This was totally a 4.5 star read for me. I LOVED IT!!!! The big shots series has been my fav so far, I'm 12/10 obsessed (please give me Sig and Chole asap).

Tallulah has had a traumatic past and it immediately has her questioning her sanity to move in with a man she only met once to become his Au Pair. Especially after seeing the brutal videos coming out of him on the ice. Sir Savage aka mean daddy Burgess has it BAD for Tallulah and when he senses her discomfort he will stop at nothing to ensure she feels safe again.

I cannot wait to immediately devour the rest of this series or honestly anything Tessa Bailey ever writes. If you're in the market for a BIG mean daddy with low key Sam Hartman vibes (look at the cover I mean come on) look no further cuz here it is.

Tessa Bailey never fails to deliver an emotional, SPICY, enjoyable read! I’m not a huge sports romance fan, but I AM a big fan of this hero!

I have quite a few thoughts on this book, and to be honest, not many of them are good.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first third of the book. It was fun and spicy and the characters were intriguing. But after that, the story felt like it got really boring to me. Additionally, the male main character made a comment implying that young people using the term "partner" instead of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" had to do with lack of commitment and not moving away from heteronormative practices. As someone with a partner myself, this really bothered me, and it threw my whole reading vibe off for the rest of the novel. Especially because Tessa Bailey has been accused of transphobic language before--though I have not read any of her other works outside of this duology, and therefore cannot make an accurate decision regarding those works.

I also felt like the book started dragging after the second third. When the daughter discovered Tallulah and Burgess were dating, I think that should have been the big conflict they had to work out. But then he got injured and was super mean and it kept going from there. By the time the book was over, I was ready for it to be done. The sex scenes also felt weird. They were dirty talking but it didn't really make sense?

Clearly, I was not the right audience for this novel, and that's okay. I hope the potentially harmful comment is changed, though I have no idea whether anyone will even look at this review close enough to read about that. I hope the right readers find this book, though!

Yes, this book is spicy and I think that is all it is meant to be - but it just didn't do it for me. The writing was not good. But let's be real - people don't read Tessa Bailey for the writing quality.

After falling so hard for Wells Whitaker in book one, I thought jumping into this book right after would keep the good times rolling. Not so much.

A few tropes to note:
- single dad x nanny
- age gap (11 years)
- roommates

There wasn't really a plot to this book which was odd considering the one in Fangirl Down. Tallulah worked for Burgess as his daughter's nanny and there was mention of them helping each other conquer the problems in their lives, but we don't really see it on page. Which leads me to what we were seeing on page...

This might be an unpopular opinion, but there was too much sex in this book. I mean that in the sense that nothing really happened except them getting it on. Seriously, it felt like every other page they were grabbing for each other which became annoying. I wanted them to talk and get to know each other and do more than rip each other's clothes off.

This is one I could have skipped, but it introduced characters for book 3 and was suspiciously absent of a very important chapter (I assume she'll release it as a bonus chapter incentive somewhere else). Maybe I'll be alone in my thoughts on this one, but it was a let down after loving Fangirl Down. I'll be back for book 3 though!

I have so many thoughts on this book. I just love Tessa Bailey books. There has not been one that I haven't just adored. In saying that, this was one I struggled a little bit on. Sometimes authors want to you like or not like characters and I couldn't tell how I was supposed to feel about Tallulah. I just felt her whiney and it drove me crazy. I know there are some issues with her, and I wanted to like her character, but I just couldn't. It was a good companion book and I was glad to see that my other favorite characters were doing great. It wasn't a bad read, I liked the book, just not my favorite by her.

3.5/5 stars! I loved the little snippets we got of Burgess and Tallulah in Fangirl Down so I was so excited for this! I love Tessa Baileys writing and this one had the best humor I've read from her lately! The first 70% of the book was so good. I loved the grumpy sunshine and bumbling single father tropes. I didnt though love the trope that was done after 70% and the third act breakup wasn't my favorite. I am though so so excited to see Sig and Chloe I loved them and I really hope they get a book!

Here's the thing: if you're a Tessa Bailey stan, this will be right up your alley and you're going to be so happy, because it's more of the same. For me, it felt too much the same, and I didn't care that much about continuing with these characters. There was spice, sports, dual POVs, a dash of who hurt you and also third act breakup. Quick and easy read, but I likely won't reach for the next one in this series of friends.

OMGGGG BURGESSSSS......❤️❤️❤️

Man... I don't know if it was because this MMC was in my age bracket for once, or if it was the Mean Daddy vibes, but someone get me a fan... This man. This man's mouth. Eek. I knew Tessa would knock it out of the park, but Burgess is my new favorite. Perfectly overprotective (is this a thing?) without being restrictive. We all knew Tallulah was going to wrap him around her little finger.

