Note: I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book through NetGalley, but I also pre-ordered this book through Amazon and then scooped up an early copy I found at my local Barnes & Noble. These are my honest thoughts 🙂

Release Date: March 1, 2022

Synopsis

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?

Review

Y’all, I liked this book so much. It Happened One Summer was a top five read for me in 2021, and I honestly didn’t expect to like Fox as much as I liked Brendan, BUT HERE WE ARE. What made me LOVE this book, though, was Hannah. This friends-to-lovers, slow-burn, forced proximity story takes place over half a year after Piper and Brendan’s HEA, and in that time, Fox and Hannah develop a lovely friendship.

Hannah feels stuck in her current job and life in L.A. She knows what she wants to do, but she wants to earn it herself, instead of riding the coattails of her stepfather, a famous Hollywood producer. When the opportunity to speak up and shine at work presents itself, she remembers the resolution she told Fox and takes a chance at being the leading lady of her own life. Hannah’s bravery leads her, and her job and entire film crew, back to the shores of Westport, Washington, where her sister (Piper), future brother-in-law (Brendan), and best friend (Fox) are all waiting happily to welcome her back.

Hannah ends up staying in Fox’s apartment because Brendan and Piper’s guest bedroom is already taken, due to the last minute nature of this visit. The close proximity helps both Hannah and Fox realize that their friendship is solid, and that eases some of the tension that Fox feels about having Hannah in his home (if you can call his bare-bones apartment “home,” that is). The more time they spend together, the more each main character denies their feelings for the other, mostly because Hannah believes that Fox could never feel anything more than friendship with her, and Fox believes he can never let go of his playboy, heartbreaker reputation, making him feel like he’d never be good enough for Hannah.

The beauty of this story is that Fox is sneaky and doesn’t like to be seen, but Hannah sees everything, and that ends up meaning everything to Fox. While Hannah fights to be the leading lady of her life, Fox encourages her because he sees what is already inside her, waiting to shine, and it means the world to Hannah that he believes in her. At the same time, Hannah listens, much like she does to music, to everything Fox is communicating, using words, but also his choice of words, his silences, and his deflection. Hannah’s the first person in Fox’s life that sees him as more than just a good time. He’s more important to her than just intimacy, and that’s the most intimate thing Fox’s ever known.

This was a slow-burn, but I didn’t feel like I missed out on the steam that I’ve come to love from Tessa Bailey novels. It might be a slow-burn, but their chemistry is FIRE (especially their first hookup IN THE CAR… omg, hot).

Other things I loved about this novel:

  • Connection – Hannah grows closer to her grandma, Opal; she finally feels a connection to her father, Henry; the love between Piper and Hannah glows in this book; Fox finally clears the air with his mother after several decades of miscommunication; he finally stands up for himself with Brendan and that transforms their relationship
  • Community – I’ve been to the coast of Washington (hi from the east side of the state!) and the community in towns like Westport is true and it’s beautiful; Hannah experiences a different kind of community in her work environment as well
  • The feelings of home – I think one of the hardest things about becoming an adult is figuring out what you want home to look and feel like, and realizing that home definitely is a physical space but it’s also a person. This book perfectly captures how quickly your understanding of home changes when you’re in love with the person you want to come home to.

OBVIOUSLYYYY this gets 5 stars from me. I really connected with both main characters, mainly Hannah’s self-doubts and her comfort in blending in the background, and Fox’s desire to let people believe he’s exactly who they see because he’s afraid to be disappointed by other people/get left behind/be exposed. Give this a read!

Rating: 5 stars

Check out Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, or wherever books are sold!

Meet Tessa

Tessa Bailey is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author originally from Carlsbad, California. Her most valuable life experiences were learned while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend, and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.