It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey Review
Piper Bellinger is fashionable and influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop part land Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off and sends her and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father's dive bar...in Westport, Washington.
Piper hasn't even been in Westport five minutes when she meets big, bearded (and grumpy) Brendan Taggart, who thinks she won't last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can't do math and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives? How bad could it really be? She's determined to show her stepfather- and the hot, grumpy local- that she's more than just a pretty face.
Except it's a small town, and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there's an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn't want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan- and this town full of memories- may have already caught her heart.
WHERE'S MY GRUMPY, BORDERLINE SUGAR DADDY FISHERMAN TO SPOIL ME?! Okay, okay, all jokes aside, I enjoyed this book far more than I thought. I'm an absolute sucker for the grumpy and sunshine trope.
I liked Piper's character development and I love her relationship with her sister. When Brendan would narrate the chapter, my heart melted when I read how much he truly loved her, viewed her as the most perfect woman, in the works.
One thing I do wish that we saw was Piper calling Daniel and her mother out on their bullshit. Piper and Hannah, while their plan to restore the bar to convince Daniel to bring them home was based on a selfish reason, they didn't deserve to basically be ghosted by him.
And Maureen- I can completely understand not wanting to return to your dead relative's memorial, but to completely ghost his mother, never return to his hometown, and deny your own DAUGHTERS, the humans YOU created with HIM, the closure that they deserve...girl, no. Just...no...please get therapy. I know grief and the loss of a loved one can cause people to change how they act (me included...), but still. Opal was going through extreme grief and you two could've grieved together. I hope the two women can reconcile one day.
I know there's a sequel, so maybe Maureen will get a redemption arc? I also hope to learn more about her, maybe my first impression of her will change.
There are some content/trigger warnings:
There's also a lot of spice if you catch my drift.
