Tessa Bailey

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey delivers a sexy, hilarious standalone holiday rom-com about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert... Melody Gallard may be the daughter of music royalty, but her world is far from glamorous. She spends her days restoring old books and avoiding the limelight (one awkward tabloid photo was enough, thanks). But when a producer offers her a lot of money to reunite her mother's band on live tv, Mel begins to wonder if it's time to rattle the cage, shake up her quiet life... and see him again. The only other person who could wrangle the rock and roll divas. Beat Dawkins, the lead singer's son, is Melody's opposite--the camera loves him, he could charm the pants off anyone, and his mom is not a potential cult leader. Still, they might have been best friends if not for the legendary feud that broke up the band. When they met as teenagers, Mel felt an instant spark, but it's nothing compared to the wild, intense attraction that builds as they embark on a madcap mission to convince their mothers to perform one last show. While dealing with rock star shenanigans, a 24-hour film crew, brawling Santas, and mobs of adoring fans, Mel starts to step out of her comfort zone. With Beat by her side, cheering her on, she's never felt so understood. But Christmas Eve is fast approaching, and a decades-old scandal is poised to wreck everything--the Steel Birds reunion, their relationships with their mothers, and their newfound love.

A Novel

Wreck the Halls

Ralie Sutton

 "Oh" She peeled back the tab and took a sip, swallowed. "It’s good! Made with lust." 

fuck you tessa bailey for writing the cutest human interactions 😭

BEAT: HAHA. It’s me, Peach. I’m dropping a pin. 

Christina Farkona

“I think maybe the people who love us want to be tested and leaned on sometimes, so they can show us how much we mean. 

Expressing love and trust is a gift to the person who receives it.

“Maybe we just needed to get it out of our systems?”

He huffed a sound. “You’ll never leave my system, Mel. You’re one-half of it.”

*2.75 stars. I enjoyed the concept of this book. I liked the idea of them being drawn to each other from the beginning, but I felt like it got very obnoxious sometimes. I thought the idea of the reality show was interesting and I enjoyed getting to know all the characters. I thought Beat was a little... interesting, like how he wanted to punish himself for being so fortunate. I honestly didn't understand why he didn't just say something to his mom about the blackmailer. Overall, I had fun reading it, but it got cringy and over the top sometimes. Also, it didn't feel very Christmassy to me. 

Maggie Hotmer

Lauren R

[3.5]
It was cutesy. Didn't really put me in the Christmas spirit like I was expecting. The plot was like fun and cool. I feel like Melody was written to be funny and all but like her jokes were not really hitting or maybe im just a hater. I still loved the romance. Their relationship and how they felt so connected was very cute. Although, I didn't really enjoy the ending of this it wasnt horrible it just wasnt what i hoped for.

Erin Darlyn

Wreck the Halls is my local book club's pick for this month. If it hadn't been, I probably would not have read it, as I remember glancing at the blurb on the back when the book came out and not being interested enough in the story to buy it.

The book is about the adult children of a famous rock duo that split up decades ago. A reality TV producer conscripts them into convincing their mothers to agree to a Christmas Eve reunion performance with the promise of a good chunk of money for each of them if they succeed. Enter the internal and external antagonists that exist for *subplot purposes* and you have an entirely predictable, lighthearted, yet too-spicy-for-Hallmark romance.

Personally, I felt like the book alternated between being amusing and being a little too easy to put down. Though the characters were decently developed (though not without their inconsistencies), I found myself rolling my eyes at them at times, and the plot left me feeling bored more than once. There were a few scenes that came across as utterly ridiculous or unrealistic, and that left me feeling like the story itself wasn't believable. If I hadn't wanted to finish reading it before my book club meeting tomorrow, I likely would have DNF'd the book.

Overall, it just ended up not being a good fit for me. As my first Tessa Bailey book, it didn't leave me wanting to try any of her others.

Typos / editing errors: multiple
Language: heavy (79 uses of the f-word / its variations; 230+ uses of other obscenities)
Spice: explicit

I enjoy Tessa Baily's writing, but I'm not a fan of insta-love stories so this was a miss for me. Couldn't get into the relationship, but was curious about the plot.

Sephirra

Got you in the Christmassy mood, an easy to read gripping story 

Molly Davies

can someone please tell me why i keep reading her books? 😩 i don’t want to sound mean, but i just can’t stand her writing style!

 was the only book i’ve read by her that is written in the first person and it was so much better.

i couldn’t wait to finish this book so i could get over with it, because i honestly can’t dnf books.

it was just meh … it kept me a bit intrigued to find out the outcome of the story but i was super frustrated until the very last chapter (which was kind of cute).

third-person writing is very difficult for me to feel connected with what i read and this whole lack of reality didn’t make it any better either.

i think i draw the line here and whatever book synopsis i’ll read of her books that look promising i’ll know in my heart that i won’t enjoy it in the end. 

can someone please tell me why i keep reading her books? 😩 i don’t want to sound mean, but i just can’t stand her writing style!

the novella i read previously Same time next year was the only book i’ve read by her that is written in the first person and it was so much better.

i couldn’t wait to finish this book so i could get over with it, because i honestly can’t dnf books.

it was just meh … it kept me a bit intrigued to find out the outcome of the story but i was super frustrated until the very last chapter (which was kind of cute).

third-person writing is very difficult for me to feel connected with what i read and this whole lack of reality didn’t make it any better either.

i think i draw the line here and whatever book synopsis i’ll read of her books that look promising i’ll know in my heart that i won’t enjoy it in the end. 

