Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. I read everything that Bailey puts out and this one did not disappoint. Great story, great spice, great characters. I love a grumpy but protective MMC.

Where does one find a man like Burgess at… cause he’s grumpy perfection. “The Au Pair Affair” is a flirty, romantic and heartfelt he falls first and hard hockey romance and I loved Burgess and Tallulah.

Burgess is a beast on the ice and is known as Sir Savage… and he’s in need of a nanny for his twelve year old daughter, Lissa. Tallulah is Josephine’s best friend and she’s back in Boston after spending time on assignment in Antarctica. She’s finishing up her degree and when the opportunity comes up to be the au pair, she’s hesitant because of Burgess’s reputation on the ice. But he’s a different man off the ice and is determined to prove that matter what, she’s safe with him. And as they spend time together, the attraction they felt when they met a couple months ago starts to resurface.

I loved Burgess in “Fangirl Down” and I loved that we got his story next. Burgess is grumpy, protective and loves his daughter even if raising a teenager is a mystery to him. He’s unapologetic about how he is on the ice and goes all in for his team. Under that is a big old softie who loves his daughter and is a true romantic when he falls first. I loved Tallulah from the first book and her spirit just spoke to me throughout the whole story. Her past trauma is so relatable and the way she worked through it, slowly and her own pace, was admirable. And with Burgess in her corner, she became stronger and unstoppable. I loved their banter and all the flirting that they did. The tension was delicious and I was rooting for them the whole time. Both Burgess and Tallulah grew so much through this book and worked on themselves before they could truly be with each other. The ending was perfect and it showed just how perfect they were for each other. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

"It would take some work to get that denim peeled down her legs. He’d have to rough them down her hips, probably taking her panties along with them. Now that was a task his hands could perform without watching a tutorial. Because he’d been undressing Tallulah in his dream since meeting her last summer.”

This was such a great read! We read about Tallulah getting a job as Burgess’s daughter’s au pair. I love the force proximity in this book! The chemistry between Tallulah and Burgess is everything. I’m happy that we didn’t have to wait so long for them to get physical. The things that come out of Burgess’s mouth had me on fire! Wow can that man dirty talk. I loved how he wanted something serious with Tallulah right away and was trying to show her how much she wanted her. I really liked how sweet she was with Burgess’s daughter, Lissa, from helping her with homework to fixing Lissa’s hair! The third act breakup was a little hard to read but I loved how the characters end up finding their way back to each other. I loved all the secondary characters and cannot freaking wait for Sig and Chloe’s story!!! I need that now! 😍

Read if you like:
3rd person dual POVs
Single Dad x Nanny
Forced proximity
Protective hero
Open door romance
Hero falls first
Hockey romance

I have never read a Tessa Bailey book before but have seen her books receive a lot of positive reviews all over booktok and bookstagram so I was very excited to receive a free arc of this book from NetGalley and see what all the hype was about. To say I’m a little disappointed by the book would be an understatement. This whole story to me just felt forced and unbelievable. The chemistry between the two main characters was cringy at best. The spicy scenes were almost hard to get through because they just gave me the ick. The repetitive writing during them didn’t help either. The insta love feel of this book really didn’t work for me. I also wasn’t a fan of the conflict resolution that led to them getting back together. All that being said I didn’t totally hate this book and there were parts of it that I did enjoy. I also won’t let this one experience keep me from reading a few of her other books to see if maybe they work better for me. All in all I think if you love Tessa Bailey you’ll love this books. But unfortunately for me it was a huge miss.

Tessa Bailey will always be one of my favorite authors! She never fails to deliver an interesting story with characters. The chemistry between the two is insane and made reading their moments so fun and exciting. I literally couldn’t put the book down once I started reading.

WOW, I was foaming at the mouth for Burgess and Tallulah!

I don’t know what Tessa Bailey put in the Big Shots series but I want her to write 100 more books, I eat them up every single time!

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Burgess and Tallulah, they were so sweet and it was a joy to see how they seamlessly fit into each other’s lives. I’m just a sucker for a single dad romance but add in hockey and it creates a story that is impossible to put down.

