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nirellis's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
IGotCrabs4You ❤️
Funny, spicy, swoon worthy. What else do you need.
AND grumpy x sunshine!! The cherry on top of the cake.
Just overall so cute and fun!
Funny, spicy, swoon worthy. What else do you need.
AND grumpy x sunshine!! The cherry on top of the cake.
Just overall so cute and fun!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment
dillsbookdiary's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Death
Minor: Abandonment
thatswhatshanread's review
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
3.5
Well. IT definitely happened.
I was really drawn into this story from the beginning—it seemed like a great, light romcom for the summer, and I loved that the MC is based off of Alexis Rose from Schitt’s Creek. The characters were endearing and fun, the love interest was intense but also adorable and soft at heart, the setting was quaint and cute. In a word, this book is fun.
However. About halfway through, it started to lose its magic for me. I felt the main relationship got too serious too fast, and the (very NSFW) intimate scenes… idk they really made me cringe. And there were multiple. Bailey’s descriptions and dialogue in these parts was just uncomfortable to me and really made it hard for me to get past them. And then the story after that really just centered around sex and lost a lot of its substance to me. There’s a HEA of course, everything in its perfect place.
Piper and Brendan were cute, and I loved Piper’s close relationship with her sister. Idk, maybe it’s the depression speaking since I know this book has such great reviews, but I tried and I just didn’t love it.
If you’re wanting a summer romcom mainly for the steam, some laughs, and the promise of a ending where everyone is happy, then this one’s for you.
I was really drawn into this story from the beginning—it seemed like a great, light romcom for the summer, and I loved that the MC is based off of Alexis Rose from Schitt’s Creek. The characters were endearing and fun, the love interest was intense but also adorable and soft at heart, the setting was quaint and cute. In a word, this book is fun.
However. About halfway through, it started to lose its magic for me. I felt the main relationship got too serious too fast, and the (very NSFW) intimate scenes… idk they really made me cringe. And there were multiple. Bailey’s descriptions and dialogue in these parts was just uncomfortable to me and really made it hard for me to get past them. And then the story after that really just centered around sex and lost a lot of its substance to me. There’s a HEA of course, everything in its perfect place.
Piper and Brendan were cute, and I loved Piper’s close relationship with her sister. Idk, maybe it’s the depression speaking since I know this book has such great reviews, but I tried and I just didn’t love it.
If you’re wanting a summer romcom mainly for the steam, some laughs, and the promise of a ending where everyone is happy, then this one’s for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Drug use, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship
anigoose's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent
Lovebombing, narcissist, manipulation.elthechameleon's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
There are many tropes I don't like. Sunshine/grumpy, spoiled girls and earthy boys, and miscommunication.
Somehow Tessa Bailey has presented this book in such a well-written spunky way that, despite these tropes and Brendan himself not being my thing, I loved it.
Piper should not be likeable. I am not trying to rewatch Prada to Nada or Disney's Cow Belles and feel sentimental about rich girls getting a reality check. And somehow this...wasn't that at all. Piper feels real. Despite her touted unbelievable beauty, her insecurities feel universal in how we all relate to social media. And her longing for depth, presence, and connection fits this time of COVID-19.
This story combined the soppy romance vibes with a genuine yearning for laughter and sense of home. The banter in the first part of this book??? Impeccable. I especially loved Piper's and Hannah's relationship. Hannah seems to be more of my kind of person, so I'm rushing to read Hook, Line, and Sinker immediately after this review. (Okay this girl always has priorities. Example: “Maybe you should tie your hair back?” Hannah suggested. “Fingers might be sacrificed tonight, but let’s not lose those effortless beach waves.”
There were a few moments that kept me from rating this book 5 stars.
Piper's and Brendan's sex talk and life? Just not my thing. It actually plays into a larger problem, however, about Brendan's possessiveness. The miscommunication trope is not done well here. They are toxic in the way that they mistrust each other, and much of that is Brendan's pushiness and insistence on being right. It's not a cute possessiveness; he shouldn't make light of Piper's unwillingness to jump into her first longer term relationship with a man in an entirely new town she's not sure she'll stay in. Also.. ONE MONTH??? Tessa Bailey, I'm begging you. Please do not write with such short time lines. I know this is romance, but I need this to be a realistic timeline at least, and a few measly weeks after starting as enemies is not enough for a woman to decide whether or not to move across the country. It's just really not healthy. And also no woman should hand over nudes to a dude she’s known less than a month. Maybe I’m just cynical, but Brendan could have sold them and the whole world could have seen her nude. Too close for comfort, and Piper is too trusting. She needed Hannah to talk some sense into her.
