The One for You (Ones Who Got Away, #4)

by Roni Loren

There were only a few survivors of that one fateful night. Now, twelve years later, the kids once called The Ones Who Got Away are back…and ready to claim the lives they never truly got to live.
The goth girl and the popular boy The best friends turned lovers The hot nerd and the life of the party The guilt-ridden brother And their second chance at loveKincaid Breslin wasn't supposed to survive that fateful night at Long Acre when so many died, including her boyfriend—but survive she did. She doesn't know why she got that chance, but now she takes life by the horns and doesn't let anybody stand in her way.
Ashton Isaacs was her best friend when disaster struck all those years ago, but he chose to run as far away as he could. Now fate has brought him back to town, and Ash doesn't know how to cope with his feelings for Kincaid and his grief over their lost friendship. For Ash has been carrying secrets, and he knows that once Kincaid learns the truth, he'll lose any chance he might have had with the only woman he's ever loved.
Readers love The Ones Who Got Away series!
"A crackling, heartfelt love story."—Entertainment Weekly for The Ones Who Got Away
"Absolutely unputdownable! Roni Loren is a new favorite."—COLLEEN HOOVER, #1 New York Times bestseller, for The One You Can't Forget
"Stunning… Truly exceptional."—Booklist STARRED Review for The One You Fight For

• ISBN10: 1492693197
• ISBN13: 9781492693192
• Publish Date: 31 December 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Casablanca
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leigha]

Kincaid must come to terms with her former best friend in this adult contemporary romance.

When will I learn to stay away from plots featuring mass shootings? I liked the first book in this series despite the triggering premise, but it’s such a hard topic for me. I worked in an academic library for nine years. Students would request help with their research papers, and a surprising number of topics were on mass shootings and serial killers (?!?!?). It messed with my head, and I prefer to stay away from the topic when reading for fun. (I couldn’t even get through Nora Roberts’ Shelter in Place and ya’ll KNOW I’ll read about anything from La Nora).

Not only was the topic difficult for me, but the characters and story didn’t capture my attention. Flashbacks are liberally used throughout the book to juxtapose Kincaid and Ashton’s past friendship with their uneasy present relationship. I’m rarely a fan of flashbacks, but waiting for the unpreventable “prom night massacre” scene was dreadful. I would have preferred it be placed at the beginning of the novel rather than toward the end. Fans of the series will probably love this conclusion. I, however, plan to skip novels with mass shootings in the future. It’s just not worth my mental health.

tl;dr While fans of the series will probably enjoy the climatic conclusion, I found the topic of mass shooting to be too triggering to enjoy.

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I have throughly enjoyed this entire series, but I always felt the heart of this group of survivors was Kincaid. She was the one, who brought the group back together after so many years, and she was the one, who pushed them to fulfill those promises they made to themselves after the attack. I really needed Kincaid's story to reflect her and her role in this series, and I am happy to find that Loren injected lots warmth and joy into this tale.

Kincaid and Ash had been best friends since they were in grade school, but grew apart after a falling-out following the prom night massacre. When a broken engagement brought Ash back to Long Acre, he and Kincaid were once again thrust into each other's lives. This was their second chance at friendship, and maybe, their opportunity to view their past in a different way.

Friends-to-lovers and second chances are two of my favorite things, and they are done so well in this story. It was very lovely seeing these two slip back into old patterns so easily, while finally acknowledging emotions they had been harboring from their past. There were many heart-to-hearts in the present, but I thought incorporating some flashbacks added to my understanding and emotions regarding Kincaid and Ash's friendship. These peeks into the past not only revealed a lot about their dynamic, but they also gave me insight into who both these people were, and why they made the decisions they made.

Though there was a flashback to the night of the shooting, the over-all feel of the book had more levity than the prior installments. I felt this was fitting, as Kincaid's appearance on page was usually accompanied by a lot of humor and joy. There were still many parts, which brought to me tears, but those parts also reinforced my view of Kincaid as a survivor.

This was very much Kincaid's story, but the crux of this series, was the relationship between the four women. It was the friendship between Kincaid, Liv, Rebecca, and Taryn that drove each story. This group of four strong women, who had lost so much, but found the strength to push forward in one another. The epilogue was such a lovely tribute to their friendship, and a beautiful way to close out this series.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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