When marine biology grad student Tallulah reluctantly falls for hockey star Burgess, there are plenty of reasons for them not to end up with a happily ever after. They have a significant age gap, and she is also the nanny to his tween daughter, who is holding out hope that her divorced parents will eventually reunite. When Tallulah steps away from the relationship to avoid coming between Burgess and his daughter, and Burgess has an injury that is career-threatening, the odds are against them. Fans of grumpy-sunshine and sports romance will enjoy their love story, but what sets this apart, (and #1 in this series, "Fangirl Down") is how real the obstacles the couples overcome feel. The wedding of Wells and Josephine from book 1 is a major plot point, but it works as a standalone. I will recommend to fans of Ali Hazelwood, Susannah Nix, sport romance, and readers who like the tropes grumpy/sunshine and 'he falls first'.

I’m a sucker for any hockey romance, so reading The Au Pair Affaie was a no brainer and I loved it! When Tallulah agreed to nanny for Burgess’ daughter, she didn’t expect to have so many hesitations as the day to move in approached. Stemming from a traumatic experience, her distrust in men has her running from this job but Burgess is determined to make sure she is just safe overall, whether she works for him or not. After several conversations and a little more time seeing how Burgess is, she agrees to stay and work as the au pair and both find themselves agreeing to put themselves out into the world for some adventures together.

The slow burn tension that we first saw in Fangirl Down between these two continues to build and let’s just say the spice we get does not disappoint. Burgess knows what to say and has a wonderfully dirty mouth.

It releases July 16th and I definitely recommend it for a fun and flirty hockey romance this summer!

✨hockey romance
✨he falls first
✨grumpy sunshine
✨nanny x boss
✨forced proximity
✨age gap
✨single dad
✨opposites attract

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, Tessa Bailey for the chance to read/review an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Au Pair Affair 🩵

This one is for the Tessa Bailey lovers 💛

The Au Pair Affair follows the story of Burgess, a hockey player/single father searching for ways to connect with his twelve year old daughter, and Tallulah, a marine biology grad student/au pair looking for an extra source of income and a place to live to offset the costs of living in Boston.

From the moment they meet in Fangirl Down, Tallulah and Burgess have an intense attraction that they try their best to avoid (aka this is a slowwwww burn with a LOT of tension).

Tallulah had a very traumatic experience in her past that causes her to not only distrust new people in her life, but to fear putting herself out there. Though Burgess is a hot shot hockey captain with years of experience under his belt, he’s also a divorced single father who’s been out of the dating world for long enough to doubt if he knows how to be in it. To help them both ease into a new way of thinking, they decide to embark on the adventure of putting themselves out there again as individuals…together (!!!!!)

The thing I liked most about The Au Pair Affair was the emphasis that despite the fact that Tallulah had gone through a tremendously scary experience in her past, she was still a strong person who could experience life while protecting herself. I loved that Burgess, though very protective of those in his life, put what was best for Tallulah above what he wanted from her.

Their chemistry was so palpable throughout the whole book in a way that you could really FEEL, and I especially loved the depth each of them had individually and the way that they were comfortable in expressing it to each other despite the self doubts.

If you love romances that have:
☀️grumpy x sunshine
🏒hockey players
🥼women in STEM
🩵 single dad
💙he falls first
💛age gap (he’s 37, she’s 26)

Then I’d recommend picking this up when it releases on July 16th 🫶🏽

I overall really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what’s next in this series!

This book put me back into a hockey romance era! I loved every minute of this book! I think the “Big Shot” series is headed into the right direction! The themes for the book of forced proximity, a single dad, age difference, and opposites attract were like perfection in a pot! I wasn’t expecting the spice to be all that, but I was so so surprised! I can’t wait to read more from this series! Thank you for choosing me to read as an ARC, I am grateful!


!

I loved Fangirl Down. Like really loved it. So I was suprised when I didn't like this one as much.

" Tallulah is smart, vivacious, and studying to be a marine biologist. She’s also twenty-six and broke. So when Burgess, a battle-scarred hockey veteran and newly single dad, offers her a job as his live-in nanny, she jumps at the opportunity to get paid while living in a super fancy neighborhood and being around Lissa, his cool but introverted tween."

I really did understand Tallulah's anxiety towards relationships and i loved the single dad/forced proximity troupe and even the age gap wasn't too bad since she was over 25. But i think the miscommunications just killed it for me.

Also, I love good spice. Don't even mind the sex talk, but some of it was just...uh not for me.

Overall though, its a Tessa Bailey book, so its a good love story. etc etc.
But it won't be on my re read list.

Thank you to net galley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this cute rom-com about a hockey player and his adorable nanny. Is it a little bonkers that he's bffs with the grumpy golfer from book 1? Sure. But suspend reality a little and enjoy this playful story of a single dad and a soul-searching girl together in Boston.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Loved it!!! The spice was everything and more. Tessa Bailey never fails and I hope there’s a third book to come!

I enjoyed The Au Pair Affair. I didn’t read the first book in the series, but thankfully I didn’t feel lost while reading. I enjoyed this story and the characters.

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I LOVE TESSA BAILEY!!

I have loved *almost* everything I have read from Tessa so when I got approved for this, I may have possibly squealed a little bit.
I read Fangirl Down and when I saw she was writing a hockey romance with her best friend and broody hockey player? Immediately count me in.

The way that this book explored love and trauma was really intriguing to me. The subtle grumpyxsunshine was also top tier. Of course, the pining will always hit.

