It Happened One Summer
Author: Tessa Bailey
Reviewer: Jennifer
Rating: A
What I’m Talking About:
I’ll be honest, I did not read the summary for It Happened One Summer, I saw Tessa Bailey’s name and figured it was another installment in her Hot and Hammered series. But as I started reading, I realized the heroine, Piper, had no connection to any of the characters in the for mentioned series. So I went back and read the summary and saw this is the start of a new series by the same name as the novel title.
I’m not a huge fan of spoiled socialites, so I didn’t love Piper until she left LA and landed in Westport. I was afraid the spoiled “it girl” was going to be over used, but Tessa Bailey gave us just enough to get a picture of Piper vs Piper 2.0
Piper not only finds herself in the middle of the Northwest Pacific fishing town where she was born wishing for the day she can return to LA, she finds that she’s making friends and connecting with a long lost grandmother. She’s also spending more time with her little sister, Hannah, who came along for the ride because their stepfather made Piper take her after being arrested for a pool party that got way out of hand.
It Happened One Summer is a great rom-com where the heroine and hero grow from who they are at the being of the story to their best selves by the end. Piper learns that she is more than just a pretty face and Brendan learns to loose up and try new things. They have off-the-chart sexual chemistry but Brendan won’t be just a hook up for Piper. He wants more and sees through the walls she tries to use with him. He breaks those walls and he is swoon worthy doing it.
Brendan starts out a grumpy-yet-sexy captain who orders the same fish and chips every Monday. After seeing how Piper is trying to make the best of her stay in Westport, he tries to loose up a bit. They become close-neither willing to take action on their chemistry at first. He doesn’t see her staying in Westport and he’s not into casual; she sees him as someone still in love with his deceased wife (sent he’s still wearing his wedding band). They both work through their own issues to find a HEA.
It Happened One Summer hit all my romance buttons: laughter, sexy times, great main characters, and fun supporting characters who I can’t wait to see get their own story in the next installment of the It Happened One Summer series, Hook, Line and Sinker releasing March 2022.
My Rating: A, Loved It
Jennifer
About the Book:
Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town… where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong.
Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.
Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.
Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.
Release Date: July 13, 2021
Publisher: Avon
Series: Bellinger Sisters #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format(s): paperback (416 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)