It Happened One Summer: A Novel by Tessa Bailey

Narrated by Charlotte North

Romantic Comedy. Can Stand Alone, but is the first of two.

Pure sweet silly fun. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey is a lighthearted smutty Hallmark movie in book form (it would actually be great on Passionflix) You may hate the heroine at first, but give her a chance, you’ll see behind the social media queen and learn to love her.

I didn’t know this until after I read it, but Piper was actually based on Alexis from Schitt’s Creek. She’s my favorite character from the show, and I read another book with a character based on her that I loved. Piper was a spoiled rich girl who was spending all of her stepdad’s money on crazy parties. When she got herself in trouble and caused problems for him, her stepdad sent her to a small fishing village for three months to run a bar that was left to her and her sister by their real dad. Her awesome sister Hannah, came with her for moral support.

Piper was funny dealing with real life after being a Paris Hilton type instagram princess. This was a small fishing village, no Starbucks or Gucci anywhere in the vicinity. No maid or delivery. But there was Brendan, the big, grumpy, sexy, bearded fisherman, and he was more than enough.

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

Likes:

Made me laugh out loud.
Great banter.
Piper’s growth.
I loved her sister Hannah.
Wonderful chemistry.
Brendan is totally swoonworthy.
Great set-up for Hannah’s story.

Dislikes:

3rd Person that isn’t overly noticeable..

The Narration:

Charlotte North did a wonderful job narrating. I think this book would be just as good reading or listening.

The Down & Dirty:

Although It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey is third person, it checked all of my other boxes. It was a fun, swoony, light, feel-good read. I laughed out loud and fell in love with the characters and the town. There is a lot of hype on this one, I think partially because it’s traditionally published and available everywhere, but it is expensive, and I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I paid full price.