After days of sad news in the media I wanted a pick me up book. Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey is just the ticket. Coming out in February 2023 it is a Valentine gift to Bailey readers. The setting is a small wine town in Napa. Hallie Welch is 29 and took over her grandmothers gardening business after her death. She is kind, chaotic, can’t limit herself to one necklace and lets her plants tell her where they want to be placed. Her dream crush is Julian who almost kissed her once in his family vineyard. Julian Vos is on leave from Stanford where he is a professor. He came home to write his first novel. He is a structured person with checklists and time limits setting his boundaries. His mother hires Hallie to add plants for color to the yard and Julian is instantly drawn to her. They are the opposite in so many ways but I love that they aren’t bound to those traits. She for reasons of her own works on being more organized. And he accepts that her that being in her presence means a little chaos including her yapping dogs and helping her save a local business.

I love that this is duel POV and their voices are unique. Hallie is wonderful as she falls for grown up Julian who is different from her boy crush. I love that she is confident and yet vulnerable about herself and her curves. Julian is entertaining as he goes from rigidness to wanting to fight every battle that brings her unhappiness. The longing and loving for each other is obvious to everyone but themselves. Julian also has a dirty mouth that contrasts his persona. That dirty talk takes typical intimate scenes to screaming hot levels. I enjoyed Bailey’s last series but these characters are more real and relatable. They have problems but work hard and want the best for those around them. Together they are charmingly perfect. Please put me on the list for his sister Natalie’s story. And I hope within that book I get a little more of Julian and Hallie.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley for this advanced copy.

What a great, fun-loving book. I think plenty of girls have had these high school crushes and have always wondered "what if." Hallie gets a chance to live out the what-if when her crush since she was 14 comes back to town to write a book. Julian is every bit as handsome as she remembers, but does he remember her?

There is so much to love about this book. I loved the story of the super smart professor coming home to write a book, to only turn into the family savior of his vineyard. The sex scenes were so steamy they made me blush at times. Tessa Bailey has a great imagination. Her attention to detail in some of those steamy scenes makes me want to live her life.

I loved this book, I can't wait until the next one comes out.

Stars 4.5

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books and Tessa Bailey for an eARC of Secretly Yours

I absolutely adored this book! I read this book in one sitting, I simply couldn't get enough! It definitely provides the grumpy/sunshine and opposites attract tropes. And the tension was *chef's kiss* perfect.

I must admit that this is my first Tessa Bailey book, though I've been following her on social media for awhile now. After loving this book so much, I will 100% be reading her past and future books. When this book comes out in February, I can tell its going to be getting loads of attention from BookTok. I mean, I feel like everyone was already losing their minds when the cover was announced a few weeks back.

Secretly Yours is a 5 star romcom read that I highly recommend with a glass (or a few glasses) of wine.

Another great story by Tessa Bailey! I love the relationship between the main characters and the interesting side characters. I can’t wait for the next in the series!

Well this book is a delight and a half. Where it is a February 2023 release I probably should not have read it this early, but I don’t care. I needed a Tessa Bailey book and this one fully delivered. Hattie’s life is mess. Her landscaping business is chaos, she’s struggling to help save her favorite wine shop, and her love live is non-exinsistant, but when Julian Vos, her teenage crush, returns to town she finds the chaos calming down. Julian has returned to town to write his book in peace. With his checklists and life in seemingly perfect order he is not prepared to be blown away by Hattie. The two are complete opposites but their chemistry is off the charts.

I love Tessa’s books and their ability to just take me away to wonderful small towns and stick me in the metaphorical phone booth with two idiots who don’t understand their own feelings. I loved both Hattie and Julian. I loved Hattie’s story of having to learn that the person she thought she knew wasn’t real and having to fall in love with the real Julian. I loved Julian’s story of learning to trust and accept himself and those around him. They were opposites in a way that was obvious but not annoying. I loved that the book was dual POV because both had such distinct voices and I just loved hearing how they described each other. For example Hattie describes Julian stating, “he was a Van Gogh in a gallery of children’s finger paintings.” And in turn Julian says absolute nonsense like, “when she isn’t smiling, the world becomes a terrible place.” They’re ridiculous and I absolutely love them. As with all of Tessa’s books the dirty talk between these two was off the charts and the steamy scenes were just delicious. On top of that the heart behind these characters was just wonderful. Was it a perfect book? No, but I don’t care. It was what I needed. I am absolutely looking forward to Natalie’s story.

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

Secretly Yours was a sweet, funny love story which had plenty of signature Tessa Bailey style.

Hailey Welch had an almost kiss years ago with her long time crush Julian Vos in the orchards of his family vineyard. They both moved on with their lives but now Julian has returned to spend some time at his family's estate to work on his current book project and Hailey has been hired to work on the landscaping around the property. While Hailey's crush has never gone away and is ignited when she sees Julian again, she is saddened when he doesn't remember her. Julian on the other hand is a man of schedules and structure. He is shades of gray while Hailey is bright colors and sunshine but he can't help but feel drawn to her every time she is near. One drunken night she writes him a secret admirer letter. Julian and Hailey start to get to know each other more and more as she tends to the property. At the same time she continues to write him in a secret admirer capacity. Will Julian be able to let down his guard and accept the wild and chaotic Hailey into his life for good?

