Book: The One That Got Away

Author: Leigh Himes

Genre: Chick Lit, Adult Fiction

Publisher: Hatchette Books

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

In this irresistible debut novel, a freak accident allows a wife and mother to explore the alluring road not taken.

Meet Abbey Lahey . . .

Overworked mom. Underappreciated publicist. Frazzled wife of an out-of-work landscaper. A woman desperately in need of a vacation from life–and who is about to get one, thanks to an unexpected tumble down a Nordstrom escalator.

Meet Abbey van Holt . . .

The woman whose life Abbey suddenly finds herself inhabiting when she wakes up. Married to handsome congressional candidate Alex van Holt. Living in a lavish penthouse. Wearing ball gowns and being feted by the crème of Philadelphia society. Luxuriating in the kind of fourteen-karat lifestyle she’s only read about in the pages of Town & Country.

The woman Abbey might have been . . . if she had said yes to a date with Alex van Holt all those years ago.

In the tradition of the romantic comedy Sliding Doors and Lionel Shriver’s The Post-Birthday World, Leigh Himes’s irresistible debut novel tells the funny and touching story of an ordinary woman offered an extraordinary opportunity to reboot her life, explore the road not taken, and ultimately, find her true self–whoever that may be.

Review:

This was such a cute book. I love stories about how you don’t really realize what a good thing you have until you don’t have it anymore.

Abbey thinks that her life has gone downhill. She wonders how her life would have been different if she had said yes to a date with a handsome man from a wealthy family. She probably wouldn’t have to break her back to put food on the table for her family, and she probably wouldn’t have to stress about whether or not her and her husband will make their mortgage payment that month. But when she gets the opportunity to see what her life would really be like if she had said yes, she realizes it is not all it is cracked up to be. Sometimes money can be blinding, and can take away from what truly matters in life: family.

Abbey was an interesting character. She is a hard worker and a good mother who loves her kids unconditionally. She is just tired. We all reach that point where we cannot take the stress of our everyday lives. Abbey develops well in this book. I kinda wish there had been more character development in the beginning, as I felt like it took me about half the book to get connected with this character. She seems to accept her new life a little too quickly, but then again, this is a work of fiction, and it doesn’t have to live up to what could really happen in this situation. By the end of the novel, Abbey had learned a lot about herself, and her character was fully developed.

This is a nice story about a woman who learns a lot about what she wants in life. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a cute chick lit novel, that is a nice easy read with a good life message as well. Great book!

Happy Reading!