It makes me sad to admit that Secretly Yours was probably more bad than good. I fell hard for the Bellinger Sisters series, especially Hook, Line, and Sinker, so it’s hard to drop a little on the Bailey admiration scale after finishing Secretly Yours.

The entire premise is so convoluted it hurts my brain. In what world would these adult humans write anonymous letters to address their feelings and then not figure out who the secret admirer is based solely on how closely the letters align with their in-person conversations? It was so forced, all to support the neverending miscommunication tropes, and I was so over it. Does anyone actually like the miscommunication trope? Is there a whole fandom out there I don’t know about?

You probably won't be disappointed if you’re looking for a solid, smutty romance. If nothing else, Bailey writes damn good spice. It could’ve done without the female protagonist needing to be a virgin who saved herself for her unrequited love while still being a highly sexual person when they finally get together, but that may be a personal preference. Where Julian fails to communicate in the day-to-day, he more than makes up for it once he’s turned on. Bailey walked the line between dominating and needy incredibly well, which was the best part of this book.

I can’t get over how boring Secretly Yours was outside of the spice. Admittedly, once it starts, the spice takes up most of the story but doesn’t actually add to the narrative. We get these hints of things going on in the background (wine store rivalries, failing vineyards, estranged parents, baker best friends with overly rude husbands, chaotic lifestyles), but nothing is ever actually addressed. There’s no complexity, very little context or development, and most of the background noise is never resolved.