This is the kind of magic I love to find in romantic comedies and in contemporary romance but have such a hard time finding. It’s hard to grab and keep my interest through a full-length romance novel that’s not totally down with spice. I know not everyone’s like that, but I am. I’ve always liked more than a little spice in my romance, and I tend to get easily bored when romance novels go above 300 pages and there’s not plenty of spice involved. But this book is one of less than a handful I can think of in recent memory to be able to disarm, charm, and wreck me enough that its page count and amount of spice mattered not at all by the time the last page had passed. All that mattered was that the book was excellent in every way, and I enjoyed every page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was steamy perfection and everything i wanted it to be. I was so excited to read the follow- up to It Happened One Summer and it did not disappoint. This story is centered Piper's younger sister Hannah and Brendan's best friend Fox. Since we saw the Bellinger sisters last, Hannah returned to L.A while Piper stayed in Westport. Additionally, Hannah and Fox started a long distance friendship via text. When Hannah finds herself back in Westport for work and also staying in the guest bedroom of Fox, will the two remain friends or more?
I really enjoy the friends to lovers trope because I find it so believable. The friendship between Fox and Hannah is so cute and I loved the development of the story as they both discover they are more than what others think about them.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper/Avon for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tessa Bailey is absolutely killing it lately. This is my third 5 star read from her in a row and I'm just obsessed with the way she builds and writes romance.

This book had a lot to live up to after It Happened One Summer. But boy did she deliver. This book had it all - amazing friendship, sweat-worthy tension, thought provoking themes, and a romance for the ages. I knew from the prologue alone that this would be a 5 star read (how did she build such amazing chemistry in 3 pages of text messages? The world will never know)

Fox is hands down of my all time favorite heroes. He was sweet yet sexy and cared for the heroine whole heartedly. There is nothing I love more in romances than a hero that is completely head over heels for the heroine from the get-go.

Fox has a very heavy backstory - so CW for sexualization and abuse. From an alarmingly young age, Fox was overly sexualized by everyone around him and it led him down a path he felt like he could never get out of.

But Hannah helps him work through this trauma in the most heart-melting way. The way these two talk and care for each other cut right through me. I'm just so absolutely in love with their romance.

Tessa Bailey has been, and continues to be, one of my favorite romance authors of all time. She just never lets me down with her swoony heroes and steamy romances.

This book was hands down 10 stars just for the epilogue alone. Loved the slowburn friends to lovers, Westport setting.

to think I'd love Fox more than Brendan...who knew?! absolutely loved every bit of this book, Tessa did it again!

This book is yet another example of why Tessa Bailey is one of my favorite authors. Hannah and Fox are truly amazing together. Their banter is incredible and I really enjoyed getting to know more about them both. The chemistry between Fox and Hannah is all sorts of intense! Fox collecting records was the sweetest gesture, and I loved how they communicated through music. It felt like they had a secret language. The spice was excellent, and going back to Westport felt like coming home. This book captured my heart and won’t let go. Loved every word! *I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Hannah Bellinger feels like the supporting actress in her own life movie, except when she’s with Fox. Fox Thornton is a known playboy, but doesn’t want to be that way with Hannah.
Tessa Bailey did it again with a cute, light. and steamy 🔥 read. This book kept me coming back and I was able to finish it in 2 days. The writing flows so well and you find yourself getting lost in this adorable fishing town. Bailey is able to really develop these characters within a few chapters and leaves you wanting more!
I will definitely be wanting more of Ms. Bailey’s work in the future.

I absolutely loved It Happened One Summer so I could not wait to read Hook Line and Sinker!

Piper’s sister Hannah is back in Westport for work. When Brendan’s family comes to stay Hannah has no guest room. Cue hunky Fox to save the day. Since their time at the record convention they have gotten chummy over text. When Hannah tries to win over her boss Fox steps in to make him jealous. You see where this is going.

Is it me or does Fox look like the late Luke Perry?!?! Absolutely dreamy in my opinion plus bonus points for being a seaman. I loved the chemistry between these two 🔥🔥. Their love of music created a sound track for this book so I found myself looking up all the songs mentioned. The story slowed a bit through the middle but picked up at the end. I think I liked It Happened One Summer better but honestly I’d read the phone book of Tessa Bailey wrote it.

Romance lovers will thoroughly enjoy this well-written friends-to-lovers romantic comedy, by far the most popular trope in the romance industry, by prolific author Tessa Bailey. Tessa takes her readers to a picturesque, sleepy fishing village on the Pacific Coast where self-described man-whore Fox Thornton becomes a one-woman-man while he falls in love with Hannah Bellinger.

