Maggie remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party. She remembers climbing the trail 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.
Review:
One Moment is the bittersweet story of Maggie recovering from the loss of her boyfriend of almost two years, Joey. But Joey’s passing is made a billion times more difficult when Maggie doesn’t remember what happened and realises that Joey wasn’t entirely honest with her before he died.
I think the biggest thing One Moment has going for it is the emotional pain. I don’t know how, but the first few chapters all the way up to the middle of the book, I felt some sort of remorse and sympathy for these characters. It was like catharsis when I got to the end, really. I felt like I didn’t really get to know Maggie all that well since we see her mainly in a phase of despair and depression. However, McBride did pick up for this in that we always had flashbacks of when Joey was alive and the group was whole, really making me understand and feel even more for Maggie and the gang’s lost. However, that did not stop me from hating Joey. I didn’t really understand their “love” throughout any of it and I didn’t understand how everyone loved Joey when he never came across as someone friendly.
The biggest thing that let me down with One Moment was how predictable it was. I’m not lying when I say I had every “surprise” down within the first few chapters. Despite this, I couldn’t stop reading. I’m also not lying when I say the emotion from One Moment carried me through. Besides, I was curious as to how these “surprises” unfolded.
I also felt let down with the writing a little bit. I couldn’t help but feel it was under-described. There would be parts where someone is doing something and I couldn’t understand why because weren’t they doing something else?
I do know that One Moment was inspired from personal events based on a moment that could have changed something and I could definitely understand Maggie’s pain when she kept questioning the “what ifs”. It also made me think about it too, wondering how all the lies would have unfolded if Joey hadn’t died.
Despite my negatives, I enjoyed One Moment. While the writing and predictable plot line let me down, the emotions carried me through.
Review: 3 stars
Date Published: June 26th 2012
Publisher: Egmont USA
Source: recieved for review.
Format: ebook
Date Read: June 2012
Page Count: 272
Series/Stand Alone: stand alone.
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