Novel Review: One Night Stand by Cindy Kirk

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Avon (HarperCollins)

Release Date: 2008

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Which is probably why Marcee Robbens found herself in the arms of a sexy stranger before the bouquet was even tossed at her best friend's wedding. And after a night of hot caresses and knee-weakening kisses in handsome Sam McKelvey's arms, even happily single Marcee is humming the wedding march. So when the sun comes up and Sam hits the road, the usually tough-as-nails beauty finds herself nursing a tender heart. . . .

Sam's not the kind of guy who would have a super-hot hook-up with a woman he barely knows. But something about Marcee had him mesmerized—enough for this usually sensible single dad to abandon his responsibilities for one unforgettable night. But Sam never thought his one night stand would turn up as his new next-door neighbor. Or that once he glimpsed the soft side of this captivating woman, he'd find himself falling in love. . . .

Quotes:

• "If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” (Mass Market Paperback, pg. 204)
• "'...in this town it’s more about the gossip than the truth.’” (Pg. 209)

The Cover:

I don’t like the title or cover of this book, as it portrays the book in a much different light than it really is, and that bothers me. The title makes a little bit of sense, since that's how the relationship starts, but it doesn't really last like that long, and it's obvious from the beginning that the two want more. And since the one night stand, the sex part, isn't really the focus, that's misleading. And the cover is embarrassing, and a little cute, but mostly has nothing to do with the book.

Review:

This was a surprisingly good book. I was expecting a very light, fluffy, smutty book, but there was a surprising depth and small amount of smut.

I liked the characters, all of them, and really liked their growing relationships and growing as people. Marcee and Sam were nice together, and I liked how they worked through problems, even if Sam was rather frustrating at times and sometimes Marcee misunderstood what he was doing. I really liked Marcee’s brother and Sam’s daughter, and those two’s relationship. As well as Marcee’s relationship with her brother and Sam’s with his daughter, although I would have liked more focus and development in those areas. There was a lot of focus on everyone’s relationship to each other and their back story and how it developed them, and their nosy small town neighbors, and very little sexy scenes, which was nice, but not what I was expecting.

I don’t like the title or cover of this book, as it portrays the book in a much different light than it really is, and that bothers me. 

This was a surprisingly good, fast story, and I really enjoyed it.