Cute and spicy, similar in many ways to Bailey's other rom-coms. Grumpy and Sunshine characters make for a fun back and forth. Bailey's current fans will gobble it up for sure!

God, how do express my thoughts on this book? I don't even truly know. I just finished it and my mind is still processing for sure. I immediately became invested in this. I really loved our two main characters from the get go and absolutely adored their dynamic together. It's very much an oppesites attract romance and I love how it's immediately obvious just how different the two of them are. However, it's also immediately obvious how perfectly these two fit together and how they mellow each other out. It's just so well done. I really loved how the relationship developed but I also really loved how our two protagnists developed in their own journeys as well. The cast of side characters were also amazing and I loved the town this book was set in. Tessa Bailey did an amazing job bringing it all to life. I really loved the tension that was created between the two love interests. It really made me feel all the feels. Besides that this also had some great emotional moments, as well as some really funny moments. This book definitely made me laugh at several points in this book. God, this review is all over the place. I'm sorry for that. Just know I loved this.

Completely adorable. Finished in a weekend and loved every second. This is a book I’ll be telling friends to look for at a bookstore and when I go to a bookstore making sure they have on a featured table.

𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒶 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽.  
  
Secretly Yours is the newest book by New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Bailey coming out February 7th and thanks to Netgalley I got an ARC for this wonderful, steamy read.
  
Secretly Yours is your run-of-the-mill opposites-attract romantic comedy set in a small Napa town. Romance and wine it’s a perfect pairing (sorry I had to 😉). 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 turned college professor has returned home after years to write a novel. And all these years later Hallie’s crush for Julian is still there. Only once Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate she realizes that crushes never quite live up to expectations. Hallie the carefree wild child meets uptight Julian as adults and he doesn’t even remember her from high school. Their polar opposite personalities clash, but make for electric chemistry. Hallie thinks because of their differences a relationship could never work and after a wine-fueled girls’ night Hallie hatches up a plan. She’ll write Julian a (drunken) secret admirer letter to get her feelings off her chest in hopes to move on, but it doesn’t stop at one. And even though Julian doesn’t know who the this secret admirer is, he finds himself getting sucked further into Hallie’s orbit.  
  
Over the course of the book there is a lot of self discovery and vulnerability. Hallie and Julian come to realize they make each other better because of their differences. Sometimes the carefree sprit needs someone to anchor them to reality and the anxiety driven person needs someone to loosen them up and help them take a deep breath. It’s full of tenderness and love and lots and lots of dirty talk. You’ll want to devour this read, but just like wine it’s best to enjoy slowly.  
  
Read if you like:  
- Childhood crush/second chance romance  
- Secret admirer   
- Grumpy x Sunshine   
- Dirty talk 🌶🌶🌶  
- Anxiety/panic attacks   
- Self discovery   
- Small town

This was such a fun read! I love Hallie and Julian and all of their flaws and messes, and their romance is sweet and sexy and romantic. I love romances where the fun, chaotic character comes and ruffles up the ordered and buttoned up character. And then they both fall so hard that they don’t know which end is up. That’s Julian and Hallie.

Hallie and Julian are complete opposites. She is carefree, spontaneous, and a little messy, and he is controlled and structured. I loved them together! They have such fantastic grumpy/sunshine chemistry. He’s generally so in control, structured, and buttoned-up, but in the bedroom, he becomes someone else. Out of control, uninhibited, and passionate, Julian wants to connect with Hallie on every level – verbal, physical, and emotional. And the provocative and dirty things he says to her. Holy hotness!!! He brings dirty talk to a level that had me fanning myself. A hot professor with a dirty mouth and a love of plus-size women. Yes, please!

I also love how protective Julian becomes. He has no idea how deeply he feels for her, but his actions sure show how committed he is. He hates to see her unhappy, and he surprises himself in how strongly he reacts when he sees her being mistreated. I loved seeing him slowly let his walls down and embrace his feelings. I also like that Hallie begins to realize that her long-time crush is very different from the man Julian is now, and she loves him even more. They have a swoon-worthy and often comical and complicated love story filled with angst, longing, secret letters, adorable dogs, witty banter, and more.

