I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Last year I binged all of author Denton's books so I was looking forward to this book. It was a good read, but some of her other books are better reads. Good storyline, but wrapped up a little too neatly.

Once again Lauren Denton does a great job writing a story that tackles hard things. This story is about a family who is dealt with a shocking, tough blow. It reminds us that our choices have consequences and those consequences can affect the lives of those we love. Mac and Edie were childhood sweethearts. They spent one summer apart before they married. The choices they made, the things they questioned during that summer, affect their family twenty years later. Now they have to dig deep within them to figure out if they will be able to keep their family together.

I thought the character development was very good. It was emotional and heart wrenching. It kept me up late at night because I just couldn't put it down. Needless to say, I highly recommend this book.

5 star alert! I LOVED this book! First, let me tell you a little about the story. Mac and Edie Swan are high school sweethearts. He’s a pediatrician and she’s an interior designer. They have 2 great kids and a picture-perfect life. They go to church on Sunday and give back to the community. On Mac’s 40th birthday, a secret from the past is revealed and threatens to tear them apart. As they wade through the upheaval in both their family and professional lives, they must each examine choices they made long ago and chart a course for their future.

Ok, so this isn’t a mystery or a thriller. It’s a story about a marriage and a family and I honestly feel like I know these people. It’s a very realistic story of how one family deals with a difficult situation. But they work through everything with grace and humility. They accept their past choices head-on and work to heal the hurt.

After reading so many dysfunctional family storylines and psychological thrillers, it was so nice to settle into a realistic story where people actually make decisions for the benefit of the people they love and not necessarily for their own desires. I loved all of these characters and I literally hugged this book when I finished late last night.

The One You're With is a story about marriage, family, and the choices we make. It's told through the eyes of Mac and Edie and takes us from when they meet in high school, through their summer separation, to the present time.

I really wanted to like this book. I read such good things about it and had high hopes, but that just wasn't my experience. Without ruining it or going into too much detail, what really bothered me was Edie’s reaction to Mac’s situation. I just couldn't see what her issue was and couldn’t understand or relate to her reaction. Unfortunately, that colored the whole story for me. I also felt like all the characters were a little too perfect and found it difficult to connect to their emotions or behaviors.

If this is on your list, I hope you enjoy it! Thank you to @NetGalley for the ARC. The One You’re With is out now.

So, I def thought that this was a Christmas novel at first glance of the cover! Well it is certainly is not, and I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved it! I have never heard of Laura K Denton before reading this, and I absolutely love the way she writes Southern fiction. This is truly a story about marriage, love, relationships, secrets, and regrets. This was such a great read, and I will be checking out the author's backlist of books now!

Thank you to @laurenkdentonbooks, @thomasnelson, and @uplitreads for my #gifted copy of The One Your're With!

Lauren Denton has done it again in her new release, The One You’re With! Dare I say, this is my favorite of hers yet!? This book was perfect in every way and I absolutely loved my time spent with it. So much so that I’m already looking forward to a re-read!

Edie and Mac have a seemingly perfect life - they’re high school sweethearts and share a wonderful marriage and kids, are respected in their community, and have thriving careers. To everybody around them, they’re living the dream. But when an unexpected someone from one summer 19 years prior comes into their lives, the solid foundation they’ve built starts to wobble and crack, and this family must come to terms with the consequences of one summer in their pasts and figure out how it all fits into their present and future.

This is a beautiful written, honest, and heartfelt story of marriage, family, and the choices we make in our lives. It’s a book that will have your eyes welling up with tears throughout and leave your heart bursting by the end. I couldn’t have appreciated more the side of marriage that was explored and portrayed in this story, one that I personally don’t don’t think we see enough of in books... the real struggles, sacrifices, ebbs and flows that an honest marriage faces, and the continual choice to choose and love each other.

Denton is one of the best of the best when it comes to Southern fiction, and she brought all of the deep heart, emotion, and strong sense of place here. I adored all of the elements of heartache, regrets, dreams, forgiveness, and grace that were woven into this story that brought these memorable characters and the stories of their past and present lives truly alive on the pages.

