It’s funny, this is my second Tessa Bailey book and the second time that the first couple chapters had me thinking it might not be for me, and then the rest of the book convincing me I was wrong.

Hallie and Julien, they aren’t the couple I was expecting, especially Julien but in the end I loved the way they weaved their way into each other’s lives. I loved the anxiety representation in this book, it’s becoming more common but every time I see it in a book it makes me happy that it’s not being swept under the rug.

As I came to find with my first Tessa novel, the spice is definitely very descriptive. This is a very very open door romance but I also loved it. Julien as a lover with Hallie was not what I expected at all but dang! The mouth on that man, whew!

I will say I wanted more from the ending, an epilogue, one more scene to take things a little further, just something. I know another book is forthcoming for another character from this story but I just wanted more. It felt rushed at the end for me.

It’s still a really solid book with fun characters, a different setting than I’ve seen for a lot of books, and great periphery characters… and I love a second chance (sort of) romance!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC copy of the book.

This is my third Tessa Bailey read, and while I haven’t been wild about any of them, I’ve got to say this one is my favorite so far! I thought the setting was fun, and I loved the nerdy guy. I’m glad I got an eARC of this one before it is released next week!

Secretly Yours is the first book in a new series by Tessa Bailey. Recently this author has been very hit and miss for me, so I was a little apprehensive going into this read. I requested the arc months ago, then totally forgot about it, went on to read other TB reads and thought maybe she wasn’t for me anymore, and then got this arc approval a week before it’s release date 😅. So I definitely went in with lowered expectations, but it kind of worked because I kind of liked this? I didn’t love it, but I didn’t mind it either lol So just wanted to share that so you can take my review with a grain of salt so-to-speak.

Basically in this we follow Hallie, as a teen she was raised by her grandmother and recently took over her grandmother’s garden/landscaping business after she passed away. Hallie finds out her crush from 15 years ago has moved back home and immediately jumps at the chance to be around him. Julian is a history professor who recently moved back to his family’s winery to focus on writing his first novel, a historical fiction. Julian and Hallie had an almost-kiss 15 years ago and she has held a torch for him ever since, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine him showing back up in her life. When she realizes he’s back, she immediately calls up his mom (who is already one of her landscaping clients) and insists she come plant some new flowers on the property.

Julian is pretty smitten from the start, I think Tessa Bailey’s recent reads all kind of have this insta-lust vibe to them (which sometimes works for me). This is definitely an opposite’s attract romance: Julian has anxiety and he very much handles life better being organized and sticking to a schedule and structure, while Hallie is chaos and doesn’t have a schedule for anything. This did have a lot of fun elements: set in Napa Valley, lots of wine-talk, I liked seeing them help out a local wine shop owner who was being out-sold by a new and flashy competitor. It does have that classic TB dirty talk, the steamy scenes didn’t really do it for me though and I never really got behind their romance. At one point the heroine gets drunk and does write secret admirer/anonymous pen pal type letters to the hero (I guess where the title name comes in). Honestly could have done without that storyline, it didn’t add much besides a third act conflict that didn’t work for me.

I actually did like the setting and them helping the wine shop owner, I did like his sister as well who apparently gets the next book and has a fun setup with tropes that might work better for me.

Thank you to the publisher (Avon Books) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. Secretly Yours is out February 7, 2023!

Another great Tessa Bailey novel. I really liked the grumpy/sunshine throughout the book although it was a bit overwhelming a couple times. I love the setting and i’m so glad this isn’t the only novel we will get in St. Helena. The spice in this book was great and i always love a dual-perspective.

If you’ve been following me for awhile you know i am a @tessabaileyisanauthor STAN i would read this woman’s grocery list and say it’s a five star read. I was given an ARC shoutout to @netgalley & @avonbooks 🫶🏽

This is a perfect book in time for the season of love! Hallie is your sunshine the person everyone loves and enjoys being around and Julian is working through some trauma that lead him to become obsessive with managing his time and doesn’t like to go off scheduled that is until he meets Hallie for a second time. This book was a fast read and i didn’t want to put it down & of course this is a Tessa Bailey book so you know its spicy and the writing is *chef’s kiss* 👌🏽

Loved this opposites attract rom-com! The characters were perfectly flawed and their relationship was frustrating, adorable, and HOT. I found myself so disappointed when this book ended as I got lost in their story and did not want it to end. The descriptions were perfect. making it easy to imagine yourself watching this love story unfold in person. 
Hallie fell for Julilan Vos in highschool. When he returns home after many years and she finds herself revamping the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if her crush was real. He is grumpy and uptight, she is eccentric and laid back. They are complete opposites, yet the attraction is real. Can they grow and meld to fit the others needs - or are they too different for things to work? 
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy!

