Not my favorite Tessa Bailey book but still very sexy and funny. Definitely worth the read and perfect companion for Valentines Day.

Tessa Bailey has a way of writing male protagonists who simultaneously irritate me and entice me… I just noticed the sequel is available! I’m interested in reading more about Natalie.

On the surface, Hallie Welch and Julian Vos, are far from a match.
She doesn't have a schedule.
He schedules his days down to the minute.
She doesn't care about order; she makes decisions based on feelings.
He is a planner and likes things to align perfectly.

Despite their differences in how they live their lives, there is one thing they share in common, an attraction. And when they are constantly put near each other, that attraction becomes hard to fight.
Hallie chooses to express her feelings through "secret admirer" letters.
He chooses to express his feelings with his good hand. If you know what I mean.
But eventually that isn't enough for either of them.

I liked how Hallie got under Julian's skin, allowing him to loosen up and make silly decisions. Together, they are a good team in saving a local business, which I loved. And ultimately, Hallie encourages Julian to connect more with his family, something that is long overdue for all of them.

Although most of this book is sweet, the author doesn't skimp out on the heat. She definitely knows how to get the kindle smoking in a short amount of time. This book also introduces us to a fun community that I'm sure we'll get to know more about in book two, which features Julian's sister, Natalie. I'm excited to see how her life turns around in that one.

I wanted to like this book I really did but it was just not for me.
The way Julian talks about Hallie's body made me extremely uncomfortable and made it hard to get through.
I loved the plot behind all that though with the vineyard and the wine shop and honestly would have loved more of that.

Overall I just didn't vibe with this book but I can see why people would enjoy it.

Tessa Bailey does it again in this adorable and steamy rom-com. You can't help but fall in love with the tiny Napa town and the residents that reside in it.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC for this book and I loved it! Hallie and Julian are the love story I didn’t know I needed. The way they perfectly compliment and oppose each other is hilarious and heart warming. On top of being a perfect Tessa Bailey rom com, Secretly Yours also tackles grief and anxiety and just being human in such an unexpectedly beautiful way. As always, anything by Tessa is a 10/10 for me! Can’t wait to read August and Natalie’s story later this year!

Rarely does a character come about that I can identify with so incredibly much, nor a personal journey that inspires me as well. Hallie was such a lovable and personable character. Julian’s struggle with regret and anxiety was also interesting to follow, I would have loved to see it fleshed out a little more however, I don’t think that would have meshed well with a romcom.

Overall, definitely a favorite from Tessa Bailey.

Secretly Yours
#1 A Vine Mess
By Tessa Bailey
Pub Date February 7, 2023
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
A steamy new rom-com about a starchy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn. I love the sweet clash of personalities between Julian and Hallie. Napa is the perfect setting! A lot of good things to love about this book. The one thing that missed the mark for me was the secret admirer letters. Just didn’t make sense and was more of a side plot. Overall, this is a sweet romance. Perfect for a Valentine release date.

3 stars

Such a fun read! A high school crush, secret admirer letters and wine this is a can't go wrong book. Add in two people trying to figure out how to be the people they want to be .and I read it in one sitting.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I absolutely LOVED everything about this book. This is my first Tessa Bailey read and I don't plan to stop reading her work. The characters were believable, relatable, and the chemistry between them was phenomenal. No experiment will be exact on the first try, and that much is true for Hallie and Julian. I can't wait to start book two! A must read for fans of her work or for sexy, dramatic romance.

This has a bit of a slow start, but once I got to the 50% I made poor time management choices.

The premise turned out a lot less angsty than I was anticipating, for which I’m grateful. It felt like a VERY loose ode to You’ve Got Mail.

The way all of the characters are processing grief and growth in different ways was refreshing but also a little painful to read.

Looking forward to Natalie’s book.

If you want a light and feel good read then this is one for you. It started off a bit slow. There was a lot of talk about wineries and I felt slightly bored by all the wine shop talk, especially when the crux of the story had nothing to do with it. Once the main story with Hallie and Julian started, the story did pick up. I felt like there were a lot of extras added in that just felt out of left field.
All in all, if was cute, but ultimately forgettable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tessa bailey just knows how to write great characters that i want to root for. This book is very characters driven, i loved how both her characters had to work on their mental health in order to grow as people.

