*Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins Australia for sending me a digital copy*

A word I would use to describe this book is superficial. From the annoying two-dimensional characters to the plot. Au Pair Affair follows the romance (if you want to call it that) between a professional hockey player and the college student he hired to look after his daughter.

These two characters annoyed the hell out of me. Burgess’s inner monologue was painful to read, constantly saying that he shouldn’t think about sleeping with Tallulah, but the very next sentence did exactly that. And wouldn’t stop for the entire book. This guy’s only personality was wanting to sleep with her constantly and worrying he was too old to play hockey. This guy was a red flag from the very beginning and just got worse.

Tallulah was slightly better but not great. The trauma that she experienced in the past once again felt superficial and I just didn’t care about her journey. This girl is supposed to be a masters student and just did some stupid and cliche things. There’s also this other pair of characters that had a weird relationship - I don’t even want to go there.

Tessa Bailey's second book in the Big Shots series is another winner! I adored Fan Girl and I'm pleased to say that The Au Pair Affair is just as good. Marine biologist Tallulah and hockey player Burgess' romance was an emotional one. I loved the ups and downs with their relationship, making it feel very authentic. Burgess' protectiveness was sweet and I loved that Tallulah was portrayed as being so clever. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

This was such a fun and quick-paced rom-com with spice and banter. I loved Burgess and Tallulah and was rooting for them from the beginning of the book.

Burgess is a grumpy but unintentionally funny, hockey player and a single dad. He is so protective over Tallulah and has the touch her and 💀 vibes that I really enjoyed. Tallulah is tortured sunshine in human form, a marine biologist and the au pair of Burgess’ 12-yr old daughter, Lissa.

While Burgess falls first and hard, it took some time for Tallulah to reciprocate his feelings as she struggles with some serious past trauma and has trust issues.

The character growth of the MCs was so well-written, especially Tallulah’s. Her struggles were so realistic and easy to relate to. I was glad that there was no ex-wife drama and that Burgess and his ex-wife were co-parenting Lissa in a healthy way.

This book is sweet, spicy and swoony with so much banter, tension and angst. The side characters were amazing and I’m looking forward to Chloe and Sig’s story😮‍💨

Also, can we please have the Netgalley arcs in the epub format as I really struggled with the font size on the Netgalley Shelf with this one🫣

Thank you so much Tessa Bailey, HarperCollins Australia and Netgalley for this arc copy🫶

So excited to see a hockey romance from Tessa! Her books are always a fun time. I really loved Tallulah‘s journey and how Burgess helped her find herself again. Loved the new characters introduced and can’t wait for the series to continue!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC! I loved this story, it was extremely well written. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by Tessa!

CW: Description of stalking and kidnapping

Dear Tessa Bailey,

I loved Fangirl Down earlier this year and was hoping for a similar experience with the the second book in the Big Shots series, The Au Pair Affair. I was not disappointed.

We met Burgess “Sir Savage” Abraham and Tallulah Aydin in Fangirl Down where, Tallulah agreed to take the job of au pair for Burgess’s tween daugher, Lissa, when she moved to Boston for her graduate program in marine biology after completing her stint in Antarctica researching Adelie penguins. It was obvious from that first meeting that Burgess had it bad for Tallulah. He just about swallowed his tongue. However, Burgess is 37 and Tallulah is 26 so he thought he was too old for her.

As this book begins, Tallulah is having second thoughts about the wisdom of moving into, essentially, a stranger’s house. Burgess is a professional hockey player and a very large man. As one might expect, he’s aggressive on the ice. Some years earlier, a former hook up and would-be boyfriend stalked and abducted her (there was no sexual assault) and she still bears the emotional scars. She’s very wary of men.

Burgess, when it comes to Tallulah, is a marshmallow. He is fiercely protective of and for her and in no way wants her to be scared of him. He would cut off a limb before doing physical harm to her. He also understands that she doesn’t know that (yet) and it’s okay for her to do whatever she needs to do to feel safe. He therefore reacts exactly the right way when she lets him know about her second thoughts re the job. That is, he doesn’t get angry and he is accepting of her decision, even going to far as to help her find an alternative place to live.

She started to say something, but no words came out. That telling reaction caused Burgess to dig his fingertips into his thigh hard enough to cause pain, his pulse pumping loudly in his ears. Name the dead man who hurt you.

Tallulah decides to take things slowly and think further before actually moving in but she did hit it off with Lissa when they met all those months before and wants to reconnect with her so she doesn’t want to walk away altogether.

