Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - It Happened One Summer

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

10 reviews

emmy_likes_2_read's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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loriklak's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.5

The male love interest infantalizes the woman lead in word and deed, making the intimacy/ sex scenes disgusting and the character unlikeable for me.

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mhairi_reads's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Tropes: Grumpy x Sunshine, small town romance, guy falls first, enemies-friends-lovers.

POV: Third person

We follow Piper - the “It Girl.’ Known for throwing the most outrageous parties and being a bit of a good time in Los Angeles. She was raised by her Mum and Step-Dad in Bel-Air with more money than sense.

After throwing an impromptu party that ended in her being arrested her Step-Father cuts her off, sending her off to Westport for three months to live in her late Father’s pub and see what life is like for the majority of people. Cue my sexy bearded fisherman.

Sea-Captain and king crab fisherman Brendan is a widowed fisherman who was born and raised in Westport. It’s all he’s ever known and that’s just how he likes it. He is a man who lives a strictly scheduled and routine life - after all strong routine is what keeps his crew and him safe on the water. He is content eating his fish and chips on a Monday night and spending is life out at see. That is until he meets Piper. She is from a different world and completely out of his league. So why is he so damned drawn to her?

I have read a few Tessa Bailey books and I thought she might just not have been for me as an author. Then I read It Happened One Summer and fell in love with this quaint little fishing town.

I didn’t know if I was going to get on with this book because I did take a few chapters to warm to Piper. But after she stripped off the fake exterior she was just a sweet girl who wanted to feel seen.

I can be in a room full of people that I know and still not feel like I belong.

Brendan on the other hand. I absolutely adored Brendan from the get go❤️. Rough round the edges, a real man’s man but a big teddy bear inside. What more could you want?

I fell in love with the characters, the town and all the townies! It was just so wholesome.

But I really want to pick up Hook, Line, and Sinker - RIGHT NOW!! I need Fox and Hannah’s story. Hannah was a sweetheart and I love me a bit of a player being tamed.

⚠️ Content Warnings: Death of parent, death of spouse, death of a child (adult child), drowning.

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madeleineelr's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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anigoose's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I finished this book out of sheer fascination and horror. This is a book about lovebombing, manipulation and taking advantage of a person in a very vulnerable state. Brendan is possessive and grooms Piper masterfully. He does not help her find her worth, he tells her what her worth is and demands she comply. He even has grand gestures for her sister, to get her to comply when she is clearly very skeptical.

When Piper keeps things to herself, he sees it as extreme betrayal and forces her promise that she will never keep anything from him. They have been together 4ish weeks at this point. When she is not complying with his wishes, he yells at her and exploits the two biggest vulnerabilities that she has shown him - her fear of losing him in the ocean like she lost her father, and her fear of being abandoned again.

Brendan makes it clear to Piper that he never loved his first wife, that she was just a means to an end. His mourning for her was a show. This is supposed to show his love for Piper as more real, but all it shows is his lack of empathy and ability to love. Ffs do we even find out if Desiree lived with him in his house? There's no traces of her, no stories of her, no fond memories, only obligation. I have fond memories with all of my exes, even the abusive ones, even the boring ones. It's downright creepy.

Enemies to lovers doesn't work if the reason he felt such animosity towards her was that immediately upon seeing her, she looked like a woman he couldn't control.

This book is an insult to love, an insult to Annie Murphy who played Alexis Rose, to Dan Levy who created Alexis Rose, and to survivors of Narcissist Abusers. There's so much more that is horribly wrong with this book, from the assumption that a fisherman smelling of the ocean smells like anything but rotten fish - believe me, I grew up in a fishing town in the Oregon Coast, it's just rotten fish, babes - to the complete absurdity of the idea that a man who has been celibate for 7 years and who had zero interest in his wife before that is super fucking talented at sex, to...god, I just can't hit on all the things that are warped and awful in this book.

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xriekex's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Good beach read, Sometimes a bit too kitschy for my liking, especially in word choice. Story was fine, nothing too dramatic. I liked the wild-child trope and how the main characters choice of words (even in thoughts) changed as she changed with her environment

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giuliaathenalombardo's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, I wasn't sure if I would considering the whole fisherman aspect to it but oddly enough it did not rattle me as it thought it would. No job, however unattractive I might find it, would stand between me and Brendan.
I thought his character was great, even though the fact he was forcing himself to keep grieving his ex-wife to make his father-in-law happy was quite frustrating, I think we is exactly was Piper needed. He doesn't make her change her attitude or condemn her 'spoiled' nature, but rather embraces and adores it as he does all the other aspects of her character.
Piper herself is a very refreshing heroine, far from being 'not like other girls' and wanting to distance herself from stereotypical feminine attributes, Piper enjoys what she enjoys and feels not shame for it, and I really liked that side of her.

