Mary Flinn
Aviva Publishing (2010)
ISBN 9781935586142
Reviewed by Theresa La (age 16) for Reader Views (1/11)
In almost all the fairytales of our childhood, the story always ends in true love; the girl finds her prince charming, marries him and lives happily ever after. This novel is a modern version of the fairytales of our childhood, however it is more grown-up, the storyline is mature and developed, and this story is about much more than just the classical story of true love and happily ever after. This story is about growing up, maturing, dealing with grief and pain, and about trusting in yourself and chasing your dreams. The two main characters are Chelsea Davenport and Kyle Davis, who live near the Appalachians.
This story starts with the engagement party of Chelsea’s older sister, Charley, which is when Chelsea and Kyle first meet each other again after a long period of separation. Kyle has suffered through a lot of grief and pain, with the recent death of his sister and the suicide of his father. He attends a prestige preparatory school and is a star football player. Chelsea, on the other hand, is the average seventeen-year-old high school girl who is about to embark on her senior year of high school. However, Chelsea is an accomplished dancer. At the engagement party, sparks fly when they see each other and as they begin to catch up on each other’s lives. They quickly become a couple, although, Chelsea is a bit reluctant to admit their relationship at first. As their senior year progresses, they must deal with the stress of senior year, but also with the jealously of the head cheerleader, an incident at a birthday party involving the police, death in the family, and the revelation of a dark past. The story ends when they graduate and each goes their separate way; although, their relationship still survives the first three years of college. Included in the novel, is an epilogue, taking place six years after their high school graduation.
“The One” by Mary Flinn was a wonderful and an amazing read. I was grateful for the sexual restraint of both characters in this story, even though it was a story about love. The choice of the lyrics that were included in this novel were very well chosen as they matched very well with what was occurring at the time in the story. This story was perfect in the sense that it was very realistic and did not perfect the life of the main characters. I greatly enjoyed reading about the trials that faced Chelsea and Kyle because those trials made the story relatable and made the story very realistic.
The cover picture is also appropriate to the story, because it is what Chelsea and Kyle often do and is also very beautiful, like the setting of the story. The secondary characters also added to the storyline very well; it would be very interesting, and possibly add to the story, if there was more about the secondary characters. Overall, this story was the perfect combination: true love, heartbreak, grief, birth, and happiness. I would recommend “The One” to anyone who is looking for a book to read that has thought-provoking incidents but is not too heavy or too deep.
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