It Happened One Summer

Piper Bellinger is the typical LA party girl with a massive Instagram following as well as a lack of responsibility and discipline. She gets away with everything. That is until she is arrested for breaking and entering after throwing the wildest party of her life after her most recent dumping. Her step-father ships her off to her hometown, Westport, Washington to learn her lesson. She has barely any memories of the town, other than her deceased father had died there.

In tow with her sister, Hannah, she heads to the small fishing town that is anything but the glitz and glam of LA. Her attitude and disapproving glares get under the skin of gruff ship captain, Brendan Taggart. He doesn't like how she's walked into town with her attitude of arrogance and hatred towards his beloved town. Yet, despite his annoyance, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. He feels this urge to take care of her, which eventually leads to a growing flirtationship between the two. She understands him and he understands her, as the people, they are, not what the world expects of them. This story is about having faith. In others, and yourself. It's about finding love and yourself in the places you'd least expect it.

Tessa Bailey's writing is swoon-worthy and real. She does an amazing job in creating her characters with flaws. She makes you dislike the characters and then fall in love with them, something that's hard to do. Her portrayal of Breandan as this gruff, strong, and emotionally unavailable ship captain is phenomenal, as she breaks down his walls, giving him a sense of vulnerability as he learns to show real emotion. Brendan falls first and we get to hear every piece of it, and it's beautiful.

I loved this book. A lot. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the amount and the very graphic sex scenes. I'm no prude and I know others may like it, but there was a lot of it and some of it just wasn't for me. Details were described in full detail, so be forewarned folks. I didn't hate all of the sex scenes, but some of them were just a bit much, especially with Brendan's dirty talk. However, I loved the rest of the book and I am excited to read Hook, Line, and Sinker!