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Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey Published by HarperCollins on March 1, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 400
Format: ARC, eBook, Paperback
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In the follow-up to It Happened One Summer, Tessa Bailey delivers another deliciously fun rom-com about a former player who accidentally falls for his best friend while trying to help her land a different man…
King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time—in bed and out—and that’s exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She’s immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his… personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is.
Now, Hannah's in town for work, crashing in Fox’s spare bedroom. She knows he’s a notorious ladies’ man, but they’re definitely just friends. In fact, she's nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport’s resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker’s eye… yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can't deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost.
Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she’s walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and… and… man overboard! He’s fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker. Helping her flirt with another guy is pure torture, but maybe if Fox can tackle his inner demons and show Hannah he’s all in, she'll choose him instead?
A feel good, friends to lovers story that had heart, humor, and. loveable characters. This slow burn romance that was perfect for this couple, and I loved everything about Hook, Line, and Sinker. ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books
I loved It Happened One Summer, absolutely loved it, but in all honesty I loved Hook, Line, and Sinker more because to me these characters were so much more authentic. They both had put themselves in a specific box and while one was trying to climb out of it, the other one felt it that box was his destiny and man that just broke my heart. This book was a slow burn, like snail’s pace for a Tessa Bailey novel, but it was warranted for this couple and it worked. These characters got into my heart, seeped into my soul, and I felt everything they felt throughout this book. The fact they connected through music which is one of my loves from childhood on, made it even better. Watching them unravel their pasts and realize their worth, was a thing of beauty. Watching them go from acquaintances to friends to confidants to lovers was powerful. I loved Hook, Line, and Sinker and as much as I’ve loved a lot of what Tessa Bailey has written, I don’t think any of her books has touched me like this one.
Hannah Bellinger has lived her life as a side-kick, the girl nobody really notices because her big sister took up the spotlight and honestly she has always been okay with that, but she wants to make her dream come true of scoring a movie and feels that the next project she’s working on might be her best shot. So after she suggests they move the filming from Los Angeles to Westport, Washington where her sister now lives, she feels it is time to make her move and ask for what she wants. She just didn’t realize not only would she be asking for that in her professional life, but for her personal life as well.
Fox Thornton has been a ladies’ man since puberty, he’d always been told he was just like his dad and believed it to be true. Casual hookups far away from the town he lives so there is no complications, no regrets, no feelings. Somehow Hannah got under his skin when she was in Westport last year and for the last 6 months he hasn’t been able to get her off his mind; of course texting with her off and on since she left doesn’t help. Now she’s returning to work on a film and she’ll be staying in his home, but they are just friends and he knows Hannah is way too good for a man like him.
From the first chapter I was caught up in Hannah and Fox’s friendship and the way they opened up to each other. Hannah was really good at drawing Fox out and I loved that she SAW him, she knew there was more to him than anyone gave him credit for including her is she was being honest and the fact when she realized that it made her feel sick to her stomach made me love her even more. I was thrilled that Fox began to see himself in a new light because of her and even confronted those closest to him once he realized how their mixed signals made him feel.
A feel good, friends to lovers story that had heart, humor, and. loveable characters. This slow burn romance that was perfect for this couple, and I loved everything about Hook, Line, and Sinker.
About Tessa Bailey
New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Bailey can solve all problems except for her own, so she focuses those efforts on stubborn, fictional blue collar men and loyal, lovable heroines. She lives on Long Island avoiding the sun and social interactions, then wonders why no one has called. Dubbed the “Michelangelo of dirty talk,” by Entertainment Weekly, Tessa writes with spice, spirit, swoon and a guaranteed happily ever after.