🛁 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 🛁
The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey
“It’s only been one day.”
“One day in hell feels a lot worse after spending weeks in heaven, Tallulah.”
“I’m heaven?”
“My heaven, yeah.”

Synopsis: When Tallulah accepts an au pair position for famous hockey star Burgess Abraham, she decides last minute to back out, worried that he might live up to his nickname - Sir Savage - outside of the rink. Burgess, struggling with a 12-year-old daughter and a crazy hockey schedule, can’t imagine anyone but Tallulah taking the position. There’s also the issue of their insane attraction to one another, which is becoming harder and harder to ignore.

Thank you to @netgalley and Tessa Bailey for the advance copy of THE AU PAIR AFFAIR! As a romance reader, I’m sure it’ll be hard to believe that this is my first ever Tessa Bailey book, but it certainly won’t be my last.

The chemistry between these characters is simply chefs kiss. And I don’t just mean the MC’s: all of their friends and family members only added to the fun of this hilarious and sweet read. I typically don’t love a single parent trope, but I adored Burgess’s daughter Lissa and her dynamic with Tallulah.

The banter and the spice are what sold me on this book, but it also has so much heart (my chest physically ached during the “ask me for galaxies” scene). If you’re looking for a sweet and spicy romance to warm you up this spring, I couldn’t recommend this book more. ❤️📚🏒🛁✌🏽

The Au Pair Affair is an adorable story about two characters putting themselves out there in ways they haven't been able to. Tallulah has some traumatic history that she's working hard to get past. Burgess has resigned himself to being past his prime and doesn't see the point in adventure and excitement. Together Burgess helps empower Tallulah to open herself up to doing things she's been too afraid to. Tallulah helps show Burgess that adventure is still worth pursuing.
I really liked both main characters. Burgess is such a cinnamon roll. I love seeing men who get emotionally attached due to intimacy. It's such a common trope in women, so I loved seeing that in him. I also appreciated that they worked through their miscommunications quickly and were both mature about their needs and desires. It was also fun to see Wells and Josephine. I love their book so it was great to get that cameo. I really really want Sig and Chloe to be the next book! They are so cute!!
The spice was *chefs kiss*. Tessa Bailey always does a good job with that and this book was no exception. It was well spaced throughout the book and added to the plot.
This might be my favorite Tessa Bailey book, I liked it that much. Definitely snag a copy when it gets published!
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

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!

Unfortunately, this one did not live up to the first in the series for me. As much as I love Tessa, this couple just did not have the oomph hers usually do. I did not feel the conflicts were well done, and they felt somewhat contrived.

Tessa set the bar SO DANG HIGH with Fangirl Down...The Au Pair Affair was almost as good and I ate it up just as fast. Burgess fell so fast and so hard and I love him so much. Loved the glimpses we got of Josephine and Wells - they have my entire heart forever. I love an age gap and a single dad so this story really worked for me.

Read if you like:
-single parent
-sports romance
-age gap
-forced proximity
-he falls first and harder

Can't wait to see whats to come with the rest of the series!

Thank you to Avon Books, Tessa Bailey, and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

The Au Pair Affair was very well-written, the characters' inner lives were believable and all likable. The intimate scenes were the best kind of racy and showed a balance between the romantic partners' physical needs. I'm glad this is becoming the trend in contemporary romances.

**Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read The Au Pair Affair as an ARC!**

The Au Pair Affair is the second book in the Big Shots series by Tessa Bailey. After how quickly I devoured the first, Fan Girl Down, I was really looking forward to reading The Au Pair Affair! However, this story was not my most favorite from Tessa. The story of Burgess and Tallulah was great for the first 75-80% of the book. After that, I really struggled with how quickly their characters fell apart and then got back together. It didn’t seem very realistic with how much trauma that Tallulah went through in previous relationships. I always love Tessa’s spicy scenes but there just wasn’t enough of them in this book. I would still recommend this for fans of Tessa Bailey and to my library.

This book has left me speechless. Burgess and Tallulah’s first interaction in Fangirl Down got me thinking about them nonstop, and I knew their book was going to hit me hard. It has become one of my top reads of the year, and I know I’ll be rereading my highlights for months. If I have to compare what this book made me feel, I’d compare it to what I felt while reading It Happened One Summer and My Killer Vacation (my most favorite Tessa books). The same obsession. IHOS was the book that made Tessa my favorite author and reading another one that makes me feel the same is the best experience ever.

