Tessa Bailey is writing hockey romance. You should be excited for this.

Book two in the Big Shots series finds us switching from following a golf player in Fangirl Down [Buy Bookshop Amazon], we’re now hitting up hockey in The Au Pair Affair. Tessa introduced us to our main characters, Tallulah and Sir Savage, in book one and set things up wonderfully.

The Au Pair Affair [Buy Bookshop Amazon] starts out with an outstanding first line. I can’t share it here until the final edition is out (which, at the time of reading this book and writing this review, is five months away), but it involves blood splatter and ice. Ya know, hockey. Anyways, Tallulah agreed to be the live-in nanny for Sir Savage’s 12-year-old daughter, but after seeing a viral clip of his on-ice aggressions, she’s reconsidering it. Burgess is determined to convince her that he’s safe off the ice, which has nothing to do with his growing feelings for her.

This one has a different vibe from Tessa’s previous books. She usually writes upbeat, light stories. This time, Tellulah has a dark backstory. I’m not going to get into it because I don’t like to spoil things, but it carries much more weight and impact on the story than readers are used to. So, just be aware going into this.

Otherwise, this is a fun hockey romance. You’ve got your typical Tessa grumpy x sunshine, but this time, she’s shaking it up with some age gap and force proximity, and a dash of secret cinnamon roll. The writing is solid, as we’ve come to expect from Tessa, including the spicy scenes. Bonus: we get introductions for the stars of the next three main characters in the Big Shots series. I cannot wait to get to know this hockey team better, especially with what Tessa hinted at for book three during our interview, which could really keep this series going for a couple years. No complaints!