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A review by maggiems
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Reading this right after book lovers was a fun choice. My kingdom for a well written book where the influencer is admire for her work ethic rather than demonized for being shallow. Still Piper was fun, even though it was more of a tell don't show, I liked that her fun-loving personality stays with her and she is still into fashion and shopping and all the rest of it just not L.A.
I watched an interview with Tessa Bailey right after this and someone asked her how she as able to write from the male perspective - which honestly is hilarious - the male perspective here is an absolute fantasy, still it was a fantasy I was well willing to slide into. I do love a good pining.
The "complication" of Brendan being a widower though I could have done without. It kind of came to nothing other than the reason Piper turns off the charm when they first meet. I don't feel like he puts his wife to rest, or that he even thinks about her all that much. In the memorial scene if feels more like a burden being there. Telling Piper he has never loved anyone like her before also irked me. That we didn't get any character development on what it means to love and lose and love again. That we didn't get a proper talk with the Father-in-Law and the most we got was two lines at the end saying "she will always be in my heart, but Piper has my heart now" ... like what a shitty thing to say!
The spice was great though and carried me through quite a lot. Plus I am a huge sucker for pinning duel POV and men falling harder and all of that.
I watched an interview with Tessa Bailey right after this and someone asked her how she as able to write from the male perspective - which honestly is hilarious - the male perspective here is an absolute fantasy, still it was a fantasy I was well willing to slide into. I do love a good pining.
The "complication" of Brendan being a widower though I could have done without. It kind of came to nothing other than the reason Piper turns off the charm when they first meet. I don't feel like he puts his wife to rest, or that he even thinks about her all that much. In the memorial scene if feels more like a burden being there. Telling Piper he has never loved anyone like her before also irked me. That we didn't get any character development on what it means to love and lose and love again. That we didn't get a proper talk with the Father-in-Law and the most we got was two lines at the end saying "she will always be in my heart, but Piper has my heart now" ... like what a shitty thing to say!
The spice was great though and carried me through quite a lot. Plus I am a huge sucker for pinning duel POV and men falling harder and all of that.