The One That Got Away

LoveReading Says

The urgency and inexperience of first love, the unplanned paths lives take, the ache of “what if…?” wondering, and the smoulder of second chances, Charlotte Rixon’s The One That Got Away is a gripping, smartly plotted page-turner. At times dark, and always bristling with suspense, it’s rooted in relatable emotional experiences, with explosive events and decisions inviting “what would you have done?” questions.

Worlds apart in their backgrounds, Clara and Ben fall for each other in Newcastle as young adults, before being ripped apart by an earth-shattering event that sends them careering down different paths.

Twenty years on, as Clara is having doubts about her life choices (“I just feel sometimes like my life has gone off-track somewhere. That I’m living the wrong life. The wrong version of my life”), a bombing in Newcastle sends Clara back to the city to make sure Ben is safe. After two decades of occasional, tentative contact, and deep-rooted feelings of regret, the stage is set for a tense reunion, with the events of the past cleverly revealed through an edgy dual-character, dual-timeframe narrative. 

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About The One That Got Away

"A stunning love story that had my heart racing from the first chapter and tears streaming down my face by the end. An instant favorite." --Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meet Me at the Lake Two years together.Twenty years apart.One day to change their story. 2000. Benjamin's world is turned upside down the night he meets Clara. Instinctively, he knows that they are meant for each other, but a devastating mistake on their last night at university will take their lives in very different directions. 20 years later, Clara has a high-profile job and a handsome husband. But despite the trappings of success, she isn't happy, and she knows that a piece of her heart still belongs to Benjamin, the boy she fell in love with years earlier. The boy whose life she fears she ruined. When a bombing is reported in the city where they first met, Clara is pulled back to a place she tries not to remember and the first love she could never forget. Searching for Benjamin, Clara is forced to confront the events that tore them apart. But is it too late to put right what went wrong? Across the miles and spanning decades, Charlotte Rixon's The One That Got Away is a sweeping, poignant story about growing up, growing apart, the people who first steal our hearts, and the surprising, winding roads that love can take us on, for readers of Jill Santopolo, Rosie Walsh, and Colleen Hoover.

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