Will their love last forever? Can a notorious womanizer be reformed? In Romancelandia the answer is always yes and all roads lead to Happily Ever After. The fun for readers is learning how they get there.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing an ARC to read and review. *NetGalley Top Reviewer". Bayside Book Reviews will publish this review on release day, March 1, 2022, at https://.baysidebookreviews.com and on its Bayside Book Reviews Instagram page.

I loved this book! Hannah and Fox had so much depth and it was beautiful watching them and their love grow, including some bumps along the way. I loved the way Bailey infused this book with music. This was a fun romance with some deeper moments I wasn’t expecting but truly enjoyed. I thought the amount of spice for this book was just right. 🔥

Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sweet and fun! It is really nice to revisit Westport and it's motley crew of characters. Hannah's journey to main character in her own life is exciting and it is nice to see her grow.

I really liked the first book in this series (It Happened One Summer), but I LOVE this book.

𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗞, 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗥 is everything! A reformed rake. A sweet female lead who is coming into her own. Complex family relationships. Slow burn. Heaps of sexual tension and chemistry. Freaking hot steamy scenes. I just loved this book. Hard.

Hannah is a perfectly relatable female lead who is supportive of everyone else in her life, but struggles to take charge of her own life and put her needs first. She is passionate about music and has worked hard to put herself in a position to help work on music for a major motion picture....if she can get over her impostor syndrome and speak up for herself.

Fox is so epically swoony. He is just a shallow man-whore on the surface, but we get to see the real him as the book unfolds. His own insecurities play a major part in his story and I loved his character. I especially loved Fox's mother. She is a ball-buster and very flawed, but so lovable and she gets her own character arc, despite being a fairly small character in the book.

𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗞, 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗥 has laugh-out-loud moments, but also ALL THE FEELS. I might have teared up a bit. Okay, I did tear up a bit. Fox and Hannah are one of those book couples that you desperately invested in. Not just, "awwww—what a cute love story" and more "if these two don't get over their issues and make it work I may never recover.

𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗞, 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗥 starts with their ultra-sweet texting and ends with an HEA that will have you smiling and swooning. And don't forget some serious melt-yo-kindle scenes in there too.

Seriously, this is one of the best books I've read in a while and I am sure I will be re-reading it sometime in the future. It's just so damn

This was ok. A light-hearted romance, but honestly I couldn’t stand either of the main characters. Especially the male. He was so dramatic. Felt very immature. And the story itself was kind of drawn out. Could have cut about 50 pages or do. I spent the last 25% of the book wondering when they were going to wrap it up.

I probably wouldn’t recommend this to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Tessa Bailey does it again! Fox and Hannah's relationship was an absolute treat to watch unfold. I was very excited to receive their story after meeting them in Brenden and Piper's story. Fox was very much a teddy bear and I loved watching that side of him reveal itself.

This is a story about Hannah, self-proclaimed side-character (never the leading lady) and Fox, a self-proclaimed ladies man.

Hannah works for a production house with dreams of leading films scores. Fox is a king crab fisherman with no plans or desires for more responsibility.

Having met through Piper (Hannah’s sister) and Piper’s fiancé Brendan (Fox’s friend and boss), these two characters became long distance friends, texting everyday for 7 months, until Hannah is back in Westport for filming. Staying with Fox, their friendship (and sexual tension) is at an all time high. Hannah sees that Fox has been typecasted as only a good time, never the one and never boyfriend material. Fox has been told many, many times to stay away from Hannah and not to associate themselves for fear of ruining her reputation.

What follows is a beautiful love story about what it means to be a true friend and finding confidence in yourself - both professionally and personally - to go after what you truly what.


This book was cute! It’s a true good-girl meets bad-for-her boy story. I loved watching their relationship blossom and I actually loved that we (as the reader) were plopped right in the middle-ish of their story - the prologue features them texting for months straight after their initial meeting. This book also has SPICE (🌶🌶🌶🌶).

*thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review*

I genuinely don't know how to review a book I so deeply loved. This is one of those books that is so good I just want to shove it at absolutely everyone and stare them down until they read it. How am I supposed to function when there are lines like this in the world:

"I've never even had you, and your body haunts mine."

Like are you kidding me with this Tessa Bailey? Who gave you the right to write something so freaking perfectly beautiful?! I love you...and Fox.

I know everyone loves IHOS, and I agree! Don't get me wrong, I would do anything for Brendan and Piper. But this book? There is something so comforting about it, and I just want to hug Fox and love him and give him the world, though luckily he has Hannah to do that! The development of their friendship and relationship was so genuine, and they put in the work, which made the slow burn worth it. And I absolutely adored their text exchanges (I could have read a whole book of them) and the use of music throughout was so perfect for them.

I couldn't put this book down and it made me feel so deeply, I absolutely loved it. I would have love to have seen even more growth and expanding on some of the plots, but I think that's because I would love to live in Westport with these characters forever. Never has an epilogue made my heart feel so full!

