🍷 Marriage of convenience
✨ Emotional Traumas
🍷 Trust funds
✨ Ex Military
🍷 Mental Health



August Cates is an ex navy seal who is a terrible wine maker, like barf worthy wine. He sank all of his savings into his last chance and failed.

Natalie Vos is the daughter of a legendary winemaker who abandoned his family and left for Italy years before. Natalie is fresh out of a relationship & job that abruptly ended in NYC where she flees home to Napa to drink away her sorrows.

She meets August but things turn bad quickly & they now hate each other. (If you haven’t read Secretly Yours you’ll miss the fight at the end of that book). Truthfully they both wouldn’t even call it hate. They both are obsessed with the other but would never admit it.

They both have pride & really don’t want to ask the other for any help. In order for Natalie to secure her trust fund to start her own business back in NY she has to be married & working for it to be released to her. August needs a second chance for the winery because it’s named for his best friend who sadly was shot in the war. Wine making was his dream, not August’s. Natalie proposes, quite literally, to August that they should have a marriage of convenience so they can both get what they want.

His friends dad arrives to say he’ll be an investor so he could have a second chance at the business. Of course August doesn’t tell Natalie because he knows she still needs her trust fund unlocked by getting married.

The wedding is beautiful. I teared up because they both are in love with the other & still going through with the wedding. They cry & even Menace the cat is there in a suit. 🥹

The wedding night was hot & of course we are only half way through the book. They both still have secrets from each other so it’ll be crazy when it’s finally out in the open.

As all romcoms go you have to have a falling out before things are resolved in the end. The falling out was well done. I really enjoyed this book. All of the trauma & sadness is conveyed and makes me feel like I am the characters & I’m feeling whatever is happening.

The epilogue is adorable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved book 1 but book 2 just hit home for me. Thank you Tessa Bailey, NetGalley, & Harper Collins for letting me read this early!


💜 “Love means letting go of your pride, after all.”
✨ “He needed her for sixty years, not sixty minutes.”
💜 “Love turned the heart into a liability. If something happened to him, she’d never get the damn thing to beat properly again. It seemed to be beating for him now.”

4.5 Loved this book! Natalie and August were honestly the best part of the previous book Secretly Yours and I was soooo excited to read their story. Let me tell you Tessa Bailey really thought the spice in this one!

Summary in one sentence: Natalie and August agree to a marriage of convenience so they each get money the desperately need to fulfill what they think their dreams are but could it turn into more.

These two are polar opposites and their verbal sparring was epic! Such amazing banter. The opposites attract made the spicy scenes spiciest and dang does Tessa give August a dirty mouth. 🥵 I truly love show we get to see August fall first and how he spends so much time taking Natalie’s side even against her family and just supporting her. You get to really root for them to recognize their feelings and moving through that process with them was lovely.

My one small thing is I wish we had more of their angsty times. More of August’s grief, how his friend passed and how he’s healing with it. More of Natalie and her family thinking she’s a screw up we got but we needed more of her family understanding her and apologizing for year of crap. It doesn’t take away from the great story written just would have been nice.

If you’re looking for a summer romance this is it!

Thank you to the author and Avon/Harper Voyager for the gifted book ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read if you like: Dual POV (third person), fake dating/marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, spicy 🔥

I liked this more than Secretly Yours. The chemistry between August and Natalie is good. So much tension. Top notch banter. Enemies to lovers and fake dating are my favorite tropes. This lived up to the tropes. It was funny, clever, and spicy for the most part. I adore how protective they are of each other. I found the pacing to be very inconsistent and August was a bit too much sometimes. I loved the epilogue. I recommend it!

Omg this is my new favorite Tessa Bailey book! While I didn’t necessarily connect with Julian and Hallie in Secretly Yours I already knew I was going to love Natalie and August’s story from the snippets we got of them in it and I was right! I just love a he falls first, enemies to lovers with fake dating/a marriage of convenience.

Natalie and August are such great characters and the yin to each others Yang. I love how Natalie is all tough on the outside but warm and just wanting to be recognized on the inside (like how dare everyone only see her as a screw up?!) And then there’s gruff on the outside but full of love on the inside (but also locked in his own grief and perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth) You just can’t help but love them and root for them as a couple.

Their banter is spot on! The best part of an enemies to lovers is the banter and Tessa does it so well. And then there’s the spice! It was the perfect balance of adding spice while staying true to the characters for me.

Loved everything about this book!

This whole series in Napa St. Helena makes me happy. I don't know who would be next but I want more.
This book took serious looks at PTSD, internal psychological scars, amd the ways they keep coming around as you try to work through the and with them. The depth and levity of Bailey's books are hard to match.