The One You’re With has earned all of the love and stars from me. I highly recommend picking it up!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the gifted e-copy!

Such a great story of life, love, and the choices that we make. Life's complications and looking back on the would have, should have, and could have's. Finding love, making choices, growing up and accepting responsibilities.

“Sometimes that’s what marriage is. . . We hurt each other and we apologize. And we forgive. Over and over. Eventually we learn how to hurt each other less and love each other more. And better.”

This was my first book by Lauren Denton and it definitely won’t be my last – backlist here I come! I found Lauren’s writing style to be perfect for me – a good balance of dialogue and descriptive writing, as well as I really enjoyed the pace of this book! The story alternates between the POVs of the primary couple in the story, Edie & Mac. It also brings in chapters from both POVs that highlights events that occurred 20 years prior - events that come to light in present day and rock this couple’s world. The characters in the book were all very relatable and genuine which further added to the enjoyment of this story. Ultimately, the beautiful book was about trust, forgiveness and unconditional love - it’s a wonderful family drama with a whole lot of heart. Pick this one up if you enjoy southern fiction – this one is relatable, wholesome and heart warming!

Wow, this author takes readers on quite the adventure I did not see coming. She respectfully explores how an event that happened in the past can and does affect the future of this young couple. Mac and Edie were high school sweethearts destined to be together forever. Or so they thought. But in their senior year, they break up. They take the time to explore options they never would have considered when they were together. Mac goes to work on a boat (taking a break before embarking on medical school) and Edie heads to N.Y. to be an intern under a respected designer. Each of their worlds are shaken to the core of their being that summer. They discover who they are without the other person? It was freeing not having to live up to other people’s expectations. But incidents occurred that summer would change the course of their future. Neither one of them discussed the things that happened when they were apart. It did not seem important at the time, but oh, it would be in the future.

I was pleasantly surprised at how the author had these characters experience a wide range of emotions, present and past. I liked how the author talks about tough issues and asks the questions most are afraid to. This is a multifaceted, compelling story with full-bodied characters I instantly connected with. I kept flipping pages as the characters evolve and face difficult situations with honesty, which makes this a powerful, thought-provoking and hopeful novel you don’t want to miss. This is a remarkable, beautiful, heartwarming story that in the end will make you smile and warm your heart. This book is a great summer read and one that would work well for your next book club pick.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have received a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog www.bookfun.org

Thanks to Netgalley and author for the arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion on the book. Love the book. Would love to read more from the author

Lauren K. Denton’s The One You’re With tells the story of Mac and Edie Swan. Their seemingly perfect marriage is tested when secrets from their pasts are brought to light. Mac and Edie deal with these secrets by learning to open up to each other, and as a result, they make decisions helping them and their friends and family move forward with their lives. I look forward to Lauren K. Denton’s next book.

Mac and Edie had been friends forever and then they were high school sweethearts who married following college. They each had great, satisfying careers and two great kids. Everything changed and Edie questioned everything when a young pregnant woman came into their lives and then into their home.
Mac was forced to tell Edie what had transpired that summer, nineteen years ago, right before their senior year of college when they agreed to take a break from each other. Can Edie deal with this big thing that is now having a huge impact on their lives? They had broken up, right? And, Edie has her own little secrets from that summer apart.
A very emotional story. I was impressed at how Mac, Edie and their children, Avery and Thomas, dealt with this huge blow.
My only disappointment is while the story was clean, there was no faith at all. I, mistakenly, thought this was Christian fiction. How much easier this situation would have been had the family had a relationship with Christ.
I was given an advanced ecopy by the publisher, Thomas Nelson and Netgalley. I was under no obligation to leave a positive review.

Is The One You’re With, the latest novel by Laura Denton, the one you have been married to for years or the one who got away? That is the question Edie Everett Swan struggles with after she learns about her husband’s love child Riley.

