REVIEW: The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey
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
Your review of FANGIRL DOWN was a bullseye and I’m happy to see you enjoyed the second. Before I knew the THE AU PAIR AFFAIR was the second book, the title really bothered me; those words scream power imbalance. But, now that I know this is about Tallulah and Burgess, I am all on board. Thanks!
This does sound appealing, Kaetrin (well, apart from the spitting!), so thank you for the review. Heading off now to get a sample….
@Darlynne: I’m so glad you liked Fangirl Down Darlynne. If you liked that one I’m confident you’ll like this one too.
@Kareni: Fortunately the spitting is a very small part of the book. Hope you enjoy the sample!