⚠️Minor Spoilers⚠️

So many layers to this book.
-Single Parent
- Age Gap
- Roommate Romance
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Past Abuse
- Spoilers for Fangirl Down, so be aware if you haven't read it and plan to! (you should)

Tallulah is a grad student who had an instant connection with Lissa, Burgess' tween daughter. Desperate for help with his girl, he hires Tallulah to be a live-in nanny. The chemistry between the two is HOTT right off the bat. Tallulah has a past, some heavy trauma, and Burgess steps right in to be her protector, and takes in upon himself to make sure she comes to him. I loved that there was some depth to their story.

The spice was perfect. Chapter 17 - OMG, Sir Savage..... 🥵

The ending was superb, and oh so cute. I cannot wait to see the shenanigans that Chloe and Sig get into in the next installment.

Thank you Tessa Bailey, NetGalley, HarperCollins, & Co for the ARC!!! Loved!

I have no idea how I can like a first book and think the second one is BLAH! However, this is exactly what happened here.

Short and sweet summary:
Burgess is the grumpy, loner, single dad, friend we met in book one. He is a professional hockey player in his late thirties, meaning he thinks he is SO old he is on death's door. Tallulah is the sunshine marine biologist friend we also met in book one who accepted a position as Burgess' au pair to his 11 year old daughter. Besides the 11 year difference, they have quite a few things working against them....actually they have one....Tallulah's past trauma. Blah, blah, blah, HEA.

The crux of the problem was that the idea of this book just doesnt work with Tessa Bailey's style. The pace was off, the obstacles keeping them apart were easily fixable and then there was a weird third act trip to Costa Rica that just dind't make much sense. I was NOT a fan of Tallulah- she would act super mature one minute (which makes you overlook their age difference) then SUPER immature the next (making you question why would Burgess go for an adult-child). Burgess was a dream, except his character just didnt fit a dirty talking MMC. I mean Tessa is the queen of dirty talk, but it didnt work for Burgess (he's too sweet).

Will I read EVERYTHING Tessa writes, yes! But this one fell flat.

Thank you #NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

As a lover of Bailey's "Fangirl Down," I was thrilled to receive this spinoff as an ARC! The snippets we see of Tallulah and Burgess in "Fangirl Down" had me absolutely feral, and I knew I would absolutely fall in love with their story.

Burgess is so loveable as a character! Tessa Bailey writes the "big and broody" MMC type so well, and his character development was done so beautifully. At times, I didn't feel as though he was truly as "grumpy" as the snapshots we were shown in the previous book, which was somewhat of a disappointment, but still written very true to what I felt his character would've been.

The "single dad" trope has me in a chokehold and I was so excited to see how Tessa Bailey would do with it. I didn't feel like there was as much with Lissa that I was expecting. For an au pair, Tallulah and Lissa barely had their own moments together, with or without Burgess. This made the "big fight" at the climax fall slightly flat, as I wasn't as invested in Lissa's feelings, nor felt that she and Tallulah had that close of a relationship.

Overall, there were a few kinks that brought down my overall rating, but the absolute sweetness of seeing Burgess go after his woman, and the beauty of this story kept it's rating pretty high for me!

I LOVE this new series from Tessa! In this companion novel, we’ve got dual POV, grumpy/sunshine, sports AND he falls first!

A few moments issues felt repetitive, but I loved the really thoughtful way Burgess consisted Tallulah’s feelings, boundaries and concerns. Tessa knows how to write a pining boy ™️

I loved seeing Josephine and Wells again plus I pray we get Sig’s story next!!

There is a lot of heart in this new novel from Bailey. I found Tallulah to be such a charming and appealing character -- smart, brave, loving. And I appreciated that. Burgess understood that he had to grow and change in order to be the partner she deserves. Also liked that this is a single father character and it acknowledges the challenges of dating someone who has a child.

Excited for book 3 in this series!

though I enjoyed fangirl down, the first book in this series, quite a bit more, the au pair affair was still an entertaining read. centered around burgess and tallulah, an aging hockey player and single father and the spunky nanny he hires. the au pair affair is classic tessa — witty, steamy and fun. it was a nice touch to have burgess fall first and fast while his girl was most skeptical about a commitment given the substantial trauma she was still grappling with. that push and pull resulted in a lot of appealing tension and heat. however, and this was something I could sense throughout most of the book, I was consistently left wanting more. this book was good, there is no denying that, but it could have been more, been better. the synopsis promised one thing and we sort of got another. this is marketed as an age-gap romance involving a sports figure and his daughter's nanny. and yet, we got just one hockey game and almost no instances where tallulah actually nannied lissa.

ultimately, this story was a good time. the romance was solid and the steam provided what it needed to. despite some of my small criticism, I did enjoy the au pair affair and will absolutely be tuning into book three. it is sure to be a wild ride given the teasers we got about the couple here.

thanks to avon and tessa bailey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I think this might be my favorite Tessa Bailey! Simultaneously adorable and intensely hot, and Tessa Bailey's signature toxic masculinity was toned down enough to be bearable.

