Blog Tour Review - The Only One By: Magan Vernon

Title: The Only One
Author: Magan Vernon
Publisher: Beautifully Broken Books (October 17th, 2013)
From: the Author
Format: eARC
Add to: Goodreads
Order The Only One and all of Magan's Books Online: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Check out my review of: The Only Exception

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: ***The companion novel to The Only Exception. This is NOT a sequel, but takes place two weeks after Monica and Trey's debate and is Melanie's story.***

Honor student, manager at the campus coffee shop, owner of an impressive sweater collection – Melanie Wilder has it all together. Then John “John Boy” Walden strolls into her life wearing nothing more than an impish grin and all-too-revealing loin cloth.

Soon, make-out sessions replace homework, lust triumphs over work. And to further crumble her perfect world, an unexpected phone call threatens to take away everything she’s worked for.

Now, as Melanie struggles to pick up the pieces, she realizes that John may be the only one to put her life back together…unless he shatters it first.

Review: 4.5 Stars - The Only One by author Magan Vernon is an extremely emotional companion novel to her previous title The Only Exception. Vernon takes a serious topic and gives everyone affected compassion and love from unexpected places.

Melanie Wilder has her life in order. She’s a good student, works on campus and tends to not take chances that could derail her future. She’s a real life Hermione and a true Harry Potter lover which I loved as a secondary character in The Only Exception, having a chance with this story focused on her made me care for her deeper as a character.

John aka “John Boy” is a player. He likes the ladies and everyone knows it. He’s a good guy hiding behind his looks and his image not letting anyone know the real him. When he meets Melanie at a Halloween party in her Hermione costume all bets are off for these two.

Melanie gets some shocking, startling, life altering, scary, and saddening emotionally devastating news. Her story hit close to home for me and while it was often painful to read I couldn’t look away because I wanted to be there for her. I often wished I could reach into the pages and tell her she wasn’t alone. She had people around her, good friends, family and even John but I still had this growing urge to comfort her during this difficult time.

There are important issues dealt with in this title and I hope that others take certain things away with them after reading the story, especially that what Melanie is dealing with as it could happen to anyone. I commend Vernon for taking a serious subject and creating extremely realistic characters that give an authentic view to the issue at hand.

While the majority of the story has a serious tone to it I think I John is one of my new favorite book boys. I swooned and melted over this amazing boy who has a heart of gold. While he did a couple of things that made me want to smack him, it’s in these moments that give him an even more realistic edge. None of us are perfect and while he might be more perfect of a character than others it’s his flaws that made him real.

All in all this is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading and I was more than thrilled the more I delved into the novel. This is one of those titles that you don’t want to end because you feel as if you were a part of the story and the characters’ lives.

Vernon has written a story and characters that are easy to care for, to fall for and to be emotionally invested in. I HIGHLY recommend this title. I can’t say it enough. I know everyone who reads it will also find themselves emotionally invested and not ready for their story to end. Highly recommend = go.read.now!