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Review

5 stars

Cute, funny, sexy and sweet, this story is an absolute gem! It’s a fish-out-of-water story with an irresistible heroine, a grumpy and possessive hero, and an angst-free, chemistry-filled romance. It’s an absolute delight to read, and I loved it!

Inspired by Schitt’s Creek, and the highly entertaining Alexis Rose, this is the story of Piper Bellinger, an influencer and LA ‘It’ girl who is spoiled, shallow and self-centred, caring more about her social media persona and how many ‘likes’ she receives then pretty much anything else in her world. When her partygirl antics land her in jail and threaten her stepfather’s business deal, he ships her off to the small town of Westport in Washington – the town where she was born and where her late father, a local fisherman, owned a small bar.

Joining Hannah on her journey is her younger sister, Hannah, who comes along for both support and company. The sisters have been tasked with running their late father’s bar for three months, after which they can return to LA. But on arrival they find a neglected building that has been taken over by the locals, with nowhere to stay except the small, filthy rodent-riddled apartment upstairs. It’s far from an ideal situation, but they are determined to make the best of it.

The two girls are instantly scoffed at by the locals, who are dumbstruck by the new arrivals. Piper in particular, in all of her fashion-forward fabulousness, is a mystery to the small-town fishing folk. And nobody is more intrigued than gorgeous-but-grumpy fishing boat Captain, Brendan, who takes one look at Piper and writes her off as a spoiled princess who won’t last a week. Piper stubbornly decides to prove him, and everyone else, wrong, determined to rebuild her father’s legacy and bring life back into the bar.

It’s a fun set-up, made all the more awesome by the chemistry that zings to life whenever Piper and Brendan are together. There is an obvious attraction there, and as the two of them run into each other again and again in the small town, they develop a tentative friendship. He helps her and Hannah settle in and joins them in renovating the bar, and that friendship quickly becomes a whole lot more than either of them anticipated.

He’d ridiculed her at the outset. Now he wanted to fight off anything that made her sad.

I love these characters! Yes, Piper is spoiled and clueless about life, but adorably so, and she has a huge heart. Her stay in Westport allows her to reconnect with her past in a way that she wasn’t expecting, and I loved her journey as she starts to question her life, her direction, and what she truly needs to be happy.

And Brendan stole my heart as the gruff and broody fisherman. He is a widower who lives a simple, organised, mostly emotionless life, and he hasn’t let anybody get close to him. So watching him open up, let Piper in and embrace her and her wildness, is so gorgeous. He accepts her and all of her high maintenance, and his straightforward, no-nonsense manner doesn’t allow her to play games as he pursues her honestly and openly, and I love how he opened his heart to her so freely.

“You can wrap me as tight as you want around that little finger, but I won’t play games about what this is. Get me, Piper?”

And together, they are absolutely gorgeous! Mismatched, but so good for each other, their chemistry is undeniable. The sexy time is steaming, and the emotion between them develops quickly and strongly, and they fall spectacularly.

But Piper is only in town for a short while. And not only that, she’s not sure if she’s cut out for a life as a fisherman’s wife – watching the man she loves sail off for weeks at a time for a job that is the most dangerous in the country, and the one that took her father from her. She and Brendan have a lot to work through.

This is such a sweet read, full of fun moments, but still with a lot of heart. There are so many scenes that had me laughing out loud, but I have to give a special shout-out to Brendan’s introduction to Instagram for the sole purpose of stalking Piper, under the guidance of his friends and fellow fisherman. So freaking funny!

“Brendan cleared his throat hard. “What does ‘follow’ mean?”
“Don’t,” Deke rushed to say. “Don’t press it.”
His thumb was already on the way back up. “Too late.”
All three of his crew members surged to their feet. “No. Brendan, don’t tell me you just tapped the blue button,” Sanders groaned, hands on his mop of red hair. “She’s going to see you followed her. She’s going to know you internet stalked her.”
“Can’t I just unfollow now?” Brendan started to tap again.
Fox lunged forward. “No! No, that’s even worse. If she already noticed you followed her, she’s just going to think you’re playing games.”
“Jesus. I’m deleting the whole thing,” Brendan said, throwing the offending device onto the dashboard.

There is some drama thrown in at the end that is completely unnecessary. Of course we knew something was going to happen, but I thought they were both a bit melodramatic about it all. It paved the way for a gorgeous ending though, so I didn’t get too mad about it. And it’s the love story that stole my heart, and I just adored Brendan and Piper together, and loved seeing them find their happy ending.

“I’ll love you until my heart gives out. I’ll be your man for a thousand years. Longer if I’m allowed.”

There’s a great cast of side characters introduced, and Tessa Bailey brings Westport alive with its eclectic mix of townsfolk. In particular Piper’s sister, Hannah, and Brendan’s best friend, Fox, bring a lot to the story, and I’m so excited that they are getting their own book.

I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by Charlotte North, and she does a wonderful job bringing the story to life. I loved this book so much.

5 stars.

 

The Bellinger Sisters