“A simple life with people I love. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Genre: General Fiction
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: -10, but also 3 fire emojis
Content Warnings: The present timeline revolves around the aftermath of a terrorist attack. Describes rape and sexual assault, alcoholism, mass death, missing people, parental death, cancer, self harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, and cheating.
“The One That Got Away” follows Clara and Benjamin at different times in their lives—from meeting in uni and falling in love, to a horrible fallout and not speaking for years, to reuniting after a great tragedy fell onto their college town. With a handful of imperfect characters, this is as close to life as fiction can get.
At the beginning, this book felt like I was watching a late 90’s movie, I don’t even know how to explain the feel, but I absolutely adored it. Then it just proceeded to shred my heart to pieces. This is not a second chance romance, this is the heartfelt story of life.
It worked the multiple timelines beautifully—leaving questions along the story that were all answered by the end. The not knowing was something else here, I would’ve read this book in a single sitting if I had had the time.
I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a heartbreaking but captivating story. I would compare it to “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, but perhaps a little less traumatic (and with a smaller page count).
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ARC provided by NetGalley and Aria & Aries in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: February 2, 2023
“And now it’s as though a switch has gone off in her brain, a kind of amnesia for her current life. All she can think about is him. About the past she never truly left behind.”
“I just feel sometimes like my life has gone off-track somewhere. That I’m living the wrong life. The wrong version of my life. (…) With the wrong person.”
andrea's galley 