Honestly, Tessa Bailey books are gonna be a no from me from now on. I loved it happened one summer but every book I've read by her since then had fallen flat, this one included.
This book has small town vibes where the fmc becomes the gardener for her high school crush, but he doesn't remember her. I liked the small town set up that she described and I even like most of the characters in this book.
However, Julian, the mmc, just was really 2D. I felt like his whole personality was anxiety and sex. Another this I was disappointed by the storyline of corked vs uncorked. Literally we hear all about these two stores then about 2/3 the way through the book it's just like never mentioned again until the very end. This book just wasn't it.

Secretly Yours was hit or miss for me. My first reaction was fairly positive because I loved how much the characters seemed to genuinely love each other and respected their flaws. Anxiety rep in a male main character is a rare find too. But then as the story continues, the connection that Hallie created in her mind from one almost kiss with Julian was a little creepy for me, especially as she refuses any other man based on what she thought he might be like. The notes they leave for each other felt unnecessary and under used.

I can see how some readers will fall head over heels with this series though and always love mental health issues discussed in an upfront manner in books.

I’ve really enjoyed the last Tessa Bailey books Avon has published, I had high hopes Secretly Yours would be a win for me. I knew pretty early on into reading that this book was not working for me. The characters were very unlikable (in my opinion) and at 25% I did not care to read any further. DNF.

I really enjoyed this! the mental health rep was a surprise, and I enjoyed that it was a male who had the anxiety issues. The fact that they had an interesting and intricate past was a great addition as well. Plus the spice level here was perfect, Tessa Bailey does a great job

Thank you to Avon Publishing and Tessa Bailey for sending me an ARC of Secretly Yours. However, I will not be sharing my opinion or full review of the book until Harper Collins successfully reaches a deal with the union workers asking for better pay.

Update 3/2/2023: Harper Collins has reached.a deal with the union workers and they have since returned to work.

Unfortunately, I have DNF'd this book. I wanted to like it so much because I love Tessa Bailey's books. I really like the idea of premise and Hallie's chaos wherever she goes! But Julian's personality feels more like a cardboard cutout. I know he's supposed to be subdued because of his anxiety issues but it just feels like he has zero personality at all. Even his feelings for Hallie haven't made me feel anything.

I'm not saying that I'll never return to this book or series, but it's just not for me right now.

I've been TRYING very hard to get on to Tessa Bailey books. For some reason, they do not resonate with me! This one certainly fell flat, unfortunately. The one thing I DO love about TB books is that her spicy scenes are CERTAINLY spicy. They're top tier. The actual romance in this book, however, seemed to fall short for me.

This was my first Tessa Bailey book and with a cover this cute, I just couldn’t resist! I really liked the author’s writing style. It was so spunky and fun, and the characters really came to life for me.

I loved Hallie and Julian so much! They were the perfect grumpy/sunshine couple. Hallie’s chaos and energy was literally a ray of sunshine. Julian was the perfect grump. I could actually relate to him quite a bit with his need to keep a schedule and dislike for interruptions.

I did feel that this book was too long, and things started to drag. It was a suuuuper slow burn, and I think that could’ve been cut down a bit. I also hated the conflict that happened near the end over the secret admirer letters. I thought that was a whole bunch of drama that could’ve easily been avoided, and it was super close to falling into the miscommunication trope (which I can’t stand).

Although there were a few things that didn’t work for me, I thought this was a fun read overall!

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for my gifted copy.

I really liked this book. It was the perfect blend of sweet and intense. The characters were swoon-worthy and the story flowed well. I read this in a sitting or two, so I'd say it's a quick, easy read.

Tessa Bailey is one of my faves when it comes to romance, and I was SO excited to read Secretly Yours, the brand new series, A VINE MESS during Valentine's Day week. Although I had the ebook, I decided to purchase a physical copy for my shelves too.

I loved that it featured a curvy protagonist who desires the attention of a high school crush by leaving behind secret admirer notes. The Napa Valley setting and sweet interaction between the local wine shop owner left me wanting to book a trip to Napa as soon as possible afterwards. I only wish that there was a stronger pull of attraction between love interests, and have come to expect heavier steam from the spice queen, but overall I really enjoyed this cute new romance, and can't wait for the next book in this series!

*many thanks to Avon and netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Like a pretty okay 3.75 stars.