I genuinely can’t wait to read the next book because wow - Tessa Bailey sure set up QUITE the couple for us to explore 😈

The Au Pair Affair is second in the Big Shots series were the friends of the main couple from book one, get their time to shine. Tallulah is in a cafe across from Burgess' penthouse, when she catches a clip of the hockey player elbowing an opposing player in the nose. Even though her gut told her she could trust Burgess and really got along with his twelve year old daughter Lissa, the trauma of surviving one man who hid his true self until it was too late for Tallulah, is now resurfacing. Even when Burgess walks into the cafe and Tallulah gets those calming vibes from him, she's scared to trust herself. It's not until Burgess' scheme to pay the majority of rent to make sure Tallulah is safe with a teammate's almost step-sister, that Tallulah decides to trust her instincts and take the job. While Burgess is trying to respect the boundaries of their age difference, eleven years, and boss/employee dynamic, Tallulah is ready to act on all that steamy chemistry between them, but wants to keep it no strings. Burgess knows they have the real thing though, he'll accept nothing but hearts fully committed.

“Give me a chance to show you that you’re safe with me.”

I had no problems jumping into the series here and liked how the story got rolling right away. Tallulah and Burgess had palpable heat right away, something that Bailey excels at and was much appreciated. Bailey also knew what she was doing when she made Burgess the one who wanted their relationship to be real and committed. Having him lay his cards out right away, his serious feelings for Tallulah, worked because it plays into his more mature age, thirty-seven, and helps take away any ick feelings to their boss/nanny relationship with giving Tallulah the decision making control. Tallulah wants to sleep with Burgess but is still working to fully reclaim her daring, live life to the fullest self after her traumatic experience (we get Tallulah telling Burgess about what happened later in the story). Burgess was never pushy but never let an opportunity to show Tallulah who he was pass-by, he says he'll be her bodyguard when she's nervous to do some daring bucket list items, like skinny dipping. It all works because he's there supporting her, while having the hots for her, and Tallulah's in the driver's seat for their encounters but always getting tempted by Burgess.

Tallulah did a little skip as she reached him and his heart followed suit. Yeah. Yeah, she was worth trying for.

Along with Tallulah learning to trust herself again, there's some of Burgess having angst over his age and how it's leading to the eventual end of his career and how he's having issues connecting with his daughter Lissa. There's not a lot of hockey in this, more like peripherally job shading in but how Tallulah bonds with Lissa and helps Burgess' relationship with his daughter definitely added a sweet strengthening block to their relationship. Just when Tallulah is deciding to fully go with her gut, some of the danger on the horizon hinted at comes into play and the second half has an angst moment where Lissa's preteen emotions and hopes throws a wedge into Tallulah and Burgess' relationship and when Burgess gets a serious injury, he lashes out with hurtful words, shattering some of that trust Tallulah had built up.

He usually defended other people, but . . . she’d come to his defense?

The third act breakup happens early enough in the latter second half, that we get a good look at Burgess actionable working for it to get Tallulah back and a believable working through her emotions Tallulah. A little forced proximity at the wedding of book one's couple, will probably delight readers of the series as they get another look at their HEA. Overall, this felt more refined than earlier works of Bailey I've read and I thought made this read even better, the hotness is still there but I believed in the emotion even more. There feels like a set-up happening between one of Burgess' teammates and the teammate's not quite step-sister that has me desperately wanting to read their book and I hope it's next in the series. This, had Burgess knowing what he wants and won't compromise for it but always supporting and protecting and Tallulah building herself back up with her own strength but only growing stronger when she leaned on Burgess' support, and hotness, don't forget the hotness.

A super cute read from Tessa Bailey!! I will say I didn’t like this one as much as Fangirl down, however I thought it was a great time and a perfect summer beach read. I am so excited for the next book in this series!!!

Tallulah & Burgess <3

When I heard that Tessa Bailey was writing a Hockey romance I was so excited! Then I found out it was going to be an age gap trope and I was a little concerned because that usually isn't my favorite. HOWEVER if Tessa can make golf sexy, I trust her to make me enjoy the age gap trope. Which was exactly what she did. I absolutely loved the character growth in this book. Burgess & Tallulah had me rooting for them from the beginning! Their chemistry, connection, the angst, the love, just all together it was so wonderful.

I also really loved seeing Wells & Josephine again, it made my heart so happy<3

I've said it before and i'll say it again, If Tessa Bailey writes it, I'm gonna read it. And I know i'm gonna love it.

A big thanks to netgalley and Avon Books/Harper publishing for giving me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sports romance with a growly grumpy MMC? Sign me up, especially when it's a book written by Tessa Bailey.
The Au Pair Affair is the second book in the Big Shots series of standalones. Having not read the previous book, I can attest that this book stands on its own. Burgess is in need of a nanny for his tween, Lissa and Tallulah is a grad student that needs a job and place to stay. But Tallulah does not warm up to new people and new situations easily. She's trying to live her life free of restrictions, but she has experienced some major trauma in her past that is holding her back.

