Bellinger Sisters #1

It Happened One Summer

Specs:

What The Vibes Are

What It’s About

Piper Bellinger is fashionable, 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 party landed Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decided enough was enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.

Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, 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 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. 

Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town… where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong. 

Progress Thoughts & Rants

This one will be quick; it took me almost a year to finish this book. And I had to listen to the audiobook for the last 200 pages just to finish it.

What I thought about it

***Possible Spoilers below

Piper was a rich party girl whose longest relationship lasted three weeks. She was in her late 20s. Sad. After embarrassing her rich stepfather for the last time, he sent her off to her biological father’s hometown, Westport, WA, to fix up his old pub. Feeling bad for her, Piper’s younger sister joined her as well. Immediately, the duo was met with standoffish townies and the disgruntled “owner” of the pub, Brendan. Brendan had been keeping the bar running in recent years and was reluctant to let it go.

Most of the plot was the main characters fighting their attraction, Brendan seeing that Piper wasn’t as vain and dumb as he thought, and Piper trying to decide if she’d stay. Eventually, they ended up together after 350+ pages of needless conflict and the push and pull of a slow burn.

Conclusion

I feel as if no one on Booktok has actually read a spicy novel because, for the love of God, this WASN’T SPICY! Stop staying these cozy ass books (I’m talking to you, Icebreaker) are spicy and lying to your viewers. Just because the MMC is good at dirty talk doesn’t mean it’s spicy, especially if it takes over 125 pages for the characters to do anything other than give each other smoldering eye contact. It’s like recommending How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and saying it’s like Fifty Shades of Grey. So, please do yourself a favor and read an actual spicy novel. FFS.

Whew, glad I got that out. ANYWAYS, I enjoyed the novel (when I finally finished it). It was a cute, sweet, and cozy romance that leaves your heart feeling all warm and fuzzy. Guaranteed HEA.

If you’ve read It Happened One Summer, comment your thoughts!

♡ G&P