Monday, April 30, 2012

One Moment Review


Date to be published:  June 26, 2012

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Number of Pages:  272

Publisher: Egmont USA

First thoughts:

First off I like to mention that I really loved the cover to this book, it really captures the emotion this book has throughout its entire story…the color choice and image seemed to fit just perfect with the theme of the book. This was definitely a fast and engrossing read, the intensity of emotion that this book brought out in me literally had me on the edge. Any book that can cause serious emotion has no problem grabbing the reader’s attention and this book was no exception. I was hooked from the very first chapter….the way the author crafted this story was beautiful and heart-wrenching; this story had me reading late into the night until the very last sentence was read.

Plot:

The plot was laid out just right, the way the author chose to merge amnesia and reality really helped make the plot itself more intense and on edge. There weren’t a lot of scenes that were slow, even if there wasn’t action per se the emotion took place of it, It’s been a long time since a books been able to leave me this drained….all of the secrets and lies that had been twisted and hidden were revealed slowly throughout the storyline, I loved that the author chose to ease us into it…allow us to discover right alongside the character. There were a few surprises in this book but the major one that totally created a five color fireworks show at the end was something I had high suspicions from in the beginning. I think the author meant for us to gather the clues throughout the story and allowed us to suspect even before the character herself even thought about it….so overall I really enjoyed the fast pace of this book and I loved the emotion it was able to evoke inside me. This is definitely a great aspect to the book, it holds all the necessary elements that a book needs and it has an even deeper complexity to it.

Romance:

So the romance is a key conflict in the story though I wouldn’t say it’s your typical romance you find in all YA these days. This romance is sharper and realistic…it’s like something that you could experience and it’s definitely not love at first sight (thank goodness!!) I wouldn’t say it’s gooey or swoon worthy but it’s definitely something that I enjoyed reading…though I’m still not sure where I stand on some of the intimate relationships in the book. But overall though the romance is sharp it fits the story like a glove and is a good aspect to the story.

Characters:

So to feel the emotion you have to have a great character to make you feel them and that’s what this book did. I was able to connect with Maggie and go alongside her and experience all the turmoil and emotion she was going through due to the unraveling of her memories. There were a few things though that I felt Maggie reacted to wrong, it was like she hadn’t seen the newest problem like she should of which made her reaction seem more off and unrealistic but there weren’t a lot of those moments. As far as personality and imaging of the characters I thought they were great. I loved being able to pick apart each character and know exactly who that person is.  There were definitely a few characters that I hated even by the end…and hate’s such a strong word, but I HATE some of these characters but not because of their structure but because of their actions. So overall I enjoyed the characters and aside from a few awkward/weird reactions I thought this was a good part of the story.

Transformation of the Character:

I wouldn’t say there were any amazing transformations in this book, there wasn’t anything that made me feel a major shift in character. What I mainly felt for this book was that the character finally realized who he/she really was and that was the “transformation” not a change in personality but merely a realization of the person deep within themselves.

Description:

I loved the way the author described the scenery and the characters. She did such an amazing job on creating silent messages within the scenery. Like what they do in movies like waves represent romance and rain represents turmoil or pain this book seemed to have those same messages but in a different way. Just by a description of the scenery or the way of someone’s expression I was able to take more away from each scene; I was able to better connect with the character and the situation at hand. As far as the amount goes I didn’t feel overwhelmed or lacking, it was the perfect balance for this story. And the dialogue was realistic too, I felt that there was a lot of the emotion in the lines of the characters, just by word choice and punctuation the reader was able to take emotion from the line itself and an added bonus of the description of the character too. So overall I did enjoy the author’s description of this world and it was really consistent throughout the entire story so there weren’t any problems in this aspect.

Style:

The author’s style was good, I enjoyed how she merged present with past but I felt that it needed to be separated better, like blend the two tenses together so that it flows smoothly and the readers able to interpret the past memory with the current status…it wasn’t like that every time but I did catch now and again. As far as writing goes I enjoyed it and liked the author’s choice of words and craftsmanship of sentences, it was an overall good aspect to the story. As far as staying in one POV and first person I felt we were able to better connect with the character and keep some of the secrets hidden until just the right moment.

Quote of the book:

“I tried to hold my breath, to keep from shaking, so the ripple of my fear wouldn’t strike the person coming down the trail, so they wouldn’t know where I’d folded up and hidden myself. It didn’t work. He felt me. And he stopped.”

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Last Thoughts:

This was such a touching and emotional read, though this might not evoke the same emotions it did for me I do hope it does because that was what half the fun of it was…being able to feel to really FEEL is such a great aspect to a book for me. I would recommend this to readers of YA and realistic type situations. I really enjoyed this authors writing and can’t wait to see what else this author has in store for her readers.

My Rating:

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