Reviews

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

ashleyjulia's review against another edition

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4.0

Hallie is a gardener and Julian is a professor who is back in town at his family's vineyard to write a book. Hallie has had a crush on Julian since high school but hasn't seen him in some time. The forced proximity, grumpy x sunshine tropes are clearly defined. If you're looking for a chaotic and raunchy romcom this is for you.

kaylalarson25's review against another edition

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5.0

Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite tropes and this book does that SO WELL! Tessa Bailey NEVER MISSES

readingwhilemommying's review against another edition

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3.0

I've shared how I don't read romance books as often these days as I used to. Maybe because I'm middle-aged or enjoy ending a book by sobbing into my wine. :) I'm still not quite sure why. But I do love the escape romance can provide and this one was a nice diversion from real-life stress.

I'll be honest. I'm hit or miss with Tessa's books. I wasn't a huge fan of Fix Her Up, I DNF'd Love Her or Lose Her, and I LOVED It Happened One Summer. But this one hooked me with the mention of #GrumpySunshine (although I'd say this one is #StarchySunshine).

I've seen a few reviews that said it wasn't Tessa's best, but I liked it. I love the unraveling of a starchy, schedule-driven man by a sweet-yet-scattered woman, and this one did that really well. And once Julian unravels? Phew, they don't call Tessa Bailey a master of steamy for nothing. I also liked the very-real issues this touched upon, including anxiety, panic attacks, and disorganization. Although they were polar opposites, Hallie and Julian really did bring out the best in each other.

My quibbles: The letter-writing portion seemed out-of-place and not really necessary to drive the plot. I also felt like this focused a bit more on Julian to the detriment of Hallie's characterization. I honestly don't know why she needed to be a virgin. It would have been cool to make Julian the inexperienced one--especially considering his rigid lifestyle and personality (pun not intended!). But, hey, I'm not a romance writer, so what do I know?

If you're looking for a fizzy, fun, sexy read, check this one out! This review says 3 stars, but I'm giving it 3.5 (allow half stars, GoodReads!).

alexangelas's review against another edition

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1.0

This book contains the two dumbest, most painfully oblivious characters in the history of contemporary romance.

p3achyg's review against another edition

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2.0

[audiobook]
[DNF 90%]

Honestly not super disappointed wasnt expecting high marks. I didn’t need to bore myself more and just ended it at 90%. Everything was meh or just okay. It could just be me not tuning in super duper hard but seemed like many skips. Also dragged on and on the pace was slow and stayed that way. I don’t think romance is the best for audiobooks.

✨Didnt get full fleshed characters. The only one I can say did was the MMC mostly. He just loved her body low key. Ogling her from the start to finish.

✨The MFC annoyed me like girl you had a crush on him for years and basically pined over him still. Didn’t seem realistic to me. I love that she is curvy. Love seeing representation in books.

✨The writing letters was super kiddy.

paigehas's review against another edition

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2.0

WHAT.
And I’m screaming this part:
WHAT. WHAT. WHY. NO.

silkxr's review against another edition

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Meh.

katrox's review against another edition

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2.0

cute, didn’t vibe with it tho

sj_elli's review against another edition

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4.0

I was gifted an ebook via Netgalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts are my own.

Is this the best written book in the history of ever? No. But did I have a good time reading it? Absolutely. This story follows Hallie, a young woman who took over her late grandmother's gardening business. She's hired to work on a family's garden who owns a local winery and just so happens to be home to the man she once almost kissed back as a teenager. It's an unrequited love, grumpy and sunshine type of story. It was fun and fairly light. A good amount of angst. There was a bit of miscommunication but not too much and not overdone.

aelin_4eva's review against another edition

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3.0

it's cornyyyy, but it's ok Miss Bailey because I love me some corny