Gardener Hallie is sort of a hot mess: indecisive, disorganized, and lives life out loud with her three! dogs. Still grieving from the loss of her beloved grandmother Rebecca, which whom she spent many hours sipping wine at wine store/bar Corked, owned by her grandmother’s best friend, Hallie has made it a personal mission of sorts to take down Corked’s their slick new competitor, Uncorked. When she hears that a local vintner’s son, the nerd-hot guy she had a crush on–and almost had a moment with–in high school is back in town, she invents an excuse to do some landscaping for his rental. Now a professor on sabbatical back home to write a novel, Julian is Hallie’s opposite: in control, buttoned up, decisive… and hiding a lot of anxiety. His attraction to her chaos is instantaneous but he doesn’t remember her. She (drunkenly) writes him a secret admirer note one evening and leaves where he will find in on his morning jog. Mortified, she decides not to say anything, but of course he hopes it’s from her, even as he recognizes she is not his type. Or is she just what he needs?

This raunchy romp has several laugh out loud moments of making fun of Napa hipster culture and pranks. Characters could have come off as stereotypes or one dimensional (the ditz, the grandmotherly type, the bad-girl, the geek) but depth and nuance is added as the protagonists work through the various ways they think they have disappointed their loved ones.

Secret Admirer is also rich in multigenerational female relationships; Hallie bonds with Julian’s sister immediately upon meeting and maintains relationships with other local business women who are also larger than life.

The undercurrent of sexual tension, fantasies, and consummation is richly detailed; it turns out Julian is a talker (it surprises him, too). The narrative is delightfully, consensually filthy but it’s Julian’s ongoing desire to keep Hallie smiling that is the heart of the novel.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #SecretAdmirer from #NetGalley.

Tessa Bailey is the master writer in modern romance! Beautiful story! " Bumpier stories lead to better destinations" and "midnight transforms you back into a blank canvas like Cinderella". The story is about two people who manage stressors in their lives in polar opposite ways. The hero is a natural born caretaker with a heart of gold but struggles with anxiety as he manages through getting close and caring for people. The Heroine deals with her emotions by being carefree and not letting herself be tied down. Their bumpy story is so well told , steamy and sweet and overall an excellent read. Highly recommend!!

I loved the crush aspect of this novel but would have liked to see more emotional depth with both leads. Overall, it is a cute concept with nice spice.

How does she do it? How is she this amazing? I will devour anything this woman writes, but this one was the cream of the crop! I loved all the body positivity and all of these amazing characters. I loved Hallie’s entire personality and how much she enjoyed rattling Julian’s cage! Everything about this book was chefs kiss!

Tessa Bailey has become an automatic buy author. Even though her covers look like they'd be cute little kissy books they are anything but that! This book was full of Bailey's humor and angst and the spice did not disappoint!

Hallie Welch is living a pretty good live in Napa, California. She is one of the few gardeners in the area and is managing her late grandma's gardening business. Hallie is surrounded by her friends and local businesses that she loves supporting...and yet she feels unsettled. Her feelings only intensify when she realizes that her old high school crush, Julan Vos, is back in town.

Julian is back in Helena, back to his family's vineyard. He doesn't have a very great relationship with his family, and yet he needed to get away from his teaching position at Stanford. Time to take a sabbatical, finish his book and get some perspective on his rigid control and lifestyle. But Julian does not expect to find himself sending so much time with his gardener. And to top it off she seems to know him and for the life of him he can't recall who she is and how she knew him.

But the more time they spend together the more he wants to get to know Hallie. Who is this messy, beautiful and sweet human being? And while he's getting to know her more, he's also receiving anonymous secret admirer letters. Who is this person and should Julian respond to the letters?? With so much uncertainty, will Julian be able to retain his rigid control and court Hallie while also dealing with a secret admirer?

Oh, how I loved Julian and his rigid control. He was such a teddy bear/cinnamon roll combo and he was just so sweet on Hallie. These two had so much chemistry and I loved their banter. The Napa backdrop was so beautifully written and I could totally imagine being in the vineyard with Julian and Hallie.

Hallie was so fierce, sweet and yet she had vulnerabilities just like we all do. I loved the support group she had and how fiercely they backed her up, no matter what she was thinking. Julian also gained support from an unlikely source - his sister Natalie. I enjoyed their scenes together - they were funny and so authentic.

I will say that the secret admirer letters got pretty messy there towards the end. But that's usually how it works in these kinds of scenarios. I only wish I felt a little more angst between Julian and Hallie.

Overall, I enjoyed Secretly Yours and can't wait for the next book (Julian's sister Natalie) in the series!

I'm a simple person--if Tessa Bailey writes it I will read it. A perfect balance of cute fluff and real, concrete character development, Secretly Yours was everything I wanted out of her next romance novel. I can't wait to read Natalie's story!

It took me a couple of chapters to get into it but then I was hooked. Great spice, great emotional development - funny, a littlr cringworthy at times but not overpoweringly so

Tessa Bailey has done it again. Tessa Bailey knows what she’s doing when writing romance. Also the spice in this book… dang Hallie has it made is all I’m gonna say. But seriously I loved this book. Hallie and Julian are so cute together. I love a couple that brings out the best in one another. I am also a sucker for small town romance so this was right up my ally. I can’t wait to own a physical copy of this book and make all my friends read it!

I really enjoyed Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey. It had the perfect amount of romance, angst and family and friend dynamics, as well as a few goofy dogs. I am looking forward to reading future installments in this series.

I’d give this a 3.5 but I’m rounding up to 4 because I love wine valley romances. I think maybe this book was a little overstuffed, like I’m not sure I was really into the secret penpal aspects. I’ve been a little disappointed with Bailey’s recent works lately. Not sure what’s going on.

I love Tessa Bailey’s books but this one was mostly a miss for me. It took me forever to slog through it, everything felt too tropey or stereotyped, like virginity aspect- just not a fan. Honestly, I’d rather go back and re-read It Happened One Summer, Hook, Line & Sinker, or My Killer Vacation.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC- sorry I didn’t like this one. :|

Tessa Bailey has done it again! Another cute, fun rom-com with quirky characters and lots of steaminess.

Set in the world of California vineyards, are main characters are Hallie and Julian. Hallie has carried a torch for Julian for years, ever since an almost-kiss as teenagers. Years later Julian has returned to his family vineyard and Hallie decides to try to and check him out by offering her landscaping business to his family. The two quickly clash- Julian is addicted to schedules and Hallie likes to fly by the seat of her pants. But they feel a chemistry, and after a drunken mistake leads to Hallie writing a secret admirer letter, antics ensue. As a fun B-story line you also have Hallie trying to save a local business, including several acts of sabotage that can only be described as foolishly silly.

Bailey does grumpy-sunshine romances very well, and this is yet more proof of that. An enjoyable book, and a quick read. I'm excited to read the next book in this series, which was set up very nicely.

Tessa Bailey can write some fun, steamy romances, Unfortunately Secretly Yours missed the mark for me. Hallie is a free spirited gardener who has harbored a crush on Julian Voss since high school. Fortunately for Hallie, Julian is back home, staying at his family’s vineyard while he writes a novel,. Halle is determined to cross paths with Julian and hopes that he will remember her and their almost kiss (and maybe give her another chance to make that kiss happen).
I just couldn’t connect with the characters or the story here. Sadly this one just wasn’t for me.

Tessa Bailey is an insta-read author for me. I usually don’t mind the silliness and quirky characters, but there was too much in this story for me. Hallie is a landscaper who relies on her gut for flower placement, has several dogs (who don’t dig holes in landscaping, I guess), resorts to petty vandalism to save her grandmother’s friend’s wineshop, and is generally chaotic in dress and personality. Julian by contrast is wound tightly and has general anxiety. Meanwhile, there are also subplots about a secret admirer who leaves notes in trees, a forgotten high school kiss, a failing vineyard, and an absent father. It became too much, and I feel like focusing on one or two of these stories could have stabilized the plot and allowed for a deeper exploration of anxiety and the relationship/attraction between Hallie and Julian. I was more interested in Julian’s sister’s story and the set-up for her book, which I will read.

I found the book info-dumpy and unrealistic. Not the book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.

Dammit this shit was so cute. Hallie and Julien not only find themselves and their individual paths, but find each other in the CUTEST FREAKING WAY UGH it’s like You’ve Got Mail but with WINE and FLOWERS

I love Tessa Bailey so much. An absolute delight -- and what might be my favorite of her most recent string of successes.

Man can Tessa Bailey write an amazing sex scene. I don’t know that I’ve read a better sex scene by anyone else. She is really incredible.

*I received this book free as an advanced readers copy, and that has in no way altered my true reflections of it.*

I love Tessa Bailey, her books have never let me down, they are cute and fun and flirty and everything good. "Secretly Yours" definitely had the usual sexy tone of Bailey others works, but it also had an incredibly intense stalker subplot. I tried to get past it and enjoy the love the story, I really did, but it just kept getting worse. The stalker vibes are so bad that I had to skip scenes for fear it would make me get a permanent wince. Add into that the thirty year old virgin trope and I AM OUT.

Tessa Bailey, I love you girl, but this was just not it.