They say Sarah J Maas is the queen of fantasy but Tessa Bailey is the QUEEN of romance.

I’m honestly so obsessed with Tallulah & Burgess, although I loved them at the end of Fangirl Down. Which is book 1 of big Shots. Although you do not need to read it to be able to read The Au Pair Affair. I highly suggest it because it’s an amazing read as well!

I loved reading their relationship bloom, and watching Tallulah heal and fall back in love with life was like taking a breath of fresh hair after a northeastern. Which also brings about, this is set in Boston, Ma. I live an hour away. It was so well written. From the weather, to the Boston landmarks, to watching a baseball game outside of Fenway. This will honestly become my new comfort read.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-arc!

Tessa Bailey is still an insta-buy author for me and to add my weak spot of a grumpy hockey player just made this book all the better. I liked the first book Fangirl Down more, but this one was still really good!

I absolutely loved the first sixty percent of this book, but the break up just fell a bit flat for me. I already have some issues with third act break ups in general, but this one felt like it came out of nowhere pretty quickly. Burgess really redeemed himself in the end. The last thirty percent was equally heartbreaking and heartwarming which made up for it!

I do hope we get to see Sig’s and Chloe’s story!

Tallulah, a marine biology grad student, is finishing up her degree in Boston and needs a job and a place to stay. Enter Burgess Abraham, aka Sir Savage, a surly hockey player and father to a tween. All things in the Bailey-verse align, and Tallulah ends up moving in and working as the au pair.
Tallulah and Burgess try to deny their attraction to each other, but no one can resist a 'mean daddy' for long.
Full of snappy and sassy dialogue, Bailey hits the right balance of sweet and steamy in the second book of her Big Shots series.

thank you soso much to netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

this is my first ARC and for that i’m so grateful - i just wish i was leaving a higher review. i’m the biggest tessa bailey fan: i’ve been reading her books for forever and it happened one summer is on my favorites shelf. i absolutely adored fangirl down and could not wait for july to read burgess and tallulahs story - that brings us here. in hopes of keeping this review spoiler free, i think i can sum it all up by saying this book was trying too hard to be so many conflicting things at once and no one trope (or plot line) was flushed out enough to be enjoyable. it was all over the place and gave me whiplash.

this being said, i’ll still read whatever tessa puts out there and i know that not every book for me will be someone’s cup of tea and vice versa!!! there are certainly readers out there that will eat this book up; unfortunately this time, it wasn’t me.

I rated this book a 2.5/5 stars. This is the first Tessa Bailey book I've ever read, and I understand the hype! Her writing style is very fun and easy to read, this book actually got me out of a rather long reading slump, in fact. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, and thought the relationship between Burgess and Tallulah (and between Lissa and Tallulah) a lot! There was a fun dynamic, and plenty of drama to keep a reader hooked. It was a fun read, but also covered serious topics like Tallulah's past experience with men. However, the one thing I didn't love was actually Burgess' possessiveness. I found it to be a little much at times, especially when he would make comments about her being his 'entire life' and the only reason he existed. It just came on a little bit strong, and paired with Tallulah's past trauma and need to break out of her shell again, it just didn't sit right with me. All in all, I did enjoy reading this book, but some parts just felt unbelievable and unnerving. Tessa Bailey has a very obvious talent, and this won't be the last time I pick up something by her.

I am generally a huge fan of Tessa Baileys work. However, and comparing this book to her latest release Fangirl Down, it fell a little short for me. The romance felt a little forced, and it felt rushed. I however did enjoy the book and had a fun time reading it!

I blasted right through this new Tessa Bailey book, and I really enjoyed the ride. I couldn't help but compare it to Jenny Holiday's Canadian Boyfriend, because there's a pretty similar initial setup - a professional hockey player and single dad (Burgess, known to hockey fans as Sir Savage) hires a nanny (Tallulah, a marine biology grad student) for his tween daughter (Lissa) who he is struggling to connect with and fully understand, and he happens to be very attracted to the nanny, who is a smart and accomplished woman with some big time past trauma. There are lots of differences - in this case, the female main character's trauma was even more intense, the male main character is a divorcee and not a widower, there's an age gap of 11 years, and this one is - at least in my recollection - way spicier than the Jenny Holiday. I found myself really liking Burgess and Tallulah's grumpy sunshine dynamic, and I really enjoyed the dynamic with Lissa. I also appreciated that Burgess was not only not dismissive of Tallulah's past trauma and her ongoing mistrust based on that trauma, but that he actively respected her boundaries and her instincts. I have to admit, though, that I was slightly distracted by two side characters - Burgess's teammate Sig and his not quite stepsister Chloe, who I VERY MUCH hope get their own book. I liked seeing Burgess, Tallulah, and Lissa all grow and change, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the third act breakup here, it did make sense in the context of the story. Also, again, very spicy.

