Review – The Only One by Lauren Blakely

The Only One: A One Love Novella by Lauren Blakely

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“And when one of them meets the other half, the other half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other’s site, as I may say, even for a moment.” ~Plato

Maybe it’s because my favorite candies are caramels.

Maybe it’s because of soft spot for second-chance romances.

Maybe it’s because of my mad love for Lauren Blakely books.

No…not maybe at all…but YES!!! YES to the caramels! YES to this swoon-filled and soul-slaying second-chance romance! YES to another Lauren Blakely brilliant and blissful book! YES to The Only One YES! YES! YES!

There is something special about second-chance love that speaks to the soul. Two soulmates broken apart whose love has never died are granted a do-over…that coveted second chance. Their hearts, once sliced in half, find their way back to each other and become whole again. Second-chance love stories are my heart…my soul…my obsession; The Only One was my magic…my heart…my soul…my swoon…MY KRYPTONITE.

The Only One sparked to life as magic poured from the pages, shining in beauty and brilliance like a diamond. Oh that SPARK! The Only One had ALL OF THE SPARK…ALL OF HEART…ALL OF THE SOUL. All of MY heart. All of MY soul.

Ten years ago beautiful Penelope, Penny, met a gorgeous man, Gabriel, while traveling in Spain. They had a once-in-a-lifetime, passionate and powerful love affair with combustible chemistry and a connection of soul mates.

“My three-day love affair under the starry Spanish sky with the man who whispered sweet nothings in my ear while he played my body like a virtuoso piano isn’t getting a second act.”

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Penny is reunited with her first and only love, Gabriel, through a chance meeting in New York when a work function brings them together. After a decade she is going to meet the man who still holds her heart.

“The twenty-four guy who dazzled me when I gave him my virginity a decade ago has nothing on this man in front of me. He’s as beautiful as a heartbreak.”

Oh beautiful is this man from inside out, and oh did Gabriel grab my heart and melt me from inside out! I LOVED GABRIEL SOOO MUCH!

“I have to believe in fate, too. Do you? Believe in fate?”

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Oh Gabriel! His words were poetry that penetrated through my heart like Cupid’s arrows.

Gabriel sees the stunning woman in front of him who reminds him of his Penelope, the one he loved and lost when she left in Spain, the woman who still holds his heart.

There is no way Penny can resist Gabriel’s gorgeous looks, charm, sweetness, and passion. Feelings flow to the surface after being dormant for a decade.

“Perhaps the ice I had thought had encased my heart when it came to this man is breaking.”

Oh the angst that aired bled into this book with as much fervor as the love lingering in the air.

“My lips brush hers, and the world stills. For the briefest second, I don’t want to move. All I want to do is savor this sliver of time—this most perfect of moments when I kiss her again.”

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That kiss! Small in size but HUGE in history and love, that KISS WAS EVERYTHING!!! It was the turning point of a renewed love affair of soul mates.

“My feet don’t touch the ground. Gravity has no hold on me. I’m floating, falling, gliding….his lips both wonderfully familiar and yet fantastically new.”

That kiss melted from the pages, penetrating that passion right to me as I felt it too. Those lifetime kisses that you know will lock you to love for life.

“I’m going to worship you. I’m going to adore you.”

“You already do.”

too-teaser-6 Oh. My. SWOON!!! My soul was slayed in the best way as The Only One owned it and me! I was breathless at the blossoming love between these soul mates, this love that lifted me up into the sky where I floated among the clouds.

As fast as the love was rekindled, the loss lingers, hurt hovering over Penny and Gabriel along with the past like a dark cloud. Trust was a traitor that threatened to invade their new found happiness.

“He leaves, and that frustration inside me explodes into hurt and sadness as I watch him walk away.”

My heart bled for Penny and for Gabriel. As the feelings of hurt and betrayal float through the air, chemistry also permeates with a passion. A passion that transports them both to their intense love affair years ago in Barcelona.

“Only him. It’s only ever been him.”

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The Only One is THE ONE, the fairy tale that flutters in feels and dances in dreams, the one that caused me to FALL HARD IN LOVE. The Only One left me breathless in a brilliant and beautiful story that was love at first sight. Oh did this utterly romantic romance feel real.

The Only One has that special spark that made me feel butterflies as it shot stars in my eyes. I flew high on Cloud Nine to Swoon Land! The Only One is a magical and mesmerizing second-chance love story full of sweetness, swoon, and soul. Oh how I loved thee…SOOO MUCH!

The Only One is Lauren Blakely’s most romantic romance ever! PURE BOOK BLISS! The off-the-charts chemistry, the passion, the promise of more, the love that never died, the sweetness, the swoon, and heart and soul…The Only One was EVERYTHING!!! This passionate love affair of words was the only one for me! I’m still swimming in a sea of swoon where I want to wade longer in the bliss of this Blakely book.

★★★★★ brilliant and blissful kisses (because oh so romantic romance)

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From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SEXY ONE comes a romance about fate and second chances

Let’s say there was this guy. And he gave you the most mind-blowing night of sex in your life. And you never saw him again.
Until ten years later.
Now, it turns out he’s the ONLY ONE in all of Manhattan whose restaurant is available the night of my charity’s gala.
The trouble is, he doesn’t recognize me.
***
This woman I’m working with is so damn alluring. The first time I set eyes on her, I’m captivated and I can’t get her out of my mind. Even if it’s risky to tango with someone I’m working with, she’s a risk I’m willing to take.
The trouble is, she won’t give me the time of day.
But I’m determined to change that.

THE ONLY ONE is a standalone novella following characters first introduced in THE SEXY ONE (Gabriel) and WELL HUNG (Penny).

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EXCERPT

The clock mocks me.

As the minute hand ticks closer to eight in the evening, I wrack my brain to figure out if I got the time wrong. Maybe we picked two. Maybe he said ten. Maybe we’re meeting tomorrow.

My chest twists with a desperate anxiety as I toy with the band on my watch.

But as the fountains of Lincoln Center dance higher under the waning light, I’m sadly certain there was no error in communication.

The only error was one of judgment.

Mine.

Thinking he’d show.

Drawing a deep, frustrated breath, I peer at my watch once more, then raise my face, searching the crowds that wander past the circular aquatic display at Manhattan’s epicenter for the performing arts. This fountain is so romantic; that’s why we chose it as the place to meet again.

One week later.

Foolishly I hunt for the amber eyes and dark wavy hair, for the lean, tall frame, for that mischievous grin that melts me every time.

I listen for the sound of him amidst the melody of voices, wishing to hear his rise above the others, calling my name, apologizing in that sexy accent of his for being late.

My God, Gabriel’s accent was a recipe for making a young woman weak in the knees. That was what he had done to me. The man melted me when I first met him last month in Barcelona at the tail end of my summer of travels across Europe.

When I close my eyes and float back in time, I hear that delicious voice, just a hint of gravel in his tone, and a whole fleet of butterflies chase each other in my belly at the resurgence of that faraway romantic dream.

I open my eyes, trying to blink away the inconvenient intrusion of memory. I should go. It’s clear he’s not coming tonight.

But, just in case I mixed up the times, maybe I’ll give him one more minute. One more look.

One more scan of the crowd.

I let the clock tick past eight.

I still don’t see him.

I’ve been here for more than two hours, sitting on the black marble edge of the fountain. Scouring the corners of Lincoln Center. Peering left, then right down Columbus. Circling, like an animal at a zoo—pathetic modern-day female waiting for male to stay true to his word.