I had really high hopes for this book, especially having read the first chapter that completely caught my attention. Unfortunately, it quickly unraveled; the writing style of this book, was not for me. It jumped around every chapter between timelines/years and different characters; I was so unfocused and lost by the chaos of the writing, I can't even tell you what ultimately happened in the book.

The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon is an emotional, yet heart-warming story about two people who were meant to be together but had their paths diverted by a devastating mistake.

I've read a few "the one that got away" stories recently, or so it feels. The back and forth between new, first love and then the present day. Coming of age stories that meld into life as it is now - and the memory of first love. They are all somehow familiar and satisfying, but they never rock my world. This book was different. It avoided common tropes of this type of story, it went in deep. I felt I knew the characters because the author didn't sacrifice this for the story. It's set in northern England, and if I were to be a little critical, I'm from there, and I'd have loved if Benjamin hadn't been quite the "lager lout" that he is; it feels like a well-worn stereotype. I also didn't care for the "incident" that was the catalyst for the story - and how that panned out in the end but I won't elaborate and give any spoilers. But if you want a touching read about people who feel very real to you, and a well-crafted story about love, choices, and the mistakes we make that we have to try not to let define us, then I think you will be very satisfied with this terrific book. I certainly was!

For full disclosure, I stopped reading this book at the 50% mark.

After a chance meeting in a bar, Benjamin and Clara are college sweethearts in Northern England who cannot get enough of each other. He's a quiet and contemplative young man from a small village outside Newcastle, while she is a driven and sometimes anxious Londoner who comes from wealth. Unforeseen circumstances cause a strain in their relationship that tears them apart.

Now, 20 years later, a tragic event has occurred that will have consequences neither could anticipate and leaves both of them looking back on their love story to see where it all went wrong.

What I liked: the mysterious aspect of the story, the dual POV, and the timelines from 2000 to 2022.

What I didn't like: the characters, especially Clara.

I really didn't like Clara while she was in school and it made it hard for me to empathize with her regarding the trauma she experienced. I didn't connect with either of the main characters and I found myself not caring enough about how their relationship ended.

This book was not for me for the reasons above, however, if you liked the movie One Day, I would say give this a try!

While I wanted to really like this, the actual story fell short for me. I love the idea of a second chance romance after a couple experiences many years apart, but this plotline felt wholly unromantic.
The structure of this book was a bit confusing to follow, lapsing between alternating timelines between the two protagonists at different time intervals. There were a number of important details that would come up, disappear, and suddenly reappear and it was difficult to track the number of plotlines, and it deterred from the main themes of the book that could have been fleshed out more.

I really enjoyed reading about Benjamin’s relationship with Aiden and George, and felt that this was a great storyline for his redemption arc. I think the examination of sports culture was also unique, and something I haven’t seen in many other books. Challenging toxic masculinity can be polarizing, and using Aiden’s character as a lens into the consequences of it on young people was something I wish had been explored more with Benjamin. I would have liked to have read a bit more of his past in the soccer world and how it shaped him in his early life.

I disliked Clara’s character and found their early relationship to be toxic and emotionally abusive, so it felt hard to root for them as a couple.

Overall, this story had some redeeming elements, but felt incomplete at times. Trigger warnings should also be included as a number of sensitive events are used as devices to move the plot forward.

A story spanning two decades - part love story part exploration of self - the book includes mystery and the what if of the past. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Well. A simple "love story" this is not. Granted - Clara and Benjamin DO love one another - but that's only one part of the book!!! Insecurity, unsurity and lack of communication - which is part of every young person's first great love. If it were simply a comedy of errors that kept these two apart - it would be a light hearted tome. BUT - it had loss of a parent, unrealistic expectations, sexual abuse, infedelity, prison, death, alcoholism, infertility - and a freaking bomb for crying out loud!!!! THis is NOT for the faint of heart nor those easily triggered by some super big things - because this book is bursting at the seems with them!!! It honestly was a "can't put down" book for me though. I couldn't really stand Clara at first - although I did eventually warm to her (a very tiny bit) because I could finally see how she became the adult that she did.. I was provided a digital copy of The One That Got Away by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Engaging novel that forces you to question your past in a butterfly effect kind of way. Clara and Ben's story is contemplative and understated. The One That Got Away is a page turner for sure.

The story kept my interest right away and I loved the journey it took me on. I loved having the perspective of each charecter from college to current day. The story was well-written and gripping. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to review this book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Aug. 15, 2023
“The One That Got Away” is the debut novel by author Charlotte Rixon. Centred on once-upon-a-time lovers, Clara and Benjamin, whose lives went separate ways although their memories of each other were fond and lasting. Twenty years later, a tragedy brings them back together but is twenty years too long to rekindle what once was?
This story is narrated through the alternate POV’s of Benjamin and Clara, and is told in both the past and the present, during the relationship and the many years following, when both are trying to move on while still clinging to their past romance. It is, in every way, a “second chance romance”, but it is not light hearted. The subject material is intense and emotional, including sexual and physical assault, addiction and a violent bombing (to name a few).
Benjamin and Clara are only mildly likable, but neither of them are unlikable at the same time, which helps. I connected with Clara in certain aspects (even when I didn’t want to), but Ben’s plight was hard to ignore, as well. Add to that the naivete and complete innocence of young love, and both characters are tolerable. If nothing else, Ben and Clara (and their developing relationship, with its crash-and-burn ending) are innately human and honest.
I expected a saccharine, over-the-top romantic gesture to pepper the last few pages, but I was surprisingly pleased by Rixon’s ending. Putting a satisfying bow on all of the outstanding plot points, while still leaving a few strings that allow readers to draw their own conclusions made for a believable and enjoyable ending.
“The One” is charming and yet somehow still thought-provoking. Rixon takes the second chance romance genre into the modern era and I look forward to her future works.

