Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey Book Review

“It was possible to be just friends with a man who exuded sex and she would have no problem proving it.'”

(pg. 27)

About

Author: Tessa Bailey

Genre: New Adult Romance

Series: Bellinger Sisters Book Two

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Other Bellinger Sister Book Review

It Happened One Summer

Synopsis

King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time–in bed and out–and that’s exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She’s immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his… personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is.

Now, Hannah’s in town for work, crashing in Fox’s spare bedroom. She knows he’s a notorious ladies’ man, but they’re definitely just friends. In fact, she’s nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport’s resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker’s eye… yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can’t deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost.

Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she’s walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and… and… man overboard! He’s fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker. Helping her flirt with another guy is pure torture, but maybe if Fox can tackle his inner demons and show Hannah he’s all in, she’ll choose him instead?

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all those who fight for love,

Here is my professional—unprofessional opinion—but Hook, Line, and Sinker is hands down, absolutely BETTER than It Happened One Summer.

OOOOPs, I said it 🙈 !!!!!!!!!!

That’s not to say It Happened One Summer was not a good book, but Hook, Line, and Sinker was BETTER 😁!!!!! I absolutely, positively loved loved loved Hook, Line, and Sinker and would cry and fight for Hannah and Fox. Just what a phenomenal story—very different from other plot lines that I typically read in romance books, and very different for a Tessa Bailey book. I enjoyed the themes discussed and the deep dive we go into about reputation and image. I also admired the strength and maturity of both main characters because that’s not something you often see in a romance book. I mean, most times both characters are strong leads, but there’s always that one character who miscommunicates or messes up for some dumb reason, when the whole plot felt reasonable and honest. I also loved how much internal work we see with both characters—amazing arcs.

I knew I was going to love this story the minute Fox secretly left Hannah the Fleetwood Mac record by her door. I just never knew how much.

Hannah is everything I admire and aspire to be as a woman 💛. Hannah is kind, understanding, compassionate, creative, communicative, driven, and tenacious. In the beginning of the book, Hannah voiced how she never felt like the main character in her life.

“I’m good at being. . . . supportive. You know? Giving out advice and doling out helpful suggestions. When it comes to my own stuff though . . . not so much . . I just kind of stand around waiting for things to happen, while other people seem to make them happen so easily. I can help others– I like doing that–but I’m a supporting actress, not a leading lady.”

(pg. 54)

I can relate to how Hannah feels.

I like to think I am supportive of people in my life in the same way by helping them or following peoples lead. If I were to be asked in an interview if I am more of a leader or a follower, I would be honest enough to say follower because I have good listening skills. But deep down, I know they want to hear—and I want to say—I am a leader. But I know I am not. am not always leading my life and going after what I want. Sometimes I do go after things I want, but that takes time, but other times I do feel like I wait for things to happen when I know I should be the one to make things happen for me because how are things going to happen unless I do something about it—nothing changes, if nothing changes.

Hannah was a follower too, and there is nothing wrong with being a follower because followers have great skillsets in their own way. However, I understand the desire to be more than someone who follows, but does. It is extremely difficult to put yourself out there and ask for what you want in fear of rejection. Especially in a workplace setting, it almost feels wrong to ask for what you want or deserve like you don’t have a say. I know for most of my life, I was the passenger and supporting role too, but I think I am finding my way into the drivers seat and main role bit by bit. For Hannah, she wanted to be more than a follower or someone in the passenger seat. As someone who was the King Crab Yeller or Killer, she had the hutzpah to be the leading lady, but I understood the fear that came with stepping out of your comfort zone and recognizing that, no, I do have a say and a place here.

For Hannah, she wanted to be more than a production assistant, but to one day create music scores, which is absolutely something Hannah would do. I loved the fact that she never used her name as an advantage in the film industry because her stepdad could have easily given her a higher role, but she wanted to make a name for herself and work her way up. I admired that she was so hardworking and wanted to learn the ropes. I loved when Hannah spoke up at the auditions about Westport being a possible new filming location because her speaking up felt like everyone was noticing her for the first time. As someone who doesn’t speak up a lot, whenever I do say something, I am acutely aware of how everyone turns and tunes in to what I say because I don’t say much. Whenever I speak at meetings, it feels like a momentous feat where all of a sudden I am seen. I could only imagine that was how Hannah felt that day she spoke up—people were finally noticing. And not poor Hannah trying to ask if she could observe Brinley, the person who was doing the music scores on Glory Daze, but literally falls in the middle of the bus and bumps her head 😢. Not going to lie, I would have felt MORTIFIED and would have not want to show my face to the whole cast and crew ever again. But sis was trying to shoot her shot and got bonked down 😅. Universe said not today.

But I give her so much credit.

I loved how when she was in Westport and had the support of her friends and family around her, she felt bolstered to truly speak up and go after what she wanted at work. I loved how she did ask for the opportunity to observe Brinley and she seemingly moved up to production assistant and observer. If I am being quite honest, I didn’t like how Brinley treated Hannah as if Hannah had no clue what she was talking about or doing. I don’t like when people think that just because someone is younger or “inexperienced” that they do not have anything worthwhile to say or contribute. That is the fear that I hold whenever I am at work meetings, and I feel like many people hold when wanting to speak up or say something. I mean, sometimes just the act of saying something is so hard because we fear other people’s negative reactions. That’s sad. I loved loved loved the moment she spoke up about her idea of using Henry’s sea shanties as the score because she felt the original soundtrack Brinley chose was missing something or didn’t fit the mood and setting of the movie anymore. Brinley was so quick to shut down Hannah’s idea because of “budget reasons,” but we all knew she just felt insecure that Hannah might have been right or better at her at her job. When they made Hannah sing the shanty in front of everyone, I was TERRIFIED for her. I mean, speaking up is one thing. Singing for everyone when you are no Adele, absolutely dreadful. I would have jumped into the sea and hoped Fox would fish me out 😂.

