I enjoyed this love story, but I think I had higher expectations than I should have for it. I was expecting it to make me feel the same way that "The Light We Lost" by Jill Santopolo did. And though it had a similar arc - I felt a bit let down by the characters. I honestly just didn't think that Clara and Benjamin seemed like a very good fit for one another. They actually seemed fairly toxic, and eventually, their behaviors lead to one of them spending time in prison.

However, even with all that - I did find this story interesting enough to earn it a low spot on my would recommend list. I actually would love to see how the story progresses between the two as adults.

2.5 but rounding down

Unfortunately this one didn’t really work for me. It started out strong with such potential but by the end it had lost me. I didn’t love or connect to any of the characters. While meant to be somewhat likeable, both Benjamin and Clara bothered me and I found very annoying. Their love and chemistry was far from believable. They honestly didn’t seem matched well to me so it was very hard for me to believe that they’d hold on to those feelings for 20 years. They didn’t seem well suited for each other so I struggled to connect to their relationship or longing. A lot of the story was also pretty predictable and didn’t leave me with strong feelings or emotions about the drama that occurs. The strongest emotional pull came from the last 30 minutes of the audiobook but overall it didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.

Thank you to St. Martins Press, Charlotte Rixon, and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really was glued to this book. The author did a wonderful job of creating a page turner with this one and I simply had to know what would happen next and how everything would be resolved.

Ben and Clara meet in college and quickly fall in love. However, there are some secrets between them that seem harmless but eventually cause serious damage. One such secret leads to a mistake that sets them on a path away from one another that will last for twenty years. They both live their lives without the other person directly being a part of it and know that something is missing but can't seem to fix the issue. Then something drastic happens and Clara rushes to see if Ben is okay and their world is again turned upside down.

Even though as a reader I was often frustrated by the things which kept them apart and felt they were things that could have been overcome sooner, I also realize that isn't necessarily the case. People don't always have the courage to put their true feelings on the line when they feel threatened or as if they don't live up to expecations. This could easily have led to misunderstandings and heartbreak.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: A very well-done audiobook that kept me glued to it from start to finish. It was a wonderful storyline with solid narration. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

I just finished The one that got away by Charlotte Rixon and here is my review.


The year 2000 was the start of the end for Benjamin and Clara. One mistake sends them both in very different directions and so far apart from each other.

20 years on, Clara has a great job and a handsome husband but she never got over Benjamin and the life they could have had with each other. She feels responsible for what happened and the guilt eats at her for years….

Until a bombing happens in the City where they loved and lost each other. A bombing at the stadium where Benjamin religiously went every single weekend. Clara can’t help worrying about what may have happened to him and it sets her on a new path…. One where she maybe, can right a terrible wrong but that is only if she isn’t too late.

This was one of those books that jumped from year to year from Clara to Benjamin’s POV and I understand the logic of doing it but I found it a bit of a pain personally. I would have liked a little less jumping around but I think that is just me.

I found the character development, however excellent. Both Benjamin and Clara were hella irritating when they were younger and the more they grew, the more they grew on me. You could really visualize how much time had changed them for the better and they could both see the mistakes they made in their youth.

I found Benjamin’s story so heartbreaking and he really did right by his son Aiden. I really did enjoy this book even with my gripes about the timeline.

This book does have one heck of a trigger…. Child sexual abuse and alcoholism are both weaved into this tale so please be advised if these might be your triggers.

The book was really well written and I loved the second chance at love undertones that the book had weaved throughout the 20 years.

If you love women’s fiction, you should add this to your TBR

4 stars! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy

This was a compelling, quick read. The writing was approachable and fast-paced (I appreciated the short chapters!) While the writing wasn't necessarily profound on a prose-level, it was a very well-told and immersive story.

I kept hoping this book would get better, but it did not. We open with a bombing at a stadium in 2022. Then, we go back to 2000. Clara and Benjamin meet at club when they are both in university. They have a night together where Clara tries to get him to sleep with her. He declines and asks if they can see each other again. This sets off their relationship, and how they got together and fell apart. Told in 6 parts over 23 years, it goes between the past and present.

Benjamin and Clara were insufferable. She was practically assaulting him for sex, and throughout the book he loves when she gets angry? I don’t know. Maybe this book just wasn’t for me.

Clara literally married a man she wasn’t in love with, and pined for her college love the entire time. It’s no wonder that their marriage fell apart. She really hated herself. I get that she had trauma, but instead of asking for help she withdrew into herself and then acted out. She was incredibly jealous and suspicious. Relationships shouldn’t be built on that. Benjamin as well… he hides his mom dying. He is “the good guy.” I just didn’t connect with him.