#netgalley
#arc
#unfortunatelyyours

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for this ARC. I’m a fan of Tessa Bailey and I did enjoy Secretly Yours, so I requested Unfortunately Yours on a whim.

I unfortunately didn’t love this one. August and Natalie’s relationship felt too much like insta love for me. This was my first time reading a book with marriage of convenience and I think i have decided that it’s not for me 🤷‍♀️

I enjoy Tessa’s books and I’ll continue to read them in the future even though this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-arc!

Tessa Bailey is an insta-buy author for me and this book did not disappoint. The book started off really strong. The banter and the pining were amazing. I loved August so much! He clearly loved Natalie from the get go and tried to show it in subtle ways even though most of the time they fell short. Natalie was also a strong character. She slowly let her guard down for August, while also trying to figure out what direction she wanted her life to go.

The second half of the book was also good, just not as good for me. I was hoping for a bit more about how they were a team in the end and how they got the vineyard up and running.

If you like marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, and hot Navy SEALs, this book is for you!

Okay, so this is my new favorite Tessa Bailey book. Possibly even a new fave in my all time top five..... Tessa literally knocks it out of the park every time. I love the guy falls first trope and this has it in spades!!!

Wow August. Wowwwww.

So it seems like Tessa was determined to make me swoon. She was like, listen I have this guy August all up in my head and you just wait until he’s all up in yours.

This book was so good. The dual POV helped a ton with this enemies to lovers book. I was just rooting for August the whole time. He’s an alpha, protective, funny, grump. I laughed to myself multiple times while reading this one.

Oh I guess I should mention the heroine. Sometimes I forget that it’s not just a relationship between me and august. Oopsies.

Natalie is also great. Is she me? No. But I did like her. So I guess I’m happy for her and August

This book is classic Tessa steamy.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥😳😳 / 5 steam

⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5 stars

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy!
It comes out June 6, 2023.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, opposites attract, marriage of convenience, small town romance

A big thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for this ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

We met Natalie, Julian’s sister, in Secretly Yours. She is on a bit of a hiatus from NYC after hitting rock bottom in her career. She meets August, who is starting his own winery, and they immediately have that physical chemistry. 🔥🔥 But both of these lovable characters have issues of choosing the wrong thing to say at the worst time. (Especially former SEAL, August.)

August needs money to keep his winery afloat, and Natalie needs access to her trust fund to start her financial legacy anew in NYC. So here comes the bride….

Can I just say that this book outdid the first?! I adore August and Natalie. Their banter was pure gold and had me laughing out loud throughout.

Tess Bailey writes her characters in a relatable way. Natalie just wants to be seen and feel needed. August is suffering the loss of a friend and is working through his grief. Their hearts really showed through. ❤️

This is my first time reading a novel by Tessa Bailey and I am absolutely IN LOVE with her writing! It only took me a few days to read the book, fall in love with Napa wine country & Natalie and August. August - the Navy SEAL - is swoon worthy, dreamy & working to make everything perfect for the ones he loves. Natalie gives August a serious run for his money with the quick wit comebacks. I spent so much time laughing that my children were giggling from all of MY laughing! I cannot recommend this book enough for a fun, laugh out loud read with the perfect amount of finding and falling in love.

I absolutely loved this book! Tessa Bailey's writing is so funny and charming. She is a master of rom com's! She did the "marriage of convenience" trope so well and the characters are great. I liked this one even more than the first of this series.

*3.5 stars*

My feelings for Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey are ALL over the place: Part of me sort of loved it and part of me rolled my eyes the whole time. With my rating, I sort of met in the middle, but rest assured, this book is eons better than Secretly Yours.

I read a review a couple of days ago that said this book had "big republican energy," and it's almost hard to write my review because that really encapsulates a lot of the feeling of this book. It's so fantasyland, trad-wife vibes that I almost laughed at parts. I mean, big, hot Navy Seal wins over his marriage-of-convenience wife with his show of strength and giant d!ck and convinces her that she doesn't need the big city life after all! That's the long and short of it, actually...

Tessa Bailey really shines at her dirty talk, and she did it well again here. I have to hand it to her, she goes for it. I adored the banter and enemies-to-lovers sexy vibes. Yes, the Navy Seal man-handling his bride and insisting on hours of pleasuring her with his mouth while growling worshipful things may be a little... much (and made my husband snort-laugh), but at least they had chemistry. The writing was miles better than in the first book (which you could read for some background knowledge but isn't necessary).

I was a little let down by how far this book stuck to the romance tried and true tropes, which made it feel a bit dated (IMO), but Tessa seems to know what she does well and leaned in hard with those strengths. Overall, this book was very fun to read, even if I cringed at times, and humongous Navy Seals saving the day and WINE are never bad things.