I've read one other Tessa Bailey book, and I thought it was good! I was excited to read more of hers because of the hype. I'm not sure, after this one, if I'm a Tessa Bailey girlie.
The book starts out fairly boring, and it only really goes down hill from there. I don't really find any of the characters believable or three-dimensional, if I'm honest.
I know from the previous book I read that Tessa doesn't really do build-up. And that's okay! Totally fine. Sometimes I like that! Unfortunately... not this time. The characters are instantly attracted to one another, wanting to rip each other's clothes off, and it just didn't do it for me. I need the build up. I need the tension!
The MMC was... wild. I felt like whenever he did anything with the FMC it was like he was being forced to by his brain, and he didn't really care about her pleasure even if he said he did. He was doing it because he HAD to and he had no impulse control, rather than him actually feeling anything with her, which left me feeling weird about their relationship or lack thereof.
The story lacked chemistry and it lacked depth, and I'm really sad about it. I'll give another book or so a chance but she may just not be for me! And that's okay.

I like Tessa Bailey and I will keep reading books by her. But this was by far her worst book. I didn't enjoy this one at all. It really makes me wonder if this book was written by Tessa Bailey because it did not seem like her normal writing. The main characters seemed super immature. This read more like a YA book than an adult romance book. I wish this book was more like her other books. I hate to say it but I think this is one that you should pass on reading.

Thank you NetGalley, Tessa Bailey and Avon Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I read this book in a day and I did not want to put it down. I love all things Tessa Bailey so I flipped out when I saw that I was approved for this ARC. Hallie is you bubbly, full of sunshine, chaotic gardener that has the biggest crush on Julian (who doesn't remember her). Julian is the strict professor, obsessively organized and hates the unexpected, which is why he has a very strict schedule that he never breaks. How can the two most opposite people ever have a chance at making it?

I loved Hallie's sporadic personality and how it clashed with Julian's uptight behavior. The chemistry between these two is HOT and I loved watching these two fall for each other. We also get a secret admirer to stir the pot in this story. Since this is a Tessa Bailey story we are gifted with some pretty spicy scenes. Let me just say that our mild-mannered professor might not be so mild after all...

If you are looking for a fun spicy read then this book is for you!

Rating: 4.5/5

DNF :/

This one started off strong with the opposites attract vibe and I was thinking I was going to enjoy it, but then it mostly just had me cringing more than anything. By about 35%, I just couldn't do it anymore. bummer that this missed the mark for me - may go back and try again at a later date pending more reviews, but for now, it's a pass for me unfortunately.

I love Tessa Bailey's It Happened One Summer and Hook Line & Sinker - definitely recommend those books to anyone who wants to try Tessa Bailey and hasn't read them!

Add Julian Vos to my list of book boyfriend.

It’s a small town, grumpy x sunshine Hallmark movie, but without any of the cheese (and some spice). But seriously, Tessa Bailey has earned herself a place in my “auto-read” author list. I cannot wait for book 2 of this series!

Hallie is all over the place - never owned a planner and goes wherever the wind takes her. Julian schedules his day by the minute. So they pretty much can’t be more opposite. But as tension builds from high school, secret admirer letters are written, and a steamy kitchen encounter - sparks are flying in this small town romance. Will Julian adapt to Hallie’s free spirit ways? Will Hallie adapt to Julian’s rigid schedule?

Secretly Yours is a binge worthy read! I highly recommend reading it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins Publishers for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Secretly Yours is another cute, contemporary romance from Tessa Bailey with her signature steamy dirty talk! Hallie is a gardener in Napa who has been feeling untethered since her grandmother's death. She can't make decisions and is a bit of a mess, but still has a bubbly personality. She's been holding a torch for her high school crush, Julian, for years and years, so she's excited to hear that he's back in town for once.

