I loved this book. I started it and was immediately hooked.

I enjoyed how the perspective changes between the two main characters and jumps between the past and current day. It was genius to have short chapters. There were many times I told myself just one more chapter and then it was 30 minutes and 5-7 chapters later.

It was also clever to break the book into six different parts and move through the different life phases and challenges the characters were facing. What I found most captivating was hinting to the pivotal event that lead to the characters heartbreak early, but not officially revealing the actual event until closer to the end of the book.

This book reminded me of The Light We Lost and In Five Years and I would highly recommend it for fans of these books.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

I'm a sucker for stories about lost or unrequited love, so this one immediately appealed to me. Benjamin and Clara meet in 2000 while attending university in Newcastle. They have an instant attraction and connection. Twenty years later, they're no longer together, but Clara feels drawn to find Benjamin, worrying for his safety after a terrorist attack occurs at the stadium of his favorite team. I loved the dual timeline, in the early 00s when they were together and 2022, when Clara goes to search for him. The characters are very sweet and charming. It highlights those loves we have in our lives that we never lose affection for. I listened to the audiobook, which was wonderfully narrated by Carl Prekopp and Katherine Press. They brought wonderful life into the story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook / audiobook ARCs. All thoughts are my own.

This book was so so good! I could barely make myself put it down! So romantic and heartwarming, and it gives me hope

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

The One That Got Away
Charlotte Rixon
4⭐️

Two years together.
Twenty years apart.
One day to change their story.

This was not at all what I expected, but in a good way. The One That Got Away was a well written, emotional love story about first loves, mistakes, and second chances. It’s a slow burn story that will both break and warm your heart.

The subject matter is heavy and intense (check TW!) however Rixon handles it all with grace and sensitivity.

What I enjoyed;
✨ Second Chance Romance
✨ Dual Timelines/POV
✨ Flawed & Complex Characters
✨ First Love

Pub Date: 8/15/23

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was fantastic! I was caught up in these characters points of view. I liked how it flipped back and forth in time. I feel like we really got a well rounded story with that.

I really wanted to LOVE this book but sadly I only liked it. I don’t LOVE books where the main character goes searching for their lost love at the expense of the existing marriage. While the two in the marriage were unfaithful and uncommitted, it doesn’t help that storyline for me. I loved the back and forth but felt like the characters were truly terrible and selfish.

NDF at 15%

I really wanted to love The One that Got Away, but unfortunately it really didn’t work for me. I was expecting a light second chance romance and instead I got a very slow very heavy novel. I have seen other people really love this book and give it great feedback, but I think I am just not currently in the headspace for a book that has so many heavy themes to it. Plus I had a really hard time connecting to the main characters in the book. It all just didn't mesh for me - sadly.

Thank you, St Martin's Press and Net Galley, for the advanced copy of The One That Got Away.

I saw some reviews of this book that said it wasn't a romance, and I don't agree. I really liked it. I thought it was a fresh spin on the second-chance romance trope. This was an emotional story about characters who were practically still kids when they met, and while their lives have changed drastically and they've had so much growth as we all do over twenty years, they try to give it another go. It's not your average romance, but it's every bit as gripping, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming as any other romance novel out there.

In 2000, two college students meet at a club, and their lives are forever changed. Clara is from a well-off family in the city, and Benjamin is from the wrong side of her tracks. While their love story is fast and furious, they are torn apart by a devastating accident on their last night of school. Flash to twenty years later, Clara has a good job and a handsome husband who adores her, but that's not the life she envisioned for herself all those years ago. When a bomb is reported at the soccer stadium that she knows he goes to for every home game, she finds herself rushing to try to find him. This novel takes us on the ride of present day and flashbacks of their early relationship while being told from both characters' POVs in third-person narration.

I had a hard time with this book. I think others will enjoy it, but it’s not for me. It was very heavy and challenging for me to read. I usually prefer lighter reads and this was definitely out of my comfort zone.

I had no idea what to expect when I first started reading this book, but I like to go in blind sometimes. This book was perfectly written with a great plot, which make the book a wonderful read. I can see this flying off the shelf at my library. Highly recommend this book!!!

Definitely more "Normal People" vibes than Colleen Hoover. Definitely had intense mental health content including self harm and suicidal ideation. I didn't ever connect with the characters enough to really feel the depth of their trauma, etc.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

I'm just going to start off this review by saying that this book is decidedly not for me. I have a very hard time with trauma-related books. Plus I absolutely do not vibe with a specific choice that one of the characters made.

