Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  One Time Only

AUTHOR:  Lauren Blakely

NARRATOR:  Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan

PUBLISHER:  Lauren Blakely Books

LENGTH:  9 hrs and 27 mins

RELEASE DATE:  November 16, 2020

BLURB:

A fiery, passionate MM forbidden romance from number one New York Times best-selling author Lauren Blakely, performed by Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton!

Ever hear the story about the bodyguard who falls for the rock star?

Yeah, it never ends well.

Each day I remind myself that it’s my job to protect Stone. And nowhere in the job description does it say I should lust after the charismatic, charming man.

Especially since we’re opposites.

But every night I spend with him the dangerous, off-limits attraction grows more intense.

Until one night in a limo when we combust.

One time only will have to be enough. One scorching, forbidden night.

Because the mistakes from the past are chasing me. And if I give in again, I’ll lose everything.

But sometimes you grab hold of the desire. And other times, the desire takes hold of you.

No matter the cost.

ONE TIME ONLY is a standalone MM romance! Devour this MM rocker/bodyguard forbidden romance!

REVIEW:

One Time Only is Lauren Blakely’s second MM romance, a loose spin-off of her successful first foray into MM romance in A Guy Walks into My Bar.  Jackson, one-half of the star couple in One Time Only, is introduced to us in a very brief appearance at the end of A Guy Walks into My Bar.  Stone, the other half of the OTO power couple, is introduced for the first time in Lauren’s novella Maybe This Time, a prequel to One Time Only which tells us how Jackson and Stone meet. In my Love Bytes audio review of A Guy Walks into My Bar, I previewed that the audio for One Time Only is fantastic.  And it is.  It really really is.

All you really need to know to one-click this audiobook is this:  “Narrated by: Jacob Morgan, Teddy Hamilton.”  Have you read Him/Us and Epic?  The blockbuster trio of “Wesmie” MM romance stories by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy?  Most people who read the MM romance genre have, because those books, and the fictional super-couple Wes and Jamie that are featured in them, are beloved.  The audiobooks for those stories are narrated by the powerhouse duo of … you guessed it:  Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton. They are exceptionally talented and skilled narrators that have worked together many times and that natural ease with each other comes through in the audio. They are thoughtful in their choices of how to vocalize their characters to make sure it matches their character’s appearance, role and dynamic in the relationship.

Here, Teddy Hamilton voices Jackson, our Chris-Hemsworth-esc bodyguard to rock superstar Stone, who is voiced by Jacob Morgan.  You could tell that Teddy dug deep here into his lower register to provide low tones, growl and the underlying intimidation that Jackson, the tall, muscular wall of man who is the bodyguard protecting the wildly popular rock star Stone, needs to have to match his character.  Jacob, for his part, has this deceptively almost monotone voice that somehow magically isn’t monotonous at all.  It’s gritty around the edges and the inflections are imbued with emotion and angst and wonder, as fitting for the scene. His oxymoronically flat yet deep tone and delivery are a perfect counterpoint to who Stone is as a character – a rock star with a public and private persona and a huge, soft heart.  On the surface, Stone’s got to keep it one-note – a public persona that doesn’t always reflect who he is or how he’s feeling.  But in private, he’s a musician who writes and sings love songs for and about his man, Jackson.  Jacob’s narration conveys all of that through tone, pacing and delivery.  (Jacob also sings in a few places in this audio and he is surprisingly good).

Lauren Blakely often writes her characters with narrators in mind.  In AGWIMB, Lauren freely admitted that Dean and Fitz were specifically written for Shane East and Joe Arden’s voices.  Similarly here, Lauren indicated that when she wrote Stone, she had Jacob’s voice in mind. There’s reason for that:  they are perfection as the voices for their roles. Here, Teddy and Jacob strike that perfect timbre of their voices to fit this steamy, sultry story. There’s a lot of sex in this story and the way they vocalize the ferocious yet loving sex scenes is phenomenal.  It’s all want and need and vulnerability and love wrapped into the words these narrators say and the way they say them. There’s implied meaning delivered without fanfare, but with devastating impact.  Jacob delivered two of the most powerful instances of this, one upon Stone’s heart breaking (“And because I love him so much, I let him go.”), and the other on trying to survive the fallout (“Becca: Can I get you anything?” Stone: “A new heart would be good. One that doesn’t hurt. Do you have that on the menu?”).  Just ouch.  Jacob’s delivery of those lines is like a shot to the heart and a sucker punch to the gut.

The audiobook is a mixed bag full of nothing but treats for the listener. The bulk of the book is voiced in the fairly typical dual narration format (male narrator reads the chapters for his character’s perspective, but also does all the other voices in those chapters including the other male MC and any female voices).  But the epilogues – and there are several – are voiced through duet narration, the same style used in the audio for AGWIMB, with Teddy narrating Jackson and only Jackson, and Jacob narrating Stone and only Stone (and a few side characters because there’s no full cast support), and they interact with each other throughout the epilogues, essentially creating radio theater.  We also get the bonus content provided in A Guy Walks into My Bar – a post-book interview with the narrators.  It’s super-interesting to hear their thoughts and experiences in narrating One Time Only, working with each other, recording via Zoom, and Jacob’s lovely accent …  (There’s also bonus audio of the introductory chapter of Lauren’s next MM book Scoring With Him, which will also be narrated by the Jacob and Teddy power-duo. That story will focus on Declan, a MLB player from The New York Comets, who is introduced at the end of OTO.)

In terms of the story itself, One Time Only is your typical forbidden romance, bodyguard trope, but in true Lauren Blakely style, she creates something that’s unusual out of it. When this story starts, the chemistry between Stone and Jackson is already strong, bubbling up and being precariously kept from bubbling over by swiftly whittling resolve to not give in to their mutual attraction.  The primary roadblock is Stone’s belief that Jackson is straight, and when he discovers, in a moment of jealousy-fed confession, that Jackson is gay and hot for Stone, … well all bets are off.  Similar to Dean in AGWIMB, Jackson tries to resist the pull; his reason is that he can’t do his job and be the honorable man he wants to be if he breaks the cardinal rule of bodyguards – do not become involved with the person you are protecting.  Similar to Fitz in AGWIMB, Stone tries to resist the pull out of respect for Jackson and his code, although, honestly, neither Stone, nor Fitz before him, try too hard.  Another parallel between the books is this concept of finally giving in but on a deadline – give in, indulge, meet all their wants and needs, and then get out by a finite end date and leave it all behind.  For Jackson and Stone, that bubble of indulgence is Stone’s two-week residency in Vegas.  They always intend for that to be the end but, not surprisingly, love had other plans for them.

Despite all the similarities to AGWIMB, One Time Only has much less angst and much more relationship development.  There’s almost sole focus on Jackson and Stone and the development of their lust and love in the artificial realty of Vegas hotel rooms. Not much happens beyond that with any side characters or side stories. But it’s easy to fall hard and fast for Jackson and Stone, aka “Jackstone”, just as they do for each other, and if you love them and love them together, you’ll love everything about this book.  And in typical Lauren Blakely fashion, there are multiple epilogues that span time after Jackson and Stone get together and well into the future so we can really see how their love and happiness extends over time.

This is one of those rare times where I think an audiobook eclipses the book such that if you only read and don’t listen, you are missing out on a lot.  Definitely listen to this audiobook.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon 

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