Author: Tessa Bailey
Printed Edition, Avon Books
Piper Bellinger is the quintessential social media queen. She is fashionable, she is wild… and she is ditzy. One day her antics send her to jail and her stepfather decides to “teach her the value of things” by sending her (and her loyal sister Hannah) to the small town of Westport to run her late father’s dive bar.
She barely arrives in town when she meets Brendan Taggert, a big, bearded sea captain who thinks she won’t last a day away from the comforts of Beverly Hills. And he makes it clear what he thinks of her.
In a tiny town, you can’t avoid a person for too long, and they bump into each other at every corner. They are fire and water but the attraction is undeniable.
As the days go by, Piper reconnects with her roots, her dead father’s memory, her grandmother, and she soon sees herself caught between the two worlds.
The author has said that Piper is based on Alexis, from the popular show Schitt’s Creek. I did indeed watched a few episodes and, to be honest, I don’t have a soft spot for ditzy airheads who spend four thousand dollars in a ridiculous handbag. I really have no patience for the Paris Hiltons, The Kardashians, the famous for being famous kinda women anymore (well, I never did anyway). But I was willing to give it a try. I really wanted to like this book, but alas, that was not the case.
I could see that the author wanted you to see glimpses of Piper’s “heart of gold” by I was just bored.
Now, Brendan is to die for! He is gruffy and grumpy but pretty soon you see how slowly he is falling for Piper.
The problem was this book stretched this story. Even though everything really happens just during the summer and it’s very insta-lovey, it feels like the story is taking foreeeeeeeeeeeever. When things start to pick up again, you can see every single thing that is going to happened telegraphed to you. It was so predictable!
What I really liked about the book was how it set up the arc for Hannah, the sister – a way more interesting character for me. I guess we can get a better story in her book.
I know everyone gushes about this one, but I was eh. Maybe it’s the problem of hyped books. You go in with high expectations. Mine were definitely not met.
