I just finished Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey, and honestly, I’m glad to be done with it. This one didn’t hit the mark for me. While it had the steamy drama you’d expect from a Tessa Bailey book or a popular BookTok pick, it felt overdone to the point where it wasn’t enjoyable.

Both Hannah and Fox, the main characters, had so much potential, but their dialogue felt unnatural and pulled me out of the story repeatedly. The book tries to explore themes like overcoming stereotypes, but for me, those moments were completely overshadowed by the unrealistic and over-the-top conversations.

If you’re a fan of Bailey’s writing or don’t mind super exaggerated romantic plots, you might still enjoy this, but it just wasn’t for me.

4 Ginger Massage Oil Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level:🌶️🌶️.5/5

So this was much better than It Happened One Summer because Hannah isn't a vapid, self-absorbed princess like her sister and Fox is just an adorable simp...

Note: While this could essentially be read as a standalone, I wish that were possible because I did not enjoy It Happened One Summer. BUT that does give a lot of backstory into who Hannah and Fox are and what their friendship means and how their friendship started... and THIS BOOK MIGHT not be as impactful without that foundation.

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
Hannah Bellinger moved back to LA to continue as a production assistant for her director Sergei (and crush). For the months she has been in LA, she and Fox Thornton have been secretly testing as friends. But when Sergei needs a remote historical location, Hannah recommends Westport. However, she cannot stay with her sister as Brendan's parents are visiting so she is forced to room with Fox and they are of course, "just friends". To make Sergei jealous she and Fox devise a plan to pretend to be "casually dating" but the more time she spends with Fox, and the more she learns about the man underneath the cocky smile the more the lines between friends start to get blurry... and the more Fox's feelings start becoming more real too...

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
Okay, I used to think that I hated Tessa Bailey because as mentioned I did not "gel well" with "It Happened One Summer" and for me it was absolutely awful. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE... When you give an author another chance and every book following that have made my heart smile and sing. I adored this SO MUCH!

Hannah, while being the younger sister felt miles and miles more mature than her sister. I think because she didn't come off as spoilt, wanting to work for herself and not use her name and clout to push her forward. She is tenacious and wants to achieve it on her own.

Fox was a broken little cinnamon roll. He's spent his whole life being told he is nothing but a player and good time, so it takes a long time to learn that he can be loved and appreciated and be accepted for who he is and not what he looks like.

Their relationship was beautiful, their chemistry was not as blatant and in your face as Piper and Brendan, but I think that's what I loved about it more, because of the SLOW BURN between these two. That chemistry blossomed into such a deep and meaningful connection! I do not always like Friends to Lovers romances, but this was cute and sweet and adorable, and the pining these two have for each other, and the longing, the banter, the adorable text relationship they have, and how they make each other better people was so heartwarming and gooey, and I ate it up.

I listened to this in Audio and Lauren Sweet did such an amazing job of portraying the emotion, character and story. I think this might also be why I have changed my mind a little about Tessa Bailey's books, because I liked her narration more than her sister's book...

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Small Town Romance
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Friends to Lovers
▶ Slow Burn
▶ Sister's Boyfriend's Best Friend
▶ Third Act Breakup
▶ Nicknames

and 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▷ Soup
▷ Undertable Touching
▷ Texting

I think there might be more but since I listened to this in Audio I probably missed a few obvious tropes

Overall a cute adorable heartwarming story that I think anyone who loves Friends to Lovers should read! 

Hook, Line and Sinker by Tessa Bailey is another novel that is worthy of being made into a television movie! 

This story is part of a duology about the Bellinger Sisters, with the first novel focusing on Piper, the LA party girl, meeting and falling for Brendan, the local King Crab boat captain. We now follow the story of Hannah, the younger sister, always the supporting actress, never the leading lady, as she steps out of her comfort zone and tentatively dips her toe into the world of movie scores whilst she harbours a crush on the film's director. 

Following an idea that she puts out there, Hannah and the whole movie crew move from L.A. to Westport, where she ends up in the spare room of Fox, local Casanova. But they are just friends, right? This cues up more misunderstandings and miscommunications as they each unravel their own issues. 

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for the 52 Book Club Summer Reading Challenge 2024, for prompt 19, team handball, author shares same last name as an Olympian.

While better than the first book of the Bellinger Sister duo, still missed the mark. The will they?/won’t they? Was a little dragged out, and Fox’s pity party throughout was like beating a dead horse. However, the spice was right and way less cringey than in It Happened One Summer, and the epilogue wrapped it all up cutely. 

liked this one more than the first one, was more emotionally charged and honestly was rooting for them since the first book!! also RAUNCHY