Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Au Pair Affair

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

86 reviews

mmohare's review

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adventurous emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Sometimes you gotta read a romance book to figure out what you don’t like in romance books.

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melancholylethe's review

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book.

The spice was good. But the plot was kind of all over the place. The main characters really didn’t seem to have anything but lust for each other and it was fucking constant. And after the FMC’s trauma I find it really really hard to believe she can just “get over” because she suddenly “feels safe” but “true love”. Also huge trigger warning for her trauma that again she seems to just be able to get over.

The post card shit annoyed me the most. It has been explained that the postcard she has on her person are ones that she wrote but didn't send versus the ones she did send. HOWEVER it's so crappily written in that I stand by my point.

Page 44:
“A postbox on the corner jogged Tallulah’s memory and she stopped in her tracks, setting down the sack of ingredients on the sidewalk. She reached into the pocket of her coat for the postcard she'd snagged earlier that day in the more touristy section of town. On it was a picture of Quincy Market and the scripted words that read GREETINGS FROM BOSTON. She read over the short message she'd penned to her sister, Lara, along with the Istanbul address she knew by heart. A lump began welling in her throat, but she dropped the card into the slot before tears could form in her eyes and continued on."

Page 190:
"She nodded, reaching down to unzip the purse that was strapped diagonally on her body, resting against the front of her left hip. After the briefest of hesitations, she removed a ziplock baggie containing a stack of postcards. He could only see the top on, which was an aerial shot of Boston Harbor. "I've been sending home postcards for four years. On all my stops. Most of them go to Lara.""

(My Questions:
1. How the hell can you have a cross body HIP bag with a STACK of postcards and look cute?
2. If you are SENDING the post cards, HOW DO YOU HAVE THEM?
3. You spent a YEAR in Antarctica studying penguins. Did this huge postcard collection increase there as well? What did your family do for that year since you didn't call them?)

Page 281-282: Final Annoyance:
""You think you're strong enough to get me through this? You're not a coward who walks away, right?" His voice almost unnatural like he was rushing to get the words out or he'd lose his nerve. "But there's a ziplock full of postcards in your purse that say different."

Honestly, the postcard thing just doesn't work for me. Maybe it does for others as a way to avoid living because of her trauma but postcards are just as much of a story and can say a lot. PLUS SHE SENDS THEM! She says she sends them and so it doesn't make sense for her to send them AND have them.

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linora's review

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Tessa Bailey is very hit or miss for me. She's a decent writer, but this book was a miss. It really leaned into "big protective man" and was super chill about him sexually harassing an au pair at her job because like, he's hot so she's into it I guess?

There were red flags galore. If I knew this couple in real life and saw their interactions as they were depicted to other characters, I would think that the protagonist was being controlled at least and would worry about her being abused behind closed doors. The male protagonist was perfectly lovely behind closed doors, but there were a lot of red flags that he wouldn' t be. Normally power dynamics like this in fiction don't bug me this much, but it just rubbed me the wrong way because the book really emphasized the protagonist's trauma with men, and I would absolutely hate for someone who has experienced trauma and relates heavily to the main character to read this book and think that this is a healthy relationship that they should aim for.

I think I just like Tessa Bailey's work when it's lighthearted. This felt a little too cavalier of a take on trauma.

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