This story is about Clara & Ben, who met in college. Most of the story takes place during their college years. 20 years later - will they reunite again? This book had some dark topics and was an interesting read.

The blurb sounded great, then I read the reviews and thought it could not be that bad. And while it wasn’t THAT bad-there were some issues with the main character for me. She was not like able. I do not dislike morally gray characters usually, but in this book it just did not work. Plus it felt like it went on 100 pages too many.

“The One That Got Away” got me hooked since the beginning, it starts strong but kinda looses the flow at some point.

Overall, it was good but nothing life-changing for me, definitely check the trigger warnings because on the outside it looks like a pretty rom-com but some very serious topics are discussed through the book.

What a powerful and emotional book. This book left me breathless and speechless by this story of first love and redemption. It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone who reads this book will find it absolutely stunning and unforgettable! Charlotte Rixen is a new author to me, but I now will read everything she writes, and I will continue to do so. Forever. I think everyone would this well-plotted love story that is not a love story, but something so much more. Wonderful, captivating writing gives this novel the depth and ability to pull in any reader. Vivid, descriptive story-telling, with interesting characters that have depth to them, and are skillfully rendered. At the end of the book, I actually put it down to sort out my thoughts, then picked it back up and reread it. It was that good. Charlotte Rixen is now an auto-buy author for me, and I can't wait to own this novel in print. Do yourself a favor and get this book - you won't be sorry. This is probably one of my best reads of 2022!

This is definitely not a romance. Instead deeply flawed mostly unlikable characters making bad choices. This book really needed content warnings.

Thanks to Netgalley and Aria books for an eARC.

Not one that I would be picking up again, it wasn't my cup of tea. I tried to get into it, but felt a disconnect from the characters and did not enjoy it.

I loved this book! From the initial trope, obvious from the moment you pick up the book and read the title, to the complexity of the relationships and characters throughout. At times, I found it hard to sympathise, understand, and connect with Clara, laced with what seemed like a slight arrogance, I feel like Clara’s character would have benefitted from more development, but I suppose she fits into the idea that no one is perfect and a person’s flaws do not define them.

This book is really well written, and the story is interesting. However, Clara is such a terrible person that it was difficult to enjoy it. She's needy, possession, selfish, insecure, and utterly unreasonable. Benjamin should have jumped her the first time she accused him of loving football more than her. Why is he not allowed to have a hobby? They're supposed to spend every second together from the moment they meet? RUN, BENJAMIN, RUN. He's not "The One Who Got Away", he's the Lucky Bastard Who Dodged a Bullet. Yes, she's got a tragic backstory, but that doesn't excuse her behavior.

The bigger issue is that she never redeems herself. She's awful. She does something horrible, she lies about it, she never apologizes. She doesn't grow up. I don't understand why Benjamin or Thom loved her.

If you want to read a really depressing story about a terrible person, this is the book for you.

*Review based on ARC*

"The One That Got Away" was an engaging and heartwarming read dealing with some heavy issues but with a realistic and happy ending. Good writing.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

such an eye opening book. I couldn't put it down from the day I started it and read it almost in one sitting.

DNF - this was alright, not my fave. the cover is super cute tho! overall just wasn’t able to connect with the character or story line.

I really struggled with the storyline as I found it too long and there were too many issues for two people to bear! Benjamin and Clara were too different to ever stay together and Clara seemed to be really usure of what she wanted in life even though she had a privileged childhood and no traumas. I just found that the characters needed to step up and stop causing more damage around them!

I love everything that Charlotte writes under the name of Charlotte Duckworth so I had high hopes for this. It was everything that I wanted, a great holiday read with some big questions in it.

Clara and Ben meet at university, and although their worlds couldn't be further apart, they fall for one another hard (in some fabulously written scenes that completely capture the intensity of teenage love!)

We know that something has happened to break them up but neither has been able to stop thinking about the other. Years later, Clara hears that there's been a bomb explosion at the football ground that Ben attended religiously and she finds herself compelled to go straight away and see if he's survived. The story jumps back and forward from their university days to now, both of them are in unhappy places in the present day and we slowly unravel what it was that has led to this point. There are some heavy moments in it - I have seen other reviews that felt that they should have been highlighted more in the blurb, so its not a fluffy meet-cute romcom, but I liked it more for that.

