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ChilisWife
God Bless America
Member since 5/05 3571 total posts
Name:
A.K.
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Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Just finished it and I feel like it was different from her other books. I read it in a couple of days and couldn't put it down but at the same time I'm really not sure that I liked it.
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Posted 5/28/14 11:20 PM  |
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APT910
Let It Be
Member since 2/11 5021 total posts
Name:
Ashley
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
I'm only half way through - Memorial Day Weekend and work have taken over my life this week! Hopefully I will be ready to discuss by Monday. 
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| Posted 5/29/14 10:08 AM |
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adn16
LIF Adult
Member since 5/10 917 total posts
Name:
A
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
I'm in the middle of this right now and it's just... eh. I loved her other books. This one is definitely different. It's not BAD...but it's not amazing either. So far at least!
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| Posted 5/31/14 9:06 AM |
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APT910
Let It Be
Member since 2/11 5021 total posts
Name:
Ashley
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by ChilisWife
Just finished it and I feel like it was different from her other books. I read it in a couple of days and couldn't put it down but at the same time I'm really not sure that I liked it.
OK I'm ready to discuss now!
I have to say, I've read all of her books and loved them, but I didn't LOVE this one. I enjoyed the story line, and she definitely kept my interest, but the whole Shea/Coach relationship sort of creeped me out. It seemed borderline incestual to me.
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| Posted 6/7/14 8:43 AM |
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ChilisWife
God Bless America
Member since 5/05 3571 total posts
Name:
A.K.
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
SPOILER ALERT
Yes, I felt the same way. I loved all her other books but the whole time I was reading this, I was like..."she is NOT going to make them get together, she just can't" and then she did. It was fairly gross to me.
Plus, I didn't find Shea particularly likeable - she was sneaking around and lying on the one hand and then got SO indignant and horrified when the coach told her about what happened years ago - as if she were a saint herself.
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| Posted 6/7/14 1:30 PM |
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adn16
LIF Adult
Member since 5/10 917 total posts
Name:
A
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
I found the relationship so gross honestly lol. I couldn't get behind them as a couple. Wasn't a fan of Shea either.. I agree, she wasn't very likeable. Def not her best book.
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| Posted 6/8/14 5:12 PM |
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JME78
LIF Adult
Member since 11/09 3672 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
I actually really liked it.
I LOVE football, so that might be part of it, and I liked that they focused on a non-traditional love story. It was different!
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| Posted 6/8/14 7:53 PM |
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APT910
Let It Be
Member since 2/11 5021 total posts
Name:
Ashley
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by JME78
I actually really liked it.
I LOVE football, so that might be part of it, and I liked that they focused on a non-traditional love story. It was different!
I really liked the football aspect of the story, too! Maybe I could have liked the Shea and Coach love story if he wasn't her best friend's dad! The fact that he helped to raise this girl and was a prominent father figure in her life made it seem like he was family to her. It totally weirded me out, I just couldn't get behind it.
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| Posted 6/9/14 10:55 AM |
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MaeDe
LIF Adult
Member since 4/11 1169 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
This is disappointing  I was looking forward to reading this .
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| Posted 6/13/14 12:37 PM |
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dianadrw
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 2092 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by MaeDe
This is disappointing I was looking forward to reading this .
Read it and decide for yourself. I read it and really liked it. I don't think it was her best book but definitely good. And I like that it was a non-traditional love story.
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| Posted 6/13/14 1:40 PM |
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APT910
Let It Be
Member since 2/11 5021 total posts
Name:
Ashley
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by dianadrw
Posted by MaeDe
This is disappointing I was looking forward to reading this .
Read it and decide for yourself. I read it and really liked it. I don't think it was her best book but definitely good. And I like that it was a non-traditional love story.
ITA. Definitely still read it. There are plenty of books that I've liked and others have hated. I didn't hate this book, I just didn't LOVE it.
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| Posted 6/13/14 7:40 PM |
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Pumpkin
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 3353 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
It was not bad. I read it in one day. I knew right from the beginning where she was going with it. There was no suspense or twist. I pictured Coach as Christopher Meloni and made it easier to think of a relationship with Shea and Coach. I hope she makes a sequel to this book. Not terrible though just different then the rest.
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| Posted 6/13/14 9:11 PM |
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bunnyluck
LIF Adult
Member since 1/14 3196 total posts
Name:
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Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book
Definitely my least favorite of her collection. I thought it was predictable and just weird. Also, I didn't find any of the characters all that likable. I wasn't really routing for any of them. I don't think EG did as great as a job in the character development in this book as she had in past novels. Overall I didn't hate the book but I didn't really like it either.
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| Posted 6/17/14 7:30 PM |
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by bunnyluck
Definitely my least favorite of her collection. I thought it was predictable and just weird. Also, I didn't find any of the characters all that likable. I wasn't really routing for any of them. I don't think EG did as great as a job in the character development in this book as she had in past novels. Overall I didn't hate the book but I didn't really like it either.
I agree about the character development. I didn't DISLIKE the book, but I didn't connect with it that much. I just didn't feel that invested in the characters. When I read "Where We Belong" last year, I didn't think I would care for it as much as her other books, but I found it really engrossing and felt so emotionally involved.
With "The One and Only," I feel like a lot of the characters were caricatures/stereotypes, and not the layered, multi-dimensional characters that EG usually writes.
