One Night Only, by Lauren Blakely is a 172-page contemporary menage-ish romance novel and is the first book out of a x-part series. It is written from a first-person POV, four-sided, which I found I did not care for. I’m not prudish by any means, I just don’t want to be in four different people’s heads, especially when the book is ONLY 172 pages.

Lauren Blakely is new to me as an author so I’m not sure if menages are generally her thing or not. And honestly…I should have read the back cover blurb or something, because I didn’t expect it…so surprise!

Spoilers Ahead ***

Compared to other books I’ve read, this book had less emotional depth and was more on the erotica path.

An heiress and a bodyguard are attracted to each other after over a year of him protecting her. The hotel heiress, Ivy, is working with her twin sister to maintain and improve her family’s legacy for a hotel in Vegas. She had been stalked a year prior and her last security detail failed at their job and the stalker got too close.

Callum, the hired bodyguard who owns the security company, is her primary day-time bodyguard. He has been protecting her for over a year and has acted as Ivy’s confidante and friend. Former marine and appears to be a real stand-up guy and cares a great deal about Ivy’s happiness and success. Afterall, Ivy expressed an interest in a menage and he delivered, not only did he provide it, but it was a friend of his who is a rockstar, Stone. So yeah…you get Stone’s brief POV as well.

Overall, the characters were likeable.

Generally, here are my thoughts:

1. Dirty…very dirty…ok, not the dirtiest I’ve read, but it’s up there.
2. You can expect the book to be light-hearted and fun. The book doesn’t focus a ton on character growth or development, it’s actually cut and dryish…the only tension is that Callum doesn’t feel comfortable just doing it with his client…ethics and all.
3. I don’t read a lot of erotica, but my understanding on the this genre of romance is that it will offer a happily ever after or a happily for now so it does do that.
4. Most of the book was exploring the sexual needs and desires of Ivy
5. This book is…well I’m going to call it a lazy reading kind of book. Not in a bad way, but it is not highly emotional, just highly sexual.
6. Not heavy on character growth, it isn’t like there is anything emotionally stopping them from having a relationship aside from “losing a friendship” and Callum’s professional dilemma.

In summary, I give this a 3 out of 5. I enjoyed it and you will too (if you’re into these kinds of books). It’s a quick read, light on emotions, dialogue is fair, not funny, almost…factual and straightforward. There isn’t a lot of room for interpretation.