Unfortunately Yours, by Tessa Bailey
funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75

This was an interesting take on the marriage of convenience trope! I do enjoy when both parties benefit from the marriage, so it was interesting to me that in this situation, they technically didn't need to get married but they did anyways because of the spark.

I enjoyed this book more than Secretly Yours. I do wish, however, that there was more set up for the main characters without having to read the first book. It really relied on those previous interactions and I think the perspective of those interactions was missing from this book.

The pining made sense (and was great, honestly!) but I wish the overall plot and timeline of the book was longer. I know people can fall in love in three weeks, but more time and story (and character) development would've helped here.

As always, I wish the cat was featured a bit more. :)

Spice was great, as usual! And this book was not as awkward or forced as the first in the series. Loved it.

Wrapping up, the third act was a nice surprise and deviation from the normal and I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

Decently solid read!

Thanks to Avon & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I am a huge fan of MoC and this delivered on all fronts. I really enjoyed the setting and the dynamic between Natalie and August. The one thing I wish we got was a wrap up or a little clarity on Natalie's relationship with alcohol, but the message came through (about it being associated with her acting out as a child) enough that it didn't affect my rating. Definitely one of my favorite Tessa Bailey books. She just keeps killing it!

natalie & august’s follow-up is better than the first book. bailey is an auto-read (and always will be), even if some of the dirty talk and/or harried thoughts can be cringey & eye-roll-inducing. tropes such as he falls first, marriage of convenience, & forced proximity are all done well. the main characters can be annoying at times, but i was still anxious to read what came next.

#netgalley

If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. Tessa Bailey is truly one of my favorite romance writers. Unfortunately Yours is my new favorite and was such a good follow up to Secretly Yours. August and Natalie were phenomenal characters and I *loved* the enemies to lovers and marriage of convenience tropes in this one!! I feel like
I’m officially in a book slump after reading this gem!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5 stars, rated up

After being fortunate enough to read an early copy of the first title of this series (Secretly Yours) and loving it, when I saw this, I requested it and hoped I’d be fortunate enough a second time, and yay!

I started this immediately because I’ve been desperate for Natalie and August’s love story since I was reading Julian and Hallie’s story. This one is a MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE and I am always good with that. I read it over the course of 24 hours because it was like the pages were just turning themselves.

I loved Natalie and August and the two together are terrific. The chemistry between them was fantastic.

I wasn't crazy about some of the energy I felt from this and August's "sexy" talk just left me cringingly cold.

Despite my own issues with this I enjoyed it a lot.

Looking forward to what Ms. Bailey writes next!



Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the DRC!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me an ARC for review!

I'm going to level with you: I forgot I requested this at the same time as the first in the series, and I was NOT a fan of the first. So when I got the notification that I'd been approved for the second, I was quite honestly less than enthused and expected it to require a similar level of trudging through.

This was decidedly not trudge-worthy, though! I've landed on a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, and it was sincerely enjoyable. Though the tropes are different, I think this will really speak to the crowd who loved Brendan and Piper in It Happened One Summer.

Natalie Vos is a sharp, fun lead character who, after being excommunicated from her Wall Street finance sphere, feels lost and in need of feeling useful while trying to claw her way back up the investment ranks. August Cates is a former Navy SEAL unsuccessfully trying to run a winery in memoriam of his best friend. Both of them need capital—Natalie, to launch her own investment firm, and August, to keep his failing winery in business. Good thing Natalie has a trust fund that unlocks when she marries, and the local loan officer trusts the Vos family name so much that a marriage-level cosign is apparently enough to secure a business loan!!!!!

I've complained before that Tessa Bailey occasionally seems to fall into a trap of writing a book completely centered around smutty scenes, to the point that any additional plot feels thrown together and nonsensical. The reason this worked for me so much more than the first is because the characters' motivations really made sense to me. With Natalie in particular, we spend a lot of time getting to understand her and see her insecurities and struggles in a way that makes it easy to buy into her choices throughout the story, something that I'm so glad to see after feeling it was missing entirely in the previous installment.

But here's where Tessa Bailey and I REALLY link up: we both love a woman calling the shots and a man who's constantly ready to grovel, and THAT is the winning combo we have here!

I enjoyed this way more than I expected to, and I think others who have enjoyed Tessa's past work will as well.

After reading the previous book and meeting Natalie and (briefly) August, i wanted this book in my greedy eyeballs so badly.

I am straight up obsessed with these two. Natalie is all crunchy exterior while she's nursing past hurts. August is the gooiest inside his SEAL exterior. Together they have banter, button pushing, and chemistry for days, but also a line of open communication. Each gets and supports the other so wonderfully.

Plot wise, it was exactly what I wanted. The angsty part was no where near what I was expecting and the last few chapters were so perfect, I read each one about 3 times before I could continue. And don't get me started on the epilogue...

Overall, this is probably one of my top Tessa books ever and definitely making the top 10 of 2023 list. I already can't wait to read it again.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

I approached this novel with some caution, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of Secretly Yours (the first book in this duology). I was so thrilled that Tessa put a little bit of her spark back into this one!! I found myself giggling at the dialogue and losing it over the spice!

