Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nicholas Sebastian Lowery
Heroine: Harper Elizabeth James
Sensuality: 2.9
Date of Publication: March 29, 2011
Started On: March 7, 2011
Finished On: March 7, 2011

I have always heard very good things about Kristan Higgins. Though I have a couple of her books in my to-be-read pile which I have yet to make a dent in, which just keeps growing in monstrous proportions on me, I decided to take the plunge into her stories with this read that was up for grabs on Net Galley. I was surprised and a little bit thrilled when my request to read this which is to be released on the 29th of this month got approved. So here I go, reviewing a book that is yet to hit the markets, hoping that I do justice to what a swell and amazing read this turned out to be.

My One & Only is the story of kick-ass divorce attorney Harper Elizabeth James who lives in Martha’s Vineyard of Massachusetts. About to turn 34 years old, Harper is in the midst of proposing to her yummy and younger firefighter boyfriend of the past 2 and a half years when she receives the mother of bombshells from her stepsister Willa that she is getting hitched to Christopher Lowe, half-brother of Harper’s ex-husband Nick and that it is to happen in 2 weeks time.

Abandoned by her self-centered mother when she had been just 13 years old only to receive the shock of her life to come face to face with her father’s bombshell of an instant family, needless to say Harper suffers from severe abandonment issues which she has never really got over from.

It is on Harper’s 20th birthday that she meets her future husband Nick, the man who would own her heart for all time to come. Nick had reeled her in with his sophisticated nature, the way he could so easily see into her soul and because of his ability to cherish her and love her unlike anyone else had in her life. Skittish as Harper is, after being courted and wooed over a period of months, Harper finally takes the plunge and gets married to Nick amidst all her misgivings. It is right after they both say their I dos’ that things start going rapidly downhill.

Their divorce when it comes is a bitter one which leaves scars on both of Nick and Harper and had come after just 6 months of matrimony.Though it has been 13 years since they have laid eyes on one another, as they come together for a wedding which neither of them can avoid, old hurts and resentments flare up leaving them battered and raw after the onslaught.

It is during the road trip that these two embark upon that everything changes, bringing forth feelings Nick and Harper both harbor towards each other, feelings that they have both kept under lock and key for so long. Hurts and disappointments both have never healed from rage onto the surface, leaving them both with no other choice but to deal with them and let themselves heal after 13 long years.

My One and Only is such a beautifully done story of second chances, of the power of love and forgiveness and its ability to heal even the deepest of emotional wounds. With a rich caste of multi-dimensional secondary characters, my favorite being Harper’s stepmother BeverLee, I loved this story right from its beautiful glossy cover to each and every emotion that it pulled out of me as I read along. Thank God for the fact that today is a holiday over here and that I got in uninterrupted reading time because if not I would have done some serious harm to anyone who would have dared to interrupt my indulgence in the beautiful and soulful world that Kristan Higgins has created so evocatively in this one.

I laughed out loud so many times during the story, one of my favorites being the scene where Harper and Nick get the scare of their lives on the trails of the Glacier National Park in Montana. My heart bled the times I visited Harper and Nick’s past where they both had been so very much in love with one another, but things had not worked out as both of them had envisioned. And there came moments in which I rejoiced and cried happy tears because frankly put, Kristan Higgins pulls no punches in all the emotions that she so effectively pulls from the reader with her fabulous way with the words. Though stories told in the first person are not my favorite thing, I foresee Kristan Higgins joining the ranks of authors for whom I would make an exception because this story has definitely wormed its way into my heart and got its permanent residency application approved just as I sat down to write the review.

All in all, beautiful storytelling that each and every contemporary romance reader needs to indulge in. This one earns 5 big, fat stars from the sunny side of life and is recommended very highly to all contemporary romance lovers.

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