Thursday, July 9, 2015

Book Review- The One Thing

I just finished reading The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal.

Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional-soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

Then Maggie's whole world is turned upside down. Somehow, incredibly, she can see again. But only one person: Ben, a precocious ten-year-old unlike anyone she's ever met.Ben's life isn't easy, but he doesn't see limits, only possibilities. After awhile, Maggie starts to realize that losing her sight doesn't have to mean losing everything she dreamed of. Even if what she's currently dreaming of is Mason Milton, the infuriatingly attractive lead singer of Maggie's new favorite band, who just happens to be Ben's brother.

But when she learns the real reason she can see Ben, Maggie must find the courage to face a once-unimaginable future...before she loses everything she has grown to love.


I've always been a sucker for books about teens with medical illnesses or difficulties so I was drawn to this book.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to what I was hoping for.

Stereotypical, yes, but if the main character is going through a rough time, I want to feel sympathy for him/her and root for the character.  In order to do that, I have to actually LIKE the character.  And I couldn't stand Maggie.  She was rude and off-putting and I didn't think her humor was funny at all. And it wasn't because of the fact that she recently became blind.  Apparently, according to her, she's always been like that.  So nope, I didn't care for her at all or really what happened to her.  

Ben.  Ben, I liked.  But I thought he wasn't believable.  Ten-year olds don't act and say the things he did.  It was off-putting.  And the fact that he and Maggie, a seventeen year old, hung out was just weird to me.  

I did get sucked in about halfway through the book and flew through the rest but it was more that I was engaged in Ben's life and and Mason's life.  And I guess some of that encompassed Maggie but I think I would have enjoyed the book much more if there had been something to like about her.  

That being said, I did like the plot.  I liked the storyline and what happened.  It tugged on my heartstrings and made me hold my breath (but again, this was about Ben).  So did I like the book?  Yeah, I guess overall, I did.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

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