Natalie Vos has lost her high-powered finance job, has been dumped by her fiancé, and has come home to her family’s Napa Valley vineyard to regroup and drink lots of wine in the hopes of forgetting about what a mess her life has become. She is hoping to gain access to her trust fund in order to launch her own company, but her father has established an outrageous condition that she will have to work around: she needs to be married before she can access her trust fund. Not only does she need to be married, but the marriage needs to be real enough to convince the humorless bank manager that she is really and truly in love and therefore deserves access to her money.

August Cates, former Navy SEAL, new vineyard owner, cannot make a decent bottle of wine to save his life. He is living out the dream of his late best friend and former fellow SEAL in order to honor Sam’s memory, but things aren’t going well. If August doesn’t figure out a way to get more money in order to keep trying, he is going to have to do the unthinkable: admit defeat and get out of the wine making business.

A marriage of convenience would help them both out. Natalie would gain access to her trust fund and August would be able to secure a bank loan using the respectable Vos family name and connections. After a few weeks of pretending to be married and securing their respective funds, they could have a pretend fight, get a divorce, and never have to see each other again. Right? Wrong. Tessa Bailey is not about to let that happen.

Having been introduced to Natalie and August in Secretly Yours, I was excited to read their story next. There were definitely some cringy moments as well as times when I wanted to throttle the main characters for their terrible decisions, but Natalie and August were both so relatable and vulnerable, with banter and chemistry to spare, that it was hard not to root for the two of them.

Recommended for adults. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this Enemies-to-Lovers/Fake Relationship romance. Throw in a ridiculous inheritance stipulation and I am ALL IN, bitches.

Natalie had such a great backstory, filled with mistakes that she owns and the want to mend her family relationships and become useful to her family vineyard. And I just fell in love with August (and his asshole cat). He is so earnest and loyal, but so likable and seriously hilarious. These two have insane chemistry that basically overheated my kindle.

And speaking of heat, it's a Tessa Bailey book so BUCKLE UP. There are seriously steamy scenes, but that also have emotional meaning within the framework of this story.

By the end of UNFORTUNATELY YOURS I thought I might actually perish if Natalie and August didn't get together and I love it when I feel that way about a romance. It's the mark of truly good writing.

Please pick up UNFORTUNATELY YOURS. It gets a very enthusiastic 5-STARS from me!

The perfect enemies to lovers with a marriage of convenience. It is Tessa Bailey at her best and I highly recommend it for all library collections!

4/4.5 stars for this one.

This felt more like the Tessa Bailey books I know and love. It was a fun read with antagonistic characters that actually were attracted to each other, but were also opposites. It was spicy and cute and fun.

My only issue is that problems were not fully flushed out. August’s promise to Sam? I felt like that wasn’t fully explored.


Slight spoilers below:

Natalie feeling like her family shut her out and her issues with her mom was just resolved in a paragraph. Like oops sorry! All fixed. At the end. And then August and Natalie hid from each other that they didn’t actually have to get married to get what they needed. And again resolved in one paragraph of oops we both hid that from each other! Oh well!

It was a quick and fun read though and I love all Tessa Bailey. That only docked half a star from my perspective so I’m still happy and will continue to auto buy and auto read. 🖤🖤

This book was a really fun, quick read! The marriage of convenience trope was written incredibly well. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Natalie and August. The banter and fighting was so fun and perfect to build that tension. Thank you Tessa for writing a couple that actually communicates their feelings after a fight and don’t just storm off into the other room! Probably my favorite scene in the entire book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to review!

DNF @ 43%. For a romance with a fun setup / premise, this book DRAGGED. Also, August as a character was a chaotic mess. Could not get invested. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

I gotta be honest—after the first book in this series, I didn’t have super high hopes for this one (even though Natalie and August’s chemistry nearly eclipsed Hallie and Julian’s in their story). I was delightfully surprised, though! Their banter was better, their sexual tension was better, their attraction to one another was more palpable and believable, and the story was much more streamlined with a better balance of comedy and emotional gravitas.

There was a good balance of scathing repartee and sexual tension in the beginning; they unintentionally hit each other’s sore spots and genuinely show remorse when they do. They’re both flawed (Natalie is a bit self-absorbed; August is a bit crass and insensitive and clueless; they’re both too stubborn for their own good), but they both have attractive (non-physical) qualities: Natalie is ambitious and caring; August is honorable and outgoing; they both stick up for heir own beliefs and for their loved ones.

I didn’t love how August handled keeping his secret from Natalie—it seemed downright manipulative, especially considering how vulnerable she’d been being open with him about her past hurts and betrayals. And then everything got resolved WAY too quickly, considering all the buildup it got throughout the book (like, it seemed with all the agonizing over this issue that it was being set up to be the main conflict that would cause the third-act breakup, but it seemed almost like an afterthought when Natalie offered her own confession, which really didn’t seem like that big of an issue in comparison). It made for a very anticlimactic resolution of the story. And there were some excessive and/or far-reaching metaphors and clichés, as well as way too many instances of Natalie’s “kaleidoscopic” features (wtf?).

But otherwise, this was a very enjoyable little rom-com. I loved how gooey and soft and sentimental August was on the inside, crying as Natalie walked down the aisle and whenever he visited Sam’s grave. For a clueless himbo type, August was super sweet. And of course, I loved his open and shameless obsession with Natalie. And the spice was HOT. Also, Menace the cat was adorable.

Unfortunately Yours appears to be the last of the series since everything wrapped up so cleanly in the epilogue. This was such a charming and sexy way to end the duology!

