One Moment Review

TITLE One Moment
AUTHOR Kristina McBride
PUBLICATION June 26, 2012 by EgmontUSA
READ May 15 - 16, 2012
BUY IT Amazon / The Book Depository

This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie’s life. Now it’s the one she’d do anything to forget.

Maggie Reynolds remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party the night before. She remembers climbing the trail hand in hand with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can’t she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below—dead?

As Maggie’s memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?

The latest novel from the author of The Tension of Opposites, One Moment is a mysterious, searing look at how an instant can change everything you believe about the world around you.

A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

One Moment is the story of a tight knit group of friends.  It focuses on Maggie Reynolds as she copes with the sudden tragic loss of her boyfriend Joey and attempts to piece together what happened on that tragic day and find out who Joey really was.  It was a quick read that is written in a rather fast paced way.  I will say that I had the series of events accurately mapped out in my mind from about the 3rd chapter but I was fully engrossed in the story the whole way.

The life-long friendship that these characters have at first appears to be the type of friendship that everyone longs for. They know each other so well and spend epic nights together having a great time.  As the story wears on it becomes quite apparent that there are some deep dark secrets within the group that will forever change their lives.  Maggie Reynolds serves as our MC and experiencing the series of events through her was almost heartbreaking.  Not only does she suffer a great loss when Joey dies, she is then faced with his deceptions without him there to answer for them.  At times I did find her constant "Joey this", "Joey that" quite tiring and bordering annoying but I understand that she was a young woman who suffered a great loss. I don't want to talk too much about the relationships between the characters because that can give away some key points of the story.

There is a great metaphor within these pages of how a person is made up of little pieces just like a patchwork quilt.  Some pieces are what we love about them and some pieces are the ugliness and imperfections.  When you look at it all together from far away, it's all so beautiful, but when you start dissecting it and looking at each piece on it's own you see the person for who they really are.  I enjoyed that part of the story, and I feel it's a very beautiful metaphor and a way that I had not looked at it before.

If you are looking for a good, quick contemporary read that is touching and heavy on the emotion One Moment is for you.  It's a well written story that although is quite predictable sucks you in from page one. This is a story of love, loss, and changes that we don't see coming.