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A review by marie_thereadingotter
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
After hearing nearly only positive things about this and in desperate need for something lighthearted after finishing the last book in An Ember in the Ashes saga... I decided it was time to pick this book up.
Piper is a wonderful character. Even at the start of the book, I wasn't really bothered by her. I understood why she was the way she was, although I kept thinking she was a lot younger than her 29 years. She was pampered her whole life, then blamed for not having any goals. Kind of hypocritical. You know that she is a good person for how she treats her sister and how she treats the strangers of that small town she ends up in. She isn't disdainful of them doesn't think she is any better than they are.
I got kind of mad at her mother for not telling her daughters about their past, being so incredibly selfish about it because she as in pain. I could understand that if she had done that for a couple of years, but 20+ years just not telling her children about the other half of their family was in a way, cruel. Had Piper not messed up at the start of the book, she never would have known anything about her father, or his family.
Brenden was a great character as well. He had just as much growth as Piper did. I really dislike in romance books when only one side of the pair has any kind of growth. Where one is in someway changing themselves for the person they are falling for. But he doesn't ask her to change, he starts to fall for her for who she is, frilly dresses and all. But she has started to "grow up" a little and take some initiative with fixing up her father's bar, he starts to fall for her more and more each day. And as he does he starts to come out of his shell that he put himself in as a coping mechanism.
I really loved this book and plan on picking up more Tessa Bailey. Especially the companion sequel to this book about Piper's sister, Hannah.
Piper is a wonderful character. Even at the start of the book, I wasn't really bothered by her. I understood why she was the way she was, although I kept thinking she was a lot younger than her 29 years. She was pampered her whole life, then blamed for not having any goals. Kind of hypocritical. You know that she is a good person for how she treats her sister and how she treats the strangers of that small town she ends up in. She isn't disdainful of them doesn't think she is any better than they are.
I got kind of mad at her mother for not telling her daughters about their past, being so incredibly selfish about it because she as in pain. I could understand that if she had done that for a couple of years, but 20+ years just not telling her children about the other half of their family was in a way, cruel. Had Piper not messed up at the start of the book, she never would have known anything about her father, or his family.
Brenden was a great character as well. He had just as much growth as Piper did. I really dislike in romance books when only one side of the pair has any kind of growth. Where one is in someway changing themselves for the person they are falling for. But he doesn't ask her to change, he starts to fall for her for who she is, frilly dresses and all. But she has started to "grow up" a little and take some initiative with fixing up her father's bar, he starts to fall for her more and more each day. And as he does he starts to come out of his shell that he put himself in as a coping mechanism.
I really loved this book and plan on picking up more Tessa Bailey. Especially the companion sequel to this book about Piper's sister, Hannah.