I also liked the secondary relationships in the story. Hallie has a wonderful friendship with her friend Lavinia, and she begins a new friendship with Julian’s sister. Speaking of Julian’s sister, she, Julian, and their mother have a lot of family baggage to address. This story definitely sets up Julian’s sister’s story in the next book (I can’t wait!!!), and I’m excited to see how the Vos family evolves and changes.

Tessa Bailey books always make me so happy, and Secretly Yours is no exception. I loved it. It’s sexy, entertaining, and super charming, and there are so many sweet and humorous moments, but there are also some more serious themes introduced, including economic threats, grief, loss, mental health struggles, and more. It’s layered and romantic and fun, and I would definitely recommend it to romance readers.

Thanks so much to Avon Books for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

Tessa Bailey does it again! She cannot write a bad romcom.
I loved the premise of a secret admirer and letters. It was so sweet and provided some angst.
The characters are wonderful and I couldn't get enough of them. I'm going to need a short story or something in the future to see what these two are up to!
The cover is gorgeous and I love the representation of a curvy heroine.
The spice was fabulous as always (I mean we are talking about the Queen of Dirty Talk here!).
There was so much to love in Secretly Yours and I cannot wait for other readers to experience it.

Tessa has done it again!! She's totally nailed the steamy romcoms and this one is no exception. It's funny and sexy and set in the Napa wine world. If you've read Tessa Bailey, then you already know her style. Romance tropes include small town (saving struggling businesses- check), grumpy meets sunshine (sexy brooding male and curvy female florist - check), and a second chance romance ..... Love Love Love

What would you do if you drank too much wine & had a crush?

4.5 stars rounded down. Tessa Bailey can do no wrong! I loved this latest installment in her writing. I thought the dynamic between the Julian and Hallie was unique and engaging. I don’t usually read opposites attract, but it was really well done in this book! Julian was a great male main character (probably one of my favorite TB love interests so far), and it was great to see some curvy girl rep in Hallie. The notable Tessa Bailey steam was as good as ever!

My only issue with this is that it ended somewhat abruptly after the third act breakup. I would’ve enjoyed seeing their relationship develop for more than about 5 pages after their reunion.

Thank you NetGalley, Tessa Bailey, and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a great book and I can't wait for book #2! I really love Tessa Bailey and the fact that her writing is so relatable!

I was very excited to meet some new Tessa Bailey characters. I love a good reconnection love story and found this one to be a quick and fun read. As is Tessa Bailey style, heavy on the steam factor! I did wish the secret admirer notes would have played a bigger role. I love an epistolary novel and would have loved a stronger tie with the letters, but they were still a fun element in the overall love story.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Readers will love this spicy hot opposites attract romance. The perfect novel to kick off romance season in February. Watch for the second in the duology in June - these are perfect romances to escape into and recommended opposites attract romances. Recommended for adult readers. They are perfect beach reads for next summer as well since book 2 arrives in June.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

If you can handle a main character who is a bit scatterbrained and quite impulsive, you may enjoy this book a lot more than I did. The rest of the book was pretty good in my opinion.

***Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc.

Tessa Bailey is has become an auto-buy author for me since I read It happened one summer. I devoured this book. The angst between the two main character was amazing! It was that sweet spot where my chest feels tight but not to the point where I’m anxious. The chemistry and banter was just as amazing as Tessa’s other books which is one of the reason I love her books so much. This isn’t as spicy as some of her others but the tension and the growing connection make up for it.