But Hannah sung. I was so proud of her for singing her heart out as best as she could, and that everyone heard her. I laughed when Sergei, the director, was like, “Let’s record the songs and if I like them, we’ll go in this direction.” Brinley was so snobby in saying she would quit the production if they used Hannah’s idea. I’m sorry, are you not a professional 😂👏🏼????!?!?!? I mean, isn’t part of being in a production crew cooperating and collaborating with different people. It is not always about what one person wants or thinks, because if it was, how boring would that be. More heads is better than one. Bye bye Brinley. If you want to quit, so be it haha. Sorry not sorry. I just felt like if she couldn’t respectfully work with others and be so rude, she shouldn’t be there—that’s not the energy.

The sea shanties that Hannah wanted to use as the music score were Henry’s original written songs.

Last summer (or in the previous book), one of the things I noticed was how we never really got to see how Hannah felt about being in Westport again. The last time Hannah was in Westport, she was two-years old and her father just passed away. I don’t know about you, but I do not have a detailed memory of what I did as a two-year-old. So I do not fault Hannah for not remembering much about a place or a person she didn’t know all that well. I also do not fault her for not feeling anything for her father because she didn’t know him as much as Piper or Opal did. That had to feel sucky for her that music from people she didn’t even know, evoked such strong emotions and stories to her, but her own father didn’t. I would have felt the same way—like something was wrong with me or I lost all my compassion. However, I think of the situation like this: we all have those relatives that we have never met and maybe never even heard about, and when we meet them, it’s like we should care and love them because we are related, but we feel nothing because we do not really know those people. I mean, how can you feel something for someone you do not know? Hannah had no connection to her father.

When Opal found these sea shanties and showed Hannah, my instant thought was the shanties could be a connection to her dad. If so, I really liked the direction Tessa Bailey was taking in giving Hannah a connection to her father. I also loved the idea that her father loved music because that would explain why maybe Hannah was infatuated with music. My next thought was that with Hannah’s new observer role in music scores, that she would recommend or somehow use Henry’s shanties. Both ideas were true and came to fruition, which I loved. I loved the raw and intimate moment when Fox sang one of Henry’s shanties to Hannah because Fox mentioned he knew “A Seafarer’s Bounty” from all the times they sang it on the ship. When Hannah teared up, I wanted to hug her, because here was a song all about a man who loved the sea, but also loved his family and needed to choose his family. She was getting to know her dad though his words—through music. What a perfect way to connect to him 🥺💛 .

“So many times she’d tried to bridge the gap between herself and this man who’d fathered her, and never succeeded. . . She’d felt a tremor of nostalgia upon opening Cross and Daughters with Piper, but . . . there had been nothing like this. Hearing the song was almost like having a conversations tie Henry Cross. It was the closest she would ever come. This expiation of conflicting loves—the sea and his family.”

(pg. 166)

I loved that.

Recording the songs was also a beautiful moment. Hannah went back to the record store in Westport where she saw her old friend/coworker. I love a fated moment—the moment when the Unreliable’s played overhead and that was the exact sound Hannah felt represented Henry’s shanties. I loved how everything fell into place with the Unreliable’s recording Henry’s shanties and how Hannah felt even closer to her father. When Hannah and Fox were in Seattle to record the shanties, they had a break to talk to the band. In that break, Fox told the band all about his work as a crab fisherman and the possible dangers. After the conversation, the Unreliable’s had a throatier and grungier take on the music as inspired by Fox and his stories. I just loved that little detail of how the music evolved because of Fox’s stories because his stories made the music more real—more like Henry.

Towards the end, I loved the conversation Hannah and with Opal in feeling more connected with Henry than she did before. I also liked how Hannah gave Opal the money from Henry’s recordings because he would have wanted her to have it. I could tell that Hannah’s relationship was also growing stronger with her grandma, which was beautiful to see.

Speaking up for herself, taking on a new role, and finding a connection to her father was all main character energy if you ask me.

A large part of Hannah stepping into her main character energy was because of a certain casanova: Fox Thorton.

I truly wonder if that is his birth name or a nickname because if his parents named him after a sneaky creature, they already were presumptuous. I am about to GO OFF pretty soon👏🏼😂.

But first, let me talk about other things before I POP OFF 🙃.

I love Fox. Love love love this man. Not for typical reasons, but reasons I am going to get into later. But yea, he’s the typical attractive male character, what’s not to love.

But I LOVE his heart 💛🥺.

First of all, Fox and Hannah’s chemistry????????????????

OTHER WORLDLY.

I mean, the opening text chats between them were soooo sweet and funny. You could already tell they loved each other. Like I didn’t need to read anymore to know that these two loved each other and needed to be together and we can skip all the preamble and just get together. So sweet. I was paying attention to those texts and how Fox asked what makes a man the one or your type, and Hannah said that they can laugh with her on the worst day and has a cabinet of records and something to play them on. I betted my bottom dollar that he was going to make her alight on the worst day and have a cabinet of records and a record player JUST so he could be the man—the one—of Hannah’s dreams. Tell me I was wrong 🤧.

So they had been texting ever since Hannah left Westport—for seven months. In that time, you could already tell how much Fox had changed to want to be a better man for Hannah. Whether or not he knew he was changing, he was changing for her. It was in the way he didn’t go to Seattle anymore to sleep with a random women and leave (no string attached), how he was open enough to tell Hannah things because he felt safe with her, and how much he liked music because MY MAN bought RECORDS and had a record player. And he kept his records locked up in a cabinet 😫. I mean, Fox had to have done some music research to keep up with Hannah to be the man she wanted.

