I've been waiting for Chloe and Sig's story ever since I read The Au Pair Affair and it did not disappoint!!! The slow burn, tension, and sexual chemistry between these two was UNREAL. By far my fave of the Big Shots series.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

No one writes a man down bad like Miss Tessa Bailey. As always, she brings the heat and some surprising tugs at the heartstrings. Her imagination never ceases to impress me.

Dream Girl Drama Review
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher…Avon for the free review copy!

I have pretty mixed emotions about this one. Here’s what I’ll say…I enjoyed the writing, I liked the characters…and the premise is kind of interesting.

I don’t think I’m into taboo/forbidden romance. Because I will admit this book creeped me (step siblings to be in love?) out for a majority of the book. I won’t say much…but I did enjoy the way the author wrapped up this story. I would say if the premise of this one doesn’t bother you, you should give it a go!

I will definitely go back and read the other books in this interconnected series!

Sig and Chloe have an electric meeting after a broken down truck leads Sig to a ritzy country club on the way to meet his fathers new fiancée. Chloe and Sig have basically had a fairytale love at first sight meeting…after a rushed goodbye Sig promises to see Chloe later.

Imagine Chloe and Sigs surprise when they come to find out that their mother and father are soon to be married…which means they are soon to be step siblings.

Will their noticeable chemistry ruin Sig’s pro hockey career or Chloe’s dreams of playing the Harp professionally?

I will be posting my review on @readitwithtay

Not my fave Tessa Bailey story. I could not understand the FMC and how she lacked any life skills or sense of independence. She left the shelter of her mother's home with all the airs of independence only to rely on the MMC. I could not relate to her at all and found her existence annoying. She's so clueless, but because she's so pretty and sweet all is forgiven. Ugh. And don't get me started on Mr. Walking Red Flags. The motivation for the parents not to come clean in the end didn’t make sense to me.
The spice though 👏👏👏👏 Tessa did us right with that

I absolutely adored this new romance from Tessa Bailey.
It starts with one of the cutest (and coincidentally fun) meetings. Chloe and Sig hit it off but don't realize they have something in common that will inevitably stand in the way of the chemistry they have for one another. Chloe is the sheltered musical prodigy who's mother has her life mapped out for her, but she yearns for more and to learn to be more independent in order to see more of the world. During a dinner at her mother's home Sig says some things that hit home for her. So she takes a chance and decides to move to Boston where he lives and plays professional hockey for the Bearcats. She learns how to be on her own with a lot of help from Sig who is enamored with her and does all he can to make her move to Boston seamless. The way Sig cares for her all while trying to keep his romantic distance (because of the thing standing in their way) is so swoony. We all need a Sig in our lives, but they are few and far between. Their struggles with life and their situation had me turning the pages to see how they would handle everything thrown at them.
I won't give anything away, but I enjoyed reading their journey and laughing, lusting and feeling their heartbreaking moments! I am so happy to have found a new must read author in Tessa Bailey!

The third installment in the Big Shots series is a hockey, forbidden, slow-burn romance lovers dream.

We follow hockey player, Sig Gauthier, and harp prodigy, Chloe Clifford. Sig and Chloe have a chance encounter at a golf/tennis club when Sig's truck breaks down outside of their gates and Chloe is finishing up her tennis for the day. Chloe sweeps in and helps Sig out in his time in need, and they have an instant firework connection. They start to connect when all of a sudden they remember they have other commitments they needed to get to. Sig goes about getting to his destination of a dinner at his father's house to meet his new girlfriend.

Little do they know, Sig and Chloe are in for a surprise when they find that Chloe is the daughter of Sig's father's new girlfriend. Oh, and they drop the bomb that they're getting married. Things soon go off the rails when Sig suggests Chloe should come to Boston to pursue her music seriously and get some real life experience. Chloe's mom is highly opposed to this idea, as she's always kept her monetarily trapped. When Sig volunteers to help her financially and personally acquainted in the new city, Chloe is on board with finding her newfound freedom and starting a life of her own. The only thing is, she doesn't know much about the real world, especially how much everything costs. Sig graciously steps up and helps her navigate all of this and they soon become best friends. Best friends that have serious sexual chemistry running between them, but they're going to be step siblings in the matter of months. Knowing the impending nuptials, the pair try to force away their attraction from one another, but it only builds stronger as their relationship develops. Can they keep their growing feelings separate from their friendship? You'll have to read to find out.

