Title: Lessons from a One-Night Stand
Author: Piper Rayne
Series: The Baileys #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Small town romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2019
I really loved the story of Austin and Holly. Honestly, I picked this book up when I needed a little bit of a pick me up, and it hit absolutely perfectly. One of the reasons why I enjoy Piper Rayne so much – their writing is always somewhat cheerful and sweet. And it always works as a great pick me up in the darker moments. Don’t get me wrong, Austin and Holly have got their share of challenges and angst (it’d be boring otherwise), but it is that perfect balance of angst that makes you want to keep reading, without destroying your heart in the making. Which some books do, and they also have their time and place.
One of the things that seriously kept me diving into this series was the fact that Holly moved to Lake Starlight to find her father and get some answers about her past. But, there are a whole heap of hints that there is more to it than appears on the surface, and that this is going to be a major point of conflict. It made me continuously inhale Lessons from a One-Night Stand – I couldn’t wait to see what barriers Holly’s parenthood would throw up. And, because it was Piper Rayne, it really didn’t throw up the barriers / work out the way that I had anticipated.
Then, there’s the counterpoint to Holly. Where she eventually falls for the quaint town and has moved there for answers, all Austin wants out of his life is to leave the town that he grew up in. I love how both Austin and Holly have to readjust their expectations for their future. At a point of conflict and turning in my own life, it was a good reminder that the things we need and love aren’t necessarily what we expected. In particular, for Austin, he has to actually sit back and wonder if past dreams are worth chasing, or if it’s okay to create new ones to reach for.
Lessons from a One-Night Stand is a great introduction to the Baileys siblings and the different challenges that they will face. Both having lost his parents at a young age, and being the centre of a small town. It was fun to read how stifled, and yet supported Austin feels by the people around him. As someone who is part of a small community and town, I can completely attest to how this can feel. On the one hand, small communities can really come together to support one another. On the other, sometimes that nosy entitlement can get a bit overwhelming.
Austin might be the first of the siblings to fall into his happily ever after, but I also absolutely adored learning more about the siblings and their lives. It also helps that I read Lessons from a One-Night Stand after starting the Lake Starlight series – so I had a bit of insight into how the next generation was going to unfold anyway. It was fun to read about the generation before, and now I can’t wait to keep inhaling the rest of the Baileys siblings stories.
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