Just One More Time (The Sterling Family Book #6)

Carly Phillips

Blurb:

One night. One heartbreak. One man she could never forget.

Years ago, Brooke Snyder gave her heart — and her innocence — to Aiden Sterling, her best friend’s older brother. For one perfect night, he was hers. Then he walked away without looking back.

Heartbroken, she focused on her career, and tried to move on, while he was half a world away. But no man ever measured up to Aiden, and the one time she tried, ended in disaster.

Now, he’s back to help his ailing father, and avoiding him isn’t an option— not when they’re forced to work together and definitely not when she’s sleeping in the bedroom next to his.

The past crackles between them, charged with everything they never said and everything they still feel. Every look dares her to remember. Every touch reminds her exactly what she spent years trying to forget.

Giving him her body is easy. But how can she protect her heart… when the man who broke it is the only one who can put it back together?

Themes: Contemporary

Rating: 4 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

We have been wondering now for a while what the real story was, what kept Aiden from returning to his family and we are finally going to learn why as he comes back into the Sterling Family fold permanently. The Sterling kids were all shaped early on by a tragedy that left each of them with issues and hang-ups that followed them into adulthood and interfered with their ability to have healthy relationships. But as each of them found that other half of their souls they came to accept that their past could continue to drag them down or they could allow themselves to find and give love and finally move forward to happiness. Aiden has been on the run for years, leaving behind the woman he loved, never realizing that he broke her heart and left them both living a half life. Now that he is back to fill in for his brother while he is on paternity leave, Aiden is faced with Brooke daily and he is no longer willing to live without her, but getting her to forgive him, much less offer her trust again is going to be a huge feat for him. Brooke gave her heart to Aiden a long time ago, and though he walked away from them after a single night, she never stopped loving him and the pain of seeing him sporadically through the years made her into a woman that couldn’t trust in the passion and love he offered. Now that he says he’s back for good, giving up his traveling ways and wanting to have a relationship, she is willing to take a chance, even though she is scared to fully trust in him. Then when a danger from his past comes knocking, she refuses to let him walk away, leaving her behind again, because Brooke loves him too much to lose him again.

Reading Brooke and Aiden’s story was filled with trauma, passion, angst and love as they worked through their past, navigated their present, and found a way to build toward a future that would allow them both to reach for what they both wanted in life. Brooke and her mother have been extended family to the Sterlings for so long that she feels like a member of the clan, but she’s never felt like Aiden was a sibling, and when he offered her everything, she wanted then ripped it away from her years ago, she never imagined she’d be able to forgive and try again. But the Aiden that has returned has changed and she wants him even more. She is smart, sassy, brave, and loving, but seeing the way she makes him work to prove himself and earn his way back into her heart and earn her trust again shows me that she truly understands her worth. Aiden knows he made a big mistake leaving Brooke behind, but he never realized just how big it was until she confronts him with the truth and now, he will do whatever it takes to get her back in his bed and keep her there forever. When he learns that danger is stalking him, though, he has to accept that being with him puts her in danger and decide if risking her life is worth the happiness that being with her and loving her offers him. Aiden was a wounded, terrified man, that needed to accept so much in life cannot prevented, no matter how we wish it can, and that need to protect, his deeply caring nature, and sweetness made me love him immensely. Together Brooke and Aiden were firebrands, and their passion tore up that pages and when they both finally accepted that their feelings were undeniable and accepted, they were forever meant to be together it was beautiful to experience. I loved this series, and I am sad to see it ending after one more short novel, but I know that whatever Carly Writes next it’ll be fabulous, and I cannot wait!

*eARC provided by author for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.