My friend Sarah has a membership in a book club. Every 3 months, the club organizes a book gala where members have to bring in one of their favorite books that they had read recently. At April’s Gala, I accompanied Rina to the event. She picked “It happened One Summer” by Tessa Bailey to take it to the book club’s event. I took this book from Rina and gave it a read.
I understood after reading that it was a medium-paced contemporary romantic fiction novel with no complexities; that is why Ayesha picked it. The age rating for this book is 18 years or above, as it is an adult novel.
Main characters:
Piper: Instagram Influencer
Hannah: Piper’s younger sister
Daniel: Piper’s stepfather
Kirby: Piper’s friend
Henry: Piper’s real father
Brendan: A sea Captain and Piper’s friend
Summary:
This story is about Piper, an Instagram model and a social butterfly. She lives with her mother, sister and Stepfather, who is wealthy. Piper attends a party where her boyfriend breaks up with her, saying that she has nothing unique in her. Piper didn’t bother about it; she just wanted the news not to reach on social media.
But Piper’s friend Kirby told her that the news had gone to Instagram that she had a breakup with her boyfriend. Piper organized a party at the Mondrian Hotel rooftop to save her reputation and invited all her friends. She wanted to give people an image that the breakup didn’t make any difference to her.
During the party, Piper posted an inappropriate photo of her. Police came and arrested her and took her to the police station. Piper’s sister Hannah came to get her bail done. After coming out, Piper saw on Instagram that millions liked the picture from her party day. Piper’s stepfather, Daniel, becomes really angry with Piper because he was making a Hollywood film with Mondrian Hotel’s owner and cancelled the business deal after this incident.
To restore his partnership deal, and to teach a lesson to Piper, he sent her to Westport. Henry’s birth father owned an apartment and a bar in Westport. Piper was 4 years old when Henry drowned at sea while fishing with other members of the crew. Piper’s mother came to Los Angeles and married a rich man here.
Piper’s sister Hannah also accompanied her to Westport so Piper does not feel alone. When both the sisters came here, they found out that the bar was in terrible condition. People called it the No Name bar as nobody looked after it after Henry’s death. Brendan was a sea captain who used to come to the bar, and when he saw Piper there, he was attracted by her beauty. One day, Piper was cooking food when a fire was lit and they quickly ran outside.
“Can you be mad at me while I kiss you, baby? It’s all I’ve wanted to do for the last two weeks.”
Tessa Bailey
Brendan came to help Piper, shouted at her for being so careless, and later apologized. He took Piper out for dinner and both of them talked about their lives. Brendan told Piper that his wife passed away, and she told him why she had come to Westport.
Brendan helped Piper to fix things in her apartment. One day, Piper renovated the bar to honour his late father and impress his stepfather. Brendan offered to help Piper in renovating and both of them got close to each other. But Piper was afraid to get close to Brendan as she had to leave Westport soon. Brendan went on a trip for two weeks to Bering, and one day before coming back to Westport, a typhoon struck, and Piper became concerned about Brendan.
| Publisher | Avon |
| Publishing Date | First published July 13, 2021 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 397Pages |
| Genre | Romance Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction |
| Series | Bellinger Sisters (#1) |
| Literary awards | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance (2021), She Reads Best of Award Nominee for Romance (2021) |
| Characters | Piper Bellinger, Brendan Taggert |
| Setting | Washington (state) (United States) |
| ISBN-10 | 0063045656 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0063045651 |
Later, she found out that we were alive but were in hospital. Piper went to see him, and he was doing fine. Brendan and Piper became boyfriend and girlfriend but Piper was confused about living in Westport or Los Angeles.
Piper’s friend Kirby arranged a welcome party for her in Los Angeles. Piper completed the bar’s renovation and invited her stepfather to the opening ceremony. Brendan was assuming that now Piper would leave Westport, so both of them had a huge fight, and Brendan left for his fishing trip. Piper was hoping that Brendan would come to the bar’s opening, but he didn’t.
Piper was heartbroken; he left Westport and went to Los Angeles for Kirby’s welcome party. Brendan could not come to the bar’s opening because of some issue in the boat, not because he fought with Piper before leaving for his trip. Brendan came to the party to meet Piper and both of them patched up. Piper returned to Westport with Brendon, and they started living happily together.
Pros and Cons:
- The plot is easy to read and understand.
- It was neither fast-paced nor slow-paced but a perfect medium-paced novel.
- It was a fun read, but there was no take-home message from this story.
- The characters’ lack of communication causes misunderstandings and leads to fights; this can make the reader irritated while reading.
Review:
I found this story entertaining which didn’t have a lot of tragedies and sorrows. It was about two main characters, Piper and Brendon, who met by chance and then decided to live the rest of their lives together despite having fights and misunderstandings. But instead of just silently leaving, Piper could have called and asked Brendon why he had not come to the opening ceremony of the bar, rather than quietly leaving Westport and going back to Los Angeles as it was found out later that Brendon couldn’t come due to some issues in the boat and not because of the fight he and Piper had before leaving for the trip. Piper didn’t know the misunderstanding, so she got upset and heartbroken. So, as it is said, “communication is the key”, Piper could’ve followed it.
I found Piper’s sister Hannah’s role supporting. She did her sister’s bail and got her out of the police station when police arrested Piper during the party. Hannah also accompanied Piper to Westport so that her sister does not feel sad and lonely. I adored this bond between both sisters.
Conclusion:
Piper is a happy-go-lucky girl who does what she likes. Her father drowned in the sea and died. Her mother brought Piper and her sister Hannah to Los Angeles and married a wealthy man. Piper’s stepfather is a Hollywood film producer, and his business deal with a hotel’s owner gets in danger when his daughter has a party in that hotel and police come to arrest her.
This tarnished the hotel’s image, and the business deal might be cancelled, which made his stepfather angry. He sent Piper to Westport to his birth father’s apartment. Piper’s sister Hannah also came with her.