Review: The One and Only by Emily Giffin

The One and Only
by Emily Giffin

Ballantine Books
May 20, 2014
978-0345546883
hardcover, ebook, audio
Women's Fiction
432 pages

author's website with buy here links

Product Description:

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

~ My Thoughts ~

Oh, I don't like Lucy. Sure the book starts out with her Mother's funeral and I haven't read far enough to be at the next day but her Dad is a football coach. Excuse me, Football Coach. He and his wife were big into to the university, the team. They not only drank the kool-aid, they were minding the punch bowl! To have their daughter hate football so much, she not only went to another school, she went to their rivals then to insist that non of the players are invited back to the house after the graveside services? Don't you think they miss Mrs. Carr too?

Yes, this is all happening the same day. The book opens at the funeral and Lucy's best friend's memories bring us to this point.

off to read some more . . .

I'm really liking Shea and Lucy is growing on me but Shea's mother? Not so much. I'm hoping she doesn't do what I think she's going to do.

back to reading . . .

Shea has seen the NCAA on campus but has such a love of the town, the school and the coach, she sees it as a witch hunt at the start of their biggest season yet. I'm starting to be afraid for her. Here she is just before the first game of the season. . .

I knew every square inch of it, and it all felt like sacred ground.

Maybe it was sacrilegious to admit that I felt closer to God inside that stadium than in church on Christmas Eve, but it was the truth, and I told myself it was no different than people who find their deepest spirituality in the woods or the sea.

 . . . the sights and sounds "New Year's Eve in August".

back to reading . . .

New, dream job. New boyfriend. You'd think I'd be happy but I can see storm clouds coming and the boyfriend is a little quick to jump to conclusions.



Sigh, and a migraine hits me, not going to be able to finish this. Head to BookSparks to see what else I'll be reviewing this summer and check back tomorrow for an update!



Disclaimer: I received a complimentary review copy of this book without any obligation to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of NetGalley and is being reviewed as part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

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