Review: It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters #1)

It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters #1)
By Tessa Bailey

Published By: Avon
Publication Date: August 19, 2021
Date Read: January 15, 2023
Genre: Adult – Romance
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 416

From Goodreads:
Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.

Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.

Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.

Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town… where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong.

“You can be as high maintenance as you want, honey. But I’m the only one who does the maintenance.”

It Happened One Summer is a book that has been on my radar for a long time. So many of my friends have read and loved this one and I thought it was about time I read it and see what the fuss is all about. This is my first book by Tessa Bailey that I have read… and honestly, I’m not sure if I will pick any more of hers up. I didn’t dislike this book but I just didn’t feel like it was anything special either.

It Happened One Summer follows the story of Piper, a Hollywood party girl who after gets in trouble just one too many times, gets cut off from her family and sent to a quiet fishing town to fend for herself. I quite liked the concept of this book. It’s inspired by Schitt’s Creek, which is one of my all time favourite shows, and you can tell. I really love this idea of rich people losing everything and having to live life how everyone else does. But I just don’t know… I found Piper just so unlikeable! Even after she mellowed a little bit I was very much meh about her. So this really affected my enjoyment of the book.

I listened to this one on audiobook, so I don’t know if that has affected my enjoyment of this book, but I found the sex scenes absolutely unbearable to read. They are possibly the cringiest sex scenes I have ever read in my life. I already am not huge on spicy books but honestly listening to these made me literally feel sick. And on an audiobook you can’t just skim read or skip them. And as they got more often in the book, the less I started liking this book. It was just… gross!

It Happened One Summer is a cute romance, and I really did enjoy the back and forth banter between the characters. It was super cute and I did really enjoy it. I did like Piper’s sister more than her, so I might pick up book 2 and read Hannah’s story… but I’m definitely undecided. I’m not sure Tessa’s books are for me, and if I do pick any more up I definitely will not be listening to them on audiobook. I certainly cannot put myself through that again!

“I’ll love you until my heart gives out. I’ll be your man for a thousand years. Longer if I’m allowed.”