Oh how I love a single dad romance and especially when they fall first and hard. Burgess, aka Sir Savage is a beast on the ice, but off the ice, he's kind of grumpy yet protective, just not quite sure how to navigate having a tween daughter. When Tallulah steps in to Burgess's life and can read Lissa easily while fitting into their household seamlessly, Sir Savage knows he must have her, in his home and hopefully more. Tallulah, on the other hand is kind of scared of Sir Savage's reputation on the ice. But as Burgess opens up and shows another side of himself to Tallulah, these two form a sort of working relationship that is filled with major sexual tension.

"If it makes you feel better, I got a semi that time you called me Mean Daddy."

Tessa Bailey knows how to write growly, grumpy men, but I especially loved Sir Savage. On the ice and at home. I liked the way that Tallulah opened him up and had him forming a relationship with his daughter that he didn't have before. A big macho alpha man learning to grow and understand women is pretty dang attractive. He was the epitome of a "man's man", but also so protective in the best way.

Then there's Tallulah. I liked seeing her start to open up to Burgess, but I felt that one part of her past that had her holding back with men in her life was glossed over too much. We got just a bit of why she was the way she was, but I felt it could've been addressed more than just one simple dialogue of what happened and then that was it. It affected her and how she dealt with life for years and should've been talked about more. I suppose this was a romcom and didn't need to be at the forefront of the story, so having Burgess there and reacting and being protective toward Tallulah was almost enough, I just wanted a little more.

These two and their chemistry was so fun and hot. Burgess was older and knew what he wanted and left that door open (figuratively and literally) for Tallulah when she was ready to come to him. Tallulah on the other hand was trying to make up for lost time. Burgess allowed her room to find herself, but he also wanted to crowd her and go all caveman on her. Their third act breakup was necessary, and I liked that for them and their growth with each other and the whole family unit.

Overall, this was a fun story with great characters (loved a certain side character and his soon-to-be step sister), and an enjoyable story of a single dad knowing what he wants and going after it.

"I would give up everything I own to go back to that day and tell you I love you, too...I'd smile while handing over my soul to the devil for that chance."

This was really fun and full of different tropes. I really enjoyed reading this. I think it's in my top three favorites of Tessa Bailey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this earc.

Okay. I’m tell you things I didn’t enjoy but you might. This is kind of the theme of the book. “It’s not you, it’s me”
- Age gap. Characters have 11 years between them which is not too bad. Until the “mean daddy” thing
- Yeah. So the Daddy thing is it’s own point for many of you but just ick
- Sex scenes. There are, in my opinion, way too many of them. I’m a plot girl so not a huge fan when the story is mood forward by smut
If this was a cute single dad and nanny story, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But it wasn’t and I didn’t.
Some of you might though.

Single dad, grumpy sunshine served up Tessa Bailey style. Overall the story was entertaining and the tension between main characters was pretty good. Ultimately the spicy scenes propelled the book more so than plot. Some of the spicy dialogue might not be everyone's cuppa tea.

The Au Pair Affair is the second book in the Big Shots series by Tessa Bailey and while you probably don't have to read the first book in order to read this one, you should. The mc's from that book come up in this one (they are best friends) and plus, it's a good book.

If you did read the first book, you'll recall that Tallulah agreed to be an au pair for Burgess (a professional hockey player) and this book picks up on the day she is supposed to move in and start her new job. Unfortunately, she is having second thoughts. She just happened to catch a clip of Burgess taking out someone from the other team and other than the fact that he's single and attractive, Tallulah knows nothing about him. So when she calls him from the smoothie shop from across the street (just as he happens to be walking in) she has an opportunity to let him know her decision in person.

Burgess has no understanding of how to connect with his daughter, Lissa and when he offered the au pair position to Tallulah he knew this would be a good way to have someone in his house who could connect with her. Only now she doesn't want the job and he feels responsible for her because she clearly can't afford to live in what he would consider a safe area of Boston. When his plan to help Tallulah out goes awry and she ends up taking the job anyway, things start to get very interesting. As Burgess struggles to stay on top of his game, as the oldest player on the team, he also struggles with trying to keep it professional with Tallulah.

I loved these two together. Burgess was so protective of Tallulah - even when he didn't need to be (e.g. the apartment thing) and he was nothing but respectful of her wishes. And Tallulah challenged Burgess - she pushed him out of his comfort zone and forced him to consider things from a different perspective. Of course, one of the challenges here is Lissa. She is sure that her parents are going to get back together and when they are "caught", Tallulah takes a step back to give Burgess space to handle it. But he's not ready to let her go.

