Below is the complete list of Tessa Bailey’s Bellinger Sisters books in publication order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Bellinger Sisters Books in Publication Order
- It Happened One Summer (2021)
- Hook, Line, and Sinker (2022)
About Bellinger Sisters
Tessa Bailey’s Bellinger Sisters series is a contemporary romance set between the glossy world of Los Angeles privilege and the working harbor town of Westport, Washington. The series follows sisters Piper and Hannah Bellinger, two women who begin with a shared family history but very different ways of moving through the world. Bailey uses their romances to explore reinvention, grief, belonging, and the uncomfortable process of discovering who you are when the life you inherited no longer fits.
The first book, It Happened One Summer, centers on Piper Bellinger, a wealthy socialite whose carefree public image hides a more vulnerable uncertainty about her own worth. After one reckless incident too many, Piper is sent to Westport, the small fishing town where her late father once lived and worked. That punishment-style premise quickly becomes more meaningful because Westport is not just a random exile. It is a place tied to Piper’s family history, especially to the father she barely knew. Her arrival forces her to confront a version of herself that has been shaped by money, attention, and low expectations from the people around her.
Brendan Taggart, the gruff sea captain at the center of Piper’s romance, gives the book much of its emotional contrast. He is practical, rooted, and deeply shaped by the rhythms and dangers of the fishing community. Piper is bright, dramatic, and seemingly unsuited to the town at first glance. Bailey builds the romance through that clash, but the story works because Piper is not treated as a shallow character who simply needs to be “fixed.” Her growth comes from realizing she can be more capable, loyal, and grounded than others have allowed her to believe.
Hook, Line, and Sinker shifts the focus to Hannah Bellinger, Piper’s younger sister, and Fox Thornton, Brendan’s best friend and a king crab fisherman with a reputation he has grown tired of performing. Hannah is quieter than Piper, more observant, and deeply connected to music, which shapes how she understands emotion and memory. Her story is less about a dramatic personality transformation and more about finding the courage to stop placing herself in the background of her own life. Fox, meanwhile, is one of Bailey’s more interesting romantic leads because his charm masks a real struggle with how other people define him.
The sisters’ relationship gives the series its continuity. Piper and Hannah are not interchangeable romance heroines dropped into the same setting. Piper’s arc is outward-facing, bold, and disruptive; Hannah’s is more internal, patient, and emotionally precise. Together, they bring different forms of vulnerability into Westport. The town changes them, but they also bring new energy into a place shaped by tradition, grief, and working-class resilience.
Westport is central to the series’ appeal. The fishing harbor, local bar, close-knit community, and memory of the sisters’ father create a setting with emotional weight rather than postcard charm alone. Bailey’s usual style—funny, steamy, fast-moving, and emotionally direct—is still present, but the Bellinger Sisters books also have a stronger sense of place than many contemporary romances. The romances are playful and high-chemistry, yet both books are rooted in questions of identity: what it means to be taken seriously, to outgrow an old role, and to choose a life that feels earned rather than assigned.
The series is best understood as a sister-centered romance duology about reinvention and return. Piper and Hannah each arrive in Westport carrying a version of themselves shaped by other people’s assumptions. Their love stories matter because they help them see what was already there: resilience, desire, ambition, and the ability to belong somewhere on their own terms.