Overall rating: 3.75 stars
Spice level: 3/5

** I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley**

Unfortunately Yours was a really good follow up to Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey. Book 2 follows August, an ex navy SEAL who has started a failing wine business and Natalie, a wine heiress and recent out-casted NY financial investor. The bants between these two enemies was sooo good and the transition from enemies to lovers was well done! Their marriage of convenience made sense within the book and I enjoyed reading their love story. August also has some pretty great dirty talk and I am all here for that! I enjoy Tessa's writing and was pulled into the story right off the bat! I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys enemies to lovers, Navy Seals, and smutty scenes with lots of dirty talk!!

Spice rating: 3.8/5
Overall rating: 8/10

Tessa Bailey has ruined the rom-com genre for me. NOTHING will ever compare to her creativity, laugh-out loud moments, adorable characters, and 🔥(IYKYK). Natalie and August are her best yet, and that’s saying something! ♾⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tessa Bailey stan for life. ❤️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was fun! I will say, I had a difficult time with the first book in this series, but this one was definitely the favorite out of the two. The enemies to lovers/marriage of convenience was believable and fun. There were some cringe parts, which I think just comes with the territory of romance. But still, it was a fun, easy read in Tessa Bailey's signature fashion!

I've read 4 Tessa Bailey Books. Two I really enjoyed and two that just weren't for me. This is book number 5 and the tie breaker!

I'm happy to say I LOVED Unfortunately Yours.

The banter between August and Natalie was hilarious and I really enjoyed their characters. I'm also a fan of the fake dating/marriage trope so this one worked for me. I was hesitant after not loving book 1, Secretly Yours, but I'm so glad I gave this one a chance.

This book was exceedingly well balanced. The tropes were great and they all worked well together. The banter was perfection, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Natalie and August fall in love. This is the perfect addition to any contemporary romance collection.

This was such a sweet follow up to the A Vine Mess series debut, and completely blew its predecessor out of the water. I completely fell in love with August Cates and the gentle way he cared for Natalie. At this point in her writing career, Tessa Bailey does a great job of showcasing her characters flaws and wrapping them up into the romantic arcs of her characters' relationships. They fall in love not despite their baggage, but with everything in full view of one another. It's an aspect of her books that I really appreciate.

While I usually love Tessa Bailey, I found this book to feel a little...rushed. Perhaps that is the slow-burn romantic in me, but I did not feel as much of a spark for this book as I did with her previous ones.

Those who love the "marriage of convenience" and "love at first sight" tropes may enjoy this book more than I did. Tessa Bailey's writing is beautiful and engaging as always, I personally just found that I couldn't identify with the characters or the story as much as I had with her previous characters. The "marry to get your trust fund" patriarchal idea is outdated in my view; and while this was an updated version, it wasn't quite progressive enough for it to feel modern.

Tessa Bailey NEVER disappoints and Unfortunately Yours is no exception. This book is filled with so much humor, heart, and steam, you won't want to put it down!

This book has been hard for me to get into. I’ve come back to it multiple times because I think the main characters have good chemistry but the overall storyline has been slow paced or maybe just isn’t grabbing my attention.
It matches Book 1 of the series “Sincerely Yours” well but I also didn’t love that story as much as I had hoped.
I believe this book has great qualities, just wasn’t my cup of tea this time around.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC.

Tessa Bailey is an author I go back and forth on in terms of enjoyment. The first book in this series was very difficult to get through and enjoy. This take is definitely better, and I do enjoy a good marriage of convenience. But, this still falls short for me compared to her It Happened One Summer Series. While maybe not fair to compare the two separate series, it is hard for me to take it apart in my mind. My expectations maybe were too high. 2.5 stars rounded up.

I recently delved into the second installment of this series, and boy, did it devour the marriage of convenience trope with an insatiable hunger! Let me just say, Tessa Bailey's writing in this book was a massive leap forward from the first one. Her storytelling always manages to tickle my funny bone and ignite my imagination with its boundless creativity. I can't help but fall head over heels for these characters. It's like witnessing the perfect blend of a mischievous black cat and a lovable golden retriever coming to life on the pages. If you're searching for a love story that announces its arrival with a bang, this book is the one for you.

The tension between Natalie and August crackled like a bonfire, and the sparks that flew through their witty banters and scorching encounters set every page ablaze. Their chemistry felt so palpable, as if it had a life of its own, pulsating with an intensity that was impossible to resist. It was like succumbing to the temptation of a decadent dessert or indulging in your favorite guilty pleasure—it simply left me craving for more. Their love story unfolded before my eyes, intertwining warmth and excitement in a way that left me grinning like a fool and completely captivated.

Overall, this book was a revelation, surpassing all my expectations. Tessa Bailey has once again proven her mastery at crafting engaging characters and magnetic relationships. With its perfect blend of humor, creativity, and an irresistible love story, this second installment had me hooked from start to finish. If you're ready for a reading experience that will leave you swooning and yearning for another chapter, I can wholeheartedly recommend this gem. It's an absolute winner that will make you believe in the magic of love.

One of my Tessa Bailey favorite couples .... so much interesting that the simple log line of disgraced Napa heiress meets ex-Navy SEAL. Their banter is reminiscent of the best Hepburn -Tracy films, except a little less innuendo and a lot more explicit. A marriage of convenience story has never been so fun and you'll definitely be rooting for them.

Great book! This is definitely one if my favorite authors, and I've had the pleasure of meeting her at a few signings! But that doesn't affect my review! This book had a bit of everything! It had intrigue, romance, angst , and some hot hot hot moments! The storyline was very interesting and super cute at times! I highly recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me! Can't wait for more!