Just This Once

By: Lena Hendrix

Narrated by: 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

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!

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!

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!

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 good

I just love a good small town romance add in fun banter, hilarious characters, insane chemistry and you have one good read. Just This Once is filled with fun flirty banter, secret forbidden relationship with the boss’ daughter, one night stand. He’s a firefighter and she’s a teacher. The tension and the banter between Whip and Emily is so good!!! I could not stop listening. The audiobook is perfectly narrated by Aiden Snow and Samantha Summers.

The male character to me

I dislike how I’m the middle the write started with a a mystery to be solve and it left us hanging I hope there is another book to complete it

hello king family

I love a small town romance and now that I've discovered Lena Hendrix, there is no turning back. Just This Once is the first book of her King Family series and I am already obsessed.

ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ɪꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ᴏɴᴇ-ɴɪɢʜᴛ ꜱᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴜʀɴᴇᴅ ꜰᴏʀʙɪᴅᴅᴇɴ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴍᴄ, ᴇᴍɪʟʏ, ᴄᴏᴍᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴍᴇ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴛᴏᴡɴ ᴀꜱ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴠᴇʀʏ ꜱᴇxʏ, ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ'ꜱ ᴅᴀʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀ, ᴡʜɪᴘ, ᴡᴏʀᴋꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ʜᴇʀ ꜰᴀᴛʜᴇʀ. ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ꜱɴᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴠᴏɪᴅ ʜɪᴍ, ɪɴ ᴀ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴛᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ɪɴᴇᴠɪᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱ ᴘᴀᴛʜꜱ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ɢᴇᴛ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴏꜰꜰ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴍɪɴᴅꜱ ꜱᴏ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇʟʟ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴜᴛ ᴇᴍɪʟʏ, ꜱᴛɪʟʟ ʀᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, ɪꜱ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴏʀᴀʀɪʟʏ - ᴄᴀɴ ᴡʜɪᴘ ᴄᴏɴᴠɪɴᴄᴇ ʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʏ?

Emily and Whip have great tension filled chemistry that creates wonderful "F-it" moments and fun banter. I could not get enough of their dynamic. The forbidden nature of it all, them sneaking around, Whip's family drama - it is all so good! And we are set up for a family mystery that I am guessing will play out over the course of this series. I am here for it.

Whip is such a swoony MMC - the dates he takes Emily on! Melt my heart. And of course the spice is chef's kiss. How can it not be, especially with a pierced MMC!

I have a feeling this series is going to be one of my favorites!

🎧 I listened to this one on audio and the dual narration by Aiden Snow and Samantha Summers was so good. Aiden Snow was so perfect for Whip.

🏡 Small Town
💖 One Night Stand to Lovers
⚡️ Opposites Attract
🍆 Pierced MMC
➶ Forbidden
✨ Boss's Daughter
🧯 Firefighter x Teacher
❓ Family Drama & Secrets
✌🏻 Dual POV

Outstanding start to the Kings family series!!!

We have entered the Kings family series and Lena’s writing just gets better and better!!!!!! A one night stand with a surprise once you find out the connection between these two. I am so glad I just went into this one blind as it made it even more fun to uncover the aftermath of their one night as they did!!

Emily recently moved to the small town of Outtatowner and Whip is a firefighter in town. They are both just such fun and lovable characters with all the banter, tons of chemistry and quite the hot heat between them!! I love how obsessed he was with her as their characters developed together and cannot forget to mention his nickname for her…Prim🥹 His reasoning was so cute and it might just be a new favorite nickname ever!!

I love that with Whip, we also get to hear more about the mystery surrounding his mom leaving that we learned about in the Sullivan series! And for Emily, all the Bluebird’s book club content was just perfection. I am off to order my sweatshirt and pretend I am a part of the club too!!

Firefighter MMC
Teacher FMC
One Night Stand
Forbidden
Secret Relationship
Small Town-Outtatowner

AUDIO:
Absolutely LOVED this audiobook!!!! Aiden Snow and Samantha Summers gave an incredible performance with this one in a dual narration and were exactly who you’d imagine for these characters. Aiden has a deep, gruff voice which was perfect for this hot firefighter while Samantha has a melodic upbeat tone which completely matched Emily as a compassionate teacher. Together their voices blended together so well and felt like a true couple!!! Highly recommend this one on audio!!

Small town swoon

Firefighter. Small town. He falls first. Town rivalry. Obsessed with all the tropes here. I didn’t love book 1 of the Sullivan side of things, but probably because I’m a problem and I prefer the bad boy side of town to the nice guys, so I loved this one. Narration was top notch (two incredible narrators who did such a good job keeping the story engaging). Excited to check out book 2 of the Kings.