“Hey, girl,” Tallulah said. “You still have those insane dance moves?”

Lissa giggled. “Maybe. I haven’t danced since the last time.”

“Not even in the shower?” exclaimed Tallulah.

“People don’t dance in the shower,” scoffed his kid. But she was smiling.

Tallulah gave an exaggerated toss of her hair. “I do.” Burgess would be mulling over that piece of information for the rest of the day.

It quickly becomes apparent that Burgess needs not only practical help with child care, he needs help connecting with his daughter. He loves Lissa (and Lissa loves him) but they’re having trouble communicating that and Burgess is particularly struggling because he doesn’t speak tween. Also he can’t braid hair for shit.

Not only is there an 11 year age gap between the couple, there are also some personality differences which represent a challenge. Burgess feels old. He is old for a hockey player. He feels defeated after his divorce and has become a homebody. He’s worried about what happens after he can’t play anymore, believing that hockey is pretty much all he’s good for. He’s always been more on the introverted side of things and is decidedly anti-social.

“When I made plans to meet for drinks today, I figured the more the merrier, so I texted Chloe to join us.” Burgess couldn’t help it, he was completely fascinated by that mentality. Making plans with people she’d just met? Mixing friend groups? Where did the chaos end?

(I feel you Burgess.)

Tallulah is the opposite of Burgess; she’s been hiding to a degree* since the incident with the stalker but she wants to be brave and adventurous again. (*It seems to me to be a brave thing to go to Antarctica and spend months with five people isolated from everyone and everything.) Burgess offers to stand by and protect her while she has these new adventures, so she’ll feel safe. But he doesn’t offer to join in. Both of them have understandable hesitation about whether they are compatible for the long term. But, it quickly becomes apparent that Tallulah is endgame for Burgess and Tallulah, even though she is not actually looking to settle down (and certainly had no plans to be a stepmother to a nearly-teen) may just have found her soulmate.

They do have some things to work through and I’m pleased to say that Burgess finds his sense of adventure, eventually. Ultimately, he wants Tallulah to be happy to live her life to the fullest and he will not be what holds her back. *heart eyes*

I gather that the Big Shots series was originally planned to be two books but that has expanded to possibly five? I wonder if the final two heroes will be the rookies (aka the “orgasm donors” – self named by the way) who look up to Burgess like baby geese after imprinting on their mother . I hope so. They were fun and I’d happily read about them going from fuckboys to devoted partners. At the least, they provided some additional laughs in this book:

“Is that what that whole silent communication thing was about earlier?” They gave a synchronized shrug. One of the orgasm donors smacked the other one in the shoulder. “Why don’t we communicate silently like that?”

“We do. What am I thinking about right now?”

“Banana pudding.”

“Holy shit!”

Burgess (which is not a hot name but he was hot regardless) and Tallulah have scorching chemistry and sizzling banter. The broader cast were a lot of fun too. I fell in love with Chloe and Sig and there were also cameos from Wells and Josephine (more particularly Wells – who remains the lovestruck hot doofus I adored in Fangirl Down.)

As much as I enjoyed the book, there were some things I queried. The timeline seemed a little out of whack to me (but that may have been an ARC issue rather than a finished book issue) and given what I know from my day job, six weeks seems awfully fast to recover from a certain surgery to the degree depicted. I would have a liked a little more of Lissa. I was interested in how she navigated her friendship woes and what advice Tallulah had specifically given her. I figure, if Lissa is going to be in the story, make her more a part of it.

Also, even though I rate Tessa Bailey as A+ in the hot and sexy scenes department (honestly most all of the sex scenes in this book are fire), an MC spitting on a FMC during oral sex is not sexy to me. (Maybe I’m just old.)

I was a little dubious at first about the third act conflict which occurred earlier than I expected it would, but it turned out that just gave Burgess another courtship opportunity and a courting Sir Savage is a thing to behold so I became convinced.

There’s a particular vibe to this series; super protective heroes completely gone for their love interests, a great balance between “caveman” desires and a modern understanding of autonomy and consent. (Of course, consent in the sexual sense but more, in the sense of help when you’re asked to not when you think it’s needed.) Personally, I find it delicious to watch a hero struggle with his protective instinct and want to do everything to keep his lady safe and make her happy versus knowing that for her to actually be happy she needs to be able to do for herself and stand on her own. The other thing both books in the series have in common is the fierce pride the guys have on behalf of their ladies’ professional accomplishments. For me this is a great mix of feels and romance.

Were I to rate Fangirl Down and The Au Pair Affair next to one another, I’d say that Fangirl Down is just slightly better but only just. Both are bangers.

