Finding epic love isn’t easy.
Long-distance relationships are tough. Thompson should know.
He’s going to college in Hawaii, but his girlfriend Greta is in Italy.
When he meets Charlotte things get complicated.
Is it Greta he wants to be with?
Or Charlotte?
Will he discover that, despite what he believes a person can have more than One Love?
One Love, the companion novel to One Night (2016), is a contemporary YA novel about college, first love, and friendship. Though it is technically a sequel to One Night it can be read as a standalone novel.
Review:
Earlier this year I read and, more importantly, LOVED Deanna Cabinian's debut novel One Night. Therefore, when I caught wind that Deanna was releasing a follow-up to One Night focusing on Thompson's freshman year at college, I was beyond excited! I couldn't wait to catch-up with the whole gang.
The result? There's no sophomore slump to be found here! Charming, pitch perfect, and laugh-out-loud-funny, One Love is a fantastic follow up, and - dare I say - even better than One Night.
I loved catching up with Thompson, Ronnie, Johnny, and Greta. It was like being reunited with an old friend - easy to slip right back into things.
The quality I love the most about Thompson is that he's diehard romantic. He believes in true love - no matter how much his friends tease him about it - and he'll go to any length to find it. In this book, Thompson thinks he's found his true love in Greta. There's just one problem: she's starting college in Italy while he starts college in Hawaii. Hence the introduction of a long-distance relationship.
Over the course of the book, Thompson struggles with the idea of long-distance. On one side, he loves Greta and will do anything to stay with her. However, on the other side, it's hard. He gets jealous easily (especially when Greta's pictured with new hot guy friends), the twelve hour time difference hurts more than helps, and most importantly, he wants to experience new things and new people in college without the risk of hurting Greta in the process. I thought Deanna did a great job of handling Thompson's feelings over the matter. Long-distance is hard, and it's even harder when you're in college, as Thompson finds out. What I appreciated the most here, however, is that Thompson remains very adult like in handling the situation.
As mentioned above, I also enjoyed being reunited with past characters and introduced to new ones! I loved seeing Ronnie find his first love, and better yet, I loved seeing Ronnie's friendship with Thompson continue to grow albeit a few setbacks. It was also fun to see the addition of Thompson's newspaper friends, especially Kenny and Troy!
Last but not least, Deanna's writing was great. It flowed nicely, and I liked that she included Greta's letters between chapters. Also, I thought that Deanna perfectly captured college in this novel. Seeing Thompson and Ronnie experience their first college party, their first hangover, club expos, etc. brought me right back to the start of my college days.
In all, One Love is the sequel I didn't know I needed! My only wish? I hope we'll see more of Thompson and his friends in the future as well as an answer to that jaw-dropping ending!
Grade: A
One Love is now out!
Source: eBook provided by author - thanks Deanna!
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This sounds so cute. It pained me not to say yes to reviewing this book, but sadly, I am a little behind and could not promise another review this month. Glad you liked it and I hope I get to read it in the new year.
ReplyDeleteI love that this book has a college setting, I feel like there's not enough of those! Great review!
ReplyDeleteI love it when a book completely live up to your expectations. This sounds like a really great read!
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