Ella has tried to contain her desires for as long as they’ve existed in her. To the world, she’s innocent, a prude, and most certainly not a sexual deviant. Even to herself, she doesn’t allow her curiousity about what more there could be to sex so much as cross her mind as something she might be interested in exploring. Until one night. A circus of any and all forms of sexual debauchery comes to her part of town and she is unable to resist the draw of exploring this side of herself despite trying to fight her intrigue.
Enter Hunter and Nick. Hunter is intrigued by Ella from the moment he sees her and offers himself up for free if he can do whatever he wants with her. Hunter is the owner of the circus and very rarely entertains customers any longer, but for Ella he makes an exception. He sees her potentially as a submissive and can’t resist completely destroying her innocence and ruining her all other sexual encounters. I really liked Hunter instantly. He’s so accepting and free spirited that I immediately wanted him to stick around. His views on love and how it’s possible to give a piece of his heart to someone in only one night was so fresh and made him an instant favourite I wanted more of. He was absolutely perfect as far as being Ella’s first partner in exploring this side of herself and I now want a book just for Hunter.
Then there’s Nick. Brooding, restrained, distant Nick. He’s the quintessential fighting his feelings, keeping himself separated from any deep connection with anyone, stifled man. Nick and Ella are roommates and work together but have absolutely no relationship, friendship or otherwise because Nick is cold and unfriendly with her. But when they meet at the circus his real motivations come to light and the submissive in him comes out to play.
And though the circus is only in about half of the book, the spice does not stop there. In fact, the book actually gets even better beyond this point in my opinion because from there the plot really enters the game. There is angst, there’s tension and there’s heartbreak. It really allowed the characters to come alive with their personal struggles and the fight to overcome them and fight for not only themselves, but someone else too. I really loved watching the characters grow, as they came into themselves and figured out what they wanted and who they really were. All incited by a circus full of debauchery and sin. All that to say One Dirty Night was so much more than its spice. And as someone who needs a story where there’s spice, it really helped make the book for me.
Honestly I was obsessed from start to finish with One Dirty Night and it just kept getting better as it went. Now all I can do is beg Pepper Winters to write another book that takes place at this incredible circus and… please let it be a Hunter focused book. I need more Hunter.