This was my First Tessa Bailey Book and It was the plot that drew me in, and I had high hopes going into this one and when a Friend suggested a Buddy Read, I knew that I wanted to give it a go. However, the Only Christmas part of the book is that its set in December otherwise there is nothing in there that is Christmassy at all & I can say this this was not my Favourite romance book of 2023.

Beat and Melody (which btw EW on these names) are the children of two major rock stars whose band broke up before they were born.... so now 30 years later they are attempting to reunite them. I would have to say that Octavia and Trina had great personalities. But Beat and Melody were just too much. It was so back and forth, and everything could have been solved just by a conversation about their feelings and why Beat needed the money and agreed to take part in the reality show.

Overall, this is a decent book and I had fun reading it and if you don’t take it too seriously and just a trashy romance book then this might be the book for you!

Ian Brakspear

This was my First Tessa Bailey Book and It was the plot that drew me in, and I had high hopes going into this one and when a Friend suggested a Buddy Read, I knew that I wanted to give it a go. However, the Only Christmas part of the book is that its set in December otherwise there is nothing in there that is Christmassy at all & I can say this this was not my Favourite romance book of 2023.

 

Beat and Melody (which btw EW on these names) are the children of two major rock stars whose band broke up before they were born.... so now 30 years later they are attempting to reunite them. I would have to say that Octavia and Trina had great personalities. But Beat and Melody were just too much. It was so back and forth, and everything could have been solved just by a conversation about their feelings and why Beat needed the money and agreed to take part in the reality show.

 

Overall, this is a decent book and I had fun reading it and if you don’t take it too seriously and just a trashy romance book then this might be the book for you!

really really enjoyed this book! it wasn’t as festive as i hoped it would be, but it didn’t take away from the fact that this book was incredible! beat and melody were made for eachother! 

I really wanted to like this, but these set of characters just didn’t do it for me like the usually do with TB. 

Okay, so I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. Did I like it? Not really. But I also stayed up until 2am reading it the other night so. 

I thought the concept was good. I liked that the children of one of the greatest female rock duos were trying to get their moms to participate in a reunion show. I thought the execution fell a bit flat. There were some good moments for sure. Like when Melody stuck up for herself with her mom (funnily enough I had to stick up for myself with my stepmom while reading this book). But I had more problems with this book than things I liked. 

I hated Beats name. I’m sorry but why? Melody is a tolerable name but Beat??? Absolutely not. It was also so corny that their name were Beat and Melody. Also I kept reading the Applause Network as the Applesauce Network. So there’s that. 

I also hated Beat’s kink. I’m sorry but what the hell was that? I understand the emotional trauma he’s been through and how that led him to said kink, but I thought it was so weird. Maybe that’s more of an execution problem than the actual kink problem. I was also hoping for this really sweet moment where he finally decided to be vulnerable with Melody and forego his kink but that didn’t really happen.  

And the instalove. Oh my gosh. No. The proposal made me want to die. They had a moment when they were 16 and then 14 years later he just fell in love with her right away. No. Also, the crushes they were harboring on each other all that time were more likely than not ideas of who they thought the other was based off of one interaction. So yeah I didn’t like that. 

Honestly, the tension/romance between Danielle and Joseph was super good.

Also there was nothing Christmasy about this. Other than that the reunion was set to take place on Christmas Eve.

Kendall Deranek

Okay, so I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. Did I like it? Not really. But I also stayed up until 2am reading it the other night so. 

I thought the concept was good. I liked that the children of one of the greatest female rock duos were trying to get their moms to participate in a reunion show. I thought the execution fell a bit flat. There were some good moments for sure. Like when Melody stuck up for herself with her mom (funnily enough I had to stick up for myself with my stepmom while reading this book). But I had more problems with this book than things I liked. 

I hated Beats name. I’m sorry but why? Melody is a tolerable name but Beat??? Absolutely not. It was also so corny that their name were Beat and Melody. Also I kept reading the Applause Network as the Applesauce Network. So there’s that. 

I also hated Beat’s kink. I’m sorry but what the hell was that? I understand the emotional trauma he’s been through and how that led him to said kink, but I thought it was so weird. Maybe that’s more of an execution problem than the actual kink problem. I was also hoping for this really sweet moment where he finally decided to be vulnerable with Melody and forego his kink but that didn’t really happen.  

And the instalove. Oh my gosh. No. The proposal made me want to die. They had a moment when they were 16 and then 14 years later he just fell in love with her right away. No. Also, the crushes they were harboring on each other all that time were more likely than not ideas of who they thought the other was based off of one interaction. So yeah I didn’t like that. 

Honestly, the tension/romance between Danielle and Joseph was super good.

Also there was nothing Christmasy about this. Other than that the reunion was set to take place on Christmas Eve.

You can always count on Bailey to have a male love interest who is 100% obsessed with the main character, and this was no exception. Beat and Melody spent about five minutes together when they were sixteen, and the dude has been harboring a protective desire for her ever since. Don't get me wrong, who doesn't swoon over a guy who is helplessly in love with the main character? But I don't think it fully worked here. The storyline takes place over about two weeks, and I didn't feel that was enough time to develop the relationship. Everything just felt so rushed. They did have insane chemistry, and it was cute how they were both in love with each other for years, but I wanted more emotional depth. We got there eventually, but again, it just felt rushed. I also thought everything about the reality show they were filming felt far-fetched. Still, it was entertaining, and I think fans of Bailey will eat this up.

Wreck the Halls A Novel

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