I can hardly wait for the next book in the series, which must surely feature Sig and Chloe and promises to provide me with the same reading glee.

Grade: B+

Regards,
Kaetrin

The au pair affair
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🌶🌶🌶/5

It's been a hot minute since I've read a Tessa Bailey book but they never go wrong and I was so so so happy when I got accepted for an ARC from @harper.collinsanz for the newest release!

It was sweet, swoony, spicy, angsty, and so sexy with a lot of vulnerability and honestly I didn't see coming. As always Tessa Bailey characters have a lot of depth and complexity to them and Burgess and Tallulah were no different. Each character is dealing with their own issues but they way they came together to get out of their comfort zones was so amazing. My heart burst a little reading how proud Burgess was of Tallulah with everything she achieved. This is a single dad romance and the relationship that developed between Burgess and Lissa with Tallulah's help was so beautiful.

The spice was spicin - Burgess had an utterly filthy mouth and made each moment between him and Tallulah so angsty and hot even before they got together. I was happier this was a bit more of a slow burn compared to some other Tessa baileys. I also think that some more of the interaction between Burgess, Tallulah and Lissa and seeing them interact in a more domestic setting would have absolutely made this a 5⭐️ read for me.

PS. There is a lot of set up for the next book in this series through this read and I am. So. Freaking. Excited!!!

Thank you so much @harper.collinsanz for the ARC!!

This book was so damn cute oh my I could not get enough of this hot grumpy hockey player and the sweet sunshine au pair and student the whole romance unfolded really well i was surprised as alot of books either have it too slow and not developing at all or too fast and kind of shallow. But not this couple I would also really love to learn more about Sig and chloe they were so cute together. The one thing I didn't like is that there was a 3rd act break up and they weren't together very long before hand. And it did take a while for me to get into the book.

I really enjoyed The Au Pair Affair - I liked that Tallulah didn’t just cave, she didn’t tell her whole life story immediately but she also knew when to stop and give herself a reality check. I liked Burgess and his ability to know what Tallulah needed, even if he didn’t quite know why yet, he didn’t push or pester her and he was there when she needed him.

I loved the way this was written, it was clever and easy to read and I loved the characters, but there were just some things I would have liked to have seen happen - at the very least the reunion between Tallulah and Lissa. So there were times when I was like ‘okay but how did we get from that to this?’ Otherwise I enjoyed it and am going back to read Fangirl Down and I am KEEN for Sig and Chloe.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for this ARC.

Tessa Bailey has hit the nail on the head with this one! Liveable characters, captivating plot, popular and well loved tropes!

Tropes:
Hockey romance
Age gap
Single dad
The nanny
Forbidden love

The characters were extremely likeable and I found I was rooting for them from the get go! The format and pacing of the plot made this book easy to read, and boy did I DEVOUR it! 10/10 recommend!

“Believe me gorgeous, I could make you come a hundred times and getting to experience you once would still make it fucking fair.”

Tallulah is studying to be marine biologist, leaving her 26 and broke. When she lands a live in au pair job for a hockey veteran single dad she jumps at the chance to get paid and live in a fancy neighbourhood.

Lissa is the coolest preteen, who needs a bit of help fitting in. He’s not the only one that needs some help getting out there. Burgess needs a kick start back in to the dating world. Tallulah is just the girl for the job. As the lines between to cross she finds herself torn between wanting him and wanting to respect Lissa, who thinks her parents will get back together.

After a tragedy strikes and true colours are shown doing the right thing becomes an easy decision. Being mean doesn’t always get you what you want, and winning the girl back doesn’t always come easy. But holy moly the tension!

Single dad, grumpy sunshine, certified mean daddy, hockey romance with some familiar characters from Fangirl Down. Such a fun and spicy read, you always know Bailey delivers top tier romance. Highly recommend for all sports romance lovers.

Burgess is the epitome of ‘he falls first and hard’. There is a case of insta-love on his side but honestly, I enjoyed it in contrast to Tallulah’s hesitancy towards the situation and when it was balanced out by one of the best third-act breakups that Tessa Bailey has written. There was so much sexual tension between our two main characters, plus getting to see Josephine and Wells again made this book so fun.

I’m a sucker for a single dad romance and if you make it a grumpy single dad hero who’s only sweet for his daughter then I’m sold!

Burgess and Tallulah were exactly what each other needed. I genuinely LOLd in this book and swooned more than once. I really enjoyed their banter and watching the relationship unfold. Another sweet aspect was her relationship with his daughter, super cute.

