Tuesday, 10 March 2009

The One and Only / Sophie McKenzie

Summary - Eve's dad has sent her to a convent school in Spain to keep her away from Luke. Lonely and miserable back in the UK, Luke finds himself tempted by another girl, Hayley - and ends up spending the night with her. Regretting it almost immediately, he hopes Eve will never find out - but then she turns up on his doorstep having run away. She says she's missed him so much and she wants them to finally sleep together - the first time for both of them, the perfect cementing of their enduring relationship. Luke knows he's messed up - but how can he tell Eve the truth? She thought she was Luke's one and only - he wishes she was...

Review - Something didn't sit right with this novel for me. I spent the entire read wondering if there was something more; more character development, more plot, more of anything. I felt very let down by the end and I couldn't shake it. Then I worked out via the author's website that it was the third in a series and everything fell into picture perfect clarity.

The character development that I felt was missing...wasn't so much, as it was present in the previous books (I am guessing). Though there were some nice moments, specifically any tense moments between Luke and his mother. And between Luke and Ryan. The storyline I enjoyed the most, it was probably the F-plot, was Luke's issues with his mother's new man in the face of his father's death. Could it be handled better? Maybe, but it was an intriguing idea and I think McKenzie brought some much needed spark to Luke with it's arc. Yet this was undone by the caricature of an angry, overprotective father and the stereotypical gay friend. Sigh.

As for Eve, I didn't see the attraction. I seriously could not see why Luke thought she was perfection incarnate and worth all that bother. I really dislike books that feature romance without sustainable character growth. It's like seeing Barbie and Ken kiss, entertaining for like a second and then you want to remove their heads (or was that just me?) If you aren't going to work the characters more then you need something gruesome, something tragic, something sparkly, something more. I didn't get the more in this novel and it disappointed me because I think McKenzie is capable of it.

I really believe that McKenzie is an author I could like but I think I may have started with the wrong title.

Published: April 1, 2009
Format: Paperback,
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Origin: UK
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Sophie McKenzie's Official Website

3 comments:

prophecygirl said...

Adele - I've read the first two in this series, and I think you would probably have to read them before the third one, because their relationship is explained, and you're there from the beginning.

Do you plan to go back and read the first two?

Adele said...

I think I might, should they be presented to me. I liked her writing quite a bit but regardless of it being the third in a series, it should be able to stand alone better than it did.

I also found his family predicaments a lot more interesting than his Eve-drama.

Sophieherexx said...

I love Sophie McKezie's books.I have read all of them. She is an amazing author and the book "The one and only" is fantastic. She deserves a lot of praise for being a amazing author.