But here’s the thing, or one of the things. This thing made me less infuriated as the next thing, but still the thing, they were just “friends.” FRIENDS. F-R-I-E-N-D-S.

What a bunch of trash 😂.

We all know they wanted to be more than friends, but they started out as very platonic friends, which is okay. I get it. They had to take it slow. But sis, no guy is texting you everyday for seven months unless he’s interested. And no man, no siree, does not buy you an expensive music album and sends it to you if he likes you. And no man, no no no, does not randomly buy a bunch of records because you love records and hides it unless he’s hiding his feelings. And NO Man, absolutely not, would go through the trouble of buying you trinkets to put into his guest room because he does not know you and not like.

He absolutely loved her.

As mentioned before, Hannah was returning to Westport to film the new movie Glory Daze. She couldn’t stay in Brendan and Piper’s guest room like last summer because Brendan’s parents were in town and needed somewhere to stay. Piper suggested Fox’s guest room before she quickly retracted that statement for the bad idea she thought it was.

So here’s the next thing because I feel like there’s no way to not talk about the thing that absolutely infuriated me throughout the book without getting into the rest of this review because this thing loomed large in Fox’s narrative. Okay, let me breathe 😂. Let me take a breath.

The overarching narrative of Fox was that he was a womanizer—that he was your typical good-looking playboy, an f**boy if you will, who didn’t date around, just slept with women and left.

And going through Fox’s journey and internal battle, I absolutely felt awful for the way people made him feel like he was a womanizer from day one.

There’s always the womanizer type in books, you know the one that is drop-dead gorgeous, strong jaw line, chiseled jaw, defined abs, beautiful hair, dimpled cheeks, and a dazzling smile. And there’s always this masculine air about them that they have a lot of experience or that they are the guy every woman wants. Objectively speaking, yes, there are guys who are very handsome, but I have learned that we shouldn’t be so presumptuous about who a person is because of their looks. I mean, that sounds like the first lesson you learn—don’t judge a book by its cover—but I think most times we think about the opposite spectrum like if someone isn’t the most attractive, we do not think much about them, when most times it are the books we overlook that are the best. And genuinely, what is inside of someone or something is much more beautiful than what we see.

In Fox’s case, he had a big reputation ever since he was little. Heck, his name was Fox. What did that already insinuate about what his parents thought about him? What others would think about him? Hence, my earlier anger about his name.

Also, not me literally asking myself what trauma or parental hardship Fox had to endure going up to be at a place where he hated himself because of the reputation he inherited because of the stereotype of good-looking men. And yes, I know that sounds like not the biggest problem or the worst problem in the world to have—“Oh, they all think I am so handsome and I am a player”—but the way people made him or built him in his mind, wasn’t the person he wanted to be. And I feel like when you place such a laden label on someone, it makes them feel like that’s all they are going to be because you already decided in your mind who they could be—all they could be.

Fox felt like he couldn’t escape who he was no matter how hard he tried.

My heart nearly broke when he opened up about his past trauma/experiences with being labeled and with trying to date women.

But first, when Fox revealed why he wore this leather bracelet, I wanted to sob 😭. Fox wore this leather bracelet around his wrist. He would sometimes fidget with his bracelet, which always made me wonder why he had this bracelet.

“I wear this to remind myself I’m exactly like him and that will never change.”

(pg. 171)

Like how awful. I literally choked on my horror. Like how dare he wear this leather bracelet for such a horrible reason.

Shame on you, Fox ☹️. Don’t you dare shackle yourself to this bracelet as a reminder of something horrendous.

Fox’s parents are divorced. The mom is a bingo caller, which I thought was interesting, and the dad does who knows what and who knows where. One day, Fox was forced to visit his dad and he saw how many women would go in and out of his dad’s apartment and how his dad was doing drugs. Fox knew he didn’t want to be like his dad—this womanizer—but somehow he felt like he already was based on his looks.

“I never made a conscious choice to be like him, I just was. even before I’d ever been with a girl, it was like . . . everyone treated me like being . . . experienced was inevitable. There I something in my personality, the way I look I guess . . . My sixth-grade teacher used to say, He’s going to be a heartbreaker. Everyone laughed and agreed and . . . Look, I don’t remember exactly when it started, only that I eventually embraced that image once in high school until there was just a blur.”

(pg. 172)

Honestly, shame on every person who ever sexualized and devalued Fox because he looked a certain way.

Honestly, shame on all these teachers and adults for sexualizing Fox and assuming that because he had a “certain look” he would know everything and anything about sex and that was all he cared about. Putting this reputation on him made him feel like that was how anyone would ever look at him and they wouldn’t see past him as more than just a “good time.” Gosh, when Fox called himself “just a good time,” I wanted to slap him 😫. He was not “just a good time,” he was a person people wrongfully judged and squeezed into a horrible box. He was more than a womanizer. He was a little boy, growing up for gosh sakes. Just because he was handsome, didn’t mean that he was going to be a player or mistreat women—-you cannot judge someone based on the actions of a few people.

I felt awful.

And don’t even get me started on how Fox literally tried to date a girl, and he found out he was just a hall pass 😢.

When Fox graduated high school, he wanted to leave Westport to leave this “big reputation” behind, which was fair. So he went somewhere new where no one could judge him. He had a roommate where he had a roommate named Kirk. They started a small start-up business with each other, and Fox felt like for the first time no one was looking at him as some sex god, but a person. He had a girlfriend named Melinda who he would watch movies with and other things, but then when he came back from college break, he saw Kirk in his bed watching a movie with Melinda. Fox was angry and confused, and Melinda just laughed at him because she said that Kirk and her talked about how Fox was her hall pass—that she could sleep with Fox and that be the one person Kirk would be okay with her sleeping. JAIL 😭. Like WHAT. He thought he was in a relationship with someone he really liked, and all he was to her was a hall pass?

