One Night Only by Catherine Walsh
Narrator: Jessica Regan
Published by Bookouture on July 30, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 311
Length: 9 hours 17 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Gift
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Who could have predicted this? Being at the same wedding. In Ireland. There’s a reason one-night stands are one-night stands. You’re not supposed to see each other again, especially not when you’re the maid of honor, and he’s the groom’s brother…

Sarah Anderson has never been more excited about anything in her life. She’s going to her best friend’s wedding. And not just any wedding. An Irish wedding. Goodbye New York, hello rolling green hills and men with beautiful accents and twinkling eyes.

But Sarah should have known that not all guests are fairy-tale princes…

There’s the chinless Uncle Trevor, whose idea of small talk is to claim climate change is a conspiracy.

Then there’s Great Aunt Eileen, who doesn’t talk at all (she’s too busy replacing the hotel cutlery with her own set).

Worst of all, there’s Declan Murphy. Best man. Brother of the groom. And the man Sarah last saw naked.

Is there anything more mortifying than bumping into a one-night stand halfway across the world? Especially as Declan seems determined to embarrass Sarah at every turn. At least when the wedding’s over she’ll never have to see him again.

But, back in New York, Sarah finds the more she tries to forget Declan, the more she can’t shake the thought of that infuriatingly charming smile and the way he wears a tux…

Was he really just for one night only, or might Declan Murphy be The One?

Prepare to laugh until you cry with this perfect feel-good romantic comedy about taking a chance on love. Fans of Sophie Ranald, Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes won’t be able to put this down!

The travel bug in me is rearing its ugly head these days! I can’t stop reading books set in other countries, so of course I had to read this rom-com that takes place, at least for some of the book, in Ireland! Sarah, an architect living in New York, is off to a small town in Ireland for her best friend’s wedding at a fancy resort. I really enjoyed this vacation to the Emerald Isle right along with her! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Let’s start off with Sarah. I liked her a lot, even though I also wanted to smack her sometimes. She knows what she wants and is perfectly capable of standing up for herself. She also has great self-esteem, knows her worth, and isn’t afraid to put herself first. She’s a really good friend. She’s been hurt by a former love, and is very protective of her heart (I can relate to that). Because she’s not a relationship person anymore, she tends just have one night (see where the title comes from?) with a man and then that’s the end. At the beginning of the book, we see her kicking a sexy Irishman out of her house so she can rush off to work. My biggest problem with Sarah is how she treated this man. He was so nice and wanted to spend more time with her, and he seemed so confused and hurt that she kicked him out in such a rude way. When he tried to talk to her she slammed the door in his face. I could never be that way towards a person.

2. Luckily we see this Irishman again very quickly! His name is Declan, and he’s the brother of the groom in this Ireland wedding! When Sarah sees him, she goes into a panic and begins avoiding him immediately. Awkward! This guy is swoony, so I don’t even understand Sarah. He’s got the Irish accent and sounds like he’s very handsome. He’s funny and charming and sarcastic. He sees something he likes in Sarah and will not give up. She continues to be rude to him, and he keeps finding ways to be around her and talk to her. Finally he starts to wear her down little by little, but she’s put up guards of steel. I love his determination to tear them down. He and Sarah have a long conversation over drinks in the bar one night, and even though they both get plastered he remembers the important things she tells him. He’s empathetic and understanding, and I love how he tries to ground her when he can see that she’s about to flee in a panic. He creates a safe space for her and allows her time to realize she’s falling for him.

3. The secondary characters are all great! Sarah’s best friend, Annie, was really sweet. She doesn’t play a huge part in the story, but I loved her wedding and her big family (well, most of them). I really liked Sarah’s roommate, too (she gets a tiny romance herself). Oh, and then there’s Sarah’s fun co-worker, Will, who I loved!

4. We end up back in New York much sooner than I was expecting, which was a bit of a disappointment. I loved the wedding and the sightseeing the characters did in Ireland, and I wanted more of that.

5. Once Sarah gets back home to normal life and tries to forget about Declan, there’s a period of her trying to date someone else and dealing with workplace drama. This part of the book didn’t work for me as well. I wanted more romance!

6. But… I suppose that this romance was pretty realistic. There’s push and pull, back and forth, time away to process, etc. So I get it. I understood. There were some very romantic moments, but I felt like there was also a lot of focus on Sarah’s personal growth. I loved seeing her come to the realization that not every love story ends in heartbreak, but it was a process getting there. It was very relatable, and will resonate with so many readers (it definitely resonated with me)… but I wanted more of that magical, sparkling romance I crave from romance novels.

7. The writing was very well done. I loved the bits of humor here and there, and the characters are very well-rounded and developed. The book’s synopsis tells us to “prepare to laugh until you cry”. This… didn’t happen. I didn’t find the book that funny. It had its moments, but there were more serious moments than funny ones for me. Not a problem, but that’s a bold statement to make and this book did not deliver that.

8. I listened to the audiobook, and Jessica Regan did a good job. I enjoyed listening to her, and would gladly listen to more books she’s narrated. She has a nice, soothing voice. My only real criticism is that Sarah is an American, but sounded like an Irish woman trying to sound like an American. It was a bit distracting to hear Sarah pronounce words in a way that no American would in an accent that was trying to sound American but had a hint of that Irish lilt to it. That being said, Jessica did keep Sarah’s voice relatively consistent and she did a great job switching back and forth from Declan to Sarah. It would be so hard to switch accents that quickly.

All in all, One Night Only was a very fun read! I enjoyed the parts that took place in Ireland a lot, and I loved Declan so much. The romance was a little underdeveloped for me, but the ending was very sweet and gave me the swoons I wanted. I’m definitely interested in reading more from Catherine Walsh.