I loved the addition of the secret admirer element to this romance. Additionally, I loved the incorporation of the business war and drunken shenanigans. Yet another great story by Tessa Bailey.

Loved this one! Very cute, great for Tessa Bailey fans. Found a quick typo if it's helpful --- in ch 4, "earning" should be "early." A great read!

Great book! I loved the small town vibe. I now want to go a winery and try lots of wine! I also thought the writing on anxiety for Julian’s character was written very well and was very realistic. I also liked the friendship that formed between Natalie and Hallie. Overall, it was a well written love story! I can’t wait to read Natalie’s story next! Thank you Tessa!

Every time I read a new Tessa Bailey book, I'm like "okay I guess now *this* is my favorite Tessa Bailey book now." I have just really been picking up what she's been putting down in the past year or so. This was a really charming contemporary romance with some hints of second chance (though it's complicated). Hallie Welch is a gardener/business owner in the Napa Valley and she is really struggling as she grieves the loss of her grandmother, who not only partially raised her, but also brought her into the gardening business and served as her touchstone for most of her life. As she's spiraling, she learns that Julian Vos is back in town. Julian has been her crush for 15 years, since he almost kissed her at a party when she was 14. He's back in town, taking a break from his professor gig at Stanford to write a novel, and she finagles her way into his line of sight because his mom is a client of hers. He doesn't recognize her initially, which is crushing, but they have an immediate spark. This confuses Julian, who very clearly suffers from some serious and significant anxiety, which he manages by keeping to extremely rigid routines. Hallie is anything but rigid, and her whole approach to life really throws him off. Meanwhile, a very drunk Hallie decides to write secret admirer letter to Julian and they start a weird back and forth in that format while their relationship also develops in real life. I appreciated that Bailey kept Hallie from being a stereotypical manic pixie dream girl by grounding her in her relationships, especially the lasting impact of her relationship with her grandmother. She also has some great dogs, and I'm a sucker for great dogs in a romance. Julian's mental health situation was also handled well, I thought, and I appreciated that he began to build a real relationship with his sister, who is the protagonist of the sequel. Really the secret admirer part was the only thing I wasn't super into, I feel like it was a bit unnecessary, but it didn't really reduce my enjoyment of the story.

I'm just going to put it out there, front and center: Secretly Yours is NOT Tessa Bailey's best work. Not by a long shot.

I actually forgot who the author was when I started this book, and I was thinking amateur-hour with an eyeroll, so color me shocked when I saw who the author was at the end. *cue surprised Pikachu face*

The characters are okay I guess, but bland. The female MC gave me kind of stalker vibes- like an unrequited crush for that long and he barely remembered you? And you based all of your relationships on the standard of one guy you knew for a hot second? I was not feeling that... at all. The male MC was okay but I didn't really understand him. The anxiety rep was shaky at best, and I thought his motivations and personality didn't quite match up. The two together didn't do much for me.

Where Tessa Bailey usually shines is in her sex scenes, and this was sort of the case here. I (again) rolled my eyes at the (view spoiler), and the completely out of character way the male MC transitioned from straight-laced to dirty talk. It just didn't go with his character AT ALL. I know Tessa Bailey shines at dirty talk (and it was pretty decent here) but the MCs just didn't match up with the sex scenes.

The side characters were okay, and the winery details seemed half-hearted, but it just really wasn't enough for me. Plus, the conflict at the end drove me insane!! Please, authors, do better.

Is this the book that makes me hang up my Tessa Bailey hat? Maybe (*unless she write another M/M- I'm here for that*).

First a HUGE thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC! ✨🥹

3/5🌶️
I am a sucker for Tessa Bailey so she can do no wrong in my eyes. I will have to say it’s obviously so predictable but isn’t that what we all love? The predictability of rom-coms? This book made me Awh and giggle on mutiple occasions. I will have to say a 5/5⭐️ for shining light on anxiety.

I received a free advance reader's copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I read a teaser of this book in the last Tessa Bailey book I read (I think it was <em>Hook, Line, and Sinker</em>), and it looked really cute, so I was glad to see I could get an advanced copy from NetGalley. It was decent enough. I felt that Hallie was super chaotic and young, and I really just wanted her to get her shit together - I guess she frustrated me a little. Julian frustrated me too, but just because he was so rigid. It was nice to see both characters develop a little throughout the book. Cute and spicy.