I also found the characters insufferable, especially Clara. I feel like at almost 40, she might have grown up some, but as it turns out, she was still the same as she was when she was 18. I didn't really care for Benjamin either. Also not a fan of the writing style, but that was less problematic than the characters themselves.

That aside, I am sure there are people that will absolutely love this book. I found that my personal preferences were very hard to work around for this one.

I am really surprised that this book doesn't have a higher rating, I absolutely loved it. It was quite different than your usual romance novels and it is a unique take on the second chance romance trope. Benjamin and Clara meet in 2000 and dated for a couple of years. It was an intense relationship. Twenty years later there is a bomb at the stadium where Benjamin has season tickets. Clara sets off to find him in the melee.

There is a lot of heavy subject matter in this book...spousal abuse, sexual assault, addiction and cancer to name but a few. The author handles these situations in a realistic and sensitive manner and I appreciated that. The book is very character driven and they are well rounded and fully flesh out, flaws and all. I really enjoyed the two timelines as we get to see how this couple meets and how their relationship changes over time, it was also great to have the story from both points of view. The chapters are short and I liked that because as soon as I came to a new one I kept repeating oh just one more. Imagine my surprise to find that the author is none other than Charlotte Duckworth, I have loved her books for years. This one is captivating, emotive and I highly recommend it and the author's other works. All. The. Stars.

could be interesting for someone interested in reading about failed relationships, toxic relationships, and obsessive behavior.

While "The One That Got Away" looks like a fun romantic novel, it is quite the opposite. Charlotte Rixon's debut novel tells the story in back and forth timelines. Clara and Benjamin were loves of each others lives until circumstances happened. Blast to the future, Clara's working at a newspaper office and hers news that a sports field was bombed and thinks Ben may have been there. Will she be able to connect again with the one that got away?

This book is a contemporary fiction novel that will pull at your heartstrings. However; it also reminded me of a story I read at the beginning of the year and I found it hard to connect to Rixon's characters and storyline.

Clara and Ben knew they were meant to be instantly upon meeting. They spent two angsty years together until a devastating accident upturned both their lives. 20 years later, they still wonder, what if?

I should start by saying that this is not a romance by any means. I sort of expected one going in, by the title and summary alone. But it is full of heartbreak, loss and triggering subjects. I found Clara to be depressing and whiny and Ben was incredibly self deprecating. I’m all for unlikable characters if there is some sort of redemption throughout the story but there wasn’t much here to leave you feeling something besides sad.

This one just didn’t do it for me.

As I was reading, I was astounded at the similarity of my feelings when reading The One That Got Away as I had to reading Normal People by Sally Rooney. So Rooney fans, get excited! The bouncing timelines of these two twisted loves, going from first love to jaded and back again was entrancing. I was comfortably floating along when sudden twists would catch me by surprise! You don't think you're on your toes until Rixon suddenly pulls the rug out from under you. It was an incredibly enjoyable read, follows young love, complex friendship, emotional maturity, personal trauma and gives you hope and longing and laughs along the way.

This book wasn't at all what I expected, but I definitely enjoyed it. I thought it was going to be a romance, and while I would call it a love story, it's definitely not a romance. There was a lot of sad moments and serious issues raised. I found myself riveted to the pages and anxious to find out what happened to Ben, Clara, and Aidan.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon.

This was an emotional read. It is categorically a romance - of first love, first heartbreak, and never really getting over that first true relationship. However, there is so much more to this book than just romance. It deals with many topics that could be triggering (alcohol abuse, physical / emotional / sexual abuse, suicide...). Heart ache feels like a common theme, whether from family situations, bad decisions, or miscommunication.

Spanning 20 years, we bounce between timelines of Clara and Benjamin first finding love, sticky middle years full of "what might have been" feelings, and the present day where a tragedy brings them back together in an unexpected way.

I enjoyed this book, as hard as it was on my poor heart!, and I read it pretty quickly wanting to know what was going to happen next. However (the big however)… I did not love Clara's character. And it's hard to constantly be annoyed with the main character! I realize some of it was just part of her character development. But, she still was not my cup of tea. I also found that part of the reason I kept reading was because I wanted more of the present day chapters, as some of the past sections felt like they dragged a bit.

I give this book 4 stars. There were moments where I considered it a 3.5 star read, but overall I am really glad I read it and was invested in the story most of the time.