It Happened One Summer
by Tessa Bailey
Review of It Happened One Summer
If you only read one romance book this summer, please let it be this one.Â
It Happened One Summer is a fun, sweet, steamy, and swoony jaunt to the Pacific Northwest featuring a grumpy widowed fisherman and a pampered socialite. It is small-town romance and opposites attract and grumpy/sunshine to the max, and it made me tear up and laugh out loud, and I loved everything about it.
It Happened One Summer Backstory
Piper is in her late 20s and hasn’t ever had a ‘real’ job or responsibilities outside of being Instagram famous. Growing up in LA, she has relied on her looks and social connections to get through life, and when a revenge party goes wrong, she can’t charm her way out of the consequences.Â
After one too many screw-ups, her step-father cuts her off and banishes her to a tiny coastal town to teach her a lesson about real life. While there, Piper and her sister make the best of the situation while reconnecting with their roots along the way.
Brendan Taggart is a grumpy, set-in-his-ways fisherman who lives by his routine and risks his life every few weeks while seeking the next big catch. He’s responsible, an upstanding member of the community, and loyal to a fault.Â
When Brendan meets Piper, not only does she throw a couture and sequin-encrusted wrench into his carefully crafted life, sparks fly and all bets are off.Â
Sweet and Swoony Romance with Lots of Dirty-Talk
Oh my. Did I mention that this book is steamy? Because it is. Tessa Bailey is known as the Queen of Dirty-Talking Heroes for good reason, and she did not disappoint with Brendan.Â
Aside from his gruff exterior, he’s so very sweet and caring and accepts Piper for who she is. I just loved him to pieces. (I also loved Piper in all her quirky glory, by the way.)
In addition to the steam, Ms. Bailey delivers swoon by the bucketful. There are also flawed and sometimes insecure characters who grow throughout the book, supportive side characters, a charming small town that you can’t help but love, and oodles of feels.
I absolutely adored this book, and I can’t wait for more in this series. If you’re looking for a beach read with tons of simmering chemistry, bubbly banter, and a big-hearted cast of characters, do not miss It Happened One Summer!
Thank you for the advanced copy of IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey. All opinions are my own.
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About the Book
MY RATING:
★★★★★ 4.5/5
date published : July 13, 2021
pages : 397
narrator : Charlotte North
audiobook length: 10 hrs, 48 min
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.Â
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