Bubbling up with Helena

• Title: Unfortunately Yours
• Author: Tessa Bailey
• Publisher: Avon
• Release Date: 6/6/23
• Genre: Romance
• Age Range: Adult
• Rating: ★★★★
• Publisher’s Summary: A down-on-her-luck Napa heiress suggests a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience to a man she can’t stand… only to discover there’s a fine line between love and hate. After losing her job and her fiancé in one fell swoop, Natalie Vos returned home to lick her wounds. A few months later, she’s sufficiently drowned her sorrows in cabernet and she’s ready to get back on her feet. She just needs her trust fund to finance her new business venture. Unfortunately, the terms require she marry before she can have the money. And well, dumped, remember? But Natalie is desperate enough to propose to a man who makes her want to kill him–and kiss him, in equal measure. August Cates may own a vineyard, but he doesn’t know jack about making wine. He’s determined to do his late best friend proud, no matter what it takes. Except his tasting room is empty, his wine is disgusting (seriously, he once saw someone gag), and his buddy’s legacy is circling the drain. No bank will give him the loan he needs to turn the business around… and then the gorgeous, feisty heiress knocks on his door. Natalie has haunted his dreams since the moment they met, but their sizzling chemistry immediately morphed into simmering insults. Now, a quickie marriage could help them both. A sham wedding, a few weeks living under the same roof, and then they can go their separate ways–assuming they make it out alive. How hard could it be? There’s just one thing they didn’t account for: their unfortunate, unbearable, undeniable attraction.

Tessa Bailey is an incredibly prolific author, and I love her work. I love that she explores different kinds of people and different settings in her different series. I was intrigued by the premise of the Vine Mess books, which center around wineries in California’s Napa Valley. It also didn’t hurt that the town where the books are set has my name.

I love books in a series where each installment centers on a different interconnected character. Secretly Yours is about professor Julian Vos and his romance with landscaper Hallie, and Unfortunately Yours features Julian’s sister, Natalie.

I thoroughly enjoyed Secretly Yours, and the end so perfectly set up Perfectly Yours. Natalie and August and the tension between them are introduced at the end of the first book. I was intrigued and already looking forward to reading about them even before I picked up Unfortunately Yours.

I haven’t read a lot of books using the marriage of convenience trope (although, the musical & Juliet which I’ve seen MANY times uses it). It took me a minute to get into Natalie and August’s relationship because I found their constant bickering a little grating. However, it becomes clear pretty quickly that they care deeply about one another and that their marriage might be more than just a business arrangement.

Bailey lets the reader into the minds of both August and Natalie. I love when writers do this because of the dramatic irony it creates. Natalie and August are both riddled with insecurities, but it takes them some time to open up to one another. Being privvy to both of their innermost thoughts and feelings increased the impact when they finally shared them with one another.

There is definitely a Hallmark movie element to this story: big city girl returns to her hometown after a career setback and finds love with a “rugged” man who works with his hands. As an avid fan of Hallmark movies, that made me very happy. Bailey definitely gives her characters more wit and depth than the average Hallmark character, making this book even more enjoyable than your average made for television romance.

Bailey proves once again why she is at the top of the romance genre with this series. I look forward to her next book. I already have an ARC of Wreck the Halls that I’m excited to dive into.