Just This Once

Men of Porth Luck, Book 1

By: Garrett Leigh

Narrated by: Dan Calley

Love hurts. Love heals. Love stays.

A broken soldier. A guarded nurse. A love that shouldn't happen—and yet...

"Of course it fucking does."

Mal's just passing through. Skylar's the small-town nurse who fixes everyone but himself. Mal swears he won't fall, but Sky's smile hides shadows he can't ignore.

Those pewter-grey eyes.

That sun-kissed hair.

That ink.

We're a mistake waiting to happen.

Inevitable. Excruciating.

So where's the harm in Just This Once?

Men of Porth Luck series is a steamy, gritty, and emotional MM small-town romance collection full of angst, deep connections, and healing soulmate love.

Expect: steamy MM romance; hurt/comfort & gritty angst; small town, big hearts, and found family.

©2025 GARRETT LEIGH (P)2026 Podium Audio

😭😩👏🏼💛💗

When Garrett Leigh said to be prepared for Skylar story- I was not prepared. He is one of the most under rated characters! And he gets his perfect match with Mal- oh mal! He is all heart!!

There is such a thing as too much angst

I really wanted to like this book because the tension between the two main characters was genuinely compelling. Their chemistry carried a lot of the story for me. But overall, the book felt overwhelmingly heavy with very little emotional relief.

Both characters are so emotionally stunted that there’s barely any real communication, which made a lot of the conflict feel repetitive after a while. On top of that, almost every interaction with side characters seemed to include some triggering comment or phrase that immediately sent another character spiraling, and it became exhausting.

The romance itself does get a happy ending, which I appreciated, but what frustrated me most *spoiler* was the portrayal of one character’s severe mental illness and eating disorder. So much of his POV and character buildup centered around the ED that I kept expecting some kind of push toward recovery or acknowledgment that things needed to change. Instead, he flat out refuses help, and by the end there’s still no movement toward recovery at all! I understand not every story needs a perfect resolution, but this aspect really ruined the book for me and made the emotional heaviness feel draining rather than impactful.

This was my first by this author. And unfortunately I probably won’t read any more of their work if it’s anything like this book.