It Happened One Summer
Ratings290
Average rating3.7
I wanted to like it for the title alone, but it's ultimately something I plain don't like. I don't like any of the characters and I don't care for graphic sex scenes.
I think Piper Bellinger is my new favorite character in rom-com literature. It's because [a:Tessa Bailey 6953499 Tessa Bailey https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634304355p2/6953499.jpg] has written a lovable airhead better than anyone. It's not Piper's fault that she's real world clueless. Her sheltered upbringing has left her great at selfies, makeup, and partying, but nothing that would prepare her to leave her natural habitat, L.A., for an obscure fishing village in the Pacific Northwest. However, once she is banished there, her lovable look at life follows her, as does her more pragmatic sister. In hopes of being taught a lessons, her stepfather has sent her to the village where her real father lived before his untimely death. Worse yet, she has been sent there with very little in the way of funds. Enter a fishing captain who is just as clueless about social media as Piper is about fishing boats. Opposites don't attract in this case. At least not immediately. I think my favorite part of the book was when Piper went to dinner, necessitated by a cooking mishap, with the aforementioned captain of fishing boat, Brendan Taggart. He asked Piper to explain why she had said she was spending the next three months in Westport.“Why exactly are you in Westport? . . . You said three months. That's a pretty specific amount of time.”Beneath the table, her leg began to jiggle. “It's kind of an awkward story.”“Do you need a beer before telling it?”Her lips twitched. “No.” She closed her eyes and shivered. “It's more than awkward. It's humiliating. I don't know if I should give you that ammunition.” [Note: Until this point, there interaction has been adversarial.]Man, he'd really been a bastard. “I won't use it against you, Piper.”She speared him with those baby blues and seemed satisfied with whatever she saw. “Okay, just keep an open mind.” She blew out a breath. “I had a bad breakup. A public one. And I didn't want to be labeled social media pathetic, right? So I mass texted hundreds of people and broke us into the rooftop pool at the Mondrian [a hotel]. It got out of control. Like, police helicopter and fireworks and nudity out of control. So I got arrested and nearly cost my stepfather the production money for his next film. He sent me here with barely any money to teach me a lesson. . . . and force me into being self-sufficient. Hannah [her sister] wouldn't let me come alone.”Brendan's fork had been suspended in the air for a good minute. He tried to piece it all together, but everything about this world she described was so far from his, it almost sounded like make-believe. “When was this?”“A few weeks ago,” she said on an exhale. “Wow, it sounds worse all strung together like that.”Let me just admit, as a writer myself, I wish I had written that. Or the whole book for that matter.I highly recommend you check out this book.
Oh to be so intensely beautiful that hot and handy small town men will take up renovation projects in your name without you even asking.
I felt I really ought to read a Tessa Bailey as she's so ubiquitous in the contemporary romance space and I'd say this was fairly standard. Not a future favourite unfortunately.
TITLE It Happened One Summer
AUTHOR Tessa Bailey
Genre Romance
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Emotional Impact 6
Characters 7.5
Plot 3.75
Worldbuilding / Magic System 4.5
Dialogue / Prose 5
Official Rating 5.38
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NOTES Mid ass climax - last 10% of the book basically ruined a 6.5+ for me
TITLE It Happened One Summer
AUTHOR Tessa Bailey
Genre Romance
—
Emotional Impact 6
Characters 7.5
Plot 3.75
Worldbuilding / Magic System 4.5
Dialogue / Prose 5
Official Rating 5.38
—
NOTES Mid ass climax - last 10% of the book basically ruined a 6.5+ for me
The first time I tried to read It Happened One Summer, I DNF'd it a few pages in because I could not stand Piper or her family. She seemed to be a very stereotypical portrayal of a rich LA influencer, and I hated it. Then, I read a review that compared Piper to Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek. After going back in with that mindset, I grew to adore this romance. It was heartwarming with a beautiful setting and major found-family vibes. There was minimal internal conflict once the characters got together, and the conflict that did occur did not drag on for too long. And I got to watch Piper evolve into someone I actually liked. Once outside the influence of the rich and famous, her kindness shines through. She befriends everyone around her, welcomes her Grandmother into her life with open arms, and helps an older man up to his favorite perch every day. By the end of this book, she turns into a pretty cool person.
I mostly liked the book but there were parts that just gave me the ick. I'm sure there's a better term for it but there were parts of the book that made me physically recoil.
I've read several Tessa Bailey books already, some I've loved (the hot and hammered series), some not so much but she has a clear talent and gift for storytelling. I loved the premise, the setting and the character backstories. Both have suffered loss, both are closed off because of it. The author made crab fishing interesting and I never thought I'd think that.
The pace threw me, it got very intense very fast and I found that harder to buy in to. I loved the way each chapter ended abruptly, the writing style completely pulled me in.
There were some elements that I just didn't get, might be me, might be cultural but the conversations between Piper and her sister just didn't seem like conversations between siblings. That's where the ick came in. But those few paragraphs aside it's a solid read and not a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.
It's a rollercoaster of stupidness. The maicharacter is so indecisive and naive, it hurts. Character growth? It flies out of the window every second page.
The first third was good. And then we switch between a sex descriptions/ sex talk and actual relationship.
