#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey aspires to three things. Writing hot and unforgettable, character-driven romance, being a good mother and eventually sneaking onto the judging panel on a reality show baking competition. She lives on Long Island, New York with her husband and daughter, writing all day and rewarding herself with a cheese plate and Netflix binges in the evening. We sat down with Tessa to talk about her latest release in her sports series, Big Shots: The Au Pair Affair.


The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

Tallulah, a broke 26-year-old studying to be a marine biologist, accepts a job as a live-in nanny for Burgess, a hockey veteran and single dad. As she helps Burgess and his introverted daughter Lissa, Tallulah also encourages Burgess to re-enter the dating scene. Despite their growing chemistry and Tallulah’s choice to leave in order to avoid complications, a chance encounter and a push from Lissa leads Burgess to fight for a future with Tallulah, proving he’s ready for a happy ending.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Where did the inspiration for Fan Girl Down come from? 

I used to hate golf, I really never had any time for it, my father used to play, my husband watches it avidly. I was like, this is so boring, and the vast majority of it seems to be a male sport. I watched this show “Full Swing” on Netflix and it’s like, they went behind the scenes in each episode with a different golfer. They talked about the struggles they had not just with the sport itself, but with their mental game, how it can wither and die in the space of a day. They can lose their mental edge so quickly. They also talked about the really close relationship they have with their caddies, there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s a really interesting sport and a really difficult sport. There’s no other sport where two people can have this caddy/golfer relationship, it doesn’t exist anywhere else and I really wanted to explore that. Two people are working towards a common goal, they’re competing in it together. I thought that was something that hadn’t been explored before. I thought it was really ripe for not only two people to get to know each other but grow together and accomplish something together. It had to be golf.

You had mentioned before that the plan was to make Big Shots a two book “series” but have since written subsequent novels, what changed?!

I just turned in the fourth book yesterday! It was supposed to be two books, and I’d recently written a lot of duologies… I found myself getting antsy for a new world by book three, and struggling to write a third book. My plan was to write two solid books and end on a high, and then move onto something new and shiny and exciting. With this series, every book there is some sort of backstory or secondary character that is screaming for attention. I haven’t had that happen in awhile, to where I’m like, “Oh, I’m not leaving here for a good probably, seven books… I can see this going on for quite awhile”. I think it’s also that the heroes are these athletes, I haven’t written a lot of athletes before, and the athletic mentality that they have, it matches very closely to the men I write anyway. It felt like such a comfortable fit. Where has this been all my life?! I should’ve been writing about sports… it just feels so good, the way that it’s branching out on its own is really organic. That’s something that I’m like, I just know that after writing sixty books, I don’t take that for granted. If you think something is interesting, other people will too, so stay there.

How do you carve out writing time? Do you have a set schedule?

Right now it feels like I’ve slowed down a lot, because I’m only writing two books a year. It used to be four or five. They told me to take a step back, and focus on quality, not quantity. I feel it’s given me so much more room to sit and think before I start a book. What do I want this book to say? How do I make these tropes have the maximum impact? How do I write this so it’s unique and hasn’t been written before? I can sit with the story for awhile and think about how to make it better. Right now, I wake up at 5am and I write 3,000 words. I do that five days a week. It used to be really hard to do that, but I’ve flexed that muscle for so long, and so much, that it feels like if I don’t do that, I missed some part of my day. It’s actually a compulsion–I enjoy it, I enjoy writing. I enjoy pushing the story a little bit further every day. Some days it’s harder than others. It usually takes me about 5am-9 or 9:30am to write 3,000 words.

Are there any tropes you haven’t written yet that you’d like to? 

I don’t think I’ve written amnesia, that might be the only one. That might be something I’d like to explore because I feel like it would be a challenge to make me not hate that idea, and I love a challenge. It’s not a trope, but I would really like to write time-travel, it’s something that’s always sitting in the back of my head.

Is it hard to write the “steamy” scenes? How do you keep them all straight and keep it original across books/series?

It’s not something I have to think about too much, I just know. I know what my characters have done. Every pair feels completely like a different vibe. Based on their past, their insecurities, their sexual experiences, what’s happening between them–even geography–are they in the car, the beach. Every once in a while I will stop and ask, how do I make this feel like people haven’t read this scene before. Maybe it’s an introduction of a kink, or maybe someone reveals something, or instead of a sweaty sex scene that everyone is expecting, I surprise the reader and slow it down. 

Is there a particular book or series that was your favorite to write?

They all have a special place for their own reason. The first series I ever wrote, the Line of Duty series, was about discovering myself as a writer. I didn’t even know this was going to be a career, it was almost an accident. Reading them back, I can witness my confidence and sense of humor growing. I can see how I’ve evolved as a writer. The Bellanger Sisters series has a huge place in my heart. It was during the pandemic, my husband got sick and was in the hospital for three months on a ventilator while I was writing that series. Then he came home, and I went from the lowest point in my life, to the highest point–getting #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It was the most rollercoaster of emotions I’ve ever experienced, ever. It’s almost like those characters were with me through a lot of turmoil, elation and learning what I’m made of. Those characters were like family for me at that time when I needed them.

What can we expect from you for the rest of 2024/2025?

You’re not getting rid of my sports series anytime soon. The Big Shots series is what I’m obsessed with right now. Book three is coming in February 2025. I have hockey books and baseball books and a softball player coming, and I have an interest in trying to fit in a Formula One storyline if I can make it happen regularly and make it feel organic. I have a lot of people asking me to write one, but I’ve also become interested in writing one. I’m probably going to be hanging out here in the sports world for a while. I have a lot of interesting stories coming.