The Au Pair Affair may just be this summer's hottest new book. The Au Pair Affair follows Tallulah, a graduate student who has accepted a job as an Au Pair for a professional hockey player, Burgess. Tallulah is tasked at being Burgess's“translator” for his pre-teen daughter, Lissa. Where Burgess is failing to understand and help with every teen girl related, Tallulah knows how to fill in those gaps.
Burgess quickly falls for Tallulah, but when Tallulah is haunted by her past, it makes it hard for their relationship to get off the ground. What starts as an innocent job, it quickly turns into a steamy, passionate, and somewhat forbidden love. Forbidden because Burgesses daughter believes that her mom and him will be getting back together. This conflict creates for some interesting situations.
This book is definitely spicey. If you don’t like spice, I don’t think you will enjoy this one. But, I think it is done in a tasteful way that leaves the reader wanting more. It's somewhat of a slow burn in that area. The sexual tension just keeps building and building until the reader can not put the book down because they have to see the magic Burgess and Tallulah will create once they finally give into their desires. The book is not all spice and has quite a bit of plot.
The beginning of this book was a tad slow. However, once it picked up about 15% to 20% away, I was hooked. I live for a book that gets me in trouble in the morning. I stay up wayyy past my bedtime just to see if they finally give into their feelings.
Overall, I would give this book a 4.20/5.00. I really loved the forbidden attraction between them. The only complaints I have is the beginning is just a tad slow, it didn’t capture my attention real well. And, sometimes there was too much focus on physical attraction. Almost any time the characters talked about the other, it was about sex too much. I would’ve liked to see a little more emotional attraction compared to so much physical attraction. However, I did really like the smut in this book and the way it was executed. I loved the plot and thought it was a super cute book!

This series is def my favorite by Tessa Bailey thus far, she writes a top tier sports romance. The angst and tension was def her best yet and i adored both of these characters from the very beginning.

I was laughing, crying and swooning with them both and found them both very relatable.

My only dislikes are the third act breakup. I really hate when they drag on and never end. I do understand why Tellulah left when his daughter saw them because he needed to diffuse the situation but i don’t believe it needed to be a breakup. It didn’t feel believable when they finally were in the same space again and i felt like it hurt the overall book!

Still really enjoyed the book, the characters and the story very much!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for sending me an early copy. All thoughts are my own.

Once again Tessa Bailey made me fall for another made up couple. I’m a huge hockey romance reader and when I found out Tessa was writing her own, I just knew it was going to be good.

Obviously I was right because Burgess and Tallulah were so much fun. The banter was hilarious, their story was sweet, and of course the spice was SPICY!!!

I’ve said this once and I’ll say this over and over again, Tessa could write down her grocery list and I’d be the first person in line to buy it.

5 stars!!

Tropes:
-grumpy/sunshine
-nanny
-funny banter
-trust issues
-he falls first
-Spice

This story truly had all the best tropes! Tessa Bailey knows how to write men who are so easy to fall for. I was swooning so much through this one. And the sexual tension was basically flying off the page! This book was great!

The first book in this series, Fangirl Down, really set the bar high. However, it pains me to admit that The Au Pair Affair falls flat. I just didn't believe the character development. I didn't believe they were actually in love at any point in this book. And the pacing was a mess. This book will jump ahead a few weeks at a time very randomly. One time jump was 5 weeks, and those 5 weeks--had the author shown us what was happening--would have been very critical to character development! While I adore Tessa Bailey, this book just felt forced.