If you have enjoyed other Tessa Bailey books, I think you will enjoy this one, too. If you are starting out with her, I also think these two (you should really read Fangirl Down first) could be a great intro to her books!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Really liked this book. Enjoyed the age gap between the main characters, the chemistry and the story line. Much much recommended! Its a fun and spicy time!

I LOVED Fangirl Down and I also love a nanny romance so I was a little surprised I didn't like this one more. I still really enjoyed parts of it but I don't think I'll reread it.

Tessa Bailey does spice and sexual tension so well and this book was no exception. I loved watching Tallulah and Burges fight their attraction. Some of the spice wasn't to my taste but I don't think it was badly written. What didn't fully work for me was the amount of miscommunication and so much angst and back and forth. Tallulah had a traumatic past so I understood her hesitancy but I just wanted them to be happy for a minute and stop messing things up. I think this is partly a personal preference but it is also a bit of a departure from the other Tessa Bailey books I have read (at least 5).

I think if you don't mind angst and like an age gap you'll enjoy this one. It is an au pair romance but I wanted to see more bonding between Tallulah and Burges' daughter as that's one of my favorite parts of a nanny romance. I will say I'm really excited for the sequel to this one! It was set up in this book and I'm really interested to see what people think of the tropes.

I loved the banter and tension in this book. Burgess and Tallulah were easy to root for and I enjoyed how fast-paced their story was.

4/5 stars ⭐️ for a dreamboat MMC, FMC staying true to herself and her goals, general hilarity and witty banter, and squirm inducing steamy slow burn romance.

My real takeaway is that I loved all things Burgess. He was so eager to improve himself and his relationship with his daughter while also encouraging Tallulah to live out her dreams. Hot as sin/athlete/single daddy that won’t hold me back? Sign me UP.

3.5 ☆
I love Tessa Bailey's books and this new one didn't disappoint!
I loved the relationship between the two characters and each chapter was so fun and quirky!
Burgess was such a great male character, I loved him!

Thanks to Netaglley, Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with this e-ARC! The Au Pair Affair is out everywhere on July 16, 2024

I'm convinced that my girl Tessa can do no wrong!!!!! She has killed it with another book and I ate this one up so much!!!! THE CUTEST couple I've read to date was Tallulah and Burgess! I loved them so much and my heart ached so much for Tallulah trying so much to get pass trauma!! This book captivates you and of course the TENSION Tessa knows how to just make you feel all of it and I was here for it all!!

-He falls first
-Single dad
-Nanny with the boss
-Age GAP
-Grumpy/Sunshine

Tessa Bailey books are a hit or miss for me, but when they miss, boy do they miss hard…

What I liked:
- Lissa: give me a cute, precocious child in a book and I’m going to love them. Lissa was truly my favorite part of this book.
- The hockey parts were fun

What didn’t work for me:
- The steam was so cringey. There were parts where I just skimmed the steam because it was so bad to read.
- While the steam is a slower burn, there was still a lot of insta-love.
- I felt absolutely zero chemistry between Tallulah and Burgess
- The way resolution came about after the third act conflict seemed was not for me.

I am a sucker for a single dad romance! While I have not read many Tessa Bailey books I enjoyed Burgess and Tallulahs story and am looking forward to the rest of this series.

I haven't read the first book in this series, it's on hold at my library, but I don't think it's exactly necessary. I am a little on the fence with this book. The chemistry between a 26 year old, and a 37 year old, was believable, but also not. I believe their physical attraction to each other. But, I don't believe much else about their romance.

Contemporary romance is always a hard-sell for me. Had Tallulah been just a few years older, closer to 30, I don't think parts of this would've bothered me as much. He got a little too protective for me, it was almost paternalistic. I also would've liked to see more of Tallulah's knowledge on Marine Biology featured. It's mentioned, and talked about how much she knows. But she doesn't get a chance to show her intelligence. I would've liked to see her nerd out more about marine life or something. There's also the plotline of her classmate she's partnered with that gets tossed aside, it almost didn't need to be there. It's never brought up again. Her other classmate and friends she made also disappear.

I also think they didn't do a good job expressing the reason his marriage failed. He was busy with hockey, I think? It would've been early in his career, so I'm just confused on that part. I'd also like to know why he gets his daughter most of the week, when he likely has mid-week out-of-state games.

We also don't get to meet any of Tallulah's family, which I would've liked. We don't even hear any of them speak. It felt like a missed opportunity. We meet everybody who's part of Burgess's life before they met, but nobody from her life. She could've used her +1 to invite her sister to the wedding.

This romance read is perfect for fan who enjoy the tropes - grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity and those featuring age-gap. I generally don't enjoy insta love kind of plots but this was fun and super steamy for sure. Burgess is an NHL captain know as Savage and Tallulah is his tween daughter's au-pair and this new job brings them together in the same house and their chemistry is absolutely bonkers. In spite of the great chemistry, it kind of felt in the similar pattern as the author's book and was too predictable. Tallulah's past can be triggering for some as she relays her traumatic experience with an ex and it can seem irrelevant but I believe it shows her personal growth along with their relationship.

Tessa Bailey books are always fun and sexy. This one lived up to that. I was irritated by the FMC at times, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story overall. Fun beach read if you like a sexy hockey romance.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

why did i put this off for so longgggg
I was so nervous to start this book becasue it was book 2 in a series and I could not seem to get book 1.. and I am sooo glad I just dove in! This is a complete standalone and it delicious.
I will say it started off like a car stalling and I was crazy nervous about that.
I super didnt care for the female MC. but then... it made sense and came together.
I think I joined the whole of booktok and now I need all the hockey players.