I want to love Tessa Bailey books but they’re not my favorite. I love aspects of them. Love the author, though. She’s hilarious. Which is why I keep coming back for more, but her books just don’t quite do it for me.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: DNF at 49%

There are so many times when I consider DNF-ing a book, but I hesitate, because I like the characters enough to want to see what will happen. When I started contemplating quitting SINCERELY YOURS, I realized I don't care at all what happens to these characters. THAT is the most telling thing I can say about this book.

A FEW OF MY ISSUES:

- The hero hyper-sexualizes the heroine from the first moment they meet. I'm not talking about physical attraction. I am talking about him obsessively leering at different parts of her body for the entire first third of this book.

- The heroine destroys property and steals things from a business in town because she's angry they are competition to a business she loves. It's supposed to be funny, but it just made me dislike this immature heroine.

- The secret admirer letters are so distinctly in the heroine's voice that there is no way the hero would have no idea they were from her. Also, the letters are hand written, so just check the other person's hand writing at any time and the secret is revealed. The author wanted it to be quaint, but it's just improbable instead..

SINCERELY YOURS was a total miss for me.

This was cute. Hallie was an interesting main character and I appreciated her crush growing into real affect after spending more time with Julian as an adult.

Sadly I just could not get into this one. There characters were not all that lovable and there were so many elements to the story that I was getting confused keeping track of it all. I'm a big fan of Tessa Bailey so this won't stop me from reading more of her books, but this one just wasn't for me.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. This book is fun, funny, full of unrequited tension, and secret pen pals. It is also apparently lacking a single bed, but that is more than made up for by Tessa Bailey's skill of creating heroes that have filthy mouths. The plot was a little bit predictable, but it was enough fun that I'm already looking forward to the sequel.

A rigid college professor meets his match in a flighty landscaper with this new, steamy romance novel.
👩🏼‍🌾
Hallie fell in love with Julian when she was fourteen and they almost kissed in the vineyards. Now he’s back in town and doesn’t even remember their missed interlude from years ago. She’s hired to work on the gardens at the Vos estate and the more time she spends with him, the more she learns about the man he’s become. In a drunken/brave moment Hallie leaves an anonymous love note for Julian that turns into an honest correspondence between the two. Julian finds himself liking Hallie and his secret admirer, but what happens when he finds out they’re one and the same?
🧑🏻‍💻
I can always count on Bailey to write 🌶️ yet 🍭 romance books. This is the first in a duology that I can’t wait to read because this grumpy sunshine romance hit the spot! Between the vineyard setting, adorable MCs, intriguing secondary characters and 🥵 scenes I’m dying for book 2!

CW: death of a grandparent (off page), grief, parental abandonment, alcohol, fire, anxiety, anxiety attacks
4.5 ⭐️

Sadly this was not for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed other books by Tessa Bailey, but I just couldn't get into this one. The characters felt one dimensional, they lacked chemistry, and I just couldn't get past all of the miscommunication.

This will not be one that I recommend to people.

This book was super cute, but my goodness am I tired of lack of communication being the major issue. These people just needed to talk to each other! I enjoyed the setting and characters and even what I'm assuming is set up for another book in a series. This would be a good vacation read.

Absolutely loved this romance the stream the relationship it was unputdownable I am going to be recommending it for a long time

What has a lot of promise about our dear friend Hallie learning to be herself in a world she is exploring without her grandma turns into an unbelievable tale of someone who has had a crush on someone for over half of her life and she barely knew. I found this part to be a bit outlandish and almost creepy, to be honest. This book felt a bit jumbled to me, and it was mostly too far out there for me. What had an opportunity to be a great navigation of a 29 year old woman turned into her just being totally infatuated with a person she had mostly dreamt up since she was a teen.

Julian - the professor? Somehow a business man? The one who is completely disengaged with his emotions - and not even realizing he didn't call his own sister for a year? And then suddenly falls in love with Hallie? I found their love to be a bit forced - two "big" fights within a month and a half of knowing each other and suddenly they are in love also felt a bit forced to me. I saw it all from Hallie's side, but Julian thinking she was chaotic, disorganized, and would totally mess up his vibe just felt kind of rude.

There were so many extra characters that deserved some more time, too, and stories that felt unfinished (like the vineyard manager, what happened to Uncorked, and a few other things). I feel like the weird situation with Julian's parents also was not explored as well as it could have been.

Overall, this was a miss for me. There was no real development of their relationship and the foundation of it out there. Also, the "letters" were not as a deep or central to the story as I was expecting them to be.

Cute and fun read! The character development was all a little immediate/rushed but overall enjoyable.