Hook, Line, and Sinker

“Imagine a packed bar full of courageous men who fear and respect the sea. Imagine them singing odes to the water. The ocean is their mother. Their lover. She provides for them. And everything in this town reflects that love of the sea.”

Hannah hints at the special relationship fishermen have with the water—a relationship her father had, and Fox Thornton has. Her reference to sea shanties foreshadows the music that Hannah will suggest for the movie after her grandmother gives her the sea shanties Henry wrote. Hannah uses romantic language when describing Westport to Sergei, personifying the ocean with human qualities.

“Fox had learned the hard way that he couldn’t escape the assumptions people made about him. […] Growing up, he’d ached to escape this town and the role his face—and to be fair, his actions—had carved out for him. God, he’d tried. But those expectations followed him everywhere. So he’d stopped trying.”

Fox will experience a character arc and transformation, escaping the limiting beliefs and self-destructive behaviors of his past and moving into healthier new opportunities with Hannah. The theme of healing and Self-Growth Through Romance is a staple of the romance genre.

“He did covet this relationship, even though it scared him. If he was a scale, hope would sit on one side, fear on the other. Hope that he could be more than a hookup to her. Fear that he’d fail at it and be exposed. Again.”

Fox’s insecurities rise to the surface when Hannah is in his home. He’s been hurt by a previous betrayal which has made him reluctant to experience rejection again—his sense of self-preservation has come at the expense of having deep connections with people. His balance of hope and fear provide tension and conflict, and keep him moving toward a relationship with Hannah, even while his past holds him back.

“Ever since Piper moved to Westport, Hannah felt more like a visitor [in the mansion in Bel Air]. Out of place and disconnected in the gigantic palace. It had become obvious that their parents led a separate life, and lately, she’d started to feel like an observer of it. Instead of someone who was happily off living her own.”

Hannah’s increasing sense of disconnect to her life in LA shows that she is ready for new connections in Westport. In contrast to the big city, where her dreams feel limited and her relationships thin, the smaller and more interconnected town of Westport, which holds her grandmother and sister, offers the opportunity to discover herself and grow roots.

“Fox swaggering into the party was like a shark swimming slowly through a school of fish. He was freshly windblown from the ocean, his tan skin slightly weathered from salt, sunshine, and hard work. He towered over everyone and everything. Cocky. So cocky and confident and stupidly hot.”

Given that Fox’s profession is a fisherman, Bailey frequently uses water and fish imagery to describe characters’ emotions and impressions. She uses a simile, where something is compared to something else using “like” or “as,” to describe Fox—“Fox swaggering into the party was like a shark swimming slowly through a school of fish.” Fox is the local approaching the cast party in his territory; he comes across as powerful, possibly predatory. Hannah also notices his attractiveness, continuing the note of sexual tension that pervades the novel. Her assessment that he is “stupidly hot” shows how Bailey injects occasional humor, but also suggests Hannah is not entirely comfortable with her sexual attraction to Fox. The narrative repeats “cocky” for emphasis.

“Hannah was the furthest thing from temporary, and Fox only did short-term. Very short-term. That personal rule kept him from getting his hopes up, from thinking he could be one half of a relationship again.”

These lines suggest that it is not only the expectations of the town and Fox’s friends that drive him, but the betrayal by his college girlfriend. His need to overcome his own limiting beliefs, and Hannah’s ability to get around his defense mechanisms, will spur his personal growth. Bailey uses characteristic sentence fragments—“Very short-term”—to mimic a conversational, casual way of speaking, a style commonly seen in contemporary romantic comedy.

“She never got this feeling [in LA]. The one that said she was in the right place. That she was home and would be accepted here, no questions asked. Every time.”

Hannah’s sense of belonging at Cross and Daughters, the bar she renovated with Piper, contrasts with the sense of distance she feels in and to Los Angeles. Her feeling of acceptance in Westport will allow her to emerge as a leading lady. These lines foreshadow her discovery of her father through his sea shanties, which are a part of the fabric of Westport and its fisherman lifestyle.

