The One That Got Away

by Melissa Pimentel

Chick Lit/Romance/Retelling

Book Description

Ruby and Ethan were perfect for each other. Until the day they suddenly weren’t.

Now, ten years later, Ruby is single, having spent the last decade focusing on her demanding career and hectic life in Manhattan. There’s barely time for a trip to England for her little sister’s wedding. And there’s certainly not time to think about what it will be like to see Ethan again, who just so happens to be the best man.

But as the family frantically prepare for the big day, Ruby can’t help but wonder if she made the right choice all those years ago. Because there is nothing like a wedding for stirring up the past . . .

MY THOUGHTS: 

2 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

The One That Got Away by Melissa Pimentel
So, here’s where I admit I have never finished a Jane Austen novel. Yes, unheard of! A sin for a reader such as myself. I just never could get into them, and that’s that. So the fact that this book is being pushed as a retelling of Persuasion is really of little consequence to me…because I don’t know what happened in that book 🙂

It did take me quite a while to become invested in this novel, to be honest. The main character, Ruby, is a 30-something career woman living in New York City who is burned out by her advertising job and has been single since her breakup with Ethan, 10 years prior.

The Ethan in question is now a successful app creator and worth millions. He and Ruby have been forced into being near one another again because Ethan’s best friend is marrying Ruby’s sister. The whole lot, along with parents, jet off to England and spend a week preparing for the wedding.

Ruby, as a person, is nerve wracking. She jumps to conclusions quickly, judges others, and sometimes thinks she’s better than those around her. She’s also self deprecating, and never in a charming way (if you believe there is such a thing). Ethan, on the other hand, is pretty much pleasant to everyone. He has become rich and successful but never waves his money around. Ruby, who hasn’t seen him in ten years but has built up her own reputation about him, goes back and forth between reviling him and feeling she still loves him.

The main problem I had with this book is that I did not feel any chemistry AT ALL between the main characters. The story of their relationship is told in flashbacks, from how they met to their eventual breakup. I felt more passion in the stories from 10 years prior than I did when Ruby and Ethan crossed paths during the wedding festivities. As it is in so many romance novels, each one assumes things about the other that keeps them from sharing their true feelings. Open communication, especially for people of their age, could go a long way.

This was a very light read, something to pass the time but I can’t say I will remember the specifics of it in a few weeks’ time. Maybe readers of Jane Austen will enjoy it more than I did.

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About the Author

MELISSA PIMENTEL grew up in a small town in Massachusetts in a house without cable and therefore much of her childhood was spent watching 1970s British comedy on public television. These days, she spends much of her time reading in the various pubs of Stoke Newington and engaging in a long-standing emotional feud with their disgruntled cat, Welles. She works in publishing.