Now, that's not the last of their challenges though because as I mentioned, Burgess is getting up there in hockey years and he's feeling it. When something happens (I won't say what) Burgess takes his anger and frustration out on Tallulah and does the unthinkable by throwing her past in her face. And when I say unthinkable, it's unforgivable in Tallulah's mind.

As Burgess works to figure out how to fix himself and them and Tallulah works to move ahead with her life, they both know they will be together for their friend's wedding and the question is, will be an opportunity to fix what's broken or an opportunity to have a final goodbye. I'm not going to tell you - you'll have to read the book to find out.

I love this series and I hope the next book is about a certain couple that made an appearance throughout this book. That said, if you're looking for a new contemporary romance with some spice, consider picking this one up. As you may know, I'm not a huge contemporary reader but these books have won me over and I'll continue to grab them the minute I can.

This was even a little over the top for this author and I was upset about it! I loved these characters but some of this was just not romantic. The daddy stuff was bad. I loved these stories and I love steam but that was a little icky.

I wanted to like this book as I have enjoyed most of her other books. This one wasn’t great, some dialogue during the spicy scenes was so cringe and the backstory of the female main character was a departure from Bailey’s usual style and didn’t seem to fit the overall story.

Just when I think I’ve nailed down which Tessa Bailey book is my favorite (the answer is all of them), she releases a new one that completely blows me away. “The Au Pair Affair” is no exception!

“The Au Pair Affair” follows Burgess Abraham, a battle-scarred hockey veteran, and Tallulah Aydin, an aspiring marine biologist, after she agrees to be his live-in nanny. But as boundaries are slowly crossed, Burgess finds himself himselfpulled between his tween daughter, who wants her parents back together, and his insane chemistry with Tallulah.

From their very first interaction in “Fangirl Down”, I knew Tallulah and Burgess belonged together. Their chemistry radiates off the page with Burgess’ surliness perfectly complimenting Tallulah’s quirkiness. With the two of them living under one roof, they begin to open up, confide in, and lean on each other. I love how Burgess was respectful of Tallulah’s boundaries when he learned that her trauma left her feeling uncomfortable around men. He did everything in his power to help her feel safe and did not begin to pursue her until she gave him the ok. Burgess is very protective of her (*swoons*) and I really enjoyed watching Tallulah’s character go from being fearful of letting go to a courageous adventurer with him at her side to give her endless support.

At the same time Tallulah is there to uplift Burgess when he feels insecure about where he is at in his hockey career. She catches on to the pain he masks to avoid being benched or forced into retirement and she reassures him that he does not need to shoulder his fears alone. Tallulah is nothing if not persistent and convinces Burgess (in a way that made my heart pound more than is probably healthy) to seek out medical attention and show him that he is valued by his teammates.

Bailey does such a great job making their connection feel palpable and creating a conflict that had the two of them fighting for the love that blossomed between them without losing sight of Lissa’s needs. This is a story about healing, finding your happily ever after, and discovering your self-worth. It has consumed my every waking thought since I picked it up and I know I will be obsessing over it for a long time!

Really fun and simple! Talullah and Burgess were fun to read about, giving the signature TessaBailey character traits that make it easy to fall in love and root for the characters to work. At times some of the details including Burgess’s daughter and his job of being a hockey player seemed to be pushed to the side, becoming details as opposed to pieces of a story, but I enjoyed seeing the two of them come together once more.

This romance was so cute! (And spicy--I mean, it's Tessa Bailey) She's the absolute master of a spicy rom-com. A lot of authors can't really pull it off. They either go too heavy on the spice or too happy as a rom-com to have any character or story arcs. But Bailey is so good at this. She does an excellent job of blending the two.

Here are some things I liked about this book:

1. I love Tallulah being a grad student in marine biology. That was a really fun take on the "au pair" trope.

2. Competency kink is big for me. I like grown adults with adult problems. I like watching them navigate through realistic situations.

3. Obviously, the spice and dirty talk. Tessa is the Queen.


Now, I liked Burgess, don't get me wrong, but didn't really feel a connection to him. He felt kinda generic (but still sexy and sweet) I think I may like Wells from the first book better. Hockey player romances, in my opinion, have to be pretty unique to be good, and while I liked this one, it didn't blow my socks off. If you like Tessa's rom-coms, you won't be disappointed. I'm just starting to wish for a little more from her.

So freaking good!!! I loved Fangirl and was so curious about the friend mentioned in it but to meet her is to love her and now I just want to read both books again as comfort reads to make my soul happy. So much love for anything Tessa Bailey writes and this is definitely another home run oh wait that’s baseball … hat trick is hockey but it’s only book 2?!? I’m mixing my sports metaphors but really this book is outstanding.