Burgess was the epitome of stern-brunch-daddy-becomes-malewife. Tessa’s heroes are always so intense and to be honest, that’s what makes me love them so much, which is a miracle because this doesn’t happen a lot. Tallulah’s past is terrible and I could totally understand her reluctance when it came to men. Burgess’s protectiveness wore her worries off and even though the third act breakup was heartbreaking, I think it was necessary and Tessa did an amazing job in it not rushing through it. I also feel like this book brought us back to the steam levels we were used to in her books! Oh my god, buckle up 🥵 It gets intense.

Last but not least, Sig and Chloe. The only thing I’m gonna say is that I am ready to become Chloe’s number one protector, just like I did with Piper in IHOS. Just SAYING.

TW: Stalking, harassment, kidnapping, abuse

Rating: 5+/5
Steam level: Open door, +5 scenes, high level of detail

ARC provided by Avon and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

This was cute! I do think that Tessa Bailey may have gotten some of her magic back with this series. I've been her reader for years and I will say this series feels more like the fun stories she used to write. The characters were fun, the romance was believable, and the found family these two (well, three) created was great. Thank you so much for the chance to read it early!

This is the sequel to Fangirl Down, but you don’t need to read that one to enjoy this story; it’s a standalone book featuring Wells and Josephine’s respective best friends, Burgess and Tallulah. I really liked it! I loved the individual journeys Tallulah and Burgess go on, as well as their relationship journey. It made me laugh while also having a lot of heart. Both main characters have been through very traumatic life events and work together and separately to process. I liked how they gave each other the space to do that while still being supportive of the other. I really hope there’s another one in this series; I NEED to know what happens with a couple of the side characters.

3.5 stars, with the potential for 4 stars. I’m hoping some pacing can be edited but that’s TBD.

The tropes were on point: nanny, hockey, age gap 👏🏼

The third act breakup lost me. I don’t like them to begin with and this one felt like it dragged on. And not to yuck someone’s yum, but Tessa sometimes loses me with her spice. It’s like we go from 0-60 mph (which some people enjoy). This was the case for the progression of the relationship as well as the spice.

Tessa Bailey is hit and miss for me. In every book there are some things that hit just right, but certain staples of her writing style are often a miss for me.

I was excited about this in a generic I-like-Tessa-Bailey way, not super into the trope, but it BLEW me away. Super fun, sweet; I caught myself smiling so many times.

Incredibly follow-up to Fan Girl Down. Tessa Bailey really has such a way with a romance novel and building really likable, fun characters! She can write some silly (sometimes outrageous circumstances) and because she’s good at you can just go “yup I’m into it”. Bravo, yet again. The romantic relationship was obviously the main pull and such a triumph in this book but I also really loved the relationship Bailey built between Tallulah and Burgess’s daughter. It was a special bond and one I enjoyed seeing blossom.

Overall I really enjoyed this! I loved Fangirl Down and knew I wanted to get to read about this couple and it did not disappoint. This is only my 2nd romance featuring a hockey player and I thought it was done really well. As a single parent myself I have really been enjoying books featuring single parents recently. There was great banter and tension throughout and Tessa really knows how to write a dirty-talking man.
I appreciated the wide range of emotions that I experienced while reading this romance.
Tessa has definitely recently become and auto-read author for me.
I will post my review on my bookstagram on release day! instagram.com/thatbookishteach

Fun, funny, steamy, but the ending felt rushed, and I felt like the heroine had so much less developed as a character than the hero was.

Tessa surprised me with the first in this series- a romance novel about GOLF of all things. This hockey romance was actually pretty good. Light and fun while also having some emotional and messy parts. Tessa writing is well paced and enjoyable to read. While her stories range in a spectrum of star ratings for me, this one is a solid 4 star. I enjoyed it, id recommend it. It had enough hockey to rightfully call itself a hockey romance, which I greatly appreciate. I also enjoyed having Lissa in the mix and how she not only played into the story but into the relationship as a whole. Kids can complicate a relationship and I appreciated her in this one.

Stunning. What an excellent read. The characters were fun and relatable. I normally don’t enjoy stories that have kids in them, but this was is a definite exception!

Swoon.