Dreadful. How dare she? How could she live with herself knowing she hurt him like that and to laugh too? Jail.

Because Fox slept with Melinda, Kirk and Fox weren’t friends anymore because Kirk didn’t really like the idea of Fox sleeping with Melinda even if Fox was the hall pass. Kirk also walked away from the business they started together. All Fox wanted was to get away from this reputation, and yet, he couldn’t. He couldn’t even make a real friend or have a real relationship without someone sexualizing him or using him just because of his looks and the look of experience. Fox left college after that and returned to Westport to work on the Della Ray because why try be something he wasn’t—why try to outrun his reputation?

I felt like Fox giving up on himself and who he knew himself to be, was what really broke my heart even more. Because everything that he was saying wasn’t his fault—-it was other people’s fault for making him feel a certain way. The way we talk to each other or view each other impacts us. Also, Melinda and Kirk were absolute trash friends and her using him as a hall pass was entirely her stupidity for assuming something about Fox ☹️.

I was just so angry at the people in his past—-furious. Raging.

Because of his past with people assuming his reputation, trying to be more than his reputation, and failing, it did feel like Fox gave up on himself. And giving up on yourself to be the person that everyone thought you to be, feels like the biggest failure of all; The failure of letting other people win. I didn’t want that for Fox.

But somehow, that’s how he ended up in Westport again with this reputation that he accepted like a second skin, when really the way people treated or spoke to him bothered him.

It sucked that Fox feared visiting his mom because he hated the way his mom would always flinch when she saw him—that the mom saw the dad in him.

It sucked the way that the Della Ray crew would talk to him about his conquests or make jokes about all the women he slept with. Those jokes were uncomfortable for him. It sucked the way he even walked down a street and people would holler at him about his next woman or tell women to beware of him. They thought so lowly of him because of the idea that those who mess around frequently with women are lowly (not wrong, but Fox wasn’t one of those people so he wasn’t lowly).

Yea, and it did suck how even his best friend Brendan thought so low of him to warn him to not sleep with Hannah when Hannah was staying with Fox, like he knew Fox would just go and sleep with Hannah, therefore he cannot trust Fox. That’s like straight-up saying he didn’t trust Fox because he was a womanizer. I mean, I also know Brendan was doing the whole future-brother-in-law protective duty, but still, to assume the worst of your best friend, feels like a punch to the gut.

“There was more to Fox than a chiseled face, thick arms, an an air of danger. Just like there was a lot more to her than being a coffee holder and note-taker.”

(pg. 47)

All these people doubting him—those closest to him—would make anyone doubt their character.

And I just hated that for Fox because I could see how much of a wonderful, whole-hearted person he was. I could also see how he let this womanizer facade on so long that he didn’t know how else to be with women or with people—he let people treat him badly because it was easier.

I think people didn’t respect him because he lost so much respect fo himself and his capabilities as a person.

This insecurity manifested itself in other aspects in his life like work.

“Men don’t want a leader, a captain, they don’t respect.”

(pg. 97)

As mentioned in the last book and I briefly mentioned in the last book review, Brendan was making a new ship in Alaska that he wanted to captain. Because of this, Brendan wanted to give the Della Ray and the captain role to Fox. However, Fox was highly receptive (i.e. absolutely did not want to be captain) because he didn’t feel like other people would trust or respect someone like him—this womanizer they made him to be. My first initial thought was that Fox didn’t want to be captain because being captain was a huge responsibility and he didn’t want to let anyone down, and that was partially the reason. The real reason really darn broke my fragile heart for Fox 😢. He already grew up feeling like he was put in a box and could never be more than people thought of him, and now he felt like he couldn’t have this role out of the disrespect people would give him. No where in his reasoning did he ever say he didn’t want to be captain because he didn’t think he was good enough—note entirely—but it had to do more with respect. I understood where Fox was coming from though because whenever he chatted with any of the crew members, all they ever talked to him was about his “conquests” and made him feel like a player. You could just feel how uncomfortable Fox felt in those conversations because I don’t think he devalued women, he devalued this version of himself. I also felt disheartened that Fox felt like it was easier to take in all this negativity about a sore subject and make a joke of it or play along when he should have spoke up about how much people’s image of him hurt his feelings.

I wanted to rage across the street with Hannah when Fox left Cross and Daughters with her after a drunken night and this group of men yelled across the street to Hannah to warn her to be careful. UMMMMM, EXCUSE ME ☹️. How dare they talk to Fox like that?!?!?!?!

I absolutely LOVE bold Hannah, and when she yelled at those men to basically f*** off??!?!? ICONIC. A queen.

“He was in the middle of the room being objectified, and she wanted to be the anchor for him.”

(pg. 88)

I really liked how over time and through multiple conversations with Hannah, she got him to open up about how he really felt about being captain. I liked the detail about how she noticed how his resolve or answer to the question grew less sure because she could tell that he wanted to be captain—wanted respect—but he didn’t want to let himself hope that people could respect him. I also loved how he was inspired by Hannah to try make work strides or be his own “main character” because she was making her own strides.

I just loved the running theme of Hannah and Fox wanting to lead their own life and go after what they wanted. I also thought their arcs aligning in such a way was well done in terms of story-telling and personal growth. There was also this idea that they both had imposter syndrome because they wanted new roles that they felt they couldn’t have. I felt imposter syndrome for the first year of being a new teacher—like I have no idea what I am doing, so I don’t know why you trust me with your kids kind of feeling 😅—but I do believe that you may never feel like you belong somewhere but you can try to work on belonging and you will feel like you deserve to be there. I don’t know, when I stopped telling myself that I didn’t know what I was doing, I felt more like I did belong.

