It Happened One Summer By: Tessa Bailey

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶🌶🌶🌶/5

I received an ARC copy of the next book in this series, so I figured that I should probably read the first one before diving into the second. I really enjoyed Window Shopping (my first Tessa Bailey book) so I had high hopes for It Happened One Summer. When I read the summary I was expecting Paris Hilton The Simple Life vibes. That was a big womp womp. There are really only a couple of silly heiress moments in this book. Other than that, it was instalove and humping. Lots and lots of humping. Notice the 4 pepper rating.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked the story. It was cute, sexy and a fun read. But I wanted MORE. More of Piper almost burning the house down. More of Brandon helping her navigate her new reality. More bonding with Opal. Her getting an actual job and getting her first paycheck. Learning to really work for a living. The whole premise of the story is that Piper is being punished for taking her party girl ways one step too far. In an effort to teach her a lesson, her step father ships her off to her father’s hometown. Her sister, Hannah, comes along since she bailed Piper out of jail in defiance of her pursestrings holding stepdad. Refurbishing a bar with the money your dad put into a debit account for you after he cancelled your credit cards isn’t really “making it on your own”.

Piper ditches her sister to start boning the hot Capitan of Crab, he helps her fix up her father’s bar, and then in order to win her heart Brandon splurges on a fancy hotel and then says “Baby, I’m taking you shopping,” after which Piper exclaims that she’s learned the value of money because she just tried on a pair of $100 jeans. After getting it on in the dressing room, of course. It really just feels like Piper goes from her stepdad indulging her to Brandon taking over. And that coming from a woman who had earlier in the book considered a $4000 dress a steal. That’s a lot of progress to make in 5 weeks.

Piper does eventually get to a more self aware state. She does really sweet things like bonding with Opal, doing makeup tutorials for the local ladies, and walking a elderly man to his reading spot. And she figures out what she wants out of life, and that’s really nice. But getting there was kind of cringy at times.

Overall a good read if you’re looking for something quick, sexy and funny. I’m about 1/2 way through Hook, Line and Sinker and I already like it a lot more than It Happened One Summer.