It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Series: Bellinger Sisters #1
Published by Avon US on 17 November 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 416
Format: eBook
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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.
If you looked up “grumpy/sunshine rom-com” in the dictionary, you’d find It Happened One Summer.
It Happened One Summer is a contemporary romance about Piper Bellinger; a glamorous L.A. socialite that is sent to run her deceased father’s dive bar after getting into trouble with the law when she is caught throwing a particularly outrageous party. She sticks out like a sore thumb in the small northwest fishing village and her lingering presence seems to be riling up the locals. Well, perhaps just one very handsome and very sour local.
Pace
I read this book in a day. The hilarity of the circumstances, the characters, the dialogue; it was just too easy to get swept away in this story. This was my first dip into contemporary romance after reading fantasy romance exclusively for nearly a year and I would strongly recommend this book to someone who is looking to add variety to their romance collection.
Characters
Piper is so clueless yet so stubborn. Tessa Bailey does a fantastic job of balancing her ineptitude and naïveté with her real desire and struggle to be more than a pretty face. Her personal development is so heartwarming. I cringed with secondhand embarrassment at her public fails, ached to give her a good shake at her silly decisions, and cheered at her wins. And Brendan… Tessa Bailey knows how to write men. The enmity between these two deliciously transforms into sizzling tension and desire. It’s a superbly developed romance that enemies-to-lovers fans will love.
Originality
This novel was inspired by the popular show Schitt’s Creek but with its own unique take on the whole ‘city slicker in the small town’ storyline. I love the suspense of the forced separation between Piper and Brendan, the spot-on nuances of the small-town locals, the delightful mess that is Piper, and the growth of both main characters that culminates in a perfect HEA ending (Happily Ever After).
The tropes, if you please…
- Grumpy/sunshine
- Comedy
- Fish out of Water
- Enemies to Lovers
- Opposites Attract
- Slow Burn
- Spicy
Is It Happened One Summer spicy?
Oh yes, she is spicy.
It Happened One Summer is a wee a bit of a slow burn but it is well worth the wait! Have a tall glass of milk and a thick straw ready when Piper and Brendan finally get together. The spicy elements of this book are very, very, very well done.
It Happened One Summer is a perfect foray into spicy/NA (new adult) romances or for the fantasy/paranormal reader who needs a fresh new TBR addition.