There were a lot of parts I enjoyed and liked, but this one didn't hit the same like the first (Fangirl Down) about their besties. The tone was different like the settings, think Florida versus Boston and you'll get it.

Burgess hires Tallulah immediately when they meet in Fangirl Down as they have lunch with their respective besties. Tallulah immediately hits it off with his daughter, Lissa, and you can tell he is instantly smitten. When we meet them in the Au Pair Affair, he hasn't been able to forget her.

But despite Tallulah also being drawn to Burgess, she doubts her instincts and is hesitant to trust any man again so she backs out of the job. She has very understandable trust issues whose reason you learn early on. But even before she shares her story with him, Burgess is considerate of her feelings and doesn't push anything while trying to support and protect her. That support helps her start to adventure again, to work toward the woman she wants to be.

Though while he plays bodyguard on their adventures, and she gains confidence in herself again, she begins to trust again and finally admits to herself her feelings for him despite the factors against them: the eleven-year age gap, becoming a co-parent, and settling down when her life is just beginning again.

All this as Burgess comes to terms with the realities of his career, body, and what he actually needs to live.

They both had a lot to learn from each other as they are entering new periods of their lives, and wonder if it will work. Tallulah's concerns were very valid, let alone due to her trauma, and she really wrestles with the hard decision of determining what you want your life to look like when you had a very different idea compared to the new the path possible.

Which is also hard when you are ridiculously horny for each other. Yes, there were multiple smutty scenes where Burgess's large size and alpha male tendencies starred.

Throughout I kept being drawn to Chloe and Sig because that book will be SOMETHING. It was also cute to see Wes and Josephine again (yay, best man/maid of honor and wedding shenanigans!).

Overall, maybe it was due to the greater angst than the first, but the vibes were more obessive/possessive/serious than spicy romcom, though there were some great funny moments in typical Tessa fashion. While the tone shift was understandable, if very different coming from the first, I enjoyed how Tessa delved into the characters thoughts and made you really understand their concerns so in atypical romance-reader fashion, you don't know the obvious solution so they can be together and actually doubt for a moment (like them) that they can. It made their happy ending more satisfying and if anything, I want another epilogue but hope to see more of them in Chloe and Sig's story *wink wink nudge nudge*

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Feat: age gap (26/37), boss/employer, au pair/single father, possessive protective alpha male, healing after trauma, cliff-diving as a love language, he falls first, sports romance, pro hockey romance, romcom

3.5 stars
2.5 spice

Dang this book was soooo cute!! I loved the romance and the spice was so good omg. Tallulah was a lovely MC, and I like Burgess too although he wasn’t my absolute favorite. I read this one right after Fangirl Down which was a great choice since the main characters stories are somewhat tied together! I think there were some pacing issues in the first half of this book, because although I really liked the whole book it took me 6 days to get through, when normally it would’ve been a 2 day read for me. So maybe this is like a 4.25, but rounding down. Still a super fun, sexy, lovely read!

🌈Queer rep: none

I have mixed feelings about this but overall enjoyed it. I generally don’t go for this trope, it doesn’t really appeal to me and I wasn’t really that excited to read this aside from it being a Tessa Bailey book (I usually like her books). I didn’t enjoy the previous book in the series much so my expectations were quite low even though I was curious about Burgess.

I feel much of Burgess’ was inconsistent between POVs. In his he seems so anxious and unsure of himself, how to behave, what to say, etc. From T’s perspective, Burgess seems VERY confident and always knows the right thing to say and do. Some of it felt a bit childish given his age, almost schoolchild giddy. He always seemed a step away from scribbling her name on his notebook. BUT! I liked him and actually I thought some of his scenes were hot!

I understood Tellulah’s fears but I didn’t really understand why THAT would cause THESE fears. I said “WHOA” when we learned what happened to her but it was never spoken about again. Did she go to therapy or was Burgess her therapy? I would have liked to read the scenes of her doing hard things on her own rather than getting a rundown from Chloe. Speaking of…

What was Chloe’s deal? I worried about her… intellectually. When she said she “didn’t know how to clean” I was very confused. I guess I never considered that someone might need to be taught how to do that? If her book is next, I don’t know if I can take it. Maybe it’ll change my mind?

Very engaging. Liked the character growth, and seeing others from previous relationships. It was nice to see emotional growth of the male love interest.

This one might have beaten out "It Happened One Summer" for me! I LOVED IT. The romance was swoonworthy and believable. Tallulah was spunky without being cheesy or verging on manic pixie. Burgess was dreamy, flawed, and swoonworthy. I loved it. Will be adding to my library's fiction order!