Tropes:
Sunshine x Grumpy
Age Gap
Dual Praise Kink
Insta-Love
Small Town/Vacation Setting
Murder Mystery
Tessa Bailey has quickly became one of my favorite romance authors. Last year I picked up It Happened One Summer after seeing it all over my FYP on TikTok. I'm so glad I did! When I saw Tessa start posting TikTok's (how funny is she??? She is the cool aunt I've always wanted) about a new romance she was writing featuring a teacher and a bounty hunter... I knew I was going to love it!
I devoured this book. Seriously. Finished it in 2 days. It helps that the book was very fast-paced & kept me wanting to turn to the next page. I was in a bit of a reading slump but was still so excited to get my hands on my signed copy from Books are Magic!
Of course I forgot to include a note on my order for a message from Tessa, oh well! It is still so cool to have a signed copy of one of her books.
So now onto the good stuff... my review!
Just like Tessa Bailey's other heroines, I loved Taylor. Bassey. I found her so relatable with her love of true crime & doing whatever she could to make sure the people around her are having the best time. Stumbling onto a body wasn't part of her vacation plans, and neither was meeting Myles Sumner. Taylor is an elementary school teacher while Myles spends his time tracking down criminals as a bounty hunter. Though the two couldn't be more different, they come together to solve the crime that made their paths cross.
Not only did Taylor and Myles have great chemistry (that spice tho!!!), the murder-mystery part of the story was so well written! I had no idea who the killer was going to be until it was revealed at the end of the story. The main plot of the story is of course about Taylor and Myles, but I was pleasantly surprised with Tessa's ability to write a murder-mystery while still keeping the banter witty and fun. While I enjoyed the majority of this story, I felt at times the crime was pushed to the back-burner, and sometimes I forgot that's how our main characters met. I also would have learned to know more about why Myles' job ruined his first marriage. It's mentioned several times but never really elaborated on.
It's no "It Happened One Summer" but it was still a super fun summer read! This (or any of Tessa's other books) would be the perfect book to read on your beach vacation this summer.