Review: The One & Only by Emily Giffin

The One & Only by Emily Giffin 
Published: May 20, 2014

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via purchased copy

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

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

This book kicks off my official summer reading. I love, adore and admire Emily Giffin’s writing. I love it because she writes about women for women. I love how she’s so real and makes her female leads strong yet flawed. The One & Only is my favorite thus far. Okay so maybe I’m a tad biased since I’m from Texas and am I HUGE football fan. This read rang very true to me and my Texas roots.

It’s the story of Shea who is working for her old college in the athletic department but who desperately wants to write. She is recently dealing with the loss of her best friends’ mom, who was like a mother to her. While dealing with this she is also on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend whom no one thinks is good enough for her. She’s basically just going through the motions at this point in her life. All the while she starts to think a little too much about her best friend Lucy's dad. She is torn she knows she shouldn’t be feeling this way, first off its Lucy’s dad and secondly his wife just past. Shea and Coach have always had a connection…football. Besides her writing it’s the one passion in life. While I won’t give it all away this is a story of hope, loss, love, finding yourself and accepting new beginnings. I love how it shows you can find love in all places, even places you never thought you could. I also enjoyed how it played out the romance and never rushed it. Sometimes real love takes its course. It’s something you can’t rush and it will play out the way it’s meant too. It’s something you can’t force and that’s what I loved about this story. Although it’s not the ideal romance it’s one that’s meant to happen, it’s one that despite all the odds against them and everyone telling them it’s a bad idea their love is bigger than it all.

The One & Only is one of those books that just about everyone can enjoy. There is romance for the ladies and then the football aspect of it for the guys. This is one that I pray makes it to the big screen. I can totally picture this as a movie and hope to see it come to life one day. The only thing that I didn’t care for? The Dallas Cowboys references. Lol! As a Houston native and a Texans fan there has always been that rivalry between the two cities but besides that this book is utterly flawless in my eyes.