Clara and Benjamin meet during their first year of college. It’s instant sparks, the kind of love you will never forget. Unfortunately, this is not a love story. This is rather a story about love and how it makes and breaks you. You travel through 22 years of Clara and Benjamin’s relationship: passionate young love, a traumatic event that separates them, their individual lives, and all the broken hearts between. When an explosion happens in the city they fell in love in, Clara is convinced that she must go and find him.
💭Thoughts💭
I really did love this book, it was written so well and definitely kept my interest. I just wanted to shake both of these characters though! They were clearly very young which was part of their issue, but they just seemed not right for each other at all. Benjamin also seemed like such a dud- he could not get out of his own way.
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⌛️Favorite Moment⌛️
My favorite moments were any with Benjamin, his son, and his dad. They all got along so well and it was so sweet to imagine these three generations together.
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🎉 Theme Ideas 🎉
English football ( soccer ⚽️) played a huge role in this book. Watch a game with a pint of beer and some chips- whether they’re American potato chips or UK French fries!

This story is beautifully written and heart breaking. It is not so much a romance story but life story of two people who meet at college. They experience their first love and. Ever really fall out of love. The story is told in dual point of view between Carla and Benjamin. It also flips from past and present timelines. I thought the way the story unfolded was perfect in giving just enough information but withholding little details to keep you interested and wanting to know more. The book spans two decades of time between the characters and tells story of what has happened since they broke up in college. How both do them really never fell out of love of one another during this time. They both tried to move on and find love but it never really worked. It deals with the complexities of relationships. Present day Capra is married to a great man but he never really takes time to get to know her. Benjamin has a teenage son and living with his father and in and out of a few relationships but nothing really serious. This book has several heavy topics it deals with and the author handled them delicately. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was just so so for me. Not great but don't horrible either. I couldn't connect with the characters.

This is a hard review to write because I wanted to like this book so much but couldn't get into it. Second chance romances are one of my favorite romantic tropes so I was disappointed when I finished this book and felt let down.

The characters go through so many horrific or triggering experiences that it felt a bit unnecessary and unrealistic.
Think: rape, suicide, sexual health issues, suicide, terrorist attacks, unhappy marriages, prison, etc.

By the end of the book I felt like it was watching an entire season of grey's anatomy where anything and everything bad that could happen, did happen.

The One that Got Away by Charlotte Rixon was one that held such a strong premise that I couldn't wait to dive in. Unfortunately, the continued amount of tough topics thrown at me was difficult to get through. I usually don't have this issue but there was so much sadness and damage that the book was taking a negative toll on me.

I will not be posting this review on social media.

Do you ever go into a book and not know what to expect? That was the case for me and "The One That Got Away." I thought that this would be a typical love story - boy meets girl and they fall in and out of love over the years. Boy, was I wrong. This was a deep, touching story of Clara and Benjamin and their love that persisted over the course of 20 years. It's told in alternating perspectives of both Clara and Benjamin. While this was definitely not the traditional love story, it was a great story of love and loss. I would definitely recommend this book!

So I liked the idea of this story and how it continually had you wondering exactly how it was going to end, but I can’t say I liked the characters or how the story flowed. It was so slow that I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the story, but not enough to get thorough the book quickly. It took me a lot longer that usual to get though it to the point that it was ALMOST a DNF.

I don’t think there was even one character that I could consciously root for in the past or present of the story.
It was a slow burn and I just could not connect to any character. As a matter of fact I disliked Clara so much I didn’t want Clara and Benjamin to be a couple in any way. She was controlling and very hypocritical.

And Benjamin was just sad-all around sad to the point of depressing. The warning flags about him were all over the story. To be honest, I don’t think there was one character in the book that WASN’t sad.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the frame of mind for reading a sad story and was hoping for second chance romance, hence I would give it more stars. Because like I said, the premise was good, but the characters could use a little work to keep me engaged.

A contemporary fiction and examination of rape culture and masculinity through adolescence and adulthood.

This is yet another book marketed as a romance that should more accurately be marketed as contemporary fiction. It’s a harsh look at how rape culture and masculinity affects us as children and young adults and goes on to affect us into adulthood. How experiences shape our lives and perspectives.

The novel jumps back and forth through different times throughout the protagonists’ life from their time in college, falling in love and where they are in their lives twenty years later. It demonstrates how the decisions they made in the past continue to shape their present and how society, particularly sports culture, plays a part in the lives of generations.

The protagonists of the story are both flawed individuals that struggle with control and self-esteem and are both products of their upbringing. Clara’s privilege, impulsivity and need for control often clashes with Benjamin’s anxious nature in their past and their futures are overshadowed by the guilt of their turbulent young adulthood.

The actual plot seemed to have a lot of potential, but certain events seemed to push the boundaries of plausibility and with the characters already being difficult to relate to in many aspects, the story could’ve benefitted from a more grounded narrative. Though, the way in which the story moved through time was well done. It’s able to keep readers guessing as secrets are revealed and questions answered gradually.

This book has a lot going on. It starts with a bang and then VERY slowly takes you back and forth 20 years ago to “present day”. I enjoyed the style of writing, but not entirely sure if I liked the story. I can’t decide if it was too realistic or too far fetched. For me, I wasn’t able to connect with the characters to feel the empathy for their plights.

5 Stars all the way for this book by Rixon. I absolutely loved the story, the characters and setting. It made me feel like I was living along with them on their journey from when they meet in college and all throughout their lives! The writing is excellent and fast paced but detailed. We get a great sense of who these people are inside and what they portray to the world.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I am letting everyone know to add this to their TBR pile.