Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan
Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan have only recorded a handful of books together, but thanks to their performances in the much-loved Him/Us/Epic from Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, they’ve become something of m/m narrating royalty. I listen to Mr. Hamilton fairly frequently, and he’s a firm favourite here at AG – although I have to confess that I’ve hardly listened to Mr. Morgan at all; not because I don’t like his voice or his work, but because he doesn’t record often – if at all – in the genres I tend to enjoy.
So I was really excited to learn the pair was teaming up again for Lauren Blakely’s latest m/m story One Time Only, a romance between hot, openly bisexual rock star Stone Zenith (yes, really) and his equally hot, ex-marine bodyguard, Jackson Pearce – and they are both, of course wonderful.
The story? Not so much.
In fact, the most notable thing about the story in One Time Only is its absence.
Jackson has been working for Stone for about five months. They get on well; they shoot the shit together, snark at each other and generally enjoy one another’s company – but lately, it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore the fact that he’s strongly attracted to his boss. It’s a line Jackson can’t afford to cross; not only would it be unprofessional, he needs the steady income to pay off the debts incurred by his former – deceased – boyfriend, a daredevil stunt rider who died when a motorcycle stunt went wrong two years earlier.
Stone is bi and out and proud; he loves music, he loves his life, he loves sex, he loves having a good time and is completely larger-than-life. He’s also wildly attracted to his hot but straight (he assumes) bodyguard, but knows he shouldn’t go there.
Well, obviously they DO go there, deciding that it’ll be One Time Only for them to get it out of their systems. And then of course, One Time Only isn’t enough, and so, even though they’ve really tried to keep their hands off each other and failed miserably, they decide that they’ll spend the final week of Stone’s tour hooking up and screwing each other’s brains out.
And that’s just about it for the plot. Of a nearly ten hour audiobook. The conflict which comes near the end is predictable and SO minimal, that blink, and you’ll miss it, and while I like a well-written steamy sex scene as much as the next person, there were so many of them, I just zoned out after a while.
I liked the characters (two-dimensional though they are). Jackson’s relationship with his younger sister is especially good, and the chemistry between Stone and Jackson sizzles nicely, but call me old-fashioned – I like a bit of a story to go along with All The Sex, and there just isn’t one here. And dear GOD, the mental lusting (“lust” seems to be the buzz-word in this book, btw). Right from the first chapter, the mental lusting is so strong it’s a wonder either man can walk – or see – straight.
Unsurprisingly, it was the narration that kept me listening, although even the dulcet tones of this talented duo couldn’t keep my mind from wandering at times. Coincidentally I re-listened to Him quite recently, and one of the things that stood out most strongly as I was listening to One Time Only was the way that Jacob Morgan has developed as a narrator. Don’t get me wrong, he was good in Him, but here – wow, he knocked my socks off! He embodies the character of Stone flawlessly, expertly conveying his outgoing, generous nature, his humour and his confidence; his vocal acting is superb and he also does a terrific job with Jackson’s dialogue, doing a more than more-than-passable imitation of the low, gravelly tone Teddy Hamilton employs for Jackson, so there’s a real consistency in the portrayals of the two leads. Mr. Hamilton’s portion of the narration is excellent, too, strongly characterised and well-differentiated, his sexy growl well suited to Jackson’s particular brand of dirty talk and general alpha-ness.
But even so, I really can’t recommend One Time Only. Goodreads and Amazon are full of 5 star fangirl squee for it, so I’m clearly in a very small minority in thinking it lacks depth, plot and well-rounded characters. Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton are easily the very best thing about this audiobook, but even they can’t make up for the lack of a decent story or disguise the fact that the text is practically three-quarters sex scenes and little else. Two such talented performers deserve better material than this.
Note: This audiobook includes TWO epilogues, performed duet-style, a short preview of Ms. Blakely’s next m/m story, and an interview with the narrators – which I probably enjoyed more than the book!
Caz
Buy One Time Only by Lauren Blakely on Amazon
What a pity, Caz, I *love* these two narrators. There’s little point in listening when the story is so *meh* that you have to skip great chunks of it. ☹️
I suppose it’s typical LB – I’ve enjoyed a few of her m/f contemporaries, but they, too, tend to be fairly lightweight in the story department, which is fine if that’s what floats your boat. But it didn’t float mine; even two such amazing narrators couldn’t disguise that this was basically a very poor attempt at jumping on a bandwagon while being secure in the knowledge that the regular fanbase probably wouldn’t notice just how poor it was.
Thanks for the review,Caz. I know there are some good contemporary stories out there, but there are so many that are very thin on plot, and they honestly start to all sound the same. I think I’ll give this one a miss even though I love these two narrators. I’ve gotten to where I’m skimming redundant sex scenes in many of the books I’m reading because they seem to be following a formula.
I can only hope the narrators who read a lot of these sex-stuffed contemporaries decide at some point to read a wider variety of styles and romance genres.
When I read the synopses of most of the CR by the current big name crop of authors, it really is a case of “seen one, seen ’em all” – they all sound the same. And this is no different. And honestly, either character could have been a woman – it’s an m/f romance rewritten.
I had much the same experience listening to this. Wash, rinse, repeat. Teddy and Jacob are so talented its a real shame to see that talent frittered away on material like this.
*nods* I gather she’s writing two more books for them – I may try the next one in the hope it could be better, although I’m not holding my breath. It’s such a waste – there are great books out there by authors who probably can’t afford to employ narrators of this calibre, or who can’t get a look-in because their schedules are so full.