“I love how wild nature can get. How it can be more than one thing. How it evolves. One year, the crabs are in one place, the next they’re in another. No one can…define the ocean. It defines itself.”

In explaining why he loves his job, Fox reveals something about himself to Hannah. Their ability to converse about their thoughts and feelings in platonic fashion, without the expectation of sex, allows them to establish a deep emotional connection that then amplifies their sexual attraction. Fox is struggling to define himself, especially in terms of his capacity for relationship.

“She thought that compassion made her a supporting actress instead of a leading one, and didn’t realize that her empathy, the fierce way she cared, made her something bigger. Hannah belonged in a category far more real than the credits of a movie. A category all her own.”

Fox recognizes Hannah’s strength and reflects on his belief that she is leading-lady material. His admiration also shows that he is falling in love. Fox helps Hannah see the best in herself and she does the same for him, reaffirming the theme of Self-Growth Through Romance, key in the romance genre.

“So many times she’d tried to bridge the gap between herself and this man who’d fathered her, and never succeeded. […] Hearing the song was almost like having a conversation with Henry Cross. It was the closest she would ever come. This explanation of his conflicting loves—the sea and his family.”

Hearing Fox sing the sea shanty that Henry Cross wrote is a key moment for Hannah on many levels. The music connects her to Henry and repairs the sense of detachment that she feels when Piper and Opal Cross talk about him. Her connection to Henry is a connection to Westport as well as a connection to Fox. In addition, hearing Henry’s songs prompts the return of the songs in Hannah’s head and leads her to suggest the shanties for the movie soundtrack, which turns out to be a productive career move.

“Maybe her mission here wasn’t to be the supportive friend, but to prove to Fox that he could be one. That his presence and personality were enough without any of the physical trappings.”

As she falls in love with Fox and sees his damaging beliefs about himself, Hannah feels moved to show him that there is much more to value about him than his sexual appeal. Her natural empathy, which she fears makes her a supporting actress, prompts her to relate to him in a real way.

“Hannah […] was starting to pull him the opposite way. Like a gravitational force. And right now, stuck between Hannah and the reminder of his past, going in her direction seemed almost possible. She was here with him, wasn’t she?”

Fox struggles as he realizes growth and healing from his past are possible—something he believes because Hannah showed him this about himself. To truly set aside his past he must learn to move on from his college girlfriend and trust and relate to a woman again, which his relationship with Hannah demands he do.

“Her feelings for Fox were growing at an exponential rate, with no signs of slowing down, and she could only liken it to heading for a steep waterfall in a kayak.”

For Hannah, coming to be friends and sharing conversations, confessions, and vulnerabilities with Fox have deepened the sexual attraction. Her simile—that falling in love with him is like “heading for a steep waterfall in a kayak”—is typical of the book, which occasionally uses water imagery to relate an image or sensation.

“But now I’ve just been doing this so damn long. I’ve…paved over whatever chance I had at a clean slate. I’ve become what people seemed to want me to be.”

Fox tells Hannah how he feels trapped in other people’s perceptions and the reputation he’s cultivated since high school. A character’s internal obstacles to change, in Fox’s case his limiting self-belief, are typical in a romance novel—they provide tension and conflict that must be resolved for the romantic relationship to succeed.

“She knew this wasn’t about curing him or being the best supporting actress. She wasn’t falling into a pattern. Being supportive, as she’d done so many times in the past, was easy. So easy. As was being on the periphery and not an active part of the narrative. But this time, the consequences of her actions in this story could determine her future.”

Hannah debates whether it is wise to try to pursue a relationship with Fox—or at least show him he’s capable of having one. She recalls her determination to be a leading lady to give herself courage. Just like Fox, Hannah’s growth and arc as a character rely on putting aside her limiting beliefs about herself and living up to her potential.

“She could show up after their argument […] and prove their relationship was resilient. That he could be part of something stronger than the pull of the past. That she could look him in the eye and respect him and care. She could show up, period. That was what she’d been doing all along.”

In what she thinks of as the battle for Fox’s soul, Hannah decides to show him that he is worthy of love and can heal from his past. These are the leading-lady moves that help her gain confidence in herself as she, too, grows through and in the romantic relationship.

