Book Review: The One and Only by Emily Giffin (no spoilers)

Book: The One and Only
Author: Emily Giffin
Publication: May 20th, 2014
Source: Local Library
Read: June 2nd-11th, 2014
Summary (from Goodreads):

In her eagerly awaited new novel, beloved New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin returns with an extraordinary story of love and loyalty—and an unconventional heroine struggling to reconcile both.

 Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

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My Thoughts:

If you look on Goodreads, you would easily be able to see that there were many Emily Giffin fans disappointed in her new novel. Although this will never be my favorite Emily Giffin book, it was still a great novel. 

This was not my favorite Emily Giffin book by far. This one took me a lot longer to get into than most of her other books. Shea started out with her history with Walker football and how deeply she was ingrained into the Carr family. Lucy Carr was her best friend and Mrs. Carr basically her second mom. She admitted that she had always looked up to Coach Carr. When Mrs. Carr dies at the beginning of the novel this community comes together to put the pieces back together doing what they know best, Football. 

Football movies are always heartwarming and in some ways this book was also. Shea reminded me of some girls I know from high school that never move away from our small town. When Coach encourages Shea to take another job she is putting herself into uncharted waters for the first time in her life. She begins dating a famous quarter back, Ryan James and I found their relationship to be pretty good. I liked Ryan and he was attractive in my mind. I thought Shea may have found her place in Walker, Texas. There was always a strain between them and I loved the way Giffin slowly unfolded the clues to their relationships and Shea's feeling for somebody else. 

Emily Giffin is nothing new to relationships that go against the rules. Let's just take Something Borrowed, if you haven't read it you totally should. This book was another point of view to a relationship that shouldn't have been. As humans we are always trying to judge other people's lives. I just wanted Shea to be happy although the age gap did bother me at times. 

I don't always enjoy football books, but this one showed a community coming together, supporting each other, and spending time together through football so I found this books involvement in football to be endearing. Although Football was a big topic of the book it didn't take it over. It was mostly about Shea as she found her place in her community and in life. Coach was quite an amazing man and great role model for all the football players lives he was involved in. Coach became a great character in this book, but he was also quite complex. I liked that about him also. 

I highly recommend all of Emily Giffin's books. I think she is a great writer and I'm glad she added this book to her list of books she has written. By the end of the book I was attached to the characters and the game. I was rooting for the ending I wanted. It came in the almost an expected way, but it still felt unexpected. Most of all this book showed that finding the meaning of your life is important, best friends will do what is best for you, and love is blissful not matter the age.