Despite growing up in a family that owns a successful winery, Julian has forged his own path as a Stanford professor. He's taken a sabbatical to write a novel and has come back to Napa to get some quiet and write. But he's very distracted by the gardener, Hallie (whom he doesn't remember from high school), planting flowers outside his window. He's immediately drawn to her but she's the complete opposite of him - Julian is extremely regimented and scheduled, and a bit uptight, to help control his bad anxiety.

As they start forging an unlikely friendship, Hallie has a hard time expressing how she really feels and starts leaving Julian secret admirer letters. Despite both thinking they are polar opposites and that a relationship between them would never work out, they both can't deny the draw they are feeling to one another.

Review: I really liked Hallie's character and learning more about her and Julian's backstories, including what has happened in Julian's past to make him so regimented and trying to control his anxiety. They both are caring people deep down, who want to stand up for small businesses in Napa and they get into some hilarious shenanigans together! The romance between them is super sweet and the steamy scenes are great!

I did struggle with Julian a little bit. He's SO uptight at the start of the book that I couldn't help but give him a British accent in my head, he read like some uppity regency romance duke! The second half was better, but when he decided that he needed to change himself to make things work with Hallie I wasn't a huge fan of that - I felt like he was changing himself for her, and not for himself and trying to improve his own life. The plotline with the secret admirer letters also felt a bit underwhelming, it wasn't a main plot point but still managed to cause the third act miscommunication issues.

Still, those are smaller issues and this was a super cute book. I absolutely LOVE Julian's sister, who is the star of the next book! The introduction to her and the Navy SEAL who is going to be her fake husband was absolutely great. She seems like such a delightful mess and I really can't wait for the next book!

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Secretly Yours is a story about Hallie and Julian Vos; she is messy, chaotic, and very often covered in dirt and he is meticulous, irons his socks, and lives his life on very tight schedules. They have a history together, one that Hallie has never forgotten. When Julian moves back home on sabbatical, he plans to write a novel, but when Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, all plans and schedules go out the window. He can't help getting pulled into Hallie's orbit.

Tessa Bailey you have done it again. I love the pull these two had to each other. The chemistry between them was like perfection, it was slow and deliberate and I couldn't pull myself away. I don't wanna give too much away but if you love a hilarious rom-com in a small town with lots of wine, flowers, and the opposites attract trope, this book was made for you!

P.S. i cannot WAIT for natalie's story. I already love her. :D

Thank you Avon/HarperCollins Publishing and Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon, and Tessa Bailey for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I’m a big fan of Tessa Bailey, but some of her books can be hit-or-miss for me. Thankfully this one was a hit and I absolutely loved it!

This book follows Hallie Welch, a gardener, when she reunites with Julian Vos after almost kissing him in high school. Their personalities are very different - she’s very spontaneous and he’s very organized and sticks to a schedule. This is because of his anxiety - I also have anxiety and I think that Bailey portrayed it in a very realistic way and shows how it can change someone’s life.

A big part of this book in wine, which I love. Julian is staying at his family’s wine vineyard and the book discusses wine and the business side of it that Julian and his family handle. This was a really unique topic and I learned some from it!

In terms of a rom-com, this is very opposites-attract with a sunshine female main character and a serious male main character. The romance is very sweet and I loved the dirty talk! There are a lot of interesting parts to their story, including how they’ve already met, some secret love letters, and more.

This is a great love story that also discusses mental health along with body positivity. The cover is also adorable! I can’t wait to read book two and I think that fans of her previous works/romance novels will love this one.

An opposites-attract rom-com with a secret admirer twist.

Hallie is a gardener who is disorganized, perpetually late, and usually covered in dirt. She has three dogs, lives in a cluttered house, and still deeply mourns her grandmother, who died fairly recently. And she has never gotten over her unrequited high-school crush, Julian.

Julian is a history professor at Stanford. He is obsessively organized, lives by a schedule, and hates the unexpected. He suffers from a debilitating anxiety disorder which he is able to control only through his rigid schedule.

This book is set in wine country in California and Julian’s family owns a vineyard. Julian takes a sabbatical from teaching and returns to his family home in order to write a book. He is staying in the guesthouse - the same guesthouse that Hallie has been hired to landscape. She arrives with her dogs to begin working in the yard, and Julian is crankily disrupted but also oddly intrigued.

