Secretly Yours: Opposites Attract in this Spicy Rom-Com Set in a Small-Town Winery (Vine Mess, 1)

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From Tessa Bailey#1 New York Times bestselling author, TikTok favorite, and "the Michelangelo of dirty talk" (Entertainment Weekly)comes a spicy small town rom-com about a grumpy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn...

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to Napa Valley, and when Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the starchy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly.

One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless—and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She’s eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt—and so unbelievably beautiful, he can’t focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past.

Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he’s sucked further into Hallie’s orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian’s grayscale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there’s something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.

"Tessa Bailey is the queen of rom-coms. Long may she reign!" — Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Meet Cute

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Published Feb 7, 2023

384 pages

Average rating: 6.31

207 RATINGS

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Secretly Yours* by Tessa Bailey offers a spicy, feel-good rom-com with a classic opposites-attract dynamic set in a charming small-town w...

Aundrea todd
Jan 07, 2026
8/10 stars
Such an adorable love story!
Sassy amd sweet
MollyRoy
Jan 03, 2026
9/10 stars
Oh wow, Secretly Yours sounds like the perfect cozy rom-com! I love small-town settings where everyone knows the neighbors and the winery vibe just feels warm and personal. This reminds me of when I was browsing reviews online—funny how one link like https://authorhouse.pissedconsumer.com/review.html can lead you down a rabbit hole of people sharing their honest feelings and stories. In real life, opposites attracting always makes for the best memories, like when you meet someone completely different and somehow it just clicks. Can’t wait to dive into this book and laugh along with the characters in Vine Mess!
Enid Cangiano
Dec 29, 2025
4/10 stars
Secretly Your ( A Vine Mess # 1) by Tessa Bailey
⭐ ⭐ out of 5 stars if I'm really honest. Tessa Bailey seems to be one of those authors that is a hit or miss for me, where I love her Chase me book and Wreck The Halls, this book was a big miss for me. It had so many moments that I found myself rolling my eyes and just so cringed and towards the end I even found myself skipping to the end. You guys know me by now that I am a sucker for a good rom-com, I love the outrages meet ups and cutsie pet names but this lord help me was just objectifying to women, every time the MMC had an opinion about her breasts made me want to layer up and cover my own simply because it reminded me of the awful pick up lines I've endured in my life that were directed at my breasts and not me. It had some cute moments and I liked the secret letters, that was a bit adorable, but overall I felt like the MMC was more obsessed with her physically than what she was about. Oh and there is a scene where he is well making himself "happy" while thinking of her and it was just really bad I honestly had to forward it. Sorry for the author because I really don' t like to give bad reviews but sadly this was just not for me at all.
Alliecat_grrr
Aug 09, 2025
4/10 stars
Way too many emotions and not enough sex
hillary_scholz
Jan 13, 2025
8/10 stars
Tessa Bailey just knows what to do to make me melt! Excellent start of a series and I can’t wait to read the next book. 

Julian, stern and buttoned up professor and Hallie, the bubbly, fly by the seat of her pants gardener, wouldn’t mix. Or at least, you’d think that. She’s messy - he’s neat. She wouldn’t know a schedule if it hit her in the face - he completely times out his day. She can’t stick to a plan - he can’t go without one. You get the picture. Hallie has been infatuated with Julian since high school and he’s returned home for a sabbatical to write a book. Now’s her chance to get her feelings off her chest. With a drunkenly written love letter. Suddenly they’re exchanging anonymous letters, while also connecting in person. 

The growth of each character was inspiring and I highlighted so many passages in this book. It just really hit me in the feels. 

Tropes: opposites attract, stern brunch daddy, dirty talk, secret identity, second chance-ish

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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