Book Review & Giveaway | The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase

BOOK REVIEW | THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, this bright, funny debut from a fresh voice in fiction offers a delicious take on love, family, and what it means to build a home of one’s own.

“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.”

MY THOUGHTS

We all have that one person. The person you thought was the one, but ended up disappointing you. The person that’s always in the back of your mind. This person is the one you don’t truly get over. This person is the one that got away.

Sarina Mahler is a strong woman who knows what she wants…at least career wise, but in the relationship department it’s a different story. While she believes that her future with her boyfriend Noah is set, she’s sorely mistaken when a ghost from her past comes back to town. That ghost comes in the form of a tall, handsome, and charming swimmer named Eamon.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to choose between your head and your heart then you will totally relate to the character Sarina. She had to figure out what would ultimately make her happy even though each path would cause pain to someone else, but that’s the risk you take with love. You have to decide what’s best for you in the end and know that you won’t look back with regrets. This is what Sarina was going through while she was spending more time with Eamon and her boyfriend was miles away.

I related to Sarina most when it came to her family. She lost her mother, just like I did, and I felt Sarina’s pain every time she thought of her mom. It’s a pain that never leaves you, but becomes a part of who you are. The smallest reminder could bring you back to the day she left and bring the tears along with it. This is the part of Sarina that I was most fond of while reading.

Chase does an excellent job portraying real world dilemmas when it comes to a woman’s career and finding a man that will understand her dreams and aspirations, but also understands the importance of family. That is the story that Bethany Chase created. She created a character who’s strong willed, family oriented, and full of heart and passion. I think I would get along with Sarina if in some weird universe I was able to jump into the pages myself.

The One That Got Away is about following your heart and not worrying about what others will think of your decisions. It’s about deciding what’s important in your life.

I’m always open to reading books by new authors. I think they give a fresh take within their genre and Bethany Chase’s debut novel is definitely worth reading.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“It’s funny how, when you only get to spend a very finite amount of time with someone you wanted to know better, you find that certain details have cut deeper tracks in your memory than others-something about the way they looked, or one particular comment that made you laugh, out of hundreds of sentences.”

“Instead, it’s like groundwater. Pooling underneath my skin, seeping to the surface here and there, now and then. Endlessly replenished. Easy to forget about, until it startles me wit the depth of it.”

OVERALL RATING

BUY LINKS:

PUBLISHING COMPANY: Ballantine Books

RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

ABOUT BETHANY CHASE

A native of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Bethany Chase headed to Williams College for an English degree and somehow came out the other side an interior designer. When she’s not writing or designing, you can usually find her in a karaoke bar. She lives with her lovely husband and occasionally psychotic cat in Brooklyn, three flights up. This is her first novel.

GIVEAWAY

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