ETA - SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
I also think EG took the easy way out in a few places to make the plot more palatable...like the fact that the football star boyfriend is violent/abusive. It makes "Coach" the more palatable choice. And the physical aspect of the relationship between Shea and Coach never really takes off, and I think she wrote it that way to make it less controversial. I wasn't really grossed out at all by their relationship, though. Shea was 35 years old and "Coach" was in his late 50s. It wasn't really off-putting to me. I was hoping they'd get together in the end.
I know EG needed to make Coach less perfect in Shea's eyes to make their relationship more real and less about the hero worship, but she still had to make Coach likeable and ethical and all of that, so there was that convoluted story about the college girl the football guy (Ryan?) had dated. But I felt like she was really walking the line of wanting Coach to have made a mistake in the past, but not making that mistake TOO bad or making him too unlikeable. I don't think that plot device of the old rape allegations worked that well.
I also had issues with the pacing of the book. It was slow to unfold in the beginning, as Shea slowly realizes she has feelings for Coach. But then the last third of the book seemed to go by quickly and it was all tidily wrapped up in the end. I wanted to know more about Lucy and Shea's relationship at that point. Why did Lucy change her mind about the relationship? It seems the front part of the book was almost a little too slow at times while the last part ended to quickly and maybe could have been fleshed out a bit.
Message edited 6/19/2014 10:33:22 PM.
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| Posted 6/19/14 10:32 PM |
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ChilisWife
God Bless America
Member since 5/05 3571 total posts
Name:
A.K.
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Totally agree, Christine Braun - good points.
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| Posted 6/20/14 8:24 PM |
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Irishlass
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 2961 total posts
Name:
Lisa
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by Century 21 Dallow - Christine Braun
Posted by bunnyluck
Definitely my least favorite of her collection. I thought it was predictable and just weird. Also, I didn't find any of the characters all that likable. I wasn't really routing for any of them. I don't think EG did as great as a job in the character development in this book as she had in past novels. Overall I didn't hate the book but I didn't really like it either.
I agree about the character development. I didn't DISLIKE the book, but I didn't connect with it that much. I just didn't feel that invested in the characters. When I read "Where We Belong" last year, I didn't think I would care for it as much as her other books, but I found it really engrossing and felt so emotionally involved.
With "The One and Only," I feel like a lot of the characters were caricatures/stereotypes, and not the layered, multi-dimensional characters that EG usually writes.
ETA - SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
I also think EG took the easy way out in a few places to make the plot more palatable...like the fact that the football star boyfriend is violent/abusive. It makes "Coach" the more palatable choice. And the physical aspect of the relationship between Shea and Coach never really takes off, and I think she wrote it that way to make it less controversial. I wasn't really grossed out at all by their relationship, though. Shea was 35 years old and "Coach" was in his late 50s. It wasn't really off-putting to me. I was hoping they'd get together in the end.
I know EG needed to make Coach less perfect in Shea's eyes to make their relationship more real and less about the hero worship, but she still had to make Coach likeable and ethical and all of that, so there was that convoluted story about the college girl the football guy (Ryan?) had dated. But I felt like she was really walking the line of wanting Coach to have made a mistake in the past, but not making that mistake TOO bad or making him too unlikeable. I don't think that plot device of the old rape allegations worked that well.
I also had issues with the pacing of the book. It was slow to unfold in the beginning, as Shea slowly realizes she has feelings for Coach. But then the last third of the book seemed to go by quickly and it was all tidily wrapped up in the end. I wanted to know more about Lucy and Shea's relationship at that point. Why did Lucy change her mind about the relationship? It seems the front part of the book was almost a little too slow at times while the last part ended to quickly and maybe could have been fleshed out a bit.
I just finished reading this book and I agree with all the points above. I'm glad they got together in the end. I'm sucker for happy endings especially when I'm pms'ing. I would have liked about chapter or 2 going into the reasons Lucy changed her mind etc.
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| Posted 6/26/14 7:51 PM |
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Leb
LIF Adult
Member since 12/09 4166 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by ChilisWife
Totally agree, Christine Braun - good points.
I agree too!
I just finished this book. I was on a library wait list and didn't want to wait so I bought it. I wish I didn't.
The first half of this book was sooooo boring with all the football facts. I fell asleep every time I tried to read it. Literally from the first chapter when he was described as so good looking I figured out what was going to happen.
Also did anyone else feel like Lucy was the same person as Margot in love the one you're with? Reminded me so much of her. Everyone in this book seemed so one dimensional and loser ish. Like Miller who was lame. And Astrid and bronwyn were like cartoon characters. You never feel like you really "know" anyone, not like her other books especially the ones with detailed flashbacks. I am pretty surprised about this one.
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| Posted 7/6/14 9:28 PM |
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MrsBumbleb
it's me
Member since 5/05 11234 total posts
Name:
Christine
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Re: Anyone ready to discuss Emily Giffin's new book "The One and Only?"
Posted by APT910
Posted by ChilisWife
Just finished it and I feel like it was different from her other books. I read it in a couple of days and couldn't put it down but at the same time I'm really not sure that I liked it.
OK I'm ready to discuss now!
I have to say, I've read all of her books and loved them, but I didn't LOVE this one. I enjoyed the story line, and she definitely kept my interest, but the whole Shea/Coach relationship sort of creeped me out. It seemed borderline incestual to me.
agreed, every time CCC called her "girl" it creeped me out
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| Posted 10/19/14 6:43 AM |
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