.webp "It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey")
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey Book Review
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, that's what this is about. So, I just finished it; it was an audiobook. I put this in the genres: adult contemporary romance fiction, open door, and instal-love. I gave it two stars. I have read one other Tessa Bailey book, which was "Fixer Up" like two years ago, and I gave it one star.
I think I read the review that I wrote, and I couldn't really remember the book that much; I didn't like it, I knew that. And I remember that I didn't like it, so this was kind of my second chance for Tessa Bailey. But I didn't remember the story that much, so I had to read a lot of reviews to remember what even happened.
That was why when I read this book, I finished it, and I was like, I don't have that many thoughts about it. So, I don't even know if I will write a review or anything. That's the problem though because I will forget everything I liked, everything about the book. So, I actually have been thinking about, since then, reading reviews and just kind of going over my thoughts, I guess, on it since I finished it yesterday, and I actually do have a lot of things to say.
Let's start out with the plot: Spoiled rich girl and influencer Piper breaks the law. She had a party in a pool that was closed, and her stepfather sent her to a town where her father is from and where he owned a bar.
Her father died when she was really young, but he was a fisherman at this tiny fishing town in Washington, I think. He sends her there for three months to learn the value of money and hard work. She meets Brendan, who's a fishing boat captain, and who at first thinks she's very shallow but ends up very quickly falling for her.
Piper has a pretty quick personality turnaround and takes to fixing up the bar so she can show her stepfather and hopefully get out of town sooner than three months. She essentially starts dating Brendan but invites her stepfather for the grand opening of the bar, and also her friends in LA are going to throw her the "Party Queen Returns" party once she gets home.
She doesn't tell Brendan about either of those things, and he finds out and gets very upset with her, she gets upset, and then he leaves on a boat for a few days. Then her stepdad cancels, and then she thinks the opening is a flop because no one shows up on time.
So she goes to LA for the party, and Brendan comes home and hears that she's gone, so he goes to find her at the party, and he's like, "This isn't the life," and she's like, "This isn't the life for me anymore. Get me out," and he does, and that's the end.
My quick little review of it is: I didn't like it much. I was fine with both of the characters and emotionally fine with the story. It was a fun read, but it was a fun reading experience. But overall, afterwards, there were things that I thought about and took issue with.
The tropes that were included were mostly tropes that I like, kind of besides Insta-love. The enemies-to-lovers attempt was weak and short-lived, so I would not call it that. Like I said, he didn't like her when he first saw her because she was like a spoiled brat, but then not much later, he's like, "There was an instant pull," and blah, blah, blah. "I've loved her since the moment." It was like, "Okay." So here are some of my issues and points:
The Title:
The title "It Happened One Summer" - there was not much indication that this event was summer except that near the end of the book, they were talking about Labor Day, and it was almost Labor Day. It's in the Pacific Northwest; yeah, the ocean is there. This is not like a beach read; this is not anything like that. It's like, you know, cosy up with a sweater read, and yet it was summer. I mean, it's north, so whatever, but there's no summeriness about it at all. The title otherwise had nothing; it didn't mean anything.
Piper's Personality Turnaround:
Piper's personality turnaround was very quick and didn't make much sense. She did have a budget from her stepdad, but besides that, it was really like, "Yeah, okay." I can't believe that she's always been a generous, nice person, but her being like, "Oh, my lifestyle was so shallow and vapid, and I don't want anything to do with that anymore," was like, "Okay, I guess."
But I mean, she grew up like a millionaire with her millionaire dad, so it doesn't really make sense that she would love to live in a one-bedroom apartment where she cooks all her meals and blah, blah, blah. You know, like I can understand her thinking that her lifestyle of partying was kind of over the top and not something she wants to do anymore, but not necessarily the lifestyle of a rich person. I think it would take a lot longer to just like get over that.
Brendan's Explanation of His First Marriage:
Brendan's explanation of his first marriage made him less likeable, period. He had been married to somebody, and she saw that he had a wedding ring in the very beginning, but she had died seven years ago, Brendan was very routine, routine, routine, so he kept his wedding ring and was very respectful of her memory.
He was still really close with her father, and we didn't really know what happened, but we knew that she died, and they had a memorial for her like one of the yearly memorials in this book. And his explanation of her made me dislike him; it was horrible.
He said that they had been friends because her dad was like a father figure to him, and it was just kind of the natural next step that they got married. She died when he was out on one of his fishing trips, and then he's just been respecting her memory this whole time. But then there are so many things that he says later to Piper that just are so disrespectful.
Brendan's Possessiveness:
A lot of people take issue with Brendan's possessiveness and the possessive language that he uses, which is really common in a lot of romance books especially Tessa Bailey's books. They have a lot of possessive language and a lot of male, man, big masculine, and a lot of feminine, soft, blah, blah, which in general is fine. It's totally fine, but the way that she writes it is not the best and not my fave.
The S*x Scenes:
In this instance in this book, I didn't mind the possessive language. Some of the sex scenes were just awkward. Tessa Bailey's expertise is dirty talk, and that's fine, except that sometimes it's really bad, especially when it's like the first time that they've slept together. It is unrealistic that they have zero inhibitions the first time they sleep together.
Insta-Love:
I didn't like Insta-love. How did their personalities mesh? You aren't attracted and want to rip the clothes off of every hot person that you see on the street, but that kind of seemed to be how it was. I'm thinking also like, what did she like about him? He was rough; that's not my fave.
So anyway, that's all that I have to say about that book. Obviously, I ended up having a lot of thoughts about it. It was like a fun read, like I said; it was entertaining to read. It's just looking back on it; it's like, well, I wouldn't really want to be in that relationship, and it also didn't really make sense. So it was not my favourite; it wasn't like a one-star read. I did give it two stars, probably two to three, I guess. If you like other Tessa Bailey books, then you'll like this.
Also read: Deep Work by Cal Newport Book Review
Also read: The Book Show by RJ Ananthi Book Review
Also read: The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr Book Review
Also read: In Search Of Tranquility by Kapil Kumar Book Review
Also read: The Wisdom Bridge by Kamlesh D. Patel Book Review
Also read: How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Work by Dale Carnegie
Also read: Goat Days by Benyamin Book Review
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Comments
Post a Comment