This was such a fun sweet story. I loved how Tessa handled Julian's anxiety and how rich his back story was. I constantly felt for Hailey and her insecurities. These were such charming and loveable characters, you couldn't help but root for them.

The only thing that kept me from giving this 5 stars is that Julian felt very similar to Aiden in Window Shopping and I found myself making a lot of comparisons to the characters and the story.

Overall, this is a super cute story with great characters and I would definitely recommend grabbing it. I am excited that this is listed as the first in a new series from Tessa and cannot wait to see follow along with the rest of these characters.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the EARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

To sum up this book in one sentence, I would say that Secretly Yours is a sweet rom-com about two polar opposite’s who learn to love each other, along with themselves. Overall, I would say I liked this book because not only did it make me laugh, but Julian was so dreamy and had me giggling and kicking my feet after every minuscule interaction. I swear this book is the embodiment of the she fell first, but he fell harder trope, and I love it for that. I do think that the ending felt a little rushed and that the secret/misunderstanding trope was a little cliché, but what romance books aren’t a little cliché these days? In my opinion, Secretly Yours is a fun and quick read that I would recommend for anyone in the mood for a happy ending.

Thanks netgalley for letting read this one Tessa bailey is one of my favorite authors and I love the books she writes and this one is no exception it is so good I wanna read it again

Tessa Baily has been my favorite author for years and this is just proof she can do anything. She makes me swoon every time. I laughed, I cried, I gasped. She makes me feel every word. Secretly Yours is a masterpiece.

** Thanks so much to NetGalley, Tessa Bailey, and Avon for this ARC!! Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey will be out February 7th, 2023! **

This was my first Tessa Bailey novel and I cannot believe what I have been missing! This was cute, sexy, and heartwarming. A definite must-read for any contemporary romance fans.

Hallie Welch is a chaotic, charming gardener who cannot keep to a schedule to save her life. She has had a crush on Julian Vos, heir to a prominent local vineyard, since high school, and she can't believe her luck when he comes home from his job as a professor to write a book in his mother's guesthouse (yes, he is rich). Julian is her complete opposite - ever since he had a panic attack 4 years ago after a family tragedy, he can't imagine functioning without a strict accounting of his time. What unfolds is a very sweet, steamy story that touches on themes of mental health, acceptance, and growth. I loved it!

Put this on your TBR immediately! Best read with a glass of wine.

I loved the clashing of personalities but I wanted to know more about the letters! Can’t go wrong with Tessa Bailey, I love so many of her books

Tessa Bailey is a queen and I will read anything she writes. I loved the winery plot and the chaos that Hallie brought to Julians life! My biggest problem is now waiting for her next book...

I will read every book Tessa Bailey writes, but I felt this one fell more flat than her other more recent series. I liked her characters as they were relatable in some ways and this was a quick read.

Secretly Yours was soooo cute! I enjoyed Hallie and Julian's love story and journey as Hallie gets the chance at something real with her high school crush 15 years later. If you enjoy a light rom-com, second chance romance, with a chaotically sweet heroine and a grumpy- dirty talking hero, Secretly Yours is the book for you!! Tessa Bailey has done it again!
Spice: 3/5
Overall: 8/10

This is a story of a man who needs to control his life, and the woman that happens to him. A sweet love story, tinged with sadness from experiences that various characters have had, but a riotous journey to a happy ending. It made me want to stop by the town, visit the vineyards, go to a wine tasting and meet the locals.

Hallie Welch has pined for Julian Vos since an almost-kiss in high school, but never really got to know the man. Fifteen years later they reconnect, and she discovers they could not be more different. Hallie is a free spirit, habitually late to everything, and Julian is a straight-laced Professor who lives by his schedule. Hallie was a bit over the top for me, and I found myself cringing at some of her wilder antics. Julian was a much more relatable character, but for such a stiff, repressed man, I felt he gave in to his feelings a bit too early. However, the steam was just as hot as I've come to expect from a Tessa Bailey book. This combined with my soft spot for dirty-talking Professors made the scenes that much hotter. Not my favorite Tessa Bailey, but still worth a read.

Hallie has pined for Julian for 15 years, but when he returns to the Napa Valley and encounters her, he has no idea who she is. Soon, they begin to develop a friendship and realize it could be something more. But, will it work? One values control and structure above all else, and the other is a free spirit, content to blow where the wind goes. Will their love allow them to meet in the middle?

I just want to start by saying how much I absolutely adore Tessa Bailey. God, this book was so good. AND THE SPICINESS… perfection. I absolutely adored Hallie and that girl deserves the world! She was the perfect amount of quirky without making me dislike her or finding her annoying. I really did adore her character. Julian, I wanted to punch him a few times but man… the way he spoke to Hallie in their steamy scenes was EVERYTHING! Excellent book. I can’t wait to read the one that’s after this.

Delightful in all the ways that you'd expect from a book by Tessa Bailey. While there isn't too much unexpected that happens, there is enough of a different story line that I wanted to keep reading to find out how they'll get together. Reading one of Tessa Bailey's books is like curling up with a mug of hot chocolate under a giant fluffy blanket, which I didn't do because it's summer in NYC and way too warm for that.

This is personal and it just was not for me. I feel bad even reviewing it after I skimmed the majority of the 2nd half just to get through it. If you are a Tessa Bailey fan I think this might still work for you because it is very similar to her book with Piper and Brendan.