Has Brendan won me over by the end? Maybe. In my mind, Piper refers him to a lovely therapist, and he actually talks about his issues. I'm content with this alternate ending and sticking to it to still love this book.
On another note, I will say that the grumpy/sunshine trope feels appropriately applied here because Piper transcends the manic pixie dream-girl role and presents someone genuinely trying to figure out her relationship with the world. Even when unrelatable with the amount of wealth and fame she used to have, Piper is relatable with her handling of questions of purpose. Brendan sometimes sees her as this energizer bunny that brings unlimited light into his life, but by the end, he hopefully sees her for all her qualities, too. .
Prospective reader, despite all my hang-ups about the handling of miscommunication issues and my distaste for some of Brendan's pillow talk, I still really enjoyed this book. It is fresh. Snappy. Fast. Warm.
The jokes are well-timed. I found myself screaming in joy at certain parts and putting on the built-in soundtrack (I would trust Hannah with my Spotify any day, by the way). It's joyful, and if you're looking for a read to get out of your head, this can definitely be the one.
Somehow Tessa Bailey has presented this book in such a well-written spunky way that, despite these tropes and Brendan himself not being my thing, I loved it.
Piper should not be likeable. I am not trying to rewatch Prada to Nada or Disney's Cow Belles and feel sentimental about rich girls getting a reality check. And somehow this...wasn't that at all. Piper feels real. Despite her touted unbelievable beauty, her insecurities feel universal in how we all relate to social media. And her longing for depth, presence, and connection fits this time of COVID-19.
This story combined the soppy romance vibes with a genuine yearning for laughter and sense of home. The banter in the first part of this book??? Impeccable. I especially loved Piper's and Hannah's relationship. Hannah seems to be more of my kind of person, so I'm rushing to read Hook, Line, and Sinker immediately after this review. (Okay this girl always has priorities. Example: “Maybe you should tie your hair back?” Hannah suggested. “Fingers might be sacrificed tonight, but let’s not lose those effortless beach waves.”
There were a few moments that kept me from rating this book 5 stars.
Piper's and Brendan's sex talk and life? Just not my thing.
Has Brendan won me over by the end? Maybe. In my mind, Piper refers him to a lovely therapist, and he actually talks about his issues. I'm content with this alternate ending and sticking to it to still love this book.
On another note, I will say that the grumpy/sunshine trope feels appropriately applied here because Piper transcends the manic pixie dream-girl role and presents someone genuinely trying to figure out her relationship with the world. Even when unrelatable with the amount of wealth and fame she used to have, Piper is relatable with her handling of questions of purpose. Brendan sometimes sees her as this energizer bunny that brings unlimited light into his life, but by the end, he hopefully sees her for all her qualities, too.
Prospective reader, despite all my hang-ups about the handling of miscommunication issues and my distaste for some of Brendan's pillow talk, I still really enjoyed this book. It is fresh. Snappy. Fast. Warm.
The jokes are well-timed. I found myself screaming in joy at certain parts and putting on the built-in soundtrack (I would trust Hannah with my Spotify any day, by the way). It's joyful, and if you're looking for a read to get out of your head, this can definitely be the one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment
ashleycmms's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Child death
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pregnancy
rachrreads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-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
5.0
Tessa Bailey I love you!
Man this book was so good?! I have never wanted to live on the West Coast or been attracted to a burly man but this book makes me want to go live in a west coast fishing town 😂 … not actually though I’d die.
Brendan is such a grumpy sweetheart I love it. This is the gold standard of grumpy sunshine and I am HERE FOR IT. It’s also a great rom com book with some steam. Definitely pick this up! I cannot WAIt for book 2!
Now to pick up more of her books
Man this book was so good?! I have never wanted to live on the West Coast or been attracted to a burly man but this book makes me want to go live in a west coast fishing town 😂 … not actually though I’d die.
Brendan is such a grumpy sweetheart I love it. This is the gold standard of grumpy sunshine and I am HERE FOR IT. It’s also a great rom com book with some steam. Definitely pick this up! I cannot WAIt for book 2!
Now to pick up more of her books
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
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