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This one was surprisingly delightful. I was a little hesitant going into this one, as I wasn't sure if the tropes would jive with my personal taste, but I was happy to proven wrong! This one feels like a sportier version of It Happened One Summer. If you enjoyed that book, I think odds are pretty good of you enjoying this one too. The same ick of seeing an entitled rich girl navigating the real world is hard to watch, yet hard to look away from. While I hate to see that, I ended up loving Sig's character. Despite the fact that his name is Sig, he is a major dreamboat. This man lives and breathes for this girl, and I don't know if she quite deserves it, but who am I to judge? This book is slowwwwww burn and angsty as hell, so if you're into that sort of build-up action, definitely read this one. I honestly might have enjoyed the angst more than the true spice in this one. The way that Sig took care of her in teaching how to navigate the real world and ordinary things like doing laundry gave Rachel and Ross vibes. The main conflict of why they can't be together because of their developing careers hurt my heart, because they just made such great friends, you just knew they would connect in a relationship. Not to mention, I loved getting to see Sig and Burgess's friendship. The guy friendships in this were top tier, where they were ride or die for one another over Chloe. It had me kicking my feet when the dog park scene happened. Ugh. I just love Sig. If nothing else, let this book and review be a love letter to Sig Gauthier, as he is incredible.

*Many thanks to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for providing a free copy in exchange for my honest review.*

2.5 stars
I'm not sure this book was for me. I really enjoyed The Bellinger Sisters books and I liked Fangirl Down too. This was just too much for me. Too much insta-love and I didn't enjoy the forbidden step-sibling lust either. Both main characters were major stereotypes. There were some twists I enjoyed, but I don't need to continue the series.

I absolutely love a good contemporary hockey romance and this was good but not great. I've read other Tessa Bailey books that were much better, and while this fulfilled all my baseline hockey romance dreams, it didn't go above and beyond that. It felt a bit boring and tedious at times.

There’s a good chance if I see a book by Tessa Bailey I am going to read it the first chance I get!

I absolutely loved this one- I could not find a single thing I did not like! Cute story, cute characters. ♥️

DNF 41%. I had a feeling as soon as I started this book that I wouldn't like it and that proved to be correct. Bailey tends to write about privileged people but it felt very stark in this book just how inconsequential any of their issues really were. We have Chloe who is the definition of privileged white girl and literally has been kept in an ivory tower and doesn't know how to do anything. Then as per usual, Baily wrote her typical hero who is a glorified caveman that got transported to the 21st century. The instalove wasn't for me and I found their entire rapport to just be weird. Also, the fact that the entire conflict is that they're going to be stepsiblings is a non-conflict to me. They're grown adults who only met a few months ago and had no relation in their childhood, it really isn't incestuous for them to get together considering that they didn't know each other as kids. If they had gotten together and then their parents met and started dating it wouldn't really be that weird so the entire conflict just makes no sense. I couldn't get past how dumb the characters behaved and all the "issues" they were dealing with. This was a complete miss for me.

This was a fun enough read, but I don’t think it was totally for me. I liked the characters enough, but something about their dynamic was a bit off-putting. While it was great that Chloe found a support system in Sig, their reasons for not being together felt like a bit of a reach, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the insta-love aspect.

Will probably try more from Tessa Bailey in the future.

DREAM GIRL DRAMA - TESSA BAILEY

4⭐

PLOT
Professional hockey player Sig Gauthier's car breaks down and he encounters Chloe Clifford a musical prodigy who seeks adventure after leading a secluded and pampered life.
They hit it off instantly only to come to know later that Sug's father is engaged to Chloe's mother. Now Sig's dream girl is his future step sister!
They can't keep their relationship platonic as the feelings between them instensify but what will their future hold for them?