Part of Fox’s insecurity of not being respected was also not knowing if he could be the right man for Hannah.

He wanted to be Hannah’s man, but he had many personal battles to get to her.

I loved that the minute when she arrived in Westport, he met her outside the bus and already took on a protective-boyfriend role with wanting to bandage up her cut from when she fell on the bus. I loved how everyone ogled Hannah because they never really noticed her until they noticed Fox noticing her.

Sergei was absolutely not it. If a partner isn’t noticing you already or looking at you like you are the Venus or the stars in the sky, that person is not it!!!!! Move on. Go find someone who looks at you like you are the sun, moon, and stars, no heck, like you RIVAL the sun, moon, and stars. The fact that Sergei only noticed Hannah when Fox was in the picture, was pure male jealousy taking hold. I was like, “Bro, don’t even with this right now!!!” Just because Fox is handsome and likes Hannah, you suddenly like her. I don’t think so. RUN. Also, I felt awful about Hannah’s unrequited crush because been there, felt that, and honestly, it truly is not worth your time to like someone if they show you absolutely zero signs. I know it is hard because what you feel is real, but if you don’t have a gut feeling they like you, they don’t, and it’s better for your heart to move on because there will be someone who likes you and you wouldn’t have to guess about where you stand with them. I also don’t feel like if someone was meant for you, they wouldn’t already notice you and the dazzling person you are. So no, don’t settle for a crush who doesn’t look at you because they will not look at you the way you deserve. And that’s my tangent on that. But truly, don’t.

I know it’s hard because I felt this way before, but trust me, you will find someone better than someone you think you like. And honestly, we all know Hannah just liked Sergei because he was “interesting” and “her type.” She didn’t really like him because she didn’t know him—liked the idea of who he could be. Also, she was distracting herself with thinking she liked Sergei all these years because it was an easy distraction from the guy she really liked—Fox. It was just no wonder that Sergei started to say he liked her and noticed her because he felt threatened, which wasn’t healthy to begin with. Honestly, good for Hannah, for noticing that she felt next to nothing for Sergei and for saying what she had with Fox was serious, because Fox and Hannah were seriously CUTE. Award-winning. Legendary.

I loved loved loved Fox and Hannah.

I loved the way he just wanted to make her happy whether that was buying her the candles for her room, buying her cookies, or ice cream. Or I loved how he noticed all the tiny details from what her favorite ice cream flavor was or how she felt by reading her face or body language. I loved how they constantly asked each other “What kind of music day did you have?” 🥺💛 That’s such a cool and fun question.

I loved when he sang her the sea shanty because he knew singing would make her smile, and he would do anything to make her smile. We love a partner who would do anything to make his partner smile 🥺. I also loved how Hannah found out about Fox having a secret stash of records and a record player, and how she connected Fox’s secret to the texts they sent months before.

“That if he was hiding records, he was hiding a desire to be . . .more.”

(pg. 202)

Because in all these subtle ways, he was showing her he wanted to be with her; the records was like hiding his secret love for her to be the man she wanted, but he wasn’t ready to confess his feelings to her because he didn’t feel like he was that man yet. I freaking wanted to laugh-scream—-scaugh?— at how Hannah played it off so causal about how Fox had all these records, when she knew why Fox had those records and then inside Fox’s head he was thinking how he had all these records because he wanted to be her man— “A gut-born need to be what she wanted” (pg. 206). WE KNOW, Fox, we know! She knows too but she was trying not to scare him off before he was ready to open up about his feelings. I just loved how she knew though that despite all these mixed messages of wanting to just be “friends” and helping her with “Sergei,” that she should stay the course and figure things out with Fox. She was so gentle with his heart because she loved him.

“‘You make me feel like I’m in the exact right place. . . Nothing to run or hide from. Nothing I want to avoid.’

She turned her head and their mouths melted together. ‘It’s okay to trust that feeling. I have it, too.'”

(pg. 278)

What I loved loved loved LOVED the most about their relationship was how honest they were.

I have never read such a communicative couple in a book before. Honest to gosh. I mean, I have read couples who have deep conversations, but in a rom-com book, I have never read a guy and a girl who were so willing and open to have personal conversations about their hardships and actually work through each others hardships to support each other 💛. There was actually a moment when Fox was having a thought spiral and then he saw Hannah’s eyes and was like, “I can just talk to her and it will be alright.” I was applauding 👏🏼. We love communication!!!!!!

Hannah really said, slow and steady wins the race.

Did I mention how much I love Hannah? 😂

No, but seriously. As someone who is so sweet and thoughtful, she was even more determined and tenacious.

She really said, I am going to BREAK DOWN Fox’s walls by figuring it out with him, and I am not letting him hold back or give up on himself.

“Fight like a leading lady.”

(pg. 243)

There was one night when they were having a cast party or something and Hannah dressed to slay with a tight red dress and heels. She was really working it, and Hannah and Fox shared this steamy, drunken kiss, but it couldn’t be more than a kiss. Then there was that moment when Fox saw Hannah in the morning and they talked about his ginger oil he used. Later that day, Fox was on the Della Ray, hauling something without his shirt and Hannah felt sexually bothered and needed to release something. Fox followed her back to the apartment when he saw that she was heading there, and they had this steamy moment near the bathroom where he knew what she was trying to do. Very steamy, but also kind of sad with the lead up to the moment in the way that Fox had a conversation with one of his crew members who was teasing him for his “conquests” because of how many times his phone went off, so Fox was like, “I might as well be what they think of me.” Fox, no. You don’t have to be who people think of you. And I loved how Hannah saw that Fox was just trying to live up to his reputation because “this is what I do.” What she heard was “this is what people think I do” so let me just pleasure you. Instead of giving in to him doing it, she pleasured herself in front of him, which was honestly a slay move in terms of telling him no and showing him that he was more than a “this is what I do” man. I just loved how empowered Hannah was in the moment because Fox is not used to not being openly wanted, so in a way he would start to think that maybe she doesn’t like me just for what I can do. If that makes sense.

