He Said/She Said (a husband and wife book review) The One by John Marrs

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Series: None
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: 3/1/2018
Pages: 416

Born out of social distancing and the desire to try something new, I am bringing you a new post today. My husband loves to read just as much as I do, the only difference is that we like very different genres. I thought it would be fun for us to try something new, I am calling it He Said/She Said. Every month my husband and I will read a book and review it together in one post.

Before we get to our first book review here is a little background about our reading tastes. For the most part I enjoy mysteries, thrillers, suspense, crime fiction, and historical fiction. My husband, for the most part, enjoys nonfiction. Such as books about sports, math, business, and he has even spent the last three years making his way through the American presidents. So as you can see we have very different tastes in books, which I think may lend to very interesting book reviews.

Each month we will take turns choosing a book to read. I kicked it off with The One by John Marrs.

**Warning – this review will contain spoilers.**

He Said/She Said…

1. What was your initial impression of the 5 main characters?

Me:

I find Mandy annoying! I think it is silly to keep her match a secret from her family.

Christopher is fascinating, dark, and creepy!

Jade seems immature, but I felt bad for her that she was deceived by her match.

I really feel for Nick. He didn’t want to take the test in the first place and now he is torn between two people.

Ellie is a bore! I am finding her storyline very dull.

Hubby:

I was drawn to Christopher and Nick – I suppose it was because I wanted them to develop in a certain way. I wanted Christopher to find love and give up his “hobby” and I wanted Nick to resist the temptation to use the service at all.

I was ambivalent about Mandy and Jade. I did feel sympathy for Mandy, and I thought that Jade would be a predictable character.

I’m not sure why, but I felt a strong bias against Ellie – maybe she was too aloof and disconnected.

2. Did your initial impression of the 5 main characters change as the story progressed?

Me:

I continued to find Mandy’s storyline a bit odd, but I warmed up to her a bit more as the story went on.

I loved Christopher from the get-go and couldn’t wait to see what would happen, but as the story developed his storyline dragged a bit for me and I was less intrigued.

Jade really grew up before my eyes. I was pulling for a happy ending for her in the end.

My heart continued to go out to Nick throughout the story. Does he follow his heart or his head? It is an extremely difficult decision.

Ellie was a surprise for me. Once I found out she has a secret, she became much more intriguing. I loved that she found love and let her family back into her life. That is until it all came crashing down…yikes!

Hubby:

Christopher remained my favorite character, I liked the arc of his story as he started to not enjoy his crimes and fell deeper for his match.

I became hot and cold about Nick – disappointed that he went along with finding out who he was matched with, yet happy that he did not let his orientation stop him from following up on these new feelings.

I continued to feel sympathy for Mandy, her wounds from the past set her up to be a victim.

I gained admiration for Jade and her strength, and felt bad for the spot she was in – torn between her feelings (or lack of feelings) and her “Match” who was dying.

My feelings for Ellie changed the most throughout the book. I was happy that she started to soften up and find love in her heart. Then I was upset that she was taken advantage of. Then I went back to my original feelings against her as she reverted back to “tycoon mode”. Exhausting!

3. What storyline were you most drawn to?

Me:

I was initially most drawn to Christopher’s story. I cannot resist a good thriller! I couldn’t wait see what would happen when his match found out about his secret obsession! To my surprise I became a bit bored with Christopher and found myself most drawn to Ellie and her beau. Once her secret was revealed she became much more interesting and softened quite a bit. All thanks to her match.

Hubby:

For me, it was Christopher’s. I was hoping for redemption for him, to stop killing because of true love. I thought that his Match would find a way to stop him. She did, just not in the way I expected.

4. What storyline were you least drawn to?

Me:

I was the least drawn to Mandy’s storyline. Her storyline took some weird twists and turns that I did not see coming, but I still could not get past the way she took off on her own and cut her family completely out. It seemed awfully extreme and unnecessary.

Hubby:

Probably Mandy’s. Twist after twist after twist just couldn’t seem to move her up my list. Don’t get me wrong, it was still interesting. It just fell short of the others for me. Maybe that’s the beauty of having 5 storylines – they don’t ALL have to be riveting. And I’m sure that some readers will find her storyline the most compelling.

5. What are your thoughts on finding your perfect match through DNA?

Me:

The concept is interesting, but when all is said and done, I am not a fan. There is so much more to finding your perfect match that gets overlooked when you are strictly focusing on DNA. I prefer the old fashion way of meeting the love of your life. Whether it is someone you meet at work, a blind date, or like how I met my husband – at a wedding 🙂

Hubby:

I do believe that some couples are perfectly matched, and I’m sure lots of people would jump at the chance to meet someone who was promised to be perfect for them. But I am in a great relationship and I would never have taken that test. I don’t need confirmation from science to tell me that things are good.

6. What did you think of the ending?

Me:

I thought the way most of the stories wrapped up was pretty good.

I enjoyed the way Nick’s storyline wrapped up. There were a couple of unexpected moments and I love that while he made decisions using his head, in the end he was able to open up his heart and be with his true love.

Jade got her happy ending, what is not to love about that! She also grew up quite a bit which I was thrilled to see.

Christopher’s story was good and unexpected! I think that because his storyline got drawn out a bit in the middle I was never able to completely recover my love for the character. I was left wanting a bit more when all was said and done.

Mandy’s story was a bit intense at the very end and I was thrilled to see her wake up and see the light!

Last, but not least Ellie’s was definitely the most intriguing and with quite the dramatic ending. The cliffhanger at the very end was fun and keeps us guessing what her final fate was.

Hubby:

The 5 endings were varied for me.

I enjoyed Christopher’s ending the most. Would his Match save him and give him another chance? Nope! Problem solved.

I was happy for Jade and like how her storyline ended. I don’t need to know whether it worked out for the two of them, just that they were going to give it a shot.

Nick’s storyline fell into place nicely, almost too nicely. Not surprised that he would step up for the new baby, or that he would try to create a loving family for that baby with his Match.

Still feel sympathy for Mandy. Some of the twists along the way were a little crazy. I do feel hopeful for her moving forward.

A little disappointed that Ellie was able to move on with her life with little consequences for the murder. I do feel she shouldn’t be held to blame for relationships that disintegrated because of the test. I wish that she kept the same soft personality that she had when she fell in love.

7. Final thoughts…

Me:

I loved the format of this book! The chapters were short and more often than not they ended with very intriguing cliffhangers. It was about five different characters and their matches. That may seem like a lot of characters to keep track of, but it was written with the characters in the same order throughout so you always knew who to expect in the next chapter.

Early on in this book I was looking forward to seeing how all these characters’ lives would collide. I was surprised that the only association between all of them was that they all used the Match Your DNA test to find their perfect match and that was it. This book is currently being adapted into a Netflix series. I look forward to seeing it come to life and hope it will be a successful adaptation!

My husband and I did not talk about the book while reading it. We wanted our thoughts to be organic and our own. So one day when he walked into the bathroom and asked me where we kept the cheese wire I had to laugh.

Hubby:

I enjoyed the book. It was an easy read and a page turner. The short chapters that focused on one storyline at a time motivated me to keep reading. I typically read nonfiction, so this was a nice change of pace for me and I would definitely recommend it.

Looking forward to seeing this on Netflix. If only there was a blog to let me know when books will show up on TV or in the movies …

That was quite a long post, if you are still with me thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed our first He Said/She Said. Next month is hubbies pick – I cannot hardly wait to find out what we will be reading!

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