Review # 6 - 'The One Before the One' by Katy Regan

The One Before the One - Katy Regan

To Do List

Make something with Quinoa.

Do something ' cultural' every week.

Dump married boyfriend.

Thirty-two year old Caroline Steele is a woman in denial. After calling off her wedding to teenage sweetheart Martin, she should be moving on. Instead she's racked with guilt, downing her sorrows with Pinot Grigio and has developed a penchant for dressing up in her never-used wedding dress.

Add to this the fact that she is head over heels with the delectable, but unavailable Toby Delaney and it's clear her life is not going to plan.

Then her little sister Lexi comes to stay for the summer and life gets even more complicated. How is Caroline supposed to advise her on matters of the heart when she can't even come clean about her secret lover? In order to find The One, Caroline needs to deal with The Ones before...

I've been looking forward to this book ever since I've read Katy Regans first novel One Thing Led to Another , a warm and funny novel about an unexpected pregnancy. So I was very excited when The One Before the One finally arrived on my doorstep (the book, not a guy :( ) and I had to start reading it immediately. I was sucked into it from the start. I already had tears in my eyes after the prologue, I could feel the heartache and the guilt.
The actions of the main character, Caroline, would normally make me dislike her, she's dumping her fiancé and boyfriend of fourteen years right before their wedding, she's involved with a married man and she's lying to her family. But Caroline is human, she's hurting. The lists she's always writing are her desperate ways to get control over her life. She's lost and unsure of herself and also a bit naive. Caroline is warm and funny and totally likeable despite her actions.
The second character, her little sister, Lexi, makes the book interesting and keeps you reading .It's the relationship between those two, its development and the role Lexi plays that makes this book an entertaining and wonderful read. I really liked how Regan added so many layers to Lexi, and how she was nothing like she seemed to be from the start.

I really enjoyed this book, I liked to read about the emotional journey these two women made, how they changed and developed.
I wanted to read on forever, I was sad when I reached the final page. It is written beautifully, the words flow, its pace is exactly right, the emotions feel real.

4.5 stars from me!