Her logic made sense to me 😅.

“A heart-to heart in the dark with a girl? His headboard should eb cracking off the wall right now She should be screaming into his shoulder, drawing blood on his back . . .

His weapon had been taken away, though. She disarmed him this afternoon.

No armor. Nothing to deflect with.”

(pg. 171)

He couldn’t hide behind his womanizer way because she showed him she didn’t need him to please herself—she disarmed him. Now all that was left was talking—honest conversation, which was much more powerful. And I liked how Hannah made him feel safe and comfortable to open up about all the things he felt growing up, his bracelet, his past relationships, his fears.

“Refusing to allow things to get physical had unlocked what felt like. . . .trust between them. And it felt rare and precious . . .”

(pg. 212)

Who says there were tears in my eyes 😭?????

Genuinely, the more they talked, the more he felt like there was someone out there who loved him more than his body or reputation, and I loved that. Hannah and fox had trust because she was getting to know him, and she wasn’t scared to know everything, and to me that was love—-to love someone for their good and bad and to choose to love them through it all. I loved how each time she spoke to him, she made him feel like more than a presumption. I loved those moments when Fox would have an inkling of “maybe I can be more or maybe they can respect me,” because those thoughts never dared see the light. But he was her light 🥺

They had a big argument—well one of their big arguments—after driving back home from bingo night where Hannah met Fox’s mother. Can I just say, we love the catty bingo fights haha! But in this car fight, they were having the same argument about how Fox felt like he couldn’t be more than just sex satisfaction and that she would just be another hookup to him afterward—as in hookup and leave kind of situation. When that flew out of his mouth, I was like, “Wrong thing to say dude.” Here was your dream girl saying she rejected the guy she had a crush on for two years because she obviously is in love with you if she was jealous and went to your mom’s bingo game, and you’re telling her she would be just another hookup to you. Mixed signals and wrong message. But Hannah is such a queen in knowing that he didn’t mean what he said, but instead she kissed him like a challenge because she wanted to fight for him even if that meant that she wasn’t the one he was going to end up with. She wanted to break down these insecurities to show Fox he could be more and trust in other people again because she knew he was worth so much more. And if fighting to show someone the worth you see in them is not unapologetic love, I do not know what love is at this point. Truly.

The whole scene when they went to Seattle to record the shanties was everything. I loved how she really said I have the upper-hand b****, you bow down to me—dress and combat boots and all and calling him babe. Not Fox literally burning his pancakes in thoughts over her and how he royally screwed up. Yea, keep burring those pancakes dude 😂. They did cross some line in Seattle when he started calling her “my Hannah.”

BUT GOSH, the whole moment when he took her to the Sound Garden. I am impaled.

I mean, c’mon 🤧.

“‘Where are you taking me? . . . I love surprises. Piper threw me a surprsie party when I turned twenty-one and I had to lock myself in the bathroom because my nonstop tears of joy were embarrassing everyone.

‘I bet you hate them, don’t you?’

‘No . . .You’re a surprise Hannah. How could I hate them?’ He cleared his throat hard. ‘Even familiar . . . you’re a constant surprise.”

(pg. 265)

The Sound Garden was Fox completely vulnerable and bare 😉. Haha, yes I made that a joke.

But truly, I loved how vulnerable he was with her and how he wanted to take her there last summer but didn’t because she would have truly known his feelings. I loved how he finally smashed that last part of his wall down because he loved her and didn’t want to ruin this good thing he had with her.

His biggest fear/doubt with dating her was that people would think less of Hannah because they thought less of him–he couldn’t live with himself if his reputation tainted hers. I mean, SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME A TISSUE 😭. This man has been through the wringer. I just never thought how much labeling someone could affect them, or I guess, I never really saw the effects of labeling in a book. When we label someone so much, it truly does affect the way they view themselves or others view them, when that’s not who they might be at all. You know, I related to Fox so much without realizing it in the sense of how I was labeled shy for practically my whole life. Like I was this “shy” girl, I was “too quiet, too introverted, too into books, too whatever,” and in a way being shy is always a negative thing to others. Shy has such a negative connotation. And for a long time—even now–it’s hard for me to not feel like that’s all I’ve ever been to people or will be to people because that is what they see because I wear glasses and I read books and yea, I am soft-spoken.

But I am truly a believer that people are made to be a certain way and not because they were born with that disposition.

Sure, there’s the other side of that coin, but we make people who they are by what we say and build up of them in our heads. We also make people who they are by what we break down. If I wasn’t called shy all the time, would I have felt shy around people or would I have felt comfortable enough to be someone else because I wasn’t just “shy?” Would Fox felt like he could have been someone else if he wasn’t just a “womanizer?” I don’t know. Probably.

But this moment between them when he wanted to be more for her and because of her, just had me in tears 😭. He’d been battling his image for so long, and I was happy that he was starting to believe he could be more because of one person who saw more of him.

But opening yourself up so wide, does lead to fears and hesitancy for having your fears come true—you look for it everywhere like that fear is just lurking to happen.

“Apparently opening up meant getting more in return.”

(pg. 278

When Hannah and Fox finally did get together, it was such a beautifully built moment in the way they developed trust and genuine love that made their get together meaningful.

