virgoreader

★★★★★ An unlikely friends to lovers romance with a perfect soundtrack, cute text messages, and the perfect balance of rom + com.

I loved this even more than I loved It Happened One Summer.

It shouldn't be surprising... I've been more partial to friends to lovers than enemies (or antagonists) to lovers, and this story set it up perfectly. We met Fox (Brendan's best friend) and Hannah (Piper's sister) in IHOS and so we know Fox is a... bit of a ladies man, and Hannah is very into music, moody men, and does not want to be another notch on Fox's bedpost. But we also know Fox picked up a Fleetwood Mac record Hannah desperately wanted and gifted it to her before she moved back to LA.

This book picks up with a text thread that I absolutely loved, going from when Hannah left town up until when she's coming back... she's a PA on a movie set and they're going to be filming in town for a few weeks. Their platonic friendship was so sweet, and they really began to connect via music - a thread throughout the story I thought was the perfect touch. Because here's the thing: personally, I'm not big on music. Sacrilegious to say, I know! But I've been listening to the same 3 albums since 2018 and just kind of listen to one-off popular songs. Music doesn't speak to me like it does to Hannah. But through this book, I could understand why she loved it so much and it made the story so much richer.

She was his friend. She was a woman who genuinely liked him for something other than his dick. And it made him feel terrifyingly good to be around her. To talk to her.
They had fun. Made each other laugh. 
The way she translated song lyrics out loud made him think. In the six months that she'd been gone, he'd noticed the sunrise more. He'd started paying attention to strangers, their actions. Listening to music. Even his job seemed to have more gravity to it. Hannah did that somehow. Made him look around and consider. 

There were so many layers to why I loved this story - the platonic friendship is one piece of it. The fact that Fox had someone who finally saw HIM, and not just his appearance or, er, sexual prowess. But there was also the complicated conversations around toxic masculinity and how misogynistic culture can impact men. 

Fox was told from the time he was a child that he was a looker. That girls must be fighting over him, that girls must want to be his girlfriend. He was basically given free reign to have sex in high school and told over and over it was all he was good for. He really needs to face these assumptions because he's come to accept them as truth - he will never be a boyfriend or a husband or partner, he is only good for sex, he's just like his father, he couldn't be faithful to one woman. 

I'm not a huge fan of heroes who are playboys but I adored Fox because he proved the complexity behind it. And his journey to fighting for his own happiness... ugh. 

And of course, I adore Tessa Bailey. HOW have I not read more of her books? I think I've only read 5 or 6, and a binge is long overdue. Her dirty talk is A+, her steam is A+, and she weaves romance with comedy in a less in-your-face way. Like, I read the book with a smile on my face and laughed at times (like the quote below) but it wasn't over the top embarrassing hijinx - which I really appreciated because slapstick comedy can feel very tired in books to me. 

"Is it Brendan's fault? Because I can't talk trash about my sister's fiancé. Unless you really want to." A beat passed. "Okay, you convinced me. What's his problem? He can be so mean. And, like, what is with the beanie? Is it glued on?"
A laugh snuck out before he could catch it.
How did she do this? How could she rip him free of the jaws of envy and bring him back to a place of comfort and belonging? 

Am I selling this book? I hope so. After getting back from vacation I immediately went to Barnes and Noble to purchase it - thats how much I loved it.