Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

Unfortunately Yours is the second book in Tessa Bailey’s A Vine Mess series. It follows Napa heiress Natalie Vos and former Navy SEAL August Cates as they agree to marry to meet their respective goals. What started as a marriage of convenience, quickly turns into so much more.

This book is recognizably a Tessa Bailey book.

Let’s unpack this a little bit. The characters have gone through their respective traumas or have some unique quirk, meet seemingly by accident, take some time to admit they like or have feelings to each other. There’s inevitably some sort of reason why they can’t be together, or, they have a fight that seems so big to them, yet not always so big to the reader. Then they reconcile and all is well with the world again.

Okay, I realize this actually describes a lot of contemporary romance books, but I’ve read quite a lot of Tessa Bailey’s work so far and I’ve learnt to recognize her writing style and voice if you will. While this includes all the usual elements, it lacked one crucial point and that was the setting. I did not feel like I’d been transported to Napa, nor got a chance to enjoy the scenery (like in this book’s predecessor), not was I convinced that anyone actually worked at or was more than remotely interested in the vineries. Bailey’s other books (set in small beach towns or I suppose small towns in general) have not failed me so.

This one also a lot steamier than usual.

Overall, not my favorite book by Tessa Bailey, but I’m looking forward to reading whatever she writes next.