Let the games begin… the push/pull of mutual attraction, the collision of unlike personalities, the mystery of the anonymous secret-admirer letters left for Julian. Their flirtatious banter is cute. Their chemistry is powerful. Until the inevitable tragedy of miscommunication and lying-by-omission drama.

A warning: this is seriously spicy. As in, almost uncomfortable to read. This is my first Tessa Bailey book, but apparently she is known for her sex scenes. And our mild-mannered professor talks really really dirty. So, enjoy or skip these sections accordingly. And I didn’t care for the Taking-of-Virginity trope with the accompanying “now you’re mine” declarations. Just eewww.

Overall, this is an amusing story with likeable characters in a great setting. I think I will enjoy the next book in this series, featuring Julian’s sister, Natalie, even more. ⭐️⭐️⭐️, available February 7, 2023.

My thanks to the author, Tessa Bailey, to the publisher, Avon Books, and to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book.

#SecretlyYours #netgalley #AvonBooks

I think Grumpy Sunshine men are fast becoming my favorite, trope genre?

Tale as old as time, girl crushes on boy, boy almost kisses girl until, well he finds out girls age.

Fast forward to the present and Hallie is still harboring feelings for Julian, the boy she crushed on, it now is a full gown man. A professor, a grumpy professor who is use time management. Well something that Hallie is not the best with.

Opposites attracts, leading to secret letters. On paper you would assume Hallie and Julian could not make it work. You would be wrong. You will see how protective Julian is of Hallie and how she slowly brings his guard down a bit. How he re-establishes his relationship with his mother and sister.

Tessa Bailey is the absolute Queen of dirty talking men, and Julian is definitely no exception.

I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read Natalie’s story next.

Thank you Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this book early.

A Tessa Bailey rom-com set in California's wine country? Yes, please!
Julian Vos is a Stanford professor on sabbatical and staying at his family's vineyard. Julian deals with his anxiety by living a very organized and orderly life, living each day with a plan. Hallie, reeling from the loss of her grandmother, who was her anchor, is his exact opposite. She's a gardener who is more than just messy from digging in the literal dirt. She's a beautiful mess, chaotic, spontaneous, and SO not a planner. She's also harbored a secret crush on Julian since high school when they nearly kissed, and 15 years later, he's only more attractive to her. So when Julian's mother hires her to do landscaping around the vineyard, sparks fly, but can these two total opposites find common ground, especially after a series of secret admirer letters Hallie sent Julian after a drunken girls' night out complicates matters?

This is a cute and spicy opposites-attract rom-com with a romantic setting, a sunny, passionate FMC, and a buttoned-up (but dirty-talking) cinnamon roll of an MMC. Bailey writes these two with dual POV secret pining and an irresistible attraction. It's a fun read but Bailey adds some realness in a light-hearted way by touching on themes of grief, mental health, acceptance, self-forgiveness, and body positivity.

The next book in the series will feature Julian's sister, Natalie, and a marriage of convenience trope. After meeting Natalie in this book, I am here for it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the gifted ARC! I enjoyed it!

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺. 𝘈 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴.”

A steamy new rom-com about a starchy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn...

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless--and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt--and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's gray-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.

---

I'd heard great things about Tessa Bailey books so I was extremely excited to receive an ARC of Secretly Yours but, unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. The miscommunication trope was a bit too much and the 180 of the MMC's personality in the bedroom was a little far fetched. Overall, there were just too many things that pulled me out of the story to truly enjoy it, but I hope to give other Tessa Bailey novels a chance at a later date.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘈𝘷𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Wasn’t really feeling this one. 3.5⭐️

Hallie has had her eyes on him since high school. Knowing he’s back in town has her excited to know the man he is now. Turns out, they’re way more different than she expected. Julian is only home to finish his novel. He lives his life according to a set schedule and isn’t looking to change that. But Hallie, his sister, and a secret admirer are ruining his focus.

This was cute and slightly cringe.. (I’m talking about the spicy scenes.) That said, Julian is such a cute nerd and Hallie is total chaos yet they’re so right for each other. Loved their chemistry and banter.

The beginning prank had me cracking up.

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

I enjoyed the slow paced set by the secret pining trope but thought the chemistry between Hallie and Julian was a little off. A great, quick read though not one I would recommend for newcomers to Tessa Bailey's books.