Hallie is a gardener in Napa trying to find herself after her grandmothers death. Jullian is on hiatus from his teaching job, writing a novel while trying to regroup after a friend had a meltdown. When Hallie finds out her high school crush is back in town she offers to update his mothers lawn for just a chance to see him. Hallie disrupts Jullian’s insanely structured routines, with her 3 dogs and inability to keep time. But quickly they start feeling this instant attraction but being polar opposites they try to stay apart.
I loved this book so much it was everything I wanted! To say I’m excited for the next book is an understatement.

Hallie grew up with a mom who bounced around when her grandmother took her in she finally felt some stability in her life. After her grandma died the instability came in her life. Julian who struggles with anxiety is trying to take a break from work after a coworker had a mental break down. He is finally writing the novel he has dreamed about until a certain gardener comes to plant some begonias.

I really like the representation of mental health in this book.

This book was cute! Not my ultimate favorite Tessa Bailey book but probably in the top 5. I had a little issue with everything feeling pretty cliched but overall I had fun with the characters and their chemistry, I also really really appreciated the representation of mental health as these are things I think myself and a lot of other people struggle with as well. I will be recommending this one!

This was a really adorable book. I loved the characters, and the setting was lovely. The relationship ships are wonderful- friendships, mother/son, brother/sister- and I loved the sense of community.

I'm looking forward to the next book.

I had really high hopes going into this one after loving It Happened One Summer and Hook, Line, and Sinker. Secretly Yours had the trademark instalove, laughs, and dirty talk that I enjoy so much about Tessa Bailey's writing, but unfortunately, I just never felt fully invested in the characters or love story. There was just too much going on - saving the local business Corked, saving Vos vineyard, family drama, setting up the next book, etc, that I think the love story got overshadowed. The opposites attract trope felt extreme and too chaotic. Julian's personality in the bedroom was jarring because it was a 180 from how he normally acted/spoke. I know that was pretty much the point since he was so buttoned up and repressed, but it didn't flow naturally for me. I also had hoped (given the title and cover) that the epistolary element would have been a larger plot point, but the book could have been exactly the same minus the few letters and it wouldn't have been very different. The third act conflict felt so unnecessary and could have been resolved so quickly with a simple conversation. Heck, even a single sentence. The epilogue wrapped things up very sweetly (and conveniently) though and even though this one wasn't my favorite, it was still entertaining and intrigued me enough to want Natalie's story. I think Tessa Bailey fans will enjoy this one, but sadly I didn't love it as much as I hoped.

2.5 - 3 stars

CW: death of loved one (past), grief, constantly moving/transient childhood (past), anxiety, panic attacks (on page and discussion of past events), destructive and life threatening fire (past), belittling child's mental health (past), mentions of financial insecurity/problems, alcohol/excessive drinking

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

This book is going to be a hit with a lot of readers! Sweet, sexy, a little emotional as both Hollie and Julian experience emotional growth due to some things they struggle with that lead to them being complete opposites as Hollie is impulsive due to her trauma and Julian follows a schedule too strictly due to his. This is especially for people who love the grumpy-sunshine trope.

That being said, this book is Bailey's classic instant lust. In Hollie's case it is because she has been in love with Julian for a long time, Julian doesn't remember Hollie, but he is immediately attracted to her too. But they both feel like they are too different from each other, and at certain points the way that the book would inch them closer together and then make them stay further apart felt contrived. I think that plenty of other readers will love that dynamic.

Tessa Bailey does it again. I loved how Hallie was an average sized woman who didn’t hate herself, and I loved that Tessa made Julian a more well rounded character by confronting his hardships with his anxiety. It was a modern love story set in a small town that made me laugh out loud. And it’s PERFECTLY set up for Natalie’s book next. I CANNOT WAIT

4 stars - I loved "Secretly Yours" from Tessa Bailey. Hallie and Julian are complete opposites and yet are attracted to each other at a young age and again when they see each other as adults. The story is light on angst and has some steam! It was an entertaining romance that will have you rooting for them to work it out!

I look forward to Natalie’s story!

A big “Thank You” to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in return for an independent, honest review.