By: Tessa Bailey
Hook, Line and Sinker is a charming conclusion to Tessa Bailey’s Bellinger Sisters series. TBH, I enjoyed it more than the first book It Happened One Summer. While I found Piper to be charming, and I normally enjoy a sunshine/grump pairing, I found a lot of what Brendan did or said to be less grump and kinda mean. One of the things that I very much enjoyed in this book is that (for the most part) Fox’s words and actions toward Hannah were always kind and thoughtful. The few times they were not, he quickly and genuinely apologized to her. I also felt the evolution of their relationship felt authentic and sincere.
In Hook, we see Hannah, Piper’s younger and music obsessed, become a “leading lady,” a coin she termed in order to take more control over her own life. I found this storyline to be really realistic. Piper’s personality, while delightful, is very MUCH. I can see how Hannah would feel her place is to be Piper’s sidekick and support system. In an effort to be more assertive and receive a promotion from her production assistant job, Hannah convinces the director to relocate the movie production from LA to the small fishing town of Westport, where she recently spent the summer with Piper learning about their birth father’s roots. It is also a roundabout way to connect more with Piper but also Fox Thornton, a dreamy fisherman she has been texting for the last several months.
Hannah and Fox meet in the first book and I enjoyed the foreshadowing of their future relationship, especially when Fox bought Hannah a Fleetwood Mac record that she had been eying at a record convention, although true to character he only gave it to her when she was moving back to LA. I thought it was an adorable touch to have Fox secretly buying records and a record player in a bit of an unconscious way to become more like Hannah’s ideal boyfriend.
I think this book excelled at letting the characters talk and work through issues and problems. Hannah did not try to “fix” Fox, but helped him control his own insecurities and demons. He has been pigeonholed into a role of a womanizer and heartbreaker. Hannah often plays second fiddle to both her sister and at her job. She works to smooth over feathers and prop up the stars. Both Hannah and Fox needed to find strength in themselves to be a good fit for the other person, but not in a way that they would be changing who they were for the other person.
One of the things that bothered me a bit in this book (and I am being a little nitpick-y) but there was a lot of waffling from Fox. Now, I can see how this might be ingrained in his character, but he basically declares his love for Hannah and then a couple of coworkers make some terrible remarks and he is like, nah, I will break up with her to protect her. I understood it a few times, but the last one was A LOT.
The last nitpick is that (as I have stated in previous reviews) it frustrates me when a plot point can (and is!) solved by a simple conversation between two characters. I understood the conversation between Fox and his mom, but the one between Fox and Brendan felt a long time coming. Especially since Fox only says something one time and Brendan is immediately chagrined and apologizes to Fox.
I also appreciated the epilogue. Sometimes I feel authors just tack this on at the end because they do not have a clear vision to end the story, but not here. When you have two very different personalities who have spent the whole plot on opposite ends, this can leave me with concerns about how realistic this HEA will be. In this epilogue, we learn that Hannah and Fox moved out of Westport and that allowed Fox to separate from his reputation. There is a brief mention of how they sorted through conflicts that arose which made me feel comfortable that these two crazy kids worked out just fine.
Definitely recommend!
Rating: 4/5
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hook-line-and-sinker-helen-bailey/1107765303?ean=9780063045699
Or, as always, an independent bookstore!