Tessa Bailey on her PTSD-led rom-com: ‘We all have trauma – that’s the human condition’ | Books | Entertainment

Tessa Bailey is one of the biggest names in romance at the minute – and for good reason. The New York Times bestselling author has 94 books listed on Goodreads and quite a few have gone viral online. 

Earlier this year the talented wordsmith took the athlete trope and made thousands of women suddenly very interested in golf. 

Now, readers have seen the return of Wells and Josie in The Au Pair Affair – which might be Tessa’s best book yet. Book two of the Big Shots series follows Tallulah, Josie’s best friend and marine biologist student, and Burgess, a divorcee who is trying his hardest to be the dad his daughter needs. 

Rich celebrity dad and live-in nanny may be a story we’ve heard before, but in classic Tessa-style it’s not so simple. Navigating trust issues, PTSD and a pre-teen who is convinced her parents are absolutely getting back together, Burgess and Tallulah don’t have it quite so easy.

We sat down with Tessa Bailey to get into her inspiration, this latest book and what’s to come.

Tessa fans will know that she has a tendency to write about strong men who are scared of vulnerability. Burgess himself is somewhat disgusted by the idea of emotionally baring himself. But why on Earth does she enjoy penning strong men who hate admitting they’re vulnerable? 

“Romance is a fantasy,” Tessa said. “It’s not necessarily how men think in real life but it’s how we would like them to think about us – and about the relationship. Part of the fantasy for me is that this man has never felt this before for anybody else nor will he ever feel this again. It’s just me, the main character, that I’m the only one he’s ever been able to feel this for. It’s going to be a journey to accepting that.”

She went on: “Something that’s so attractive about a really strong, stubborn man learning to accept these feelings and learning to expose his weaknesses to somebody but just one person. That’s the fantasy. That’s kind of where Burgess came from, he didn’t see it coming. He’s this big mountain man hockey player who doesn’t give himself leeway and suddenly he’s got this woman showing her weakness to him and it inspires him to do the same. It’s the give and take in romance.”

During her time writing romances over the years, Tessa has delved into every beloved trope one could think of. While they’re part and parcel with the romance genre (and, arguably, novel writing in general), she has her likes and dislikes. 

“I really love enemies to lovers,” she revealed. “There’s something that’s really just hot about it. There’s something about two people who ‘detest each other’. Or… he loves her already, that’s kind of my qualification. I really need him to have feelings for her even if he’s in a place of vitriol with her. As long as he has that foundation of ‘I’m actually really attracted to her, I find her compelling in that I can’t stop thinking about her’. I need that to be part of the hero’s journey in an enemies to lovers. I’m writing one right now…”

Currently, the American writer is hard at work on the Big Shots series, book three focuses on a couple we couldn’t get enough of in The Au-Pair Affair. Her current project even focuses on a rookie and a woman readers have yet to meet on page.

Tessa explained: “I feel like I always gravitate to ‘opposites attract’ characters. Who will be the person that brings this character to his knees or makes them see the world differently? Who is just the last person they’re expecting? I will gravitate towards writing that perfect foil. 

“There’s something that feels so incredible about two characters who are so different to each other finding common ground. That’s even harder. When the romance has more of a journey to take to get to that place… to me that’s the real deal. Two people who are exactly the same is a harder romance to write. Although, the one I’m writing right now, they are very similar. They are both competitive athletes, they have the same mindset and pump each other up. There’s just something about him, I guess, working and really putting an effort in to change her mind about him that really sends me. 

“It’s a fantasy. I don’t think we necessarily get that effort in real life all the time. It’s really refreshing to see a partner putting that in and deciding someone is worth it to change my ways or change my point of view. It’s so satisfying.”

Book three in the series is due to come out in February but is already raising eyebrows due to the unorthodox relationship it centres around. Something Tessa “didn’t see coming” 

“We meet these two characters in The Au-Pair Affair,” she reminded fans. “Chloe and Sig. They are very obviously close. Too close, because he’s eventually going to be her stepbrother. Their parents are engaged to be married. I did not see it coming. I was writing this book like: ‘Oh my gosh, these two characters are stealing the show’. I emailed my publisher and said: ‘Listen, I have a situation here where these two characters who are going to be related at one point are really compelling characters and I would like to write a book for them. Let’s negotiate.’ We talked about how I could write it in a way where they would feel comfortable. Pushing the envelope as far as I can without making people feel turned off [by] the whole idea of it. I think we accomplished that really well.”

The series was originally planned to be two books, but Tessa herself has been surprised by how compelling her athletes are on the page. Fans will be relieved to know that Tessa is happy to continue with the series for “as long as it feels good” and would happily release “seven or eight” Big Shots books if possible.

Tessa admitted: “I didn’t see myself writing sports romance, it’s not something I gravitated towards. It’s not something I’m always going to pick up all of the time. It’s weird, it’s almost a perfect fit for the type of heroes I write. They’re masculine, confident and competitive. It’s almost like I slid into a natural fit for the kind of characters I write and then suddenly they’re athletes and it just made so much sense. It feels great. I’m a sports person. There’s going to be baseball players, stay tuned.”

When asked about basketballers Tessa said: “I don’t know, maybe. I would never say never. A lot of people have been asking for Formula One as well. I’m wondering if I can possibly figure out how to do that…”

Tessa may be the “Michelangelo of spice” but she doesn’t shy away from indulging different ideas, either. 

Her 2020 novel Reborn Yesterday opens up with a mortician and a vampire having a moment while he lays (seemingly) dead in front of her – but are there any dynamics or tropes she has yet to write on but wants to explore?

Tessa confessed: “I’ve really wanted to write a time travel romance for a long time. I have this story idea that’s been in my head for a couple of years now and I am going to write it eventually. It’s just kind of darker. Right now, while I’m known for writing light fluffy rom-coms, I don’t feel like now is the time. I definitely have this idea in my head. Bad boy, good girl, time travel romance with a bit of a love triangle thrown in – and that’s something that I’ve also never done. I have ideas for something very different.”

The Au-Pair Affair has some of the darker themes we’ve ever seen from Tessa, in particular, PTSD is quite present. 

When questioned about whether she actively attempted to write about this topic, she replied: “We are all going through some sort of trauma.” She continued: “I didn’t sit down and think about ‘what do I want to accomplish here?’ 

“I think romcoms are so different than they used to be. They’re not just silly slapstick humour. We can have characters with real and serious traumas in their past. Serious health conditions and we can still laugh. That’s life … I know I have trauma and I use humour to combat it. That’s just the human condition. 

“People have a misconception about romcoms, that they’re all one thing. They can be both, because humans do both. We laugh, we laugh through the pain. I didn’t set out to write a book about PTSD, but that was her story and I was able to fit it into a rom-com and make it funny. I had the serious moments and the light moments all in one book and that’s possible. I think a lot of authors are proving that.”

You can buy The Au-Pair Affair on Amazon, Waterstones and anywhere you might expect to buy books now.