It's not hate to love, it's not slowburn. It's just a ditzy stupid blonde with miscommunication
It was funny and cute fish-out-of-the-water love story, with some very unrealistic but charming parts. I'm not a fan of insta-love. I kept getting pulled out of the story, probably because I kept yelling in my head “you've only known each other 5 weeks, how can you know?!”
The multiple smut scenes were spicyyyy.
5 Stars
It was like a movie in my head, the writing flowed so effortlessly. The Westport town was so cute, and I liked getting to know the Bellinger sisters, Piper and Hannah.
I loved the sisterhood and Piper and Hannah always had each others back. I can't wait to read Hannah's book next.
Brendan Taggart, the big bearded sea captain. Grump meets his sunshine. “First of all you don't have to be tough. Not all the time. I don't know who decided my perfect, kind, sweet, incredible girlfriend needed to fit some goddamn mold, but you don't. You just be Piper, okay? Shes who I'm in love with.”
I liked the story itself, but it didn't really catch me. I just fell that something is missing.
Really enjoyed this book, nice characters, good development. Also, another small town romance but I don't hate them as much anymore?
I don't know why it took me so much finishing this book, but it was good.
I prefered the first part than the second one, as it draged...
This was the first Tessa Bailey book that I've read, and it definitely will not be my last. I was a big fan of the show “Deadliest Catch” back in the day, and this brought me back to that time. I LOVE that this is set in a small fishing town. And I really loved that Brendan is the captain of a crab/fishing boat. If you're looking for a story with a strong alpha male, you will find it here!
Piper has great energy and it's nice to see her real personality shine through as she shows us that she's not afraid of hard work and dealing with hard situations. Her chemistry and sexual tension with Brendan is strong from the get-go. They have some very steamy scenes. And if you're looking for some dirty talk, it's there too!
I give it a solid 4 stars.
Every now and then you have those books that make you so mad that you didn't read them sooner, and this book is one of those. Please don't ask me why I waited so long to read it, because I honestly don't know. I ate this book up— absolutely devoured it! It Happened One Summer follows the story of Piper, a spoiled, rich party girl from LA, and Brendan, a grumpy fisherman from a small town. After some trouble lands Piper in Westport, she is forced to be without all the finer things that her step-father's money could buy. With the help of Brendan, her sister, and the town, Piper discovers that there is more to life than money and riches. Brendan— my goodness— the man. The. Freaking. Man. I loved him so much. He had moments where he was an absolute grump, but also moments of tenderness that made me melt a bit. The tension between he and Piper was so thick, but the payoff was very much worth it and very HOT. I cannot wait to get to Hannah and Fox's book soon because the glimpses we got of them throughout this story were so cute. This is an adult romance, 18+ sexual content.
“I've never said it to anyone before, it didn't feel like I always thought it would.” “How did you think it would feel?”“Getting it over with. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.” “And how did it feel instead?”“The reverse. Like putting a bandage on. Wrapping it tight.”
I attempted the audiobook for this and stopped it after the first few chapters because I realised that perhaps audiobooks aren't for me so I ended up just reading on my kindle as usual.
Despite how popular this book is, I was actually shocked by how much I enjoyed it. On the outside this book could seem to be viewed as just a small town romance but it ended up being about self acceptance.
Piper felt like she didn't belong anywhere and that nothing she did was ever good enough. I loved reading and seeing her journey to self love and learning that she never had to change a thing about herself, she just had to accept and understand that she has always been more than a few clicks and likes, she had people in her life who valued her as a person off-screen.
Brendan was such a good character and I found myself shouting at the universe ”when is it my turn?” because he was such a good book boyfriend with how encouraging, supportive and overall good guy he was.
This would've been a five star for me if I could have potentially gotten closure when it came to Piper and Hannah's mother and Opal, their grandmother. I'm a sucker for happy endings and this gave me one but I would've loved for it all to have been tied together in that way. I also wasn't particularly fond of the miscommunication in this book since it felt slightly out of left field when the communication had been so perfectly executed throughout the whole book except this one instance.
Overall, this was a super fun and sweet read.
pleased to say i was completely surprised by how good this one was. i had low expectations but damn. it was very hot.
We already know that Piper is in love with Brendan, and of course, he is too with her. But did he have to guilt trip her to get what he wants? No. Did he have to make her think she might make the wrong decision if she goes back to LA? No. I'm not a fan of people who wouldn't take no for an answer. Unsure or not, Piper had all the right to tell him to shut up and let her think.
started strong and then it tapered off. for stories like these, when you know exactly what's going to happen, the style and characters set it apart. unfortunately for this one, the characters were okay-ish and the style felt very wattpaddyy so yeah - meh.
Okay, this one was a little special to me and I might be totally biased because of it. Having lived in Westport, WA for nearly four years, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the detail that Tessa Bailey added into this story. From the description of the harbor and PNW vibes, down to the street names that I remember so well.
Anyone else had to do that 30 minute drive from Westport to Gray's Harbor Memorial Hospital because their S.O. was in the hospital after a boating accident? No? Just me and Piper? Okay then.
I realize Piper wasn't everyone's cup of tea. She comes off like a spoiled airhead for a while and I felt that. But the character development she had was amazing and I related so much to her experience of being dropped in this small, coastal town and wondering “where the heck am I?”
Loved this book. Loved the characters. Loved the smut. And loved the setting! Thank you Tessa Bailey for bringing this fond place back to life for me after so many years.