*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

This book, and review discusses subjects that may be triggering for some people– including, but not limited to: alcoholism, sexual abuse, parental abandonment and death, child abuse, infertility, cheating, alcoholism, drug use, manslaughter, imprisonment, mass murder/terrorism, and self harm.

Told over the span of twenty years, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY features Benjamin, an almost-professional footballer with mediocre dreams and mediocre ambitions, and Clara, an anxiety ridden and rather controlling rich girl. The readers experience their romance disjointedly, told between snippets of ‘modern time’ where Clara is desperately searching for Benjamin after a bomb has gone off in his regular football stadium– leaving her husband in the dark back in London.

This book, as many other reviewers have noted, is not the light, second chance romance it’s being marketed as. It’s is gritty, the characters are overall unlikable, and they don’t officially rekindle a romance at the end.

At the end of the day, THE ONE is pretty realistic. Love is often messy and difficult, relationships and marriages come is dozens of different varieties, and life paths can be so different than what you plan for in your twenties. Life doesn’t get tied up in a neat bow with a happy ending– and I applaud the author for tackling so many difficult topics (although, limiting the number may have made them more poignant).

My final opinion of this book: everyone in it pretty desperately needs therapy and I hope they all got it.