If you love friends-to-lovers with a hero who is absolutely gone for the heroine, sea shanties, communication through music, salt lamps, record players, or bingo, this is the book for you! Absolutely one of my favorite reads this year!

I LOVED It Happened One Summer and I couldn't wait to read a book about Piper's sister Hannah. Hannah is trying to break free from her role as a film assistant and what she really dreams of is scoring movies. I really liked how Hannah was always doing this in her head, thinking about the perfect song as accompaniment to mundane events in life. Fox is a fisherman (and a player) reluctant to take on more responsibility at work as well as in his personal life. When Hannah talks her film director into filming on location, she expects to stay with her sister. But her sister's future in-laws will be in town and there's no room for Hannah, so she has to stay with Fox, Piper's fiance's best friend. Forced proximity is a particular favorite trope of mine, and this one was done to perfection. This book was a pitch-perfect romcom, with both hilarious witty banter and real heartfelt emotions. Bailey just keeps getting better and better and I cannot wait to see what she will write next.

Is Tessa Bailey a genius or is she a genius, people?

I am absolutely kicking myself for not having read this sooner but I think I was nervous. I've read a few different romances with the trope of the ~playboy whose phone is constantly going off with booty calls he has lined up~ and they typically have at least one moment in the book where things go south between the couple in some, stupid, preventable way.

That was NOT the case in this book. GOOD LORD. For starters, I'm not sure that I have ever read about a character similar to Fox's that, on the outside, was the stereotypical hot playboy who NEVER is in a relationship for the exact reasons that Fox was. My heart hurt so. Damn. Bad for him. It was one of those age old cases of growing up with a shitty example of a father, thinking certain behaviors were a norm when clearly no young kid should EVER be thinking that way, acting on those said behaviors starting in his teenage years, and then because they lived in such a small town, everyone around him continued to perpetuate that stereotype for him. SO BASICALLY THIS FUCKING MARSHMELLOW OF A HUMAN BEING thought his only worth was in being that hot, wild cat, never-to-be-tamed, kind of man. Sure he still found pleasure in the hookups but was he ever fully satisfied--NO and yet he still didn't even think he would ever even deserve that kind of normal happiness with a woman. Good fucking lord. Toxic masculinity at its finest right there, folks.

In comes Hannah. The quieter, more reserved Bellinger sister but ones that loves with the fierceness of a thousand burning suns. She considers herself to be in a supporting role instead of holding a leading lady title so naturally she's gotten really good at being a hype woman and solid support system for everyone in her life other than herself. When Hannah and Fox were foisted upon one another so that Piper and Brendan could spend time together in It Happened One Summer these two left a massive impression on one another.

AND I AM SO SOFT FOR THE WAY IN WHICH THAT MANIFESTS. Like I am a sucker for text exchanges in romances so naturally the ones we saw here were so lovely. And the records. And the secret record player. And the moments when they ask each other what kind of song their day was and they both just get what the other is asking.

But the main thing I loved? Hannah. Hannah may find it easier to be a supporting actress but damn if those qualities aren't SO important in a person. The way she was so supportive and loving to Fox when he needed it most--when he needed to believe he was worth something more than just a playboy who would never take life seriously she was there. She did not allow him to sabotage their friendship/relationship when he felt it was treading too close into "real feelings" territory. Like I'm talking multiple times. She was steadfast and just simply loved with every fiber of her being. Good lord I'm literally tearing up thinking about it LOL. I don't know, something about this was just extra special to me and I loved every second. (Also not like this needs to be said the steam was obviously hot as hell *insert 10 flame emojis*)

I read It Happened One Summer (the first Bellinger sisters book). While I liked it, I didn't love it. However, I loved the characters of Fox and Hannah so I was really excited to see that they were getting their own book! I loved this one! This book provided a depth to their relationship that I felt was missing with Piper and Brendan in the first book. Sequels aren't always better but they were in this case.

Hook, Line, and Sinker
by Tessa Bailey
Pub Date: March 1, 2022

What a fun story! I, admittedly, have not read the first Bellinger Sister book, but I don’t think that affected my feelings about this one! There were mentions to storylines that had to have happened in the first book, but I didn’t feel like I missed out! But I just might turn around and read #1 now!

This story is about sister Hannah and her evolving relationship with fisherman, Fox Thornton. I loved this story for the acknowledgment that some people are sexualized from such an early age! The things we say, the things we comment as innocent gab, sometimes does not translate that way for others. Can Fox realize/accept that he is more than a beautiful face and charm? Can Hannah step into the leading-lady role with her career & love life?

I also felt this connection with Hannah and her love for music! The feelings songs can emote and the way a good vinyl can just create the mood. Here for it!

Only reason I gave this 3.5 stars was that I felt it got really repetitive. It’s spicy/steamy & has great dialog.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

As always, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and to Avon Books for approval to read this one