I wanted to scream though when Hannah was like, “I wasn’t sure if this was a one-time thing or . . .” JAIL 😂.

I swear I thought that was going to be the sentence that undid him because sis literally tried to break down his insecurities to feel like more than a womanizer, and she had to ask that 😓. SIS!!!! You know, we all know, you were more than a one-night stand!!! How dare she ask.

But I completely saw how putting so many newfound emotions and responsibilities on Fox was a lot. The day after Fox finally confessed his love, he had to leave for a sailing trip. Freaking Brendan popped the role of being captain on Fox last minute because “his parents had water issues in their house.” Not Fox clearly seeing through Brendan’s lie 😂. I was proud of Fox though for stepping up as captain, and ow the trip was successful. Fox was starting to see himself in a new light.

Until these dumb shipmates took a wrecking ball to his CONFIDENCE 😡. Honestly, get you new friends bro.

Someone hold my earrings!!!!!!!

They dare called him a dog because he slept with Hannah 😡. How dare they mock him and make him feel like a predator or a monster when he was a nice, genuine man!!!! And then Fox had to go thinking that his worst fear came true in how his shipmates were already thinking of Hannah with disrespect because of his reputation, and I was like, no no no no no. No. Don’t you dare let stupid people ruin what you tried so hard to fight for. Don’t you dare.

But he was letting everyone else dictate his life and what they thought rule him.

Hannah hoped, but she knew—knew him well enough that the captain role and finally getting together was a lot for him to process in the moment. When Fox walked into Blow the Man down after sailing for five days, she knew when he held back from kissing her.

Gosh, things escalated fast when they got home and I genuinely had no idea where things were going or what as going on, but the FIGHT OF THIS WOMAN 👏🏼👏🏼!

A legend indeed.

Like one second she wanted to make him pay by giving him a show with that short dress, and then the next minute they are on top of each other and then the next second he was telling her he was calling it off and then saying that there would be no other woman—liked what the freak. Honestly, you tell her you can’t be with her and then you say you want to be with her and then you get mad when you can’t be with her, but you want to be with her?!? 🙄 I knew he was fighting a lot of internal things, but still. I would have felt confused too.

“And now here she was, at the final round, weaving on her feet, closing in on unconsciousness, ready to quit to mitigate the pain. Isn’t this when she needed to be her strongest?

Isn’t this when being a leading lady really counted? When she wanted to quit?”

(pg. 326)

You see that, that’s called full body shivers. Wow.

She said, said character, to main character, to I am that bi*** 👏🏼.

I loved how even though she knew he was giving up on her, she wasn’t going to give up on them even if it pained her. I wanted to give her a standing ovation for telling him to get his head out of his stubborn a** because she’s darn right. She spent this whole trip trying to support him so that he could feel comfortable being vulnerable and trust other people again, and to step into the person she knows he can be, but there’s only so much she could do if he didn’t believe in himself.

She said, I will fight for us, but fight for yourself first.

Even thought their breakup didn’t feel like a breakup, it still had the makings of a heartbreak. I felt her anguish.

But Fox really got stabbed in his heart and his head that day. I felt a brutal and guttural sense of loss when she walked out. He really needed to find healing because he wanted to be the man for her because losing her hurt more than the idea of someone wrapping her reputation in his.

I loved the moment he went to his mom because you know the trauma started somewhere and needed to heal where it began. The mom talked about how she was scared to try to change Fox to not be like his father because of how she failed to change the dad when she tried. She didn’t want to be heartbroken if Fox didn’t change, so she just supported what she thought was his “nature.” I guess her reasoning made sense, but also her son is not her husband. She had no idea who he could be, I think she shouldn’t have pressured that she had to change Fox when she should have just seen what he was interested in—soccer, music, art, etc— and gone along with it, or she should have talked to him about how people might say things about him but he has the power to create who he is going to be. Not having a conversation with him, really hurt him. Also, good for Fox for bringing up the flinching because that act alone made him feel like an awful person. The mom flinched out of personal guilt that she didn’t try harder because her son became like the father.

Honestly, again, lots of past hurt stems from a lack of communication, honesty, and parental hurt that kids carry with them and have to figure out as they get older. We can mitigate the effects of what kids have to carry if we just talked to about things that are uncomfortable and let them decide who they can be without labeling or assuming.

“The affairs surrounded us at the time, took up all the air. We let it hurt our son, too. Let it turn into a shadow to follow you around. That’s the real tragedy. Not the marriage.”

(pg. 336)

Glad, she was self-aware to know her marriage indirectly hurt her son but never thought to address that hurt with her son until he hit such a low point where the woman he loved walked away because he didn’t know how to be the man she needed because his mom didn’t talk to him sooner 🙃. Sorry, I’m bitter.

But in all seriousness, what the mom said resonated and hurt. My parents divorced, and I know that their divorce also indirectly effected my siblings and I. For me, their divorce impacted my whole teenage years where I didn’t even feel like I was living or growing, but I was a stagnant plant wanting to find some sort of light or sign of life. But I feel like we live with these hurt that our parents don’t talk about, even mine don’t talk about it now, and that not-talking is what causes more hurt. And I never know why it always feels like the kids who have to initiate that conversation when it was not our responsibility to shoulder all this pain.

I don’t know.

“You can’t live your life worrying what other people will think. You’ll wake up one day, look at a calendar, and count the days you could have been spent being happy. With her. And no one else, especially the ones wagging their tongues, are going to be there to console you.”

(pg. 338)

At least the mom could knock some sense into him.

