Book and Audiobook Review – The Sexy One by Lauren Blakely plus Excerpt

The Sexy One by Lauren Blakely

Audiobook narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt

Standalone. Adult Contemporary. 

From NYT Bestselling author Lauren Blakely, comes a swoony new standalone romance…

THE SEXY ONE!

Want a romance guaranteed to make you melt? Get ready to fall in love with THE SEXY ONE!

From the NYT Bestselling author of MISTER O, comes a sexy new standalone romance…
Let me count the ways why falling into forbidden love is not my wisest move…
1. She works with me every single day.
Did I mention she’s gorgeous, sweet, kind and smart?
2. She works in my home.
Playing with my five-year-old daughter. Teaching my little girl. Cooking for my princess. Which means…
3. She’s the nanny.
And that makes her completely off-limits…But it doesn’t stop me from wanting her. All of her.

***

The other nannies in this city don’t call him the Sexy One for nothing. My boss, the amazingly wonderful single father to the girl I take care of every day is ridiculously hot, like movie star levels with those arms, and those eyes, and that body. Not to mention, the way he dotes on his little girl melts me all over. But what really makes my knees weak are the times when his gaze lingers on me. In secret. When no one else is around.

I can’t risk my job for a chance at something more…can I? But I don’t know how to resist him much longer either…

With all the heat, heart and humor readers have come to expect, this newest standalone will make you laugh, swoon and feel like you’re falling in love!

This is honestly getting ridiculous. I’m starting to get a slight Lauren Blakely obsession. She just can’t go wrong with me lately, especially with these first person romantic comedies she has been writing. I swear, it’s like Lauren did a brain wave scan on me to find the perfect book for me. Add to that my two favorite narrators and you are in for one swoony read or listen (or both).

First of all, The Sexy One is a complete dual POV standalone, but it does tie in with her series of male POV romcoms, Big Rock (5++++++ stars), Mister O (LOVED) and Well Hung (5++++++ Stars). Simon, aka ‘The Sexy One’ is a single dad with custody of his adorable 5 year old girl, Hayden. Simon has a nanny, Abby, who is absolutely wonderful with Hayden, and all the other nannies are jealous she gets to work for ‘The Sexy One’.

“If you looked up ‘hot single dad’ in the dictionary, you’d find his picture.”

We saw a brief glimpse of the longing between them in the other series, (Harper (from Mister O) is friends with Abby and was the magician at Hayden’s birthday party.) But seriously, how can anyone not lust over Simon? He’s smart, gorgeous, and most of all, he is an amazing, involved father. Within a few days of working for him. Abby was in love with her boss, but she never let him know in any way, always being professional and doing her job. She was an excellent nanny, who was also a linguist and taught several languages. Simon is also crazy about Abby. But he knows how difficult it was to find a good nanny, and besides not wanting to be the cliché guy who gets it on with the nanny, he also didn’t want to lose the woman that Hayden loved.

It was so cute how they fought the attraction, each thinking it was unrequited and trying to remain professional.

“We’re not a couple. We’re not together. She’s my daughter’s twenty-six-year-old nanny. I’m her thirty-four-year-old employer. Abby is bright and beautiful and funny and smart and so fucking sexy, and she’s only giving me advice on clothing because she’s one of the most upfront and caring people I’ve ever met, not because she’s playing house.”

I loved how Simon was just a good guy. Respectful to women, a great dad, put his daughter before work, and yet his was still a total alpha male.

Some women go for arms, some like humor, and some love a bad boy.
Me? I’m drawn to this amazing, gorgeous, handsome single father. I want to smother him in kisses and then jump his bones.
“You know it’s ridiculously hot how much you love your kid?”

I loved how the relationship was a slow burn, but once it caught fire….WHOOOOSH! 

“This is bad,” he says firmly, his breath coming heavily. But then, he’s not so certain at all. “Is this bad?”
“Yes,” I answer quickly. “It’s bad. But it’s so good.”
“God, it’s so good,” he rasps, then devours my lips again. 

As with every Lauren Blakely book I have read, there is certainly some hot sexy times. And once again, Sebastian York talking dirty? OMG.

Likes:

• I love that there was no drama for the sake of story. We were kept interested without unnecessary drama.
• All of the moments where they are playing with Hayden.
• Best first kiss ever. “Our lips touch, and it’s like a world that was ordinary has now turned extraordinary.”
• The eagle facts.
• Seeing Harper & Nick.
• This was probably Lauren Blakey’s most romantic book.
• I love reading texts.
• The only reason I didn’t give Mister O 5++++ stars is because I felt we needed a little more female point of view (they other two kind of gave it to us in a roundabout way) so I really loved the dual POV of The Sexy One.
• A little more sweet than her others, but it was a good sweet.
• Great sexy times.
• I laughed out loud a few times.
• Loved the tie-in of the languages and his work.
• Amazing narration in the audiobook.