I sped through it all in one reading, it is a very readable book and made you think about those sliding doors moments of what might have been if you'd taken another path. A solid 4 stars from me- thanks to Netgalley and Aria fiction for the chance to read the ARC.

I received this advanced copy.....and right from the start it had me hooked. It goes from multiple time frames giving a history to shape the present of the main characters.
Very heavy topics throughout the book.
I loved this story! This is the first time read anything from this author. 👌
4.5☆

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

This book, and review discusses subjects that may be triggering for some people– including, but not limited to: alcoholism, sexual abuse, parental abandonment and death, child abuse, infertility, cheating, alcoholism, drug use, manslaughter, imprisonment, mass murder/terrorism, and self harm.

Told over the span of twenty years, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY features Benjamin, an almost-professional footballer with mediocre dreams and mediocre ambitions, and Clara, an anxiety ridden and rather controlling rich girl. The readers experience their romance disjointedly, told between snippets of ‘modern time’ where Clara is desperately searching for Benjamin after a bomb has gone off in his regular football stadium– leaving her husband in the dark back in London.

This book, as many other reviewers have noted, is not the light, second chance romance it’s being marketed as. It’s is gritty, the characters are overall unlikable, and they don’t officially rekindle a romance at the end.

At the end of the day, THE ONE is pretty realistic. Love is often messy and difficult, relationships and marriages come is dozens of different varieties, and life paths can be so different than what you plan for in your twenties. Life doesn’t get tied up in a neat bow with a happy ending– and I applaud the author for tackling so many difficult topics (although, limiting the number may have made them more poignant).

My final opinion of this book: everyone in it pretty desperately needs therapy and I hope they all got it.

When Clara and Ben met during their first year at university, they both became quickly enamored with each other, convinced that they were each other's person. The problem is, they both had a lot of growing up to do, especially Clara, who let her fears and insecurities put unreasonable demands on Ben's time and attention.

Perhaps if they had met five or ten years later, things would have gone better for them. But as it is, Clara's need to control everything and to be the center of Ben's world leads to a tragic situation that tears them apart.

Twenty years later, another tragic situation leads them to cross paths with each other again. The question is, can they overcome all the pain of their past or will they say goodbye to each other forever?

I found it hard to put this book down! I kept coming back to it at random times of the day, just to get a few more pages in. I did find it a bit challenging at times to keep up with all the jumping around in time, but overall, the story was very effective, and despite Clara's need to grow up, I found myself rooting for them as a couple, hoping for a happily ever after for them. Who among us doesn't have regrets about the past? The things we did when we were still too young to really know any better? A story like this gives hope for second chances.

Thank you to Charlotte Rixon, Aria and Aries, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This was a beautifully written story about a second chance at connection and the impacts of missed opportunities, Do we ever truly move on from the one that got away?

Trigger warnings include concepts such as acts of terrorism, sexual abuse and infertility.

All the characters were quite relatable, making it easy to understand their POVs and feel for them through out the many highs and lows they each faced through out the story. I do feel there were certain parts which could have been elaborated on a little further to add even more depth and dimension to an otherwise engaging and heartwarming tale of a what might have been romance.

I will also add that this story is more of a drama and I found it could have done with little more intrigue and suspense in parts, I did however also throughly enjoy the jumps between timelines and how it all came together in the end in a way reflective of real life!

Overall it was a sweet story which I rated a 3.5 stars , rounded up to 4 as it was well written enough with likeable characters and me engaged until the end,

Thanks NetGalley & Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

A poignant read.

This story follows the love story of Clara and Benjamin who after many tragedies find each other again. Clara and Benjamin are complete opposites and come from completely opposite backgrounds however this does nothing to stop them coming back together.

This was a very long book which I ordinary would have given up on but just couldn’t put down. The characters feel real and are relatable. The story lines are ones that course through all of our lives.

A worthwhile wonderful read.

Please make sure to read trigger warnings before reading this.
I usually pick books from covers and if I had this one I would have just assumed was a romance.
It is so much more than that. It talks about real issues and hard issues.
This is a second chance romance, told in a dual POV through multiple time lines.
It is so wonderfully written that I couldn't put it down. It broke my heart, it made me happy, it made me sad and it made me utterly disturbed.
Clara and Benjamin have the most toxic relationship but I feel is not unrealistic for some in young love.
Although this was more of a depressing book, I appreciated the honesty in it and the way Rixon addressed issues and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.
Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.