“Dangerous, stupid hope that made him ask questions like What if? What if he just put his head down and dealt with the lack of respect from his crew? Took on some of the responsibilities he tried so hard to avoid? Because someone worthy of Hannah would need to be responsible.”

As he did in buying the record player, Fox signals that he wants to become the kind of guy who would be a worthy match for Hannah, good to her and for her. He has convinced himself that his reputation means he is not relationship material and therefore not responsible in other ways. While he still is influenced by what other people think, particularly his crew, part of Fox’s growth is accepting responsibility as captain of the Della Ray.

“Was this her plan? To walk out here after his ugly behavior last night and…stay? Not just in his apartment, but with him. Their bond intact. Unwavering. Because the fact that she knew every part of him, inside and out, and she was still sitting there…it was having an effect. The relief and gratitude that hit him was huge.”

This passage shows one of the enduring themes of the romance novel at work: The beloved has the power to heal a character’s wounds, repair their flaws, and provide the emotional connection and support missing from their life. While Fox has activated all his defense mechanisms, Hannah refuses to relate to him on the basis of his sexual reputation but rather the man she sees him to be. This allows Fox to believe in himself. Bailey intersperses rhetorical questions with sentence fragments and declarative sentences to vary the rhythm of her prose.

“All his cards were on the table. He’d taken off a layer of skin last night and exposed himself. Yet here she sat, not budging. Just being there. Right alongside of him. Permanent.”

The platonic intimacy Fox engages in with Hannah moves Fox past his limiting beliefs about himself. The passage reflects Bailey’s style of conveying a character’s direct thoughts. Bailey uses a metaphor, where something is compared to something else without using “like” or “as,” to show how Fox is being vulnerable. In this case, his vulnerability is compared with literally removing skin.

“Their kiss was honest and raw and unquenchable, as real as the rain starting to fall around them, soaking into the earth, wind howling through the garden structures, trapping them in the center of a force field.”

Bailey invokes the imagery of wild nature and rain to convey the emotional intensity that Fox and Hannah experience when they first have sex. The setting of the Sound Garden, which creates its own music using the wind, recalls Hannah’s ability to be moved by music and Fox’s earlier admiration for the power of nature. Bailey uses a long sentence and polysyndeton, where words are connected by the same conjunction—in this case “and”—to create a breathless feeling: “Their kiss was honest and raw and unquenchable […]” (emphasis added).

“He’d never even nurtured a houseplant. Would he be able to nurture an up-close-and-personal relationship with a live-in girlfriend? In a way that was worthy of Hannah? He refused to take the helm of the Della Ray. He was a walking innuendo among his friends and family. Now he had the audacity to believe he could be the right one for this girl?”

Though he’s admitted he’s in love, the path to romance cannot be too smooth. In one of the novel’s plot reversals, Fox questions his ability to make Hannah happy and shows he is still trapped by doubts about his ability to have real relationships. He needs to make a final effort to heal his old wounds so he can be ready for love and a commitment to Hannah.

“No matter what [Sergei] decided, she’d created something magical. She’d moved the dials until it all came together and overcome the doubt to get it done. Her first leading-lady move—and definitely not her last.”

Hannah completes her character arc, becoming a leading lady through Henry’s sea shanties, which connect her more deeply to her family and make use of her talent for finding the right songs. This feeling of success, that she has acted and directly helped create something, gives her confidence when dealing with Fox.

“Even if the worst happened and things didn’t work out with Fox, she knew what it felt like to love someone now. In that wild, brutal way that couldn’t be fenced in or reasoned with. The crush she’d had on the director seemed like a sad, wet noodle in comparison.”

Hannah has matured out of her role as supporting actress and production assistant, and has grown past her crush on Sergei. Her love for Fox feels adult, real, and lasting. Bailey uses a simile, comparing Hannah’s crush on Sergei to “a sad, wet noodle” in contrast with Hannah’s feelings for Fox. Fox and Hannah’s feelings of completion through love signal the conclusion of the romance plot. Here, only the final recognition of love on Fox’s part and the concluding reconciliation remain.