I got the ARC of this a few days after I read the ARC of Fangirl Down. I inhaled them both in just a day. As soon as I read the interactions between Burgess and Tallulah in Fangirl Down I knew their story would be so much fun.

Tallulah is new to town and is offered the opportunity to be a live in nanny for a mutual friend while she finishes her marine biology degree. Burgess is a hockey star who is struggling with deciding his career path that will ultimately come after hockey. He's been pretty single and focused on work and his tween daughter since the divorce and hasn't had much time for dating. Tallulah decides she wants to help Burgess loosen up and get back into the dating scene. The only problem is that they only seem to have eyes for each other.

Burges is pretty much obsessed with Tallulah from the beginning, I love a gruff and protective hero. The scenes at the park mixer had me laughing out loud. They tried so hard to pretend like their relationship was just friendship and it was hilarious. I expect a dirty talking hero from Tessa, and Burgess didn't disappoint. I was happy to get a glimpse into Wells and Josephine's life after their book.

It's rare that I would give a book five stars and yet both books in the series so far are five stars for me! This is definitely a book that I could ready over and over. I loved Fangirl Down so much and can't believe that I could love The Au Pair Affair even more. If the next in the series is Sig and Chloe I can already tell I am going to love it.

Tropes included: hockey romance, nanny/boss, age gap, single parent, forced proximity, he falls first, roommates, groveling, grumpy/sunshine. dirty talking hero

Thank you to Tessa Bailey, NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

As I state in all my Tessa Bailey reviews, she is one of my top authors. I will never NOT jump to read one of her books. The Au Pair Affair was no different. It comes in hot off the heels of FanGirl Down and I was fortunate enough for NetGalley and Avon & Harper Voyager to grant me both ARCs and I devoured them back to back. Tallulah is the wonderful young carefree spirit and Burgess is the older shutdown grump - one of my favorite character duos! Per usual, Tessa Bailey has gifted us a laugh out loud, spicy, heart tugging story that will send you down both ends of the emotional spectrum. I love her, I love her books, I love her characters, and I can't wait for more!!

The Au Pair Affair follows Burgess and Tallulah as they navigate their new au pair relationship. Tallulah moves in with Burgess to help nanny for his daughter Lissa, but they quickly realize they have too much chemistry to keep a strictly professional relationship. This is the second installment in Tessa Bailey's Big Shots series featuring romances with all-star athletes.

I wanted to love The Au Pair Affair so bad. And genuinely, there were many aspects that I did love about it. The writing felt effortless, and the physical chemistry between Tallulah and Burgess was evident. I also greatly enjoyed Tallulah and Burgess's relationship with Lissa, as well as the appearances from Wells, Sig, Chloe, and Josephine. It definitely felt very found family, and made me excited about a potential book about Chloe next (but also are they really going to be step siblings... are we really going there?).

The beginning of this book had me SO excited, but the last 30% really let me down. This romance felt more like lust than love to me. When I read a romance, I am looking for an undeniable emotional connection between our two main characters. It seemed like Burgess and Tallulah had to compromise too much on their own ends in order to be together, and being together was heavily motivated by physical attraction. The relationship also felt so inappropriate from the beginning. There was minimal conversation about how the two of them should not be involved, and they jumped right into it from the start. Yes there was "hesitation" to label it, but that did not stop them from having a physical relationship. Considering there is a child involved, I just wish there had been more conversation before jumping into a physical relationship. Really, it just shouldn't have happened but, alas, then there would be no plot to the book (which there wasn't much of in the first place).

I also had to keep asking myself throughout this book what Tallulah could possibly gain from this relationship. By the end, I still genuinely have no idea how this relationship benefited her except that she gets to date an all-star hockey player. Burgess seemed to benefit exponentially from their relationship whereas Tallulah had to relive her trauma and take care of an older man because he refused to take care of himself. Also, the third act conflict was not just a breakup but Burgess doing a complete 180 and acting like a monster to Tallulah, which is everything she feared he would be from the start. If it were me, I would never recover from a man speaking to me the way that he did. It quickly made from me not caring about the man to not wanting him anywhere near Tallulah, because she deserved so much better!

In terms of enjoyment, 4 stars. I always enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing and have fun with her books. However, when I look closer and truly analyze the text, this felt more like 2 stars, so we're going with 3. If you enjoy Tessa Bailey, I think this one will be fun for you. It's not my favorite by her but also not my least favorite either.