It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Book 21/30.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It Happened One Summer is a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com from Tessa Bailey 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 does not belong.

Alexis Rose 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 jail, 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 has not even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she will not last a week outside of Beverly Hills. She is determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she is more than a pretty face. Except it is a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there is an undeniable attraction simmering between them.

I loved how this book puts Piper’s high maintenance at the front and center. Both Piper and Brendan not only acknowledge it, but it is a big part of their attraction to each other. She wants nice things and he wants to give them to her.
You can be as high maintenance as you want, honey. But I’m the only one who does the maintenance.
Or as he succinctly told her at one point, “Spoiling you makes my dick hard.”
Swoon 😍😍😍

As the story progressed, I loved the focus on Piper taking the time to discover who she really is and finding the meaning that she so desperately craves. By the end of the novel Piper has grown from a shallow socialite to a well-rounded, well-loved woman with a heart of gold.

I started this book on April 29th, aka #HighInfidelityDay, and I had a marvellous time losing myself in Piper and Brendan’s love story. Firstly because romance is my favourite genre, secondly because Brendan is just so 🥵🥵🥵 and lastly because I am a huge fan of the grumpy/sunshine trope 🤩🥰 but I have to say that I did not particularly like the sex scenes as I found the dialogue insanely cheesy 🥴

View all my reviews

** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing