Breakaway Books

Authored by Tessa Bailey, published July 2024, Romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

I was of two minds about The Au Pair Affair from almost the very beginning. The couple in this novel were introduced in a previous Tessa Bailey romance Fangirl Down and were poised to be another adorable escapist dream, with a rich athlete falling for a spunky if somewhat less rich heroine.

But Talullah’s backstory, paired with the way the hero Burgess treated her, made me just a little uncomfortable. Talullah is described as a woman trying to recover her outgoing and adventurous nature after she was kidnapped by a friend of her family. Burgess has to earn her trust, in spite of the fact that for Talullah, trust in men is hard to come by. 

In light of this backstory, I couldn’t help but cringe at Burgess’s at times wildly overprotective behavior and his occasional aggressive advances. Maybe it’s a matter of personal comfort, but it didn’t sweep me away that other romances have. It was hard to separate this discomfort from the rest of the book, as it is the central relationship of the novel.

But, of course, there were other delightful elements. The book lands in Costa Rica for its finale, and I have rarely wanted to take a tropical vacation more than after reading their exploits there. The fantasy of having an attractive man pay for room and board in a lavish apartment in Boston was equally appetizing. Even the relationship that Talullah cultivated with Burgess’s daughter from his last marriage is poignant and made me sigh with contentedness.

I liked the way that Talullah ultimately found her way to her own adventures again—I just didn’t always love the way that Burgess played into it. It didn’t always seem like the most natural way for a man to treat the woman he was interested in, even if he was protective.

All in all, it added up to a mostly cozy escapist romance with a few uncomfortable moments. If you love hockey and a little bit of over protectiveness doesn’t bother you, you will probably love this one!