You're The One That I Want Review

You're The One That I Want by Giovanna Fletcher
Synopsis

Maddy, dressed in white, stands at the back of the church. At the end of the aisle is Rob - the man she's about to marry. Next to Rob is Ben - best man and the best friend any two people ever had.

And that's the problem.

Because if it wasn't Rob waiting for her at the altar, there's a strong chance it would be Ben. Loyal and sensitive Ben has always kept his feelings to himself, but if he turned round and told Maddy she was making a mistake, would she listen? And would he be right?

Best friends since childhood, Maddy, Ben and Rob thought their bond was unbreakable. But love changes everything. Maddy has a choice to make but will she choose wisely? Her heart, and the hearts of the two best men she knows, depend on it...

Lisa's Review 4 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley. I was browsing through, looking for something new to read, and as I seem to be on a bit of a chick lit spurt this year, the cover of this book really jumped out at me, and after a quick scan of the synopsis I requested it. It was only after that I realised the author is married to a member of McFly, and recently gave birth to their first baby (of which I just watched an adorable video of their journey through pregnancy and to announcing the arrival of their baby!) so I was even more intrigued to read it.

You're The One That I Want tells the story of three extremely close friends, Maddy, Rob and Ben. The story starts on Maddy and Robs wedding day, and we quickly realise that Maddy is in turmoil over whether she chose the right friend to marry.
From there, the book becomes almost like a journal, flipping between Maddy and Bens perspectives. We journey back right to the day the trio all became friends, right when they were in primary school, and follow them all the way through childhood, teens, college years and into adult hood. It becomes clear at a young age that Ben has feelings for Maddy, but during a trip to Paris, just as he is about to confess his feelings to her, he is pipped to the post by Rob. So for years, Ben harbours his feelings towards Maddy, only confessing many years later, leaving Maddy in a spin and unsure which of her two best friends she is really in love with.

I really enjoyed being able to read their story from both perspectives of Ben and Maddy, it was a refreshing change to be able to read two sides of the story. I also enjoyed the fact that usually in a story you find yourself connecting or sympathising more with a certain character, but throughout I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with decisions made by all three characters and having my opinions changed many times over, making this book feel a little deeper.

As the book went on I did find myself getting a little confused as at the end of some chapters there would be a paragraph that appeared to be written by Rob, although unlike Maddy and Bens chapters, it wasn't clearly marked it was from Rob and it threw me a few times. It wasn't until several of these paragraphs appeared that I managed to figure out that they were actually snippets of Robs wedding speech.

The only thing that I felt that let this book done was the ending. There seemed to be this huge big build up and lots of questions that made you wonder how the ending would pan out and whether there would be a huge scene at the wedding, but in the end it came across as a little weak and missing a bit of umph!

Other than that this was wonderfully written and thoroughly enjoyable to read.

You're The One That I Want is due for release on May 22nd 2014

Links

Goodreads   Giovanna's Blog

Purchase Links

Amazon UK    Amazon.com   KOBO