When high school sweethearts Edie and Mac take a break from their relationship, each realizes they have developed feelings for others. Mac acts on his heart throb while Edie holds hers at a distance. When the summer is over, Mac and Edie are back together while his fling with Kat has resulted in a pregnancy, and Edie’s heart is broken when she feels Graham’s attraction is not mutual.

Although Edie finds a letter from Kat with a photo of Riley, she later learned Riley delivered that letter 18 years later when she showed up at Dr. Mac Snow’s pediatric practice. Still, the idea that he followed through on another interest and did not tell her about it hurts. It helps somewhat that Mac never knew about the pregnancy and that Kat has died.

Edie and Mac have their own two children who also must adjust to Riley, who happens to be unwed and pregnant. Not only does Edie have a heartache to deal with, but she has also struggled in a designer job where she is stifled by the owner of the firm. She remembers that once she and Graham shared a dream of opening a joint practice in which she would be the designer and he would be the architect.

Reminiscent of Jane Green’s women’s fiction, The One You’re With finds a woman struggling to decide if she made the right choice in marrying Mac when she also had feelings for Graham and to figure out how she can feel accomplished in her career all while dealing with a challenging situation in her marriage.

Laura Denton centers her books in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama. She “pens stories that chronicle women’s journeys towards truth and love, hope and healing.” She lives with her husband and two daughters near Birmingham, Alabama.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting July 16, 2021.

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Fiction for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The One You're With focuses on Mac and Edie Swan, who were high school sweethearts and are now married with two children. Mac is a pediatrician with his own practice and Edie is an interior designer for the most popular company in their town. The summer before their senior year of college, they broke up. Mac was going to go stay with Graham (their best friend) at Graham's aunt's house and work in a marina because he was questioning a lot of decisions in his life and wanted to get away from the pressure. Edie then decided to go intern in New York. Mac meets another girl, Kat, during his summer away and Edie spends most of the summer exchanging letters with ideas for the future with Graham.

Riley, Kat and Mac's daughter that Mac had no idea existed, shows up at Mac's office one day. At the same time, Graham is coming back to their hometown as his father has passed and he has inherited the house. With both of their feelings from that summer brought back to the surface, Mac and Edie reflect on the paths not taken and make decisions about their current lives.

The book is well written, but it isn't a page-turner. I would compare it to floating in a pool - nice and just there. Edie claims to be upset but I never felt it from her. And then I'd get irritated whenever it talked about her being upset because Mac didn't know so it wasn't like he'd kept a secret lovechild. AND they'd been broken up when Riley was conceived. Maybe Edie didn't (or did, who knows) sleep with someone else during their time apart, but she definitely wasn't 100% honest about having feelings for someone else during that time so WHY was this such an issue? It's not like there was a question about them really being broken up (it wasn't a break!) so what happened during that time was ancient history and unless something had happened that would affect the relationship, there was no need to discuss it. Mac didn't know there was anything to discuss until Riley came to him. And the whole thing with Graham was just weird. You knew there would be more to this triangle friendship as soon as he was featured in a magazine Edie's coworkers had. I find it hard to believe that these three were such good friends and then Graham breaks off their friendship during their senior year of college and it wasn't a bigger deal THEN that needed to be hashed out. I also find it hard to believe that they were all so close for so many years and Edie and Graham only kind of discussed their feelings for each other during that one summer. I honestly would've thought it was more believable if they hadn't discussed it at all out of respect for Mac. The saving grace for the story was Riley and how she and the other kids related. I would have really liked to have had some chapters from their perspectives and less of the "oh no, our lives aren't as perfect as they seem; whatever shall we do?" from Mac and Edie. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I did not finish this book at 30%. I felt no connection with Mac or Edie. Even the addition of Riley didn't help. I kept waiting for something to happen, either in present day or past, but with so many other books to read, I couldn't justify giving this book more attention.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Mac and Edie Swan seem to have it all – a loving family, well respected careers as a Pediatrician and Interior Designer, and they live in a beautiful home in cozy Oak Hill, Alabama. One day a mysterious young woman named Riley walks into Mac’s office, and all of that changes. A seismic shift takes place for the Swan family that will rock their world!
Mac and Edie are childhood friends who eventually become sweethearts and later a married couple. In the beginning of the summer of 2000, the sweethearts separated and spent the summer apart. Their time away from each other presented many issues and conflicts for the couple but by the time the summer ended, they were back together and had things figured out. Or did they? It seems there were some loose ends that were never addressed and their past has come back to complicate their picture perfect life.
The One You’re With is a complex, and compelling story. The author, Lauren Denton captures the emotions of Mac and Edie beautifully, both in the past and present. The mixing of the two timeframes was written seamlessly. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found myself rooting for a happy ending and I could not put the book down. I will be sure to recommend it to others.
I am grateful to NetGalley, Publisher Thomas Nelson, and Lauren K. Denton for the opportunity of an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #TheOneYou’reWith

