This might be my favorite romance book of 2021, I fear! I’ve never read anything from Tessa Bailey before but now I’m tempted to go through her backlog and read everything because that’s how obsessed I am with her writing and this story.

Honestly, this is so wattpad-esque (but in a good way!) it hurts and as someone who used to spend way too much time on there in high school, I knew I would eat this up! This has everything that I could ask for in a romance - all my favorite tropes: (enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, small-town romance, etc.) a likable heroine and hero, and actual steamy scenes. I became a Piper stan after reading page one - her humor and the way she just went through life still being optimistic, charismatic, and particularly kind was great. I also loved how Tessa made it known that Piper is high maintenance and loves to shop/the nicer things in life and didn’t make her feel embarrassed or ashamed of herself because she liked those things. I feel like a lot of books and movies make young women feel bad about themselves if they do and it’s absolutely absurd.

Brendan is something! He got on my last nerve in the beginning and I hated how rude, judgemental, and at times very misogynistic he was towards Piper. But as usual, as time went on he changed for the better. I actually ended up liking his character towards the end. I do understand why some folks aren’t happy with his character because besides being misogynistic at times, he also comes off as possessive. BUT, I feel like you tend to get problematic themes like this when it comes to enemies to lovers tropes, unfortunately. Their foundation is essentially built off angst and being nasty towards each other 💀.

Overall, I LOVED this story, loved the fishing/boating aspect of this (which I didn’t think I would). This is definitely going to be my new comfort romance book that I’ll reread when I want to feel something, lmao. I’m so excited for the sequel - it’ll be Hannah’s time to shine and i love that for her!