The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Bailey, Tessa. Hook, Line, and Sinker. New York: HarperCollins, 2022.

The novel is the second in The Bellinger Sisters duology. It is narrated in third-person past and switches back and forth between the perspectives of Hannah and Fox. The prologue, however, contains nothing but a series of text messages between Hannah and Fox that take place between September 15th and March 8th. The first novel in the series took place during the previous summer and ended just before the text messages begin. In that novel, Piper Bellinger was the heroine and readers witnessed how she fell in love with Brendan, a sea captain from Westport, Washington, after she was banished from Los Angeles by her wealthy stepfather for breaking into a hotel pool to stage a party for her millions of Instagram followers. Hannah Bellinger went with Piper to Westport, where their fisherman father, Henry Cross, had drowned at sea, and mostly hung out in the background as her sister fell in love. However, she did meet Fox, Brendan’s best friend, and the two of them attended a record expo together in Seattle. Before Hannah left for Los Angeles, Fox left a Fleetwood Mac record for her on the porch.

In this novel, Hannah texted Fox to thank him for the album. They spent seven months texting one another about everything and becoming best friends. Fox, a notorious playboy who lived a hyper-sexualized bachelor life, stopped his weekly trips to Seattle to hook up with random women and instead pined after Hannah, who he thought was too good for him. Hannah was attracted to Fox, but she thought he would never change, so she kept him at a distance. However, when she had the chance to offer a new location to the director of an indie film she was working for as a production assistant, Hannah took a risk and suggested they film in Westport. When the director, Sergei, agreed, Hannah excitedly called her sister, who suggested she stay in Fox’s empty guest room.

Hannah and her crew arrived in Westport on a bus. Fox came to greet her at the station, and he got jealous of her close relationship with Sergei, who she had a major crush on. Fox took her back to his apartment and they chatted about her dreams of moving up in the business to a music coordinator and winning the heart of Sergei. She suggested they fake-date so Sergei would become jealous, but Fox refused to ruin her reputation by associating her with him since he was known as such a playboy. However, when Fox crashed her work party, Hannah decided to kiss him. The kiss was wonderful, but Fox assumed she was just trying to make Sergei jealous.

They went back to the apartment and Fox admitted to her that Brendan was trying to give Fox his old ship and make him a captain. Hannah tried to question Fox about why he did not want the new challenge, but Fox felt scared of opening up to her about his self-esteem problems. In order to keep her at bay, he decided to seduce her and prove to her he was just a sexual object with no depth. However, Hannah did not fall for his trick. He apologized and made her soup, and then she told him that her grandmother had given her a collection of sea shanties written by Henry Cross. Fox said he had heard some of them sung at sea before, so he sang one for her and she cried. The next day, Hannah decided she wanted to record her father’s songs for the film. Sergei agreed to listen to the new music if she could get it made. She called a local band from Seattle and arranged a meeting the next day. Fox offered to go with her. That night, he invited Hannah to come to a bingo tournament his mother was working at. They kissed again, but then Fox said he would never kiss her again because she would be just another hookup to him. He then immediately apologized, and she accepted his apology.

The next morning, they went to Seattle to meet the band and record the music. Fox began to imagine being in a real relationship with her. After they finished recording, he took her to the Sound Garden installation on Lake Washington. He admitted he had liked her so much ever since the previous summer. They had sex in the car. The next morning, Fox had to leave for a fishing trip. Hannah decided she was in love with Fox and offered to quit her job and move to Westport so they could be together, but he did not want to make any plans because he was worried she would regret her decision. He left and ran into Brendan, who said he was making him take the boat out alone.

Sergei loved the music and tried to give Hannah a promotion, but she refused and announced she was going to start her own music business. When Fox returned, he tried to break things off with Hannah entirely. She told him to take some time to think about what he really wanted and left. He drove to his mother’s house and confessed everything. His mother assured him he was not like his father. The next morning, Fox drives back to Westport and confessed his love to Hannah. The epilogue is set ten years later and shows a happily married Hannah and Fox living together with their daughters in Puyallup, Washington.