I liked that she told the story of Earl and Georgette–the rival bingo players. I loved how they fell in love but were worried how people would view their relationship, so they stopped dating. Then Georgette got sick and then Earl and her got back together where he nursed her back to health. But they spent all this time not together because they feared other people’s opinion. Fox shouldn’t waste his time thinking or caring what others say about him or him being with Hannah because he probably doesn’t want to look back and regret all the time he wasted letting others bolster his fear, when he could have been living with the woman he loves—the woman he looks at like “a summer day after a 1000 years of winter.”

This grand gesture, had to be one of my favorite grand gestures to date 💛.

I love when Fox called Brendan asking him about Hannah and if she let, and I loved how Brendan realized the error of him judging Fox. I loved when Brendan showed his support—a great first step. I also liked how Fox was like, screw everyone, I’m going to be captain Fox and they are going to respect the shiz out of me. Because yes, it would take time for them to see him differently, but I do think once he voices how he feels about their comments, they will learn to respect him.

I detested (loved) the sense of agony and loss that Tessa Bailey created at the end. I felt his pain just ripping out of his chest when he realized Hannah left back to L.A. because Glory Daze was done filming and she was supposed to go back. She was going to stay for him and they were going to get a place in Seattle so she could be closer to him, but now with them being “done,” he didn’t know where she was and that killed him.

“This was pain. This was self-loathing. Losing the love of his life–his future–because he’d let the past win.”

(pg. 342)

OOOOMPH. That hit.

I SOBBED when he went back to his apartment and she was there, causally sitting on the living room rug listening to the record player with her headphones. She didn’t leave 😭. She was right there all along. She never gave up on him even if she walked away. And she was wearing the headphones like when they shared that headphone moment in the car last summer. I loved the sense of utter relief Fox felt to know he didn’t truly lose her. The ending wouldn’t have felt right if they didn’t speak to each other in music 🥺. You know, a kiss would have sufficed, but OKAY steamy. They were running on ecstasy.

To be quite honest, I liked the ending with how she was there all along—that was perfect. But the whole steaminess was a bit much because they just got back together. I would have rather had a conversation because that felt more true to Hannah and Fox because their relationship was more than physical. I also felt like getting his head out of his but took a day—less than a day—but he still had a lot of internal work that he had to do, hopefully over time. So the time frame of them getting back together less than a day, felt rushed. I was happy for them because they fought to be together, and he was now going to fight back.

Fox really went from his Reputation Era to his Speak Now Era to the Lover era.

Honestly though, if we’re being HONEST, the epilogue was my favorite part of the book 🙈!!!!

Okay, maybe one of my favorites, but still a favorite—defintely one of my favorite epilogues in a rom-com hands down!!

The epilogue was just so cozy, sweet, and WHOLESOME 🥺💛!!!!!! The wholesomest, and I do not care that that is not a word.

I love how Tessa Bailey did a huge time jump to where Hannah was older and lived in between Westport and Seattle where she was had her own music company where she sought out new bands to connect with film productions. I loved loved loved that because she found her own way in music scores and production by observing through her role in multiple productions. I also loved that she found new talent to showcase, therefore giving people a chance at their dreams. Calling her company Garden of Sound Inc. was such a nice touch, if not a bit copyrighted to the actually garden 🥺 haha.

Hannah also had a whole life where she was married to Fox and they had two kids—Abigail and Stevie 🥺🥺🥺💛💛💛💛!!!! I LOVED. I loved the whole sense of her coming home for Christmas from traveling for her newest project. I loved how we also got a glimpse into Fox’s life and how he was Captain, which I was soooo proud of him! I had no idea why we had this whole moose outside situation, but it was so quirky and fun that I loved and laughed about it. I loved how Fox was still looking out/protecting Hannah. Can I just say, I loved how Tessa Bailey described how he had a little bit of gray hair because he was getting older and was a father, which I LOVE. Am I the only one who low-key thought about Fox looking like a Ryan Reynolds?! Anyway, I loved loved loved that sweet and tender moment when they both fell in the ice and laughed together and then their kids came out with their dog, and it was this whole big happy family scene. I just loved how them falling still felt like they had that young love and spark between them, but it evolved to include this life they created for themselves.

I loved that we got to see what happened after happily ever after and how beautiful fighting for yourself and fighting for love can be. I’m just going to keep using the word love because I don’t know a better word to accurately describe how much adored the ending. I loved how Piper and Brendan also showed up with their kid named Henry 😭 who yelled at Hannah and Fox to get a room for kissing. Piper and Brendan DID NOT name their first kid HENRY 😭. SOBS.

I could just read a whole story about their life after love with their kids and Piper and Brendan’s kids and them navigating their new relationships as brother and sister-in-law. But how wholesome was that that Fox and Brendan were best friends and ended up marrying two amazing sisters. The epilogue truly was the cherry on the already decadent, exquisite book 💛.

I just have never read anything similar to Hook, Line, and Sinker before and it was so refreshing to dive deep into learning more about Fox and Hannah’s relationship and what it meant to fight for love.

I could keep ranting and raving about this book forever, but I feel like I have said all I needed to say and thought-processed my emotions haha.

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? What did you think of the book? 

What kind of music day are you having?

I think I am having a Best Day by Taylor Swift in the way I just did things for myself and caught up on things I wanted to do, so in my eyes that’s a great day that I am thankful for.

Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

5 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I love love love Hannah and Fox. Hannah has such a delicate fire in her that makes her a graceful fighter, and Fox has such a sensitive soul that wants to be seen. I just absolutely loved their dynamic.

Plot: Hook, Line, and Sinker hooked me from page one; fed me all the funny, romantic, heart aching, lines; and sunk my heart with its wholesomeness 💛

Writing: My favorite Tessa Bailey to date

Romance: Hannah and Fox. That’s it. They are icons.