This book was a sweet, simple story that had a great message: your life may be made up of moments, but it isn't defined by any one of those moments. It also deals with moving on after suffering loss, but I wasn't as excited about that part. I liked the journey Lexie and Sam took together. I appreciate that I didn't learn everything about them, as if One Thing could continue on. That was also a negative in that I never really felt invested in Lexie or in Sam. Usually in books I feel a connection in the main character, but I didn't really get that in this book. I felt more like a stranger watching the events. It was still a very good book that I would recommend. Just One Thing is a book that slowly peels the layers behind a character to expose the one thing that keeps her from moving on.At the beginning of the story, all we know is Lexie McCain, a middle-aged woman who is living alone in a cottage with a dog. She has suffered a loss of some type and we can guess what it is. But Lexie doesn't tell us much. Instead, we find out about her life through a series of "one things" that Sam Corner, the bartender at Corner's Bar asks her.Week by week, Lexie weaves her story, both in her "one thing" with Sam, and in the panels of her tapestry. We uncover her life like an archaeologist uncovers the life of a relic long dead. In the middle of the story, Lexie turns the question on Sam and we find out he also has suffered trauma in the past.Gradually, the two fall in love, although the pacing is always slow and meandering and not torrid or hot. It's as if these two mature individuals are content to let things take their time, patient enough to back off without demanding to know everything. Because both of them hide secret hurts, it works out for them.I pretty much suspected the problem at the end, so it was no big secret reveal. What kept me interested was seeing Lexie come to grips with her perceived guilt, and the family, including Sam coming together to support her. The story is about crossing over, crossing lines, and moving forward.At the end, we discover that even though Lexie told her story "one thing at a time," a person's life and legacy is not based on solely one thing they did, whether it was something at the end of their life, or something at the worst moment of their life, or even an achievement at the pinnacle of life. Instead, it is many, many things, and the totality of those things is much more than the sum of its parts.A wonderful life lesson for letting go of hurts and grief and moving forward.
What do You think about Just One Thing (2014)?
kinda thin, predictable, perfect beach read though - which is where i read it, so no regrets
—alia
hope you keep a box is tissues handy cause they will be needed!
—booklover
