Only One You

You and Me, Book #1

By Tia Lewis & Penelope Marshall

Authors’ Websites:  http://www.authortialewis.com/ & http://penelopemarshall.weebly.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Amanda left Roaring Forks twenty years ago, when she left for college and after her high school sweetheart broke her heart.  She has since went on to be a lawyer in bustling New York and is near becoming a partner at a swanky law firm there.  She could never quite bring herself to return to Raging Forks after Dawson broke things off with her.  The town is just a constant reminder of him and how he quit wanting her.  However, when she gets the call that her best friend, Craig, is dying she drops everything to try to get to him in time.  And of course when she arrives Dawson is there and looks even sexier than he did in school.

Things are a bit rocky between Amanda and Dawson, now that she’s back in town, albeit temporarily.  But the two work together to take care of everything in the aftermath of Craig’s death.  And, as you would expect the old spark reignites.  However, Amanda’s ex comes to town and throws a wrench into their reunion, not to mention Dawson has yet to come clean with her about why he ended things all those years ago.  One thing is for sure, neither of them wants to lose the other again, but is their bond strong enough to hold on?

I love a good second chance romance book, so reading the blurb and seeing the smoking hot cover, I felt this book was right up my alley.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t crazy about this one.  I found the writing to be a bit juvenile, in a way, maybe it’s just a result of two authors collaborating in one story.  It took a long time for the book to get interesting and by the time it did the book was pretty much over.  I couldn’t understand why Amanda immediately put herself up at Craig’s house after he died, especially since her mom lives in town in a house she bought her!  And, even more puzzling, why she spearheaded going through Craig’s things and selling or throwing them away.  She began the night he died without waiting to see if there was a will or some kind of family that would come forward to help.  I found that incredibly strange.

I also found Dawson to be an incredible jerk for a big portion of the book and I couldn’t imagine why Amanda would want to be back with him or why he was so angry toward her.  I felt the transition between them fighting to making out was pretty disjointed and didn’t really make much sense to me.  But once the two got back together it was nice for a bit. Then, Amanda’s ex showed up and we got to see Dawson’s protective side.  I found somebody as determined to get her back as Michael was, and then to give up so quickly to be unlikely.

But things were going good between Amanda and Dawson and then we get to the end of the book and it seemed like everything that made up their happily ever after happened all at once, like the authors were just rushing to finish the book and tie everything up nice and neat.

Despite what it may sound like in this review, I don’t think the book was bad, but it definitely had its faults.  Hopefully this writing duo gets better as the series progresses and they get more experience under their belts.