MY THOUGHTS -
This book has a lot of troupes like sports romance, forbidden love, insta live, he falls hard, angsty, slow burn romance with family drama.
I really liked how Tesa has written this forbidden love story esp with the family drama mixed into the story making the last part interesting to read.
The slow burn angst as they spend time together ...be there with each other was quite palpable.
In the middle I did find Chloe to be irritable and childish but Sig was just perfect!!
I liked it better than book 2!!

5 ⭐️


— hockey romance
— future stepsiblings
— forbidden love
— he falls first
— slow burn
— insta love


“I’d rather torture myself with you than be with anyone else.”

“I would sell my f*cking soul for you and smile while I signed on the dotted line.”

“Always my dream girl. Always mine.”


~~


Any book by Tessa Bailey is a 5 ⭐️ read for me! Out of all the books in this series so far, I’d have to say this one is my favorite at the moment. The audiobook was incredible, especially for my first one! I cannot wait for Skylar and Robbie’s book!! I loved the tension, the yearning, the suspense and the tropes. I really hope there’s going to be a book about Reese & Mailer!



Thank you, Tessa Bailey for the ARC 🤍

A fun and sexy novel with top tier slow burn and steam so hot, it’ll melt the ice rink Sig plays on. Like others, I didn’t understand why a romance was forbidden between the two even though their parents became involved. Legally they are stepbrother and stepsister but they are also adults. There isn’t any blood relation. It reminded me a lot of the movie Clueless with Cher and Josh. Anyway, def recommend!

Not one of my favorite by Tessa Bailey. The whole book revolves around the premise of two future step siblings that fall for each other and how they should stay away from each other because that would "be weird." And it gave me the ick and felt weird.

I loved the connection between Sig and Chloe. It was great getting to learn their story after being introduced to the characters in a past book. The writing was well done.

The Au Pair Affair was one of my favs of last year so I was excited for number 3 after number 2 in the series didn't quite do it for me. Unfortunately this one was in the miss category for me too.

Sig and Chloe meet by chance at a fancy Darien country club but then find out a few hours later that their parents are actually engaged to be married. They have to figure out a way to squash the attraction and Chloe needs to figure out a way to break free from her controlling mom.

I didn't mind the step sibling relationship (hello Dan and Serena) but something about the instant attraction and Chloe's careless way of moving through life just rubbed me the wrong way. I'll still read my girl Tessa this one just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, this book is for the people who believe that every good romance has yearning. This book was doused in yearning. It was in every chapter, nearly every page, and you know what? I didn't hate it. I actually very much enjoyed it, which is a shock considering how I felt about the first two books in this series. So why only 3 stars? Because honestly, Bailey wanted this to feel like a taboo forbidden romance, and I guess I just idolize Clueless too much, because I just didn't feel it. I'm not from Boston or the elite communities in Connecticut, so maybe that's also a bias on my part. However, even if you didn't enjoy the first two books in this series, if you like hockey romances, I think this will be a good fit.

This is another irresistible rom-com, blending forbidden romance, humor, and sizzling chemistry. Sig and Chloe’s chance encounter turns complicated when they discover their parents are engaged, forcing them into a slow-burn, tension-filled dynamic. Chloe, a sheltered harp prodigy, longs for freedom, and Sig, the ultimate book boyfriend, is determined to help her while keeping their relationship strictly platonic. Their banter, undeniable connection, and emotional growth make this story impossible to put down. The Bearcats team adds hilarious moments, and Sig’s devotion is swoon-worthy. Packed with heart, heat, and laughs, this book is a perfect mix of angst and fun.

I always love Tessa Bailey, even though some books shine brighter for me than others. I don't know that I fully understood the conflict in this one--isn't everyone here an adult? All the parents are childish idiots in this book, but Sig and Chloe met as adults, and I just can't imagine the press care all that much. But I loved how gone for each other they were, and how they fit together. I liked that Chloe had to wake up and realize how flighty she had been. Great characters and a real arc, well written with spicy sex scenes. There's a lot to enjoy here!