It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Contemporary Romance
July 13, 2021, by Avon
ARC

Reviewed by Angela

This book y’all. It caught me by surprise in the best way possible. You know that feeling you get when you read and great book and get all excited and MUST TELL EVERYONE? I had that feeling reading It Happened One Summer. I just want everyone I know to add it to their TBR right away and read it on release date so we can all gush together.

Meet Piper Bellinger- a sparkly, bright, 28-year-old party “it” girl who grew up with a rich step-father in Los Angeles and seems to spend her days shopping and Instagramming. After a bad breakup and fearing the social media fall-out of being dumped, she ends up in a hotel pool (illegally) with a couple hundred of her acquaintances; drinking, partying, and shooting off fireworks. Which is how she lands in jail and in trouble. The solution her step-dad and mom think up? For her to spend several months in the town where she was born and her father died, a place she doesn’t know and a father who she barely remembers. A small fishing village, Westport, where she apparently also owns a bar. At least she won’t be alone, her sister Hannah sets aside everything to go with her.

When Brendan, better known as Captain to his friends, first sees Piper it’s while she’s unloading her fancy suitcases from the back of a cab and with a look of disgust on her face. His first impression isn’t a good one and he acts like an ass to the woman who he’s pegged as a spoiled, rich girl who he thinks won’t even make it one night in the scary upstairs apartment over the rundown bar she supposedly owns.

But he’s wrong. And thankfully it doesn’t take him long to admit that.

This couple… how much do I love them? Let me count the ways.

1. Piper is such a presence. I loved her so very much. She knows she’s had everything handed to her on a silver platter her whole life, but she really wants to figure out exactly who she is and who she could be. She’s so open and honest and I admired that.
2. Brendan is such a big, wonderful bear of a man. He’s rigid and has a schedule and not spontaneous at all, but he wants to change for Piper.
3. The things he does to “court” her are just… swoooooon. Helping her and Hannah gut and renovate the bar. Building her a pergola. Having someone from the hardware store go over just to pad the bottom of the top bunk so she won’t hit her head in the mornings. Planning an intimate dinner at his house for just them. AND HE GARDENS.
4. The chemistry between them is off the charts hot. It practically jumps off the page.
5. Piper calls being wrapped in Brendan’s arms her “recharging station” and I’m just over here sighing.
6. I LOVED their filthy, sexy love scenes. And yes, I am happy to report Tessa Bailey is still the queen of the dirty talking hero. Brendan is just… *bites lip*
7. Their opposites attract relationship was so realistic and lovely. She’s a bit wild and extroverted, making friends wherever she goes and he’s in control and a little rigid, used to his small-town life and people he’s known forever. But they bend for each other and it works.
8. Brendan, a widower, and Piper have frank conversations about his wife, her death, and their marriage. They also have some deep conversations about Piper’s fears and how she views herself. I am all here for the deep, meaningful conversations before the hot, mind-blowing sex. Yessiree.
9. The way Brendan and Piper shaped their HEA.
10. Piper and Hannah have the best relationship. Funny, supportive, loving, honest. They make a place for themselves in Westport and do it as a team.

I think this is my favorite Tessa Bailey book to date. And that is saying a lot. I’ve already gone and checked to see if Hannah gets her own love story and HEA and I’m happy to report she does. Hook, Line, and Sinker releases in March of next year and I CANNOT WAIT. (Don’t forget to read the bonus scene with Hannah and Fox at the end, trust me.)

Add this book to your TBR. You won’t regret it.

Final grade- A

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