The chemistry between Natalie and August was amazing! I loved their banter. I loved the fake marriage trope in this book (that’s one of my favorites). This romcom was super fun to read and had just the right amount of spice! Tessa Bailey can do no wrong!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every time I pick up a Tessa Bailey book I am unsure of which direction it is going to lead. I loved the first book in this series, and while I didn't totally love this book (I gave it a solid 3 stars on Goodreads) I can't help but think I don't know the purpose of this book.

Marriage of convenience by THE Tessa Bailey? Say less.

This book is classic Tessa Bailey but ramped up times ten. The dirty talk? The tension? The gruff hero you can't help but fall in love with? Safe to say I was swooning the entire time reading. I loved August and Natalie so much. Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes, and this didn't disappoint. There's nothing I love quite more than two dummies in denial of their feelings, which was basically the entirety of this book. What I loved more than anything though was how quickly August and Natalie came to care for each other despite hating/being constantly annoyed by each other, and how both were determined to go on with the fake marriage scheme so the other person could get what they wanted.

Overall, I loved this one so much. Tessa Bailey's romances never disappoint, and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!

It’s likely that when I tell you “Unfortunately Yours” is a grumpy x sunshine, marriage-of-convenience book by Tessa Bailey, you’ll shout “SAY LESS.”

And honestly? That’s very fair. Really, it’s all you need to know.

But! I also need to say that I loved this a whole lot – like, It Happened One Summer a lot. Which was such a relief after Secretly Yours, the companion novel that precedes this, that you don’t necessarily need to read because this definitely works as a standalone, and that I wasn’t in love with.

Natalie (our grump) is relatable despite her Napa Valley wealth and privilege, and August (📢A NAVY SEAL WHO IS TRYING TO START A VINEYARD, THIS 👏IS 👏NOT A DRILL👏) is so, so funny and swoony and great.

AND THE SPICE???? Y’all – it is *potent*. I read this on a plane and was like, “On one hand, I hope no one is reading over my shoulder, on the other, you’re welcome.”

But there’s also great emotional arcs, and excellent banter, and a tuxedo-wearing cat.

In sum: it’s everything that’s great about romcoms, and with Tessa Bailey at the helm, it’s a hot, fun, binge-worthy romp through wine country that’ll have you laughing and gasping and reaching for water in equal measure.

You’ll love it.

4.5🌟
3🌶️

this started out to be better than secretly yours but alas it has the same rating… (3.5) i loved natalie and august’s banter but i didn’t love the dirty talk tbh.. it was kinda too porno-esque for me and that made me cringe a lot. i think the beginning was better than the rest of the book. i was kinda just over august saying natalie was the one being closed off but he was the exact same way… like let the girl help you make better wine dummy!!! overall i think the premise had a lot of potential but it was a little lackluster to me :( thanks to harper voyager & netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review! this book is available June 6, 2023!

August and Natalie had astounding chemistry in the few pages they were together in Secretly Yours, so I have been so excited to get their full story. It was even better than I hoped. It's difficult to list what I liked about this book without retelling the whole thing, but I will say that this is the ultimate example of why I like to read Tessa Bailey. The banter is easily the best I have ever read, but then August will throw in something so caring in the middle of it. Just so swoony. Natalie is a combination of competence and insecurity from past hurts, and she is making efforts to improve her life. She has a wicked sense of humor that adds to the fun. The chemistry stayed high through the whole story and about set my e-reader on fire. I loved every single page and smiled through the whole thing.

Unfortunately Yours by NYT Bestselling author Tessa Bailey is the second book in her Vine Mess series, the follow-up to Secretly Yours, and I devoured it!

Set in gorgeous California wine Natalie, who we met in Secretly Yours, has been home at the family winery licking her wounds after losing her fiancé and job in NYC. She is ready to start over but needs her trust fund released, which has some major strings attached. And former SEAL August failed trying to live out his late friend's dream of starting a winery. Although these two can't stand one another, they devise a one-month marriage-of-convince plan to save them both. What could go wrong?

We first met Natalie and August in Secretly Yours, and I was very excited to read their story, and this one ranks pretty high for me on my fave Tessa Bailey books! Enemies to lovers, a marriage of convenience, and the MMC is a cinnamon roll that falls first and falls hard. Bailey delivers an entertaining read with hilarious banter, swoony romance, and serious fireworks! I loved the two MCs and loved them together. They bickered but also had the emotional maturity to apologize and communicate. The pacing was fast, the energy playful, the dialogue on point, and many scenes were very funny. August can go from goofball to hero in the blink of an eye, and Natalie is strong and independent. Throw in some dirty talk and open-door spice, and you get a bingeable beach read hitting the shelves in time for summer reading! Highly recommended to steamy rom-com lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to review this ARC!