I don’t typically leave bad reviews. I try to find something I like about the book. I liked that it discussed vaginismus which is something most people don’t know about. I like the storytelling of past and present, but this story was not good because the characters were so unlikeable.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We are a soccer house through and through. The One That Got Away starts off in present day with a bomb going off at a soccer (really football because it is Newcastle) and then proceeds to go back in time and tell the story of a couple who met in college and had a series of ups and downs. This is all while not fully explaining how the explosion impacted them other than the guy was a massive Newcastle fan. This book was just so good. The storytelling and character development was so intense and well crafted. All the emotions jumped from the page and I really felt like I knew these people. I was so invested in their lives and I needed to know what happened. I loved how information was slowly revealed. It had some vibes of High Fidelity when the guy was such a super fan.

This was an interesting, well written but difficult book to read. Charlotte Rixon has captured the overwhelming emotion of first love experience by two young, inexperienced adults. There were many topics addressed throughout the couples relationship and separation including alcoholism, bullying, sexual abuse and assault, infertility and mental health. Thanks #NetGalley

Darker than I expected. Lots of heavy themes. Truthfully, I didn't really feel like I liked the main characters that much. Maybe that was the point? This one just kind of drug for me. The premise was good, but the execution felt lacking.

I have mixed feelings on this book , for me it was an average read. I liked the premise of the story two young people fall in love , a tragic event causes them to separate and move on , life goes on but they still wonder what could have been, a tragic event brings them back into each others lives. What I did not love was the females main character and the way she lived and directed her entire life. She for me was not very likeable. I guess that is a good thing if that is what the author intended. I think the book would be good for discussion in a book club….there is lots to talk about.

I voluntarily received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own

I was pulled into this story immediately but then it felt like it just went on and on.

I enjoyed each characters story on how their lives went down the paths they did but the ending felt rushed and it wasn’t what I wanted for them lol

This book def made me think of someone I dated who was def the one that got away!

This was such an unusual story of a young love torn apart, but never forgotten, and rekindled years later. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Carl Prekopp and Katherine Press, and it took me a minute to get into the story, but once I was there I couldn't stop listening. Ben and Clara have a somewhat toxic relationship in the beginning yet they really do love each other and finding their way back to the love after twenty years is a poignant moment in time. The in-between is such an interesting journey and I enjoyed seeing the different directions their lives took.

This love story is an honest, heartfelt portrayal of mistakes, forgiveness and what could've been.

Benjamin and Clara met in college, fell in love then one fateful evening shatters the trajectory of their lives into adulthood. Their endless heartache spans a decades until an event brings them back together. This story is told through the perspective of both, Benjamin and Clara, over the course of their lives. It's heavy themes are passionately executed with characters that will haunt you even after you've read the last word.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the complimentary copy.

My thoughts: I found this hard to follow. Short chapters, Benjamin and Clara’s POV, switching years. I liked the premise of the story. I just could not get invested in their story. I hoped for more.

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

This is a bittersweet love story. Although the characters can be annoying at times doing or saying absolutely the wrong things and you feel like if they just would have talked about it things would not have gotten out of hand. However, that wouldn't have made for an exciting story. Plus their actions are relatable to how others in similar situations would probably react. Even if you can't relate to everything that happens to them, you can relate to the emotions they are feeling that make them react in the ways they do. This makes the story even more poignant. In fact, it might even make you cry at times especially if you are a very sensitive reader.

The cover of this one drew me in and I love a second chance love story so this one had me right from the tagline.
"Two years together. Twenty years apart. One day to change their story". Benjamin and Clara meet in college and date for two years. They are soulmates, inseparable or so Benjamin believes. They break up and lose touch, but tragedy draws Clara home to find him.

I enjoyed this story about first loves and second chance love stories. While I don't actually thinks this one goes as far as to be a second chance love. It's deeper into the idea of first love and if you can ever completely move past it. Told in alternating perspectives and multiple timelines, it kept me eager to learn what had separated Benjamin and Clara so long ago and kept me turning pages.

It’s been 20 years since Clara has seen Benjamin. When a bomb goes off at his local football arena however, she knows she needs to head that way to make sure he survived. Football has always been an issue in their relationship. Mainly that he went to every home game, and watched all the others while she hated it. This book delves into what brought these two together, what broke them apart, and if they will once again find each other.

This book was not what I expected at all but I truly enjoyed every second of reading it. Though Clara and Benjamin had a sometimes toxic relationship at the start (what college students don’t) I really loved following both their stories to find out how they got to where they are in 2022. Exploring the feelings of your first true love, what happens when it blows up in your face, and what continues to happen as you yearn for them for years to come.

