It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey Series: Bellinger Sisters #1
Published by Avon on July 13, 2021
Pages: 379
Genres: Romance, Romantic Comedy, Women's Fiction
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Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who’s 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.
It Happened One Summer is reminiscent of the tv show Schitt’s Creek, only this book is more heartwarming in my humble opinion.
Piper is the quintessential spoiled, shallow but sweet Los Angeles socialite. She suffers from a fear of being irrelevant, and she tends to act out with attention-seeking behavior as a result. Her partying, recklessness, and overall lack of direction get Piper cut off financially from her family. In addition, she and her sister, Hannah, get exiled to a small fishing town to take care of their deceased father’s dilapidated bar.
Even though Piper is a fish out of water—no pun intended—when she arrives in Westport, she doesn’t let it get her down. At first I thought Piper was an airhead, but she is a ray of sunshine, and she won my respect by tapping into her selfless side as well as discovering the value of hard work. I loved her sparkly personality and determination. It’s the heart of the book. I enjoyed Piper and Hannah’s sisterly bond as well. The romance between Piper and Brendan is also top notch.
It Happened One Summer is an enemies turned lovers story, and Brendan’s animosity towards outsider Piper radiates from him from the start. I liked how his little digs bounce right off her, and she speaks fluent sarcasm in return. His transformation into a super protective alpha boyfriend seemingly happens in the blink of an eye, though. I would have enjoyed a slower progression. Even so, I loved their chemistry. Seeing this gruff man brought to his knees over a woman was a delight.
If you’re in the mood for an entertaining, fun and sexy story, look no further.
Recommended for fan of:
Schitt’s Creek
Fashion
Sister bonding
Dive bars
About Tessa Bailey
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.
Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of ten years and six-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
I have such feelings about this book, but I’m pretty much the only person who feels the way I do. I was so mad at the typhoon from Alaska. That has never happened here on the WA coast. If we get remnants of a typhoon, it’s from somewhere in the Pacific that’s not cold waters like Alaska and they’re just really bad storms. I know artistic licensing and all, but she does the same thing in book 2 with something else. I just wish she’d done a little better research on the climate and that.