Book Reviews/ January 1, 2023June 12, 2023

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey Book Review

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Blurb

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?

Triggers

This book is rather light but there are some subjects that may be considered sensitive to some.

Alcohol
Profanity
Sexually Explicit Scenes
Slut-shaming / Toxic Masculinity

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

Overall Rating

4.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

King crab fisherman, Fox, has agreed to let the sister of his best friend’s fiancé stay with him while she works on a movie as the production assistant. Fox jumps at the opportunity because he and Hannah are friends though he wants to be more. Labeled as a rake and heartbreaker, Fox has been threatened by all who know Hannah to keep his hands off her. Hannah knows that her and Fox are just friends so she hopes to use his extensive knowledge of “dating” to help her win the guy she has been crushing on for two years. After months of texting back and forth, the time they spend face to face gets more and more complicated as they starts to learn more about each other. This book touches on subjects of intimacy, toxic masculinity and feelings of inadequacy. Each chapter is told in third person and switches perspective so we do have a dual POV. It’s very fast paced and I read this one in one sitting because I was enthralled.

I didn’t find this tale to be as funny as the first Bellinger sister book but there were a handful of time that I did giggle quite a bit. Hannah is perpetually playing the supporting role and I feel like she does in this book as well— for Fox this time instead of her sister as she normally does. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not wanting to be the center of attention, so I didn’t see this as a flaw that needed to be fixed. Its a superpower! She was the perfect person to help Fox with all the skills she has as a “supporting role” such as her patience, empathy, selflessness and attention to detail.

Fox is my favorite. That’s it. But honestly, his character was so much deeper than what we saw of him in the first book. I was happy with his growth in the book. His love for Hannah was so cute even when he was being a dummy-head. I enjoyed his POV and the mouth… dirty! Anyway, I love the way he sees Hannah so accurately. They honestly see each other super accurately and it gave me the heart twinges!

Overall, I enjoyed the read and found it unputdownable! Sweet and Spicy with giggles in between.

Spice Rating

3/5 🌶🌶🌶

There is lots of dirty talk from Fox, ok? But the scenes are open door and towards the end of the book though the tension is so palpable throughout the book.