Review: The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Published by Random House on March 31st 2015
Also by this author: Results May Vary, One Night at the Lake
Format: Paperback (352 pages) • Source: Purchased
Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble

Sarina Mahler thinks she has her life all nailed down: a growing architecture practice in Austin, Texas, and an any-day-now proposal from her loving boyfriend, Noah. She's well on her way to having the family she's hoped for since her mother's death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer--and former flame--Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina's life takes an unexpected turn.

Eamon proves to be Sarina's dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices--and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life--and in love.

Full of both humor and heartbreak, The One That Got Away is the story of one woman's discovery that, sometimes, life is what happens when you leave the blueprints behind.

I’ve started to get really picky about how and when I buy books. I’ve been focusing on buying books that I’ve already read and loved, because I don’t like the idea of owning a book and not loving it. I don’t often buy books unless I think for sure that I’m going to love it or if its in a series I’ve been reading and I want all of them. ANYWAYS, this book had been teasing me at Target for a couple of different trips and I couldn’t resist picking up a copy. I’m obsessed with the cover, it had some great reviews, and it just seemed like a book I’d love. I’m so, so glad I bought a copy.

The first line of this book immediately told me I’d love it:

“Every woman has one. That name you Google at two o’clock in the morning. That intoxicating connection that somehow never solidified into anything real; that particular memory you still visit every now and then, for that guaranteed hit of pure, sugar-­packed dopamine. It’s that story that starts with ‘There was this one time’ and ends, reluctantly, with ‘but I guess…'”

I loved Sarina’s voice right away. I could tell that she was going to be funny and unique, and that she would make me love this book no matter what happened. Unlike some readers, I really wasn’t nervous about the relationship in the book. I don’t mind books where there’s cheating or falling in love with someone else or even a well-done love triangle (emphasis on WELL DONE). I think these books are realistic. This stuff happens. Anyways, I was right. I loved the relationship. I also enjoyed that it wasn’t like she was bashing her current boyfriend, Noah. He was not a bad guy… you could just tell they wanted different things. She came to this realization slowly.

When things start coming together in her mind about Eamon, I liked that (at first) the two of them had a fight and were honest about their feelings, especially about how they felt when they first hooked up years ago. I was hoping this was going to be a book where miscommunication and lying weren’t the main drama points. I was kind of wrong on that, and it’s really the only thing that affected some of my enjoyment of the book. There was a LOOOT of back-and-forth towards the end of the book, which you come to expect with contemporary romance books, but it did get kind of exhausting and frustrating at times. I wanted them to get their shit together and knew it wasn’t likely to happen until the end of the book. I could have given this five stars if there was a little less of that happening.

When I read the synopsis, I was really hoping the “tragedy” wasn’t going to be what I thought it was going to be. I won’t say if I was right or not, especially if you read it and have the same thoughts as me, but just know: your heart will break a bit. The family relationships in this book were superb and you really felt for Sarina as she tried to move on from some of the losses she suffered.

By the time the book was coming to a close, I wasn’t really ready to leave it behind. I was so happy to see an excerpt at the end of the book for the author’s next novel, which follows Eamon’s brother and a friend of Sarina. I am SO glad I don’t have to fully leave this world and these characters behind. I was really happy with the ending and thought it was perfect, given a lot of the other things that happened for Sarina with her family. I won’t give anything away.

Overall, I highly recommend this. I’ve been trying to get more into adult fiction like this and I’m so glad I decided to pick this one up. I was in a mood to read a million different books and this one just kept popping into my brain. Loved it.

           

 

Related Posts