For Valentine’s day, I contacted Allison Winn Scotch asking her if she could send me an ARC of The One That I Want so that I could give it as a gift to my wife (who was a big fan of Allison Winn Scotch’s prior novels).  A few days later, a copy was in my mailbox.

My Rating: 4/5
My Review:
While I haven’t read any prior Allison Winn Scotch books, I can now say that I’m open to the possibility.  I’m a picky reader, and often start a novel and never finish it.  Either I have no connection with the characters, it takes too long to move, or moves too fast.  I think I’ve actually finished 50% of the books I’ve started.  The main character, Tilly Farmer was well painted from the beginning.  While I wouldn’t say that I could see any bit of myself in the main character, I could honestly say that she was painted well and I cared about what would happen next.

I read the book in three sittings and closed the book wanting for more – to me the sign of a good book.  Now a bit about the book that will hopefully convince you to give it a read:

To paraphrase the summary, The One That I Want is about a hometown girl who grows up to be a hometown woman and ends up married to her high school sweetheart, working as the high school guidance counselor.  Everything seems perfect until she’s given “the gift of clarity” when she starts to see that her life wasn’t nearly as perfect as she thought.

The main character undergoes quite a few changes and the reader is taken on a roller coaster ride sitting right next to her.  Personally I find that books that include premonitions or any form of fate need to be done with care.  Often I see its used as extreme-foreshadowing that leaves any reader with half a brain no need to read the pages in between.  When it comes to The One That I Want, this is not the case.  Enough is revealed to pique ones interest yet questions are still left unanswered which drives the story well.

When all is said and done, this book will make a perfect summer beach read.  Its fun yet serious and has meaning to it if one wishes to extract that kind of thing from reading books.

-Nick

(In full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book.  Despite this fact, I provided an open and honest review of the book, because I value honesty above free books.)