This was fun & very spicy, and a great book for lovers of hockey romances. The secondary characters were very funny, and I appreciated when the story-telling was surprising (for example, the hero's ex-wife could have easily become a jealous ex, and I liked that the author didn't go that way.) The secondary couple was a bit more interesting than the main couple, though, which is why I gave it three stars. But I would recommend to romance readers looking for spicy & easy to read.

OMG this book! I loved it so much, from beginning to end, it was magic, I could not put it down and then stop gushing about it to my peers and begging them to read it as soon as it's published. The beginning dynamics that kicked off the story was interesting, Tallulah's back story and her ambitions plus Burgess protectiveness and his internal baggage just create such a magically perfect story. And the story is one hella of steamy slow burn let me warn you, it has the reader simmering to the point of physically blushing and turning on your seat. My goodness! I haven't read such a hot spicy book full of great sexy scenes that don't come off as a book full of smut, because the story is so well written that it just works so well into the plot, which is a good one. And it was so funny too, I mean laugh out loud funny. And the way Burgess is so smitten with her is so cute. Ugh this is my chef's kiss of romance books, my roman empire.
I highly recommend it.

This is by far my favorite book from Tessa Bailey. This may or may not be because its a Hockey Romance, but I am here for it. I cant wait for other Hockey books from Tessa! 75% the way through is a buzz kill but Burgess does redeem himself! I cant wait for the next book that FMC was a great side character in this story!

Tropes:
Hockey Romance
Nanny x Boss
Age Gap
Grumpy x Sunshine
Single Dad

Avon | Harper Voyager and NetGalley provided me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are my own.

"If Tessa Bailey wants to stay in her sports romance era forever, I am here for it. Fangirl Down was one of my top reads last year and I was extremely excited to read The Au Pair Affair after the glimpses we got of Tallulah and Burgess in the previous book. I'm a sucker for an age gap, single dad + nanny romance, so this one was such a fun read for me.

I fell in love with the Boston setting from the get-go, but I fell even harder for the couple. There were so many elements I love in a good romance, including forced proximity. There is serious sexual tension from the get-go and the pair is constantly playing with fire. It's always a good time when he falls first, and let me tell you, he fell so hard and I was here for it.

Tallulah was such a fun heroine. Even though this marine biologist student was in her early twenties, she was mature beyond her years and didn't have a problem speaking her mind and standing up for what she felt was right. The instant companionship she had with Burgess' daughter was the sweetest and I loved seeing their relationship grow throughout the book. She had a traumatic past when it comes to men and Burgess was the perfect hero to help her heal and show Tallulah her worth.

Burgess is so protective and loyal and would do anything to make sure Tallulah feels safe. He had major touch her and die energy, yet he still made it his mission to empower Tallulah to feel confident. I loved how communicative he was about what he wanted in life and in a relationship with Tallulah. Burgess is such a good father, yet he always wanted to do more to support his daughter.

While I didn't love this one as much as I loved Fangirl Down, it was a fun read and it made me fall deeper in love with this entire sports world Tessa Bailey is building. I cannot wait to see where the series goes next!"

I really wanted to like the Au Pair Affair after feeling like Fangirl missed the mark. But there's something about the male characters in both novels that is just off-putting. Bailey tries to create a character in Burgess that is both full of toxic masculinity and in touch with his feelings. But what comes off is a territorial borderline-obsessed boyfriend who "seemingly lets Tallulah make choices" but then tracks her every move. The "your mine" aggressive behavior is not admirable and makes it very hard to want Tallulah to be with him.

Everything Tessa Bailey writes is an easy five stars. You know it’s going to be laugh-out-loud funny and swoony and spicy. I loved every second of this one!

This book might be for some people, but it was unfortunately not for me.

Burgess, a professional hockey player, is in need of an au pair for his twelve year old daughter. Tallulah is a graduate student, in need of a job and a place to live. Seems like a match made in heaven right? Well you’re wrong!

Burgess is one of the most toxic characters I have ever read, and I’m sorry his relationship with Tallulah was downright creepy.

Also there should be trigger warnings for this book, and I didn’t see any so that’s not cool.

The best part about this book was Chloe and Sig, I hope we get a book about them.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Tropes
-Single Dad
-Nanny
-Insta Love
-Hockey Romance
-Age Gap

Much like Fangirl Down, The Au Pair Affair was not for me. I really am not a third person girlie, as much as I want to be.