Dear reader,
Did you think that we were done with the beach read season? As if. In our respective homes in California and Alabama, we are embracing the summer season. The kind where we lay by the pool, getting absolutely toasted by the sun and dreaming of far-off places.
Maybe you yourself are reading this newsletter on your own weekend getaway. Maybe the bing of this email notification interrupted your mid-day fantasy. Perhaps you have been imagining that you’re exploring the Amazon with a broody hunk that looks a lot like Adam Driver while seriously debating if you should leave your own corporate job and run off with the guy behind the tiki bar with the pornstache.
No need to turn in your letter of resignation yet because this summer . . . we’re headed in the opposite direction—to the foggy coast of Washington in Tessa Bailey’s Hook, Line, & Sinker.
Although a sequel to the first book It Happened One Summer, we believe this book can stand on its own. While this duo-sister story arc definitely intersects, you don’t have to read one without the other if one trope fits your fancy more than the other.
We begin with Hannah Bellinger, hopelessly crushing on the director of a film she’s working on when the production needs a new filming location. The first place Hannah thinks of? The coastal town of Westport where her big sister Piper lives. The only problem is that Piper’s spare bedroom is booked for the in-laws so Hannah reaches out to Fox Thorton, a fellow music lover and the flirty lobster hunter that she can’t seem to get out of her head.
Hannah Bellinger – Laurel Canyon by Thin Wild Mercury
Notes: sweet orange, clove, and surprise Fleetwood Mac records
Channeling the scent of Stevie Nicks’ scarf, Laurel Canyon opens with citrus and herbal terpenes, followed by a hint of Italian cannabis, clove, and jasmine. It finishes with some birch and patchouli, warming and comforting. This scent smells like texts from a friend who might be more than a friend, listening to your favorite record on the turntable, and feeling a cool ocean breeze drifting in front of the guest bedroom window.
In an attempt to hide his true feelings for her, Fox decides he will use his long romantic history to teach Hannah how to win the heart of the director she’s been crushing on. But the close proximity to each other in a tiny apartment causes them both to question what their friendship actually is. All of the flirty texts, conversations about music, and sharing their record of the day with each other begin to catch up to them.
Record Shop – Music Festival by Maison Margiela Replica
Notes: fresh vinyl, chill vibes, and silver springs
Woody, smoky, and aromatic, Music Festival opens with red apple, violet leaf, and cannabis, bringing the most chill vibes. It smells like walking into your indie record store and finding something truly special in the $1 bin. Maybe it is a record you have been hunting for, or maybe it is a hot fisherman starting his collection. The scent swirls with warm incense, tobacco, and patchouli before finishing with hints of leather, cypress, and cedar.
As the slow burn sizzles on, Fox tries to get the upper hand. When the tension becomes too much, he falls back on his reputation and tries to turn Hannah off by being exactly who everyone thinks he is. A skirt chaser, womanizing, sex addict. In a ginger-fueled, heady scene, Hannah doesn’t back down on the challenge to prove to Fox that he’s more than his reputation.
Fox Thornton – Une Fleur d’Oranger by Obvious
Notes: neroli, ginger, and singing sea shanties the Della Rae.
Clean and seductive, this unisex citrus scent laced with bergamot and subtle notes of ginger reminds us of a certain seaman that is completely off-limits. But maybe a special Fleetwood Mac record, flirty texts across the west coast, and one competitive round of bingo can convince Hannah to dive into dangerous waters.
As friendship and lover lines blur, the movie continues shooting, and Hannah sets out to reunite with the spirit of her father. Guilty that she doesn’t have a single memory of him, she finds sea shanties he used to write and sing to her as a baby and finally feels a connection to the man that held so many mysteries. These songs–which might prove to make the movie – and her dream career–prove to be the chord that our leading lady needed all along. This adventure takes Hannah and Fox out of Westport, and into the big city.
Kissing in the Rain – Rain Day - Derek Lam 10 Crosby
Notes: dew drops on asphalt, confessions, and kissing in the rain.
Personally, we blame Taylor Swift for giving us the perpetual fantasy of kissing in the rain but Tessa Bailey just leveled that daydream up by several notches. This scent is the perfect balance of vetiver and fresh neroli, sweet and spicy all at once. Rain Day takes us to that cliffside with Fox and Hannah and what begins with sweet confessions under fluffy rain clouds turns into a spicy backseat venture as thunder and rain patter against the windshield.
This sweet, steamy, slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance is almost better than the first book in the series – It Happened One Summer (which is going to be a movie!! So we thought we’d help our gal, Tessa Bailey, out with casting). Hannah and Fox are so relatable, truly sweet on each other, and just have absolute relationship goals. This beach read, filled with spicy, warm, and citrus scents, will have you out at the docks looking for your very own fisherman to bring home to your parents.
Scent-cerily,
Cassie & Taylor