As always in Tessa Bailey novels, there is a level of cheesiness involved in this story, but the romance and pining from the MMC balances this well! Both characters are very well developed, and the plot had enough layers that there was never a dull moment.

One thing I wish the author would’ve explored more was Natalie’s relationship to alcohol. It’s hinted that she may be bordering on alcoholism; however, this was skimmed over and not addressed as much as I would have wanted. Natalie very clearly has familial and emotional trauma, but it seems as though being with August magically fixes this side to her, which is unrealistic.

Also, the readers get the majority of closure to the HEA at the 90-95% mark and then all of a sudden in the LAST CHAPTER, the CO reveals the investment to Natalie, opening up a new can of worms. I felt like this was way too close to the book’s end and made the last few pages feel too rushed to reveal that A & N never “needed” to get married in the first place.

Overall, this one was *significantly* better than Secretly Yours and I will be an August and Natalie supporter until I die.

This was so cute! I always love a marriage of convenience trope and Tessa Bailey always delivers. I just loved the banter between Natalie and August throughout the entire book.

Another incredibly steamy, sexy love story from Tessa Bailey featuring a heroine with a plan and a hunky hero! I loved this enemies to lovers, fake marriage, Napa based romance. The cameos from the characters from the first novel were fun and I LOVED the sassy cat references. I appreciated the heart and humor of the plot. And of course the swoon and dirty talk was off the charts!

Thanks Avon and Netgalley for my copy!

After not loving Secretly Yours, I was slightly unsure about picking up Unfortunately Yours - however, I was so happy to be proved wrong. UY is Bailey back at her best, full of banter & steam, this one is another winner from Tessa!

I loved Tessa Bailey's interpretation of a marriage of convenience romance! It was a super cute read! I was smiling so much during this, but I also did cry unexpectedly too.

I didn't really like the first book too much, but I was curious about these two characters and decided to read it. I liked the second book much more.

Overall, I liked this read. This could have been a five-star read for me, but the pacing and a few things were just a little off to bump it up, but this was a strong 4 star-read for me.

I’ve liked but not loved most of the releases post the Bellinger Sister books but Unfortunately Yours is Tessa Bailey at her best! Marriage of convenience and enemies to lovers in the way that the hero is so obsessed with the heroine but he can’t help from saying the wrong thing. The banter between Natalie and August was so funny and you just can’t help but root for them.

- marriage of convenience
- he falls first
- steamy!

Tessa Bailey books are always fun and steamy, and Unfortunately Yours was much of the same! The banter between Natalie and August was great, and their chemistry was fiiiire!

This was quick, fun and light!

I've mostly enjoyed all my previous experiences with Tessa Bailey, and this is no different! A sequel that tops its predecessor with amazing tropes like "enemies to lovers" "marriage of convenience" and "he falls first". This book will make you blush and cry and laugh and leave you satisfied! Highly recommend!

Tessa Bailey is the Queen of Steam and Dirty Talk and this book delivered.

Natalie is back in town after losing her job. August owns the local winery. They have incredible chemistry.

He needs to turn his business around. She's a trust fund baby.

They think a sham wedding will help them both with some things...

It was so nice to return to Napa again for another chapter in the Vos' family's story. "Unfortunately Yours" is the second book in Tessa Bailey's A Vine Mess series following "Secretly Yours." "Unfortunately Yours" follows a marriage of convenience relationship between enemies Natalie Vos and former Navy Seal August Cates. Both agree to the sham marriage as they each need money for their own investments in a mix of the enemies-to-lovers and fake marriage tropes.
Bailey does a fantastic job with the banter between our main characters and the dynamic of their relationship is believable. As usual, Bailey does a great job with the spice. However, the pacing felt a bit off and parts of the book felt a bit... cheesy (i.e. the water rescue scene, the damaged veteran stereotype, the epilogue, etc.).
Overall, "Unfortunately Yours" is a fun and enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Book for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5/5

Bailey didn't disappoint. I was very happy to take a journey back to Napa to visit the Vos' Winery. I loved August. He was the perfect hero for Natalie. Enemies to lovers is such a fun troupe. I enjoyed their banter and their fire in the bedroom. I enjoyed their journey in their fake marriage to find out it wasn't fake at all. The cameos with Julian and Hallie didn't hurt either. I hope there are more stories to spill out of Napa like fine wine. As long as Tessa Bailey writes them, I will read them.

I truly loved both books in this series! The enemies to lovers trope will always be a favorite, but I liked how Tessa let her characters make mistakes and apologize for it. Most of the time the enemies will stay mad and never share their struggles or what they are thinking. I love that they were able to put aside differences and deal with each others mental struggles together. Unfortunately Yours was funny, spicy, and made me say "AWWW" multiple times! It dealt with anxiety, PTSD, and family issues while still staying light and upbeat.

I think Natalie and August might be my favorite Tessa Bailey couple to date. Let me go in by saying that generally I really dislike the marriage of convenience trope. But August is SO lovable, that I just could not stop reading. The banter between him and Natalie is hypnotic and I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions. The relationship felt organic and sweet and I loved how there were tie ins back to secretly yours. Overall a really great read. Easy 4.5 stars