These two had epic chemistry that included realistic conversations about wants, consent and more which made me a very happy reader.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advanced copy for review.

Being a massive Tessa Bailey fan I was already pumped getting into this book, regretfully I didn't read Fan Girl Down first because Tallulah and Burgess were introduced in the first book in the Big shots series. Thankfully it didn't make a difference because I became OBSESSED with these characters!!

I think I may have a new appreciation for the Grumpy Single Dad trope because Burgess was smoking!

As always Tessa brings the witty banter and spicy talking making it an enjoyable read
I now just need to grab a physical copy to add to the collection!

🏒 The Au Pair Affair 🏒
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This might be my new favourite Tessa Bailey book. I mean hockey romance, say less 💅

When we got to meet Tallulah and Burgess in Fangirl Down I immediately knew they were going to be some of my favs and I was invested in these characters from the start! 💕
I mean Sir Savage helping Tallulah work through past trauma *chefs kiss* 🤌

Read this if youre a fan of:
- Single Dad/Nanny
- Hockey Romance
- Age Gap
- He falls first and hard
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Roommate/Forced Proximity
- Opposites Attract

The Au Pair Affair is available now, I definitely need to get myself a physical copy!!
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins Australia for the ARC!

4.5⭐️ I was hooked on Burgess and Tullulah after their encounter in Fan Girl Down (Big Shots, #1), so I was so excited to read The Au Pair Affair (Big Shots, #2). And honestly this book did not disappoint, for me this book was better than the last one which proves the series is getting better and better.

We first got introduced to Burgess and Tullulah in Fan Girl Down (Big Shots, #1) and that planted the seed for this single-father/nanny romance to develop. Tullulah accepted the job as a live-in nanny months ago when she met Boston Bearcats team captain Burgess Abraham and his 12 year old daughter Lissa at a golf tournament with Wells and Josephine. At the time it’s seemed like a great idea and would provide her with a stable job and somewhere to live while completing her Masters in Marine Biology at Boston Uni. However, now it’s time to start the nanny position and she’s realised she’s moving in with a stranger. A man she doesn’t know. What was she thinking??

Burgess notices how reluctant Tallulah is about moving in and tries to allay her fears. He’s quickly charmed by her vivaciousness, her sense of humour and how she has quickly connected with Lissa which is no easy feat. He’s also caught off guard, feeling things he’s never felt before (keep in mind he was once a married man!), and he wondering how it came to be that he’s lusting after his young and beautiful au pair…

Burgess is intense, broody and serious which is basically the exact opposite of Tullulah who is spontaneous, fun, adventurous and young. Burgess feels like he’s past his prime and is nothing like what she’d be looking for or needs given he’s a divorced single father eleven years her senior. Tullulah is trying to live in the world without distrust and paranoia as she is not easily trusting of men. She’s feeling distrustful and helpless, not bold and fearless like she used to be. This fear and distrust which Burgess clearly sees, brings out a protectiveness in Burgess, a “who hurt you” vibe which is so, so attractive. Tallulah transforms their lives and helps their family become happier - she helps Burgess communicate better with Lissa, and with Lissa being happier they have a more harmonious household. Things develop between Burgess and Tullulah from playful to something bigger, something deeper, something more permanent. Turns out Burgess is nowhere near past his prime, he’s is a total DILF and he’s still go it!

This series keeps getting better and better! Can’t wait for the next book which will be Burgess’ team mate Sig and his soon to be step-sister Chloe.

The Au Pair Affair

° Single dad x Nanny
° Grumpy x Sunshine
° Forced Proximity
° Age Difference
° Hockey Romance
° Dual POV

"The Au Pair Affair," the second book in Tessa Bailey's Big Shots series, follows the story of Burgess, a professional hockey player, and Tallulah, a marine biology graduate student, who meet through their mutual friends Wells and Josephine from "Fangirl Down."

This book is a delightful, light read filled with tension and spice. It had me laughing out loud and swooning over Burgess' protectiveness towards Tallulah. The narrative also skillfully incorporates Tallulah's personal trauma and Burgess' struggles with chronic pain from hockey and single parenthood to his pre-teen daughter.

One of the standout moments is when Burgess repeatedly watches a French braid tutorial video to ensure his daughter Lissa doesn't feel left out during a volleyball scrimmage. This heartwarming effort reminded me of when my husband learned to do pigtails for our daughter by watching a YouTube tutorial.

I also enjoyed the side characters, Sig and Chloe, who are set to be the main characters in the next book of the series.


