The One Thing

by Marci Lyn Curtis

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal. Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional-soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

• ISBN10: 148473761X
• ISBN13: 9781484737613
• Publish Date: 14 March 2017 (first published 1 October 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hyperion
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

— I loved the little boy so much but I just couldn't really buy why she (a blind girl) could suddenly see when he's around.

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
This book was cute. Super cute, really. Not that it didn’t have hard moments, because it absolutely did, but the cute moments are what stuck with me when I was done reading. The life lessons, the relationships, the friendships, the witty characters, those are what endeared me to this book. The plot was fine, but the characters were remarkable!

First up is Maggie. Goodness, I adored Maggie. She was blind, but only recently found herself as such. She’s sarcastic, and kind of pessimistic, but very real and honest. She’s not thrilled with her new circumstances, as you’d imagine, and she isn’t going to be putting on airs for anyone.

But then she meets Ben. Ben has spina bifida, and Ben is basically all the awesome things in the world wrapped into one ten year old boy. Ben is a swimmer, which of course captured my heart. He’s incredibly smart, charismatic, funny, and charming, and he wins Maggie over immediately. Maggie’s having a terrible time adjusting, as is her family, and she clings to Ben as an escape. She adores Ben’s family as well, but Mason, Ben’s brother, is leery of her motives.
There’s another really awesome character, but I don’t think it’s fair to tell you who it is, you should find out for yourself! Anyway, these people converge to take Maggie’s sullen, likely depressed outlook and revamp it. Because around Ben, Maggie can see.

There is a reason for this, and the reason is important. But Maggie doesn’t know that, she just soaks up every moment of sight that she can get her hands on. Of course, this inevitably leads to conflict, because who is actually going to believe that someone can randomly see after being blind? I admit that this part detracted a bit from the book for me, because it seemed so implausible. But everything that Maggie experience leads her to where she needs to be, where she can rebuild her life.

Bottom Line: It’s a touching story, even if the plot sometimes felt just a tiny bit cheesy. The characters were amazing, and the messages were fabulous and so, so important.

**Copy provided by publisher for review**

[Linda]

The One Thing is one of the sweetest and most strangely heartbreaking stories I have ever read!

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews