Just This Once

De: Lena Hendrix

Narrado por: Aiden Snow, Samantha Summers

Whip King cannot be the man for me.

Cocky, pierced firefighters are perfect for late-night rom-coms, but in real life they’re nothing but trouble. Especially when you find out they work for your dad—after you’ve already slept with them.

Moving to my parents’ small town was supposed to be the fresh start I was looking for. When a disastrous Valentine’s Day leads to an unexpected encounter with a sexy stranger, and ends with the hottest night of my life, I didn’t think I would ever see Whip again.

Imagine my surprise when one of my sixth-grade students has a medical emergency and it’s Whip who shows up, looking hot as hell, to save the day. I should be embarrassed at how we left things, but instead I’m furious he doesn’t seem to remember me.

So I scrape my pride off the floor, lift my chin, and pretend there’s nothing between us. But that can last only so long. Stolen glances melt into forbidden touches, and once we give in to temptation, we can’t keep our hands off each other.

Nothing has ever felt so right, but my guarded heart won’t let me believe in happily ever after with a man like him. Opening up to Whip may be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and every time we agree to one last time, we both know it’s a lie.

How many times can we keep telling ourselves just this once before we realize that, when it comes to love, once is never enough?

©2024 Lena Hendrix (P)2024 Lena Hendrix

Ohhhh the King family is going to be so good too!!

I devoured the Sullivan Family series and could hardly wait to read the King's side of the story. Lena did not disappoint!

Whip (the oldest King) falls hard for Emily. His one-night stand, who abruptly left the next morning. He has no idea why she left so fast but, that night was special. Little does he soon find out their connection and it's not a good one! He's a hot cocky firefighter looking to be promoted to Lieutenant. Emily has just moved to this small town to be close to her parents and be a substitute teacher, in hopes it will turn into a full-time position.

Things just keep bringing these two together. They try to avoid each other but it's not working. They start off seeing each other in secret but it soon turns into so much more.

However, Whip's father who runs their town but doing anything he wants has other plans. Whip's aunt finds some things in the family's basement and passes them onto Whip and cause so many questions, that him and his brothers start to look deeper into family secrets that have never been spoken about.

The little breadcrumbs that Lena left make me so excited for the next book! The narrators did an excellent job!

Just this once

I really liked this book Thank you. . Look forward to the next books . Keep writing great stories . Smile Always!

Loved it

I fell hard for Whip, he ticked all my boxes; I loved the development of his relationship with Emily.

Ms. Hendrix drew the reader in with characters that will have you quickly invested in their story.

The connection between them was palpable and it was entertaining to watch as they fell in love.

From the first to the last chapter, I was invested in the story.

The narration by Aiden Snow and Samantha Summers was spot on. They brought the fabulous story and characters to life with their performances and I found myself listening well into the night.
Ms. Hendrix wove a story that the narrators certainly did justice too.

Miscommunication Angst with Good Spice

Dual Narration was fantastic! The angst in the book is due to miscommunication trope and character insecurities, so if these are not your favorite you might not like this story line. Additionally with predictable third act breakup. Spice is really good with good dirty talk.

Aiden Snow!!!

I’m a new reader/listener of Lena Hendrix and she is so good!!! Love the story and spice. Aiden Snow? Now he can do no wrong. I could listen to that voice ALL. DAY. LONG. Samantha did great as well. Definitely recommend this one!

Book & Audio Review

Clearly 2024 is the year for finding new to me authors that I'm obsessed with. Lena Hendricks just gained a huge fan! (it's me, i'm the fan.) Just This once was an absolute banger. I had so many notes to jot done so i'll just start spouting those off. Our FMC Emily was funny and i found myself cacking at her inner monologe. Lena created one of the most delicious tenstion/banter stories ive read in awhile and i LIVE for banter. The whole small town family feuding background was fantastic, the pranking was hilarious. Definitely some major amazing found family vibes, like please make me an honorary bluebirds member. I also really loved how this book came absolutely full circle it seriously made the HEA that much sweeter.

Onto the Audio…. If ive said it once ive said it a thousand times, AIDEN SNOW COULD READ ME A CAR MANUAL AND ID STILL SWOON. Aiden was the perfect Whip, he embodied that playful, charismatic, gruffness though his words. This was a first for me by Samantha Summers and she knocked it out of the park. She captured this giddiness and playful side to Emily that i dont think i would have normally caught if i were just reading. Both Narrators executed the banter in this book and made this read simply unputdownable. Can not wait for book two

Hot and fun small town romance!!

book review📖: just this once by lena hendrix

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫 (4.5 stars)
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Audio narrators: Samantha Summers & Aiden Snow
• It has been a hot minute since I have listened to deep voice king Aiden Snow and WOW does he do the best job.👏🏼 Samantha sounds beautiful and expressive, I always love her performances!

• Summary:
After a hurtful break up, Emily moves to the small, quirky town of Outtatowner to be near her parents and get a fresh start. One night she escapes a bad blind date only to run into a handsome, fun, cocky man Whip King. After their heated night together, Emily discovers Whip is a fireman working for her father (the fire chief) and is definitely off limits. Emily is determined to stay away from Whip and focus on her job as a teacher, but Whip keeps teasing and flirting his way into her orbit. The two have an attraction that can’t be denied, even if they’re both in denial thinking it will be just this once.

• My thoughts:
This is the first book in Lena’s King Family series, and I completely loved it! This book gives all of the steamy and funny yet forbidden small town romance vibes. I loved the quirky setting of Outtatowner, where pretty much everyone gets a nickname, and the Sullivan and King families have an ongoing feud / prank war. Emily and Whip had instant chemistry, and from the jump you are getting the tension and spice. Whip was giving top tier book boyfriend with his flirty teasing and acts of service, all while also having a filthy mouth, fireman muscles, and piercings (you KNOW where.) Emily was sweet and desperate for a sense of belonging, and I loved the sense of community she finds with the other women in the town. Anddd the spice.🔥 When the man has a 🍆 piercing, you know the spice is going to be good, and it WAS. Enough said.

This King Family series is a follow up to the Sullivan Family series, so I would recommend reading the Sullivan Family series first! Did I know this was a sister series before I read the book? Nope! But you can bet I’m going to be reading the Sullivan series too!

Firefighter…more like fire starter🔥

This book was hot start to finish! I really appreciated the build up because it had me locked in the entire time. This series is not just spicey but has a mystery woven throughout that has me wanting a book for everyone in the family!

Very good!

I really enjoyed this small town romance. I got all the feels (I didn’t actually cry, but I definitely felt Eve along with the characters!) and rejoiced at the end with the sweet hea. The characters have depth and I felt like I was right there in Outatowner, MI with the community. Great series!

So cute!

I truly enjoyed this book. As a Michigander i was pleasantly surprised to read that it takes place in Michigan. Books are never written about Michigan lol. Whip and Emily’s relationship was so cute. The way they met on Valentine’s Day fighting over a bag of chocolate, to their one night stand, to finding out he worked for her dad. This book had me cackling & kicking my feet. I read this both on kindle and audio and I will say the audio definitely brought it to life. I will definitely be continuing the series!!