Dislikes:

• A little too short. I would have liked to see them as a family. I actually thought maybe I was missing some of the book because the end was coming up so quickly. It was a very complete story though, it just felt a little rushed, or maybe I just loved it so much I needed more. (The audible was about 5 hours, her shortest, and Amazon lists the kindle version as 188 pages).

The Down & Dirty:

Rating: 4.75 stars, 4 Heat, 5 Narration

Excerpt One:

This man can kiss. His lips taste so good as he kisses me with a tenderness and a hunger that’s entirely new in my experience.

This kiss vibrates and spreads through my entire body, as if I’ve been shot full of liquid beauty, like gold and silver flow through my veins. He slides his tongue across mine, and I want to grab him, straddle him, and just kiss the daylights out of him, even in this crazy, dangerous cab.

I hardly care that our first kiss isn’t on a moonlit balcony or under the stars. This kiss was inevitable, especially after the last few nights, all these days, and then this afternoon. All our moments have been marching to this as Simon kisses me with such reverence that I want to melt into him. I rope my fingers through his soft hair, and I truly can’t believe I’m making out with Simon Travers in the back of a cab after we watched a documentary on zebras.

I wish I could say that alarms sound, telling me how risky it is to kiss the man I work for. But all I hear is the rapid beat of my heart, leading me closer to him.

Simon runs his thumb along my cheek, and that soft touch makes me tremble. Somehow I wriggle closer, my breasts pressed to his firm chest. He groans. It’s carnal and masculine, almost like a warning. But neither one of us heeds it. We simply can’t stop. We’re those people. The kind who go crazy in public. I feel insane right now. Crazy and wild and reckless.

His hands are on my face, then my hair, and then the back of my head. He is all heat and passion. The way his lips sweep over mine, the way his tongue explores my mouth, and most of all, the way he holds me—it all makes me want to grab those strong shoulders of his and slam him down on top of my body. I want to feel him slide my wrists over my head, pin them, and then smother me in kisses everywhere. I want to let go beneath his mouth, arch into him, urge him to explore my body the way he seems to want to.

The car jerks to a stop.

Abruptly, we separate, but only slightly.

He blinks and breathes out hard as he glances around. We’re all the way in Columbus Circle. Holy shit. We kissed for blocks upon blocks.

My lips miss his. I thread my hand into his hair. “We shouldn’t do this,” I say, though it hardly sounds like a protest as his hair falls through my fingers.

His eyes float closed, and his mouth is open, his breath coming in harsh pants. “We definitely shouldn’t do this,” he says, his voice low and smoky as he sighs deeply at my touch.

“You’re my boss,” I say, pointing out the obvious.

“You’re my—”

Whatever he was going to say next is cut off when he brushes his lips against my forehead, then over my face, dusting my cheek, my eyelids, my jawline.

My skin sizzles. My stomach flips. I want to live inside this kiss. “Don’t stop,” I murmur as his lips mark me.

He travels to my neck, and I tilt my head to the side. He layers kisses all along the column of my throat, the delicious mix of his rough stubble and his soft lips sending sparks to my very core. My body is hungry, eager for him, and I’m going to need a new word for want because what I feel for Simon is so much more than that.

It’s yearning. It’s non-negotiable. I have to have him.

“I don’t know that I can stop with you, Abby,” he whispers, and my name falling from his lips is exquisite and sensual.

In it, I hear his complete and utter need for me, and it’s thrilling—because it matches my heart. It matches my body, too.

 

Purchase The Sexy One by Lauren Blakely

Kindle Paperback Audible BN.com iBooks

Technically The Sexy One isn’t considered part of the series below (which isn’t even really a series?) because they are all male POV, and The Sexy One is dual POV. While they each easily stand alone, I like reading in order since each couple turns up in the next books, so I am putting The Sexy One in there where it belongs chronologically because they are all part of the same group of friends in New York City.

Click covers above to go to Amazon.
The next book is available for pre-order only on iBooks.
Joy Stick – June 17, 2017 (iBooks)About Lauren Blakely:Since self-publishing her debut romance novel CAUGHT UP IN US three years ago, Lauren Blakely has sold more than 1 million books. She is known for her sexy contemporary romance style that’s full of heat, heart and humor. A devout fan of cake and canines, Lauren has plotted entire novels while walking her four-legged friends. She lives in California with her family. With eleven New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than sixty times. Her bestselling series include Sinful Nights, Seductive Nights, No Regrets, Caught Up in Love, and Fighting Fire as well as standalone romantic comedies like BIG ROCK, MISTER O and WELL HUNG, which were instant New York Times Bestsellers. In the fall she’ll release THE SEXY ONE, a swoony contemporary romance. To receive an email when Lauren releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter at laurenblakely.com/newsletter.

 

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