Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Secretly Yours

ebook
1 of 2 copies available
1 of 2 copies available

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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 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

  • Creators

  • Series

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 10, 2022
      A haughty professor and a spirited gardener face off in this raunchy and enchanting rom-com from bestseller Bailey (My Killer Vacation). Small-town St. Helena, Calif., native Hallie Welch struggles to find her footing after her grandmother’s death, toiling for the prestigious gardening business she inherited from her grandmother and drinking at her grandmother’s favorite winery to stay grounded. When the estranged scion of local Vos Vineyards, Julian Vos, now a Stanford professor, returns to his family’s estate, Hallie grapples with an entirely different set of emotions, spurred by the memory of their almost-kiss back in high school. Hallie eagerly offers her services to refurbish the Vos Vineyards’ gardens, determined to reconnect with Julian. For Julian, however, his time at Vos Vineyards is strictly business; he’s there to finish writing his novel without interruption. But as the vibrant, chaotic Hallie enters his life, so too do a series of strange letters from a secret admirer, throwing his meticulous work schedule off course. Bailey delivers a second-chance romance with vigor and passion, despite the characters falling a bit too neatly and exaggeratedly into a familiar grumpy/sunshine dichotomy. The witty banter and gripping tension will make this a treat for the author’s many fans. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from November 1, 2022

      Hallie Welch fell for Julian Vos when she was a teenager. They almost kissed once, but then Julian graduated and moved away. Now Julian is back in their small town, and it's all Hallie can think about since she's revamping the gardens on the Vos estate. When she turns up at the guesthouse where Julian is staying, he doesn't remember her--at all. Julian is on a sabbatical writing a book, but ever since the gardener showed up, he can't concentrate on anything else. He has kept his life strictly organized and scheduled for years, but this curvy, dirty, complete mess of a woman is demolishing his perfect planning. And he finds that he doesn't mind so much. This sexy opposites-attract romantic comedy features witty banter, steamy dialogue, and well-developed characters. Backstories of anxiety, family drama, emotional abuse, and grief flesh out the novel, creating depth and character motivation. VERDICT 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.--Heather Miller Cover

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      February 15, 2023
      Fifteen years ago, Hallie Welch almost kissed her teenage crush, Julian Vos, in his family's Napa Valley vineyard. It was a moment Hallie never forgot. Julian, however, apparently did. Now back in St. Helena on a professorial sabbatical to work on his first novel, Julian doesn't recognize Hallie one iota. So Hallie does what any self-respecting woman would do after sampling more than her fair share of Napa Valley's finest export, she pens Julian a secret-admirer letter. While Julian might be puzzled by the anonymous love note, what is really bothering him is his reaction to Hallie, who is completely throwing him off his strict writing routine. With her latest addictively readable rom-com, the cheeky humor and full-blown sexiness that are organic elements in all of Bailey's (Hook, Line, and Sinker, 2022) 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. Watch for the follow-up, Unfortunately Yours.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading