper and he’s an ultra organized professor at Stanford on a sabbatical to write a book.
Vos Winery was once the premier winery in Napa but things have htchanged. Hallie is hired to do some work around the winery, and her very presence agitates Julian and throws him off his tight schedule.

One night after a wine fueled girls night out Hallie writes an anonymous love letter to Julian and leaves it on his running route. This leads to some unexpected results even as the feelings between them grow.
Can hyper organized Julian and “fly by the seat of her pants” Hallie figure out how to make a relationship work?

I recommend this entertaining book, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the first in a new series, and I really enjoyed it. The world building is done throughout the story, so it feels very natural, and definitely sets up the problems in the Vos family vineyard to explore.

Julian Vos is an academic who, due to a colleague's burnout, has gone back to the family vineyard to hide away and write his great novel. He is trying to just stay out of the way of everyone, but those plans really, really don't work out. The person who is most affecting his equilibrium is Hallie, the gardener his mother employed to brighten up the guesthouse gardens.

Hallie fell hard for Julian when in high school – and clearly, he doesn't even remember he. She has recently inherited her grandmother's gardening business, and dealing with that is enough – but Julian returning, even if only temporarily, has really confused her. The fact that he’s doing some super kind things for his grandmother's best friend is lovely, but also confusing.

As they find how much better life is when they are communicating, we get to enjoy parts of their lives stabilising, even if other parts are ever more complicated. The vineyard's issues are going to give rise to more problems for sure, and I am already keen to see what happens next.

This book served up exactly what you expect out of a Tessa Bailey novel: charm, banter, and spice.

I love that mental health was a major plot point throughout. Per usual, the side characters were fantastic and made you immediately want to know more about them.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series and seeing snippets of Julian and Hallie throughout.

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey has her signature wit, steam, and insight into the character's self doubt. I feel like in addition to a good read, I also feel like her characters are real and help me where I lack confidence.

In this novel, the main characters are Hallie and Julian. They met in high school. Julian forgot but Hallie never did.

Julian's family owns Vos Vineyards, but he hasn't lived there for a long time. Hallie own the gardening business she ran with her late grandmother. When Julian's mom hires Hallie to do some flowers at the vineyard, Hallie and Julian meet again. And sparks fly, but not in an entirely good way...

Julian, now a professor, has taken a leave from teaching and come home to write a book. He sticks to a VERY rigid schedule while Hallie has no schedule. If they don't drive each other crazy, they may learn from each other. Just when their chemistry heats up, a secret admirer appears. Julian doesn't know it is Hallie. If he finds out, will it ruin their chance at love?

I am so excited this book is going to be part of a series! Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Secretly Yours
Tessa Bailey

Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️
Recommended: Yes!

Read if you like…
* Second Chance Romance
* Small Town
* Grumpy/Sunshine
* Secret Admirerer