Piper is the queen of the scene. The true definition of the “it” girl. Every woman wants to know her/be her and every guy wants to date her. The problem is, the connections are for notoriety only. When Piper’s latest boyfriend dumps her after three weeks, she decides she needs to show that she is much more than a pretty face and a charge card. Throwing a party of epic proportions, Piper finds herself in jail and out of luck when her stepfather has finally had it. As punishment for her childish act, Piper is “sentenced” to three months in her biological father’s home town, at the bar the girls inherited when he passed away. Never to leave her sister to fly alone (and positive she wouldn’t survive for a second on her own), Piper’s younger sister Hannah volunteers to accompany her to Westport, Washington.

Brendan is about as traditional and routine as a man can get. As a sea captain, he has learned that his stubborn ways is what keeps his men alive and their pockets full. Having been born and raised in Westport, Washington – he has eyes for only one woman since the passing of his wife, the sea herself. That changes when he takes one look at an out of place floppy hat Princess that steps out of her “carriage” and into his world. Never seen or having met anyone like Piper, Brendan has no idea how to deal with the hurricane of emotions and experiences coming his way. Determined to keep his focus on what’s important, he makes every attempt to keep his distance from Piper Bellinger but in a small town, there are only so many places you can hide.

As one of THE most recommended books by reviewers, I was so happy to find this book lived up to the hype. I loved how protective Hannah was of her sister and their overall relationship. Polar opposites, they respected who they were to one another and never tried to influence or change their differences. Their relationship allowed you to get peeks under the hood of Piper’s personality – those cracks gave the reader a full picture of the real person versus the social persona. That is another thing I enjoyed, how Bailey picked apart the social influencer lifestyle and the superficiality of it all. Piper was out of the scene for a moment and her world left her behind like she never existed.

As for Brendan, my goodness he was such a teddy bear! Rough, grumpy, grunty (not a word but best way to describe him), there were so many layers of goodness within that man! He was fearsly loyal, devoted, trustworthy, honest, and just sheer perfection. The naughty/nice side to him was the gift that kept on giving. Just seeing how the two of them balanced each other out – her pulling him out of his comfort zone and him keeping her grounded, loved it! I loved the moments between Brendan and Fox, trying to see Brendan ask for help and get razed by his best friend and crew had me holding my sides from laughing so hard.

There is absolutely no surprise how hot this book was. Come on, it’s Bailey! I would have been shocked if I wasn’t blushing after reading some of her scenes. Bailey knows how to write a connection that goes beyond the physical but is still just as hot and heavy as anything you can imagine.

On a deeper level, I could understand Piper’s self esteem issues. She lived in a materialist world who didn’t see value in who you are, but what you had – telling her she wasn’t worth anything and there were thousands just like her. How could she trust that others wouldn’t see her the same way. For this reason I felt she was constantly one foot out the door (or in this case, one foot on the shore), ensuring she had an escape plan in case the inevitable happened. Having Brendan constantly push against this restraint while showing he accepted it and didn’t want it to change was the true display of love, commitment, support, and acceptance.

It did hurt my heart for Brendan to always find fault within himself, even when he was trying to protect his own heart. I hated that he felt like he wasn’t enough and had to move heaven and earth for the attention of a woman. I understand he was the type of guy that once he was all in, he was ALL IN but I didn’t feel like that meant he had to always bribe Piper to consider him. I am happy that she constantly reminded him that he was enough, MORE than enough and what she needed from him was something else no one could offer. For someone as superficial as Piper, that was extraordinary!