PUB DATE:  TODAY!!! 8/15/23 by St. Martin’s Press
PAGES:  320
RATING:   4 stars
GENRE:  Contemporary Romance

A BIG Thank you @NetGalley & @stmartinspress for gifting me this Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for my honest review!

SYNOPSIS:  Benjamin and Clara meet while attending university and spend two years, head over heels together.  But one day while they’re dating in 2000, ONE mistake alters their life courses, and they spend the next twenty years apart from each other.  Clara marries a handsome man and has a wonderful job, but she is borderline miserable & feels unfulfilled.  She simply never got over Benjamin.  One evening in 2022, there is a bombing back in the city where they first met, and she goes in search for him to see if he is ok.  Was he at the scene when the bomb went off or will she live with regret all her life for not making things right?

REVIEW:  This debut novel by Charlotte Rixon was beautifully written.  It takes you on a journey of two people who fall madly in love and feel they are destined….soulmates.  There were times when I struggled just a bit with the FMC.  She was so intense, insecure, uptight, & demanding when she’s in the relationship with Benjamin in her early twenties.  Sometimes I just wanted to reach through the pages and shake some sense into her for her being so afraid of being alone and co-dependent on him, and for giving him grief all the time for loving football.  I also struggled with how incompatible they appeared to be, and so I juggled some confusion in how they could be true soulmates.  However, upon completion of this story, I realize it was intentional writing, and that when were all in our twenties, many of us were, or are, a lot of those things and make similar mistakes.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and had goosebumps at the end!  Get your copy as it’s out TODAY!

Happy Reading!

When Benjamin met Clara at university, he knew she was the one. But, two years into their relationship, they are forced apart by a horrible and devastating mistake. That mistake takes Clara and Benjamin in different directions. Fast forward twenty years later, Clara, a successful journalist in an unhappy marriage, is shocked to hear about a bombing in the city where she and Benjamin first met. Rushing to the city, Clara doesn’t know if he is dead, alive, or injured. Will Clara find Benjamin? What happened that night twenty years ago? And who is the bomber, and why did that person target the football (soccer for Americans) stadium?

When I read the blurb for The One That Got Away, I was mildly intrigued. I like books that span decades, and I also like when those books are recent with characters around my age. That is why I decided to accept the St. Martin’s Press widget. But now that I have read it, I am very unimpressed.

The One That Got Away is a medium-paced book that is set in the city of Newcastle in, England. The storyline for this book moved slowly. That slowness kept making me lose interest, and I had to force myself to keep reading.

The storyline of The One That Got Away is centered around Clara and Benjamin. This storyline was chaotic. It was a dual POV storyline (Clara and Benjamin). That is not what bothered me. The author did clearly label the chapters. What bothered me was that it ping-ponged back and forth in time. One chapter would be in the early 2000s, the next in 2023, then the 2010s, and so on. I couldn’t get a handle on anything happening.

I couldn’t stand Clara. When she was first introduced, I thought she was a little immature but chalked it up to her age. But, as the author continued with the book, I disliked her. She came across, even in her 40s, as immature and selfish. She constantly lied to herself, her friends, husband, and Benjamin. She ruined the book for me.

On the flip side, I liked Benjamin. He got the short end of the stick when it came to Clara. I also felt he was made so oblivious by love that he was willing to overlook her behavior. When the mistake happened, and Clara cut ties with him, I pitied him. But, in a way, his life turned out so much better than Clara’s. My only fault with him is that he didn’t push Aiden after the party, and something was clearly wrong.

This book’s storylines with Benjamin and Clara are so chaotic that I will not start explaining or unraveling it. I found some more well-written than others. I also wish the mistake had been revealed sooner in the book instead of being talked about and around.

The bombing storyline was maybe the only straightforward one in the book, and it shocked me. I was wrong about who I thought it was. I also was heartbroken over why that person chose to do what they did. Looking back, it made sense. I just wished that Aiden had told someone sooner.

The end of The One That Got Away was a HEA. Clara was finally living her best life after cutting some dead weight out. I disagreed with the romantic angle, but hey, good for them. I also loved seeing how Aiden turned out!!

I would recommend The One That Got Away to anyone over 21. There is language, nongraphic sexual situations, and violence. There are references to childhood sexual abuse, alcoholism, child abandonment, cheating, and attempted rape.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Charlotte Rixon for allowing me to read and review The One That Got Away. All opinions stated in this review are mine.