Favorite Quotes:

ᥫ᭡“I might have thrown away my chance, but I’m not going to throw away the lesson you tried to teach me. If it’s the only piece of you I’m allowed, I’m keeping it.”

ᥫ᭡ “Maybe I will cry again. Maybe we’ll shout and get angry or push each other’s buttons. But our love is going to be bigger than the bad moments.”

ᥫ᭡ “I’m going to take you on adventures…but hear me when I tell you, there will never be an adventure that lives up to you.” He looked her in the eye. “I want to stay on it forever.”

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars
Content warnings: detailed mentioning of a past stalker and subsequent trauma, major injury leading to surgery and rehab, power dynamics with a boss/employee-to-lovers relationship

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy to review. All thoughts are my own.

I absolutely adored Fangirl Down earlier in the year, and it was a surprise to me because I am very hit or miss with Bailey's books. I'm not 100% her target audience, because fans know they're going to get a steamy story with characters that follow predictable tropes that make her books a comfort to many romance readers. I tend to prefer emotional romance stories and can overlook multiple spicy scenes for something that has a great connection, which I've found lacking in some of Bailey's books.

That being said, I enjoyed this one enough to give it 4 stars. Was it highly predictable and had characters Bailey has penned before just in a different scenario? Absolutely. Was there a big focus on the chemistry, you bet! Yet I liked Burgess and Tallulah's story enough to remain invested. Burgess is very typically alpha-coded, but I liked the addition of being a solo dad and how attentive he was to Tallulah's input to his way of going about things in his life. He went from being somewhat clueless on how to manage a tweenaged daughter, a career that kept him on the road a lot of the time, and failing a previous marriage, to showing his daughter he was paying attention to her thoughts and needs in an appreciative manner, could balance his expectations and beliefs in his teammates, and accepting he wasn't the complete failing measure to his previous marriage. Tallulah's constant guidance was well-placed without being overbearing, and I liked that he in turn made her feel safe in a world that scared her deeply. Whilst I found her storyline quite heavy, I appreciated how Bailey explored it, and allowed Tallulah to subsequently rediscover her bolder personality once more.

I'm going to be honest, I absolutely loved the tension and the almost spicy moments between the pair and their relationship felt real. But when the actual spice hit, I wasn't a fan. It felt very generically worded, and I admit to skimming some portions because I never enjoy the alpha dirty talk/simpering sally type sex scenes in romance novels. I'm in the minority here, but I want to share for transparency, as it did lessen my overall interest in the book. This is something I've experienced with other books by this author where I've enjoyed the storyline but not the minor character assassination in the bedroom, and because of this, I was able to adjust my expectations and finish the read.

Final thought based on the side characters: I liked the brief moments with Wells and Josephine being added in but I adored Sig a great deal, and I am so glad he'll be the main male character of the next book in the series. I appreciated Bailey's decision to continue setting the next book up with the side characters in the present read, and I'm eager to get invested in their storyline next. I liked how both Chloe and Sig played decent roles in each POV a good deal more than how Tallulah and Burgess were used in book 1. It felt a little more organic this time around.

Overall, I liked this story. Generic smut/spiciness aside, I found the characters individually interesting enough to enjoy and the ending was cute as heck. I'm glad I took a chance on Fangirl Down earlier in the year as I would have missed out on this story which would have been a shame.

I was thrilled to get an early review copy of Tessa Bailey's *Au Pair Affair* thanks to an ARC (Advance Reader Copy). Apologies to my family for the flood of ecstatic messages when I got approved—this is Tessa Bailey we're talking about!

Saying I loved this book is an understatement. As soon as I finished *Fangirl Down*, I pre-ordered the next one without hesitation. Like Burgess, I was completely hooked.

Tessa brilliantly weaves in the experiences of single parents and co-parenting, highlighting how Tallulah strengthens his bond with his daughter Lissa.

I adored the female main character’s dreams and aspirations. Watching her grow and overcome some tough challenges was inspiring. GIRL POWER!

This book was fantastic—I devoured it just like every other Tessa Bailey novel. I only wish I could experience it again for the first time!

Grumpy, single dad? Say less. Forced Proximity? Yes please. Dirty talking MMC? Absolutely. Spice? Oooh yes.

If you’re a lover of sports romances, this is a read for you. Burgess & Tallulah provide palpable, obvious attraction, paired with stubbornness and feelings of doing the right thing. Fighting feelings, for each other & from themselves, The Au Pair Affair is heartfelt, raw, tense and hot as all hell.

This is absolutely worth your time.