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0701mango's review

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was nice! It was quite trope-y in a great way. I liked the development of the relationship.

Specifically on that point, I really liked the beginning part after they got over their differences how they were in a period of not dating but they kind of knew they were into each other and the whole town knew too. I liked being secure in the knowledge that they would eventually get together and there would be a happy ending.

I appreciated the topics covered in the book as well, like the perils of certain fishing trades. If you like the show Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha on Netflix, you will like this. If you like this, you will probably like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. It's a lot of the same kind of stuff.

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nahlasbooknook's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It Happened One Summer is essentially fan fiction for Alexis from Schitt’s Creek. Need I say more? The book was great! That is all, everyone can go home and read it now.

Kidding of course. Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and annotating it (in depth) for my friend, there were of course, things I absolutely liked, and things I sort of didn’t. I will start with the negative this time, because I want to end my review of this book on a positive note.

My biggest issue was the ending, or rather, the climax/falling action of the narrative. In all honesty, my opinion about this all boils down to personal preference, and if you like this sort of post-confession cliché angst and romance, then the book will be for you. The first ⅔ of It Happened One Summer is a slow burn leading up to Piper and Brendan’s relationship. The last third takes place after their relationship is solidified. In this final third of the novel, the source of the conflict is a lack of communication between Piper and Brendan, which leads to instability in their relationship and a situation that could have easily been resolved if the two of them acted like the adults they are and sat down to talk through their issues. I am generally not a fan of romance novels that focus extensively on the relationship after it has been solidified, because what is there to tell, really? In order to keep it interesting, the author has to create a new conflict, and it’s often a petty argument that doesn’t need to happen, which is exactly what Bailey did. Furthermore, once this conflict was resolved, we got a Mr. Darcy-esque monologue from Brendan that kind of gave me the ick, like, we know you love her dude, but it’s the 21st century, just say the words and go. If you really will die for her or kill everyone who looks at her wrong, you might just need the distance, and some sunlight…

The only other issue I had with this book is the cheese. I mean, oh my God, sometimes it was so much I could feel my lactose intolerance kicking in. Brendan needs to chill and realize that Piper is a woman that will be perceived by other men. If he’s going to actively try and stop every man from looking at her, I just might go kill him. Also, that crap about him being her ‘recharging station,’—worse than Edward from Twilight calling Bella a spidermonkey. They both really referred to his hugs as a recharging station with complete seriousness, and they’re like...30. You know that scene in You where Love says “I wolf you” instead of “I love you”? That’s what this felt like.

Okaaaaay, now that I’ve made it sound like I couldn’t stand anything about this book, let me tell you what I did like, because that did actually outweigh the negative. I loved the way every single character in this book was written. They were so consistent, that even when they made stupid decisions that filled me with rage, I couldn’t be mad at the author, because those decisions matched exactly with who the characters were. It was easy to understand the insecurities that both Piper and Brendan battled as they fell for each other, and I could see them work through it, making two steps forward and one back, each time. The character development was really, really good. Every character in this book grew from the first page to the last, and it was in ways that were relatable and real. I especially loved that Piper’s growth did not depend on her relationship with Brendan, but rather her own perception of herself. I appreciated the fact that these characters were flawed enough to regress, because growth is never linear, and we all regress when challenged, at times. Overall, the characters were genuine and real, and I loved watching them grow.

In addition, the humor in this novel never felt forced, and I found myself smiling and laughing more than I usually do with books. There was a great balance of sarcasm, banter, and really bad jokes that made reading it not only fun, but also funny. I could see the characters so clearly as I read, it was almost like I was watching it instead. I will definitely be pre-ordering the sequel, Hook, Line, and Sinker, and counting the days until I get to read about Hannah and Fox’s love story! Those two carried this book without even trying, and I just KNOW Bailey will do them justice.

Overall Rating: 3.75/5

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toberomanced's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I thought this was cringy. Brendan is possessive and he uses pet names in such a derogatory way. The only redeemable character was Hannah. Did not enjoy this one.

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