Genre Fiction
![Tessa Bailey - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_tessa_bailey.jpg)
Secretly Yours: A Novel (Vine Mess, 1)
From Tessa Bailey-#1 New York Times bestselling author, TikTok favorite, and "the Michelangelo of dirty talk" (Entertainment Weekly)-comes a spicy small town rom-com perfect for Valentine's Day, about a grumpy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn...
Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to Napa Valley, and when Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the starchy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly.
One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless-and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.
On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt-and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past.
Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's grayscale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.
"Tessa Bailey is the queen of rom-coms. Long may she reign!" - Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Meet Cute
Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to Napa Valley, and when Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the starchy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly.
One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless-and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.
On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt-and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past.
Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's grayscale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.
"Tessa Bailey is the queen of rom-coms. Long may she reign!" - Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Meet Cute
Editorial Reviews
"Tessa Bailey is the queen of rom-coms. Long may she reign!" - Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Meet Cute
"This sexy opposites-attract romantic comedy features witty banter, steamy dialogue, and well-developed characters... Readers will devour Bailey's latest (after Hook, Line, and Sinker) in one sitting, then go back to again and again to pick up on its intricate subtleties. Highly recommended." - Library Journal (starred review)
"With her latest addictively readable rom-com, the cheeky humor and full-blown sexiness that are organic elements in all of Bailey's writing are in full, glorious bloom. The end result is a lushly sensual romance that brilliantly exploits the opposites-attract trope between a buttoned-up, by-the-book academic and a cheerfully chaotic Earth goddess-gardener for the maximum amount of love and laughter." - Booklist
"A haughty professor and a spirited gardener face off in this raunchy and enchanting rom-com from bestseller Bailey... The witty banter and gripping tension will make this a treat for the author's many fans." - Publishers Weekly
"Tessa disarms you with a laugh, heats things up past boiling, and then puts a squeeze inside your heart. The tenderness, vulnerability and heat I am always guaranteed with a Tessa Bailey book are the reasons she is one of my all-time favorite authors." - Sally Thorne
"Her voice feels as fresh and contemporary as a Netflix rom-com... Bailey writes banter and rom-com scenarios with aplomb, but for those who like their romance on the spicier side, she's also the Michelangelo of dirty talk. She wields filth like Da Vinci does a paintbrush, and there's a lot to be said for an author who can fill such exchanges with all the requisite heat, enthusiastic consent, and yes, even humor, of such a scenario without veering into corny territory." - Entertainment Weekly
"Tessa Bailey writes pure magic... heartwarming romance, laugh-out-loud humor, and scorching hot chemistry." - Alexis Daria
"With her singular talent for writing romantic chemistry that is both sparkling sweet and explosively sexy, Tessa Bailey...
"This sexy opposites-attract romantic comedy features witty banter, steamy dialogue, and well-developed characters... Readers will devour Bailey's latest (after Hook, Line, and Sinker) in one sitting, then go back to again and again to pick up on its intricate subtleties. Highly recommended." - Library Journal (starred review)
"With her latest addictively readable rom-com, the cheeky humor and full-blown sexiness that are organic elements in all of Bailey's writing are in full, glorious bloom. The end result is a lushly sensual romance that brilliantly exploits the opposites-attract trope between a buttoned-up, by-the-book academic and a cheerfully chaotic Earth goddess-gardener for the maximum amount of love and laughter." - Booklist
"A haughty professor and a spirited gardener face off in this raunchy and enchanting rom-com from bestseller Bailey... The witty banter and gripping tension will make this a treat for the author's many fans." - Publishers Weekly
"Tessa disarms you with a laugh, heats things up past boiling, and then puts a squeeze inside your heart. The tenderness, vulnerability and heat I am always guaranteed with a Tessa Bailey book are the reasons she is one of my all-time favorite authors." - Sally Thorne
"Her voice feels as fresh and contemporary as a Netflix rom-com... Bailey writes banter and rom-com scenarios with aplomb, but for those who like their romance on the spicier side, she's also the Michelangelo of dirty talk. She wields filth like Da Vinci does a paintbrush, and there's a lot to be said for an author who can fill such exchanges with all the requisite heat, enthusiastic consent, and yes, even humor, of such a scenario without veering into corny territory." - Entertainment Weekly
"Tessa Bailey writes pure magic... heartwarming romance, laugh-out-loud humor, and scorching hot chemistry." - Alexis Daria
"With her singular talent for writing romantic chemistry that is both sparkling sweet and explosively sexy, Tessa Bailey...
Readers Top Reviews
Harshitha
Liked it for a fun read . Cute characters and dogs . Small town romance is best . Grumpy x sunshine
Kindle Emma Hars
I LOVE LOVE Tessa and usually she does not miss. I have reread a lot of her books because they were so amazing. This one fell realllllly flat. I almost DNFd it but it's Tessa you know? I just couldn't back the characters, the random British lady threw me off, even the spice was... very generic. Like if I had to read "Oh God Oh God" one more time... 🫤 this feels like a totally different author from hook line and sinker. It pains me to say it... but it was a miss for me.
ShaztwirlClaudiaK
Unpopular opinion. I did not enjoy this book. Labelled as a romantic comedy, I don't think I even cracked a smile, never mind sniggered or chuckled, and it certainly failed to deliver any laugh out loud moments. The characters felt shallow (in terms of development not characteristics) although I think we did get to know Julian slightly more than Hallie. The "resolution" was seriously lacking because there's no explanation of what "event" is even being planned other than planting flowers randomly around a vineyard where the nutrients and moisture from the soul should be feeding the vines, not flowers. This author is usually a 4 or 5 star read for me, but this really missed the mark.
ShaztwirlClaud
4.75/5 So, Tessa Bailey has a knack for writing, it’s obvious. Her banter? Top notch. Her spice? Worthy of Thailand. The sweet earnestness that seeps through the plot rivals that of a vanilla milkshake being shared by two people going steady in the 50s. However, in her previous series I really didn’t like a lot of the main characters which made reading the entertained series kind of hard, considering I wasn’t really rooting for anyone or was literally cringing as I read. (Looking at you, Piper, even with the development she just… was not for me.) Well, when I saw this was a completely new series, I wanted to give this new one a try considering it was a whole new batch of characters. Boy am I happy I did! I looooved these characters! A bit more quirk and eccentricity was what I was yearning for. Adding in dogs and plants were a total bonus. I’m very excited to see the Unfortunately Yours comes out in a few short months, I’m eager to see what happens with Nat. Thanks, Tessa!
Bookandachai Sh
In a bit of shock there is a negative review out about this book. Oh it's too messy when anxiety is involved? OCD? Grief? Cold mothers and egotistical fathers? Perfect grandmothers and hilarious best friends? Love letters? Broken disco balls and cheese raids? I *love* how effortlessly Tessa Bailey weaves REAL LIFE into an incredibly sweet love story. Julian Voss is gorgeous but misunderstood. He has some real issues going on that he's tried to handle on his own for a long while with zero support from his family - capped off by the fire which changed everything at Vos Vineyard. But when a fellow professor has a mental breakdown Julian decides he sees one too many similarities and goes home to visit his Mother and "write a novel." Hallie Welch is a hurricane of curls. Carted all over by her Mother growing up, mostly raised by her adoring gardener Grandmother, she is home in the dirt creating art out of plants and flowers for the good people of Napa Valley. Her life hasn't gone exactly as planned since her Grandmother died but she's managing just fine thanks. Perhaps she's had a crush since she was 14 on a certain professor but not like that could amount to anything, they're polar opposites! Tessa Bailey is one of my must-reads. Couldn't have timed this one any better with Valentine's Day.