The One You're With Lauren K. Denton tackles a super difficult subject...and does it well. Mac and Edie Swan have, what looks from the outside, the perfect, all-American dream life. Mom and Dad who love each other, both successful in their jobs, with two children, a girl and a boy. Then one day, their entire lives are shaken to the core when a girl walks into Mac's pediatric office and he discovers he had a daughter he knew nothing about. As the story unwinds and everything Edie thought she knew is questioned, they must work out truth from lie, reality from assumption, and what they want now from what they wanted then. Although the story was a bit predictable, I enjoyed the struggle and the emphasis on love being a choice.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Dr. Mac Swan, with a thriving pediatrics practice, his attractive wife Edie, a successful interior designer, and their two lovely children, had picture perfect lives and status in their community near Mobile, Alabama. Because of the life the high school sweethearts had crafted over the past eighteen years, Mac was not prepared for evidence of the summer he and Edie had broken up to appear in his office – Riley Mills, his daughter, who was pregnant, frightened, and alone. In order to help Riley, Mac knew he would have to confess everything to Edie, and then brace himself for the fallout.

Edie Swan was not without her own demons. During the summer she and Mac were separated, she was writing to his best friend Graham, a young man with whom she had a lot in common. Their dreams of living and working in New York, their love of design and architecture, and their close friendship left Edie questioning whether she should even try to work things out with Mac. Once their senior year at college resumed, and she and Mac were together again, all her doubts seemingly evaporated, only to resurface eighteen years later when Mac told her about Riley.

I really enjoyed this story, and applauded Riley’s courage in facing Mac, her biological father, though he didn’t even know she existed. Told in alternating viewpoints, and from different times, The One You’re With did an excellent job of describing the thoughts and feelings of the characters. I appreciated the way the characters changed and developed, especially Mac and Edie, from their break-up in 2000 to Riley’s appearance eighteen years later, and even after that as they struggled to redefine what a family really is.

Thank you to @laurenkdentonbooks, @thomasnelson, and @uplitreads for my #gifted copy of The One You're With! This one was published this past Tuesday (7/6) and if you haven't already snagged it then I highly recommend you get on that!

I've never read anything by Lauren, but after reading about her I realized that she lives near where I went to college and I loved that the setting of this book was Alabama. I'll always be an Alabama girl at heart ❤️

I absolutely loved this book. It is a family drama, but not in a steamy crazy way, which was very refreshing. I felt like I knew Mac and Edie and I loved seeing how their marriage was portrayed. Ultimately their family is rocked when someone surprising shows up, leaving both Mac and Edie to think about that summer 20 years prior. They are forced to think about choices they made, the paths that they could have gone down, and how to move forward.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was -

“Marriage consisted of choosing the one you married over and over and over again.” 👏🏼

Reading The One You're with is as enjoyable as drinking a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. The characters are nuanced and their problems are complicated yet relatable. The central problem will motivate any reader to contemplate the question, "How would my life be different if I made a different choice?" Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the opportunity to read and review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.