4.5 stars. Tess and Dylan, could being so intelligent and nerdy together ever be so awesome in any other way? Dylan, who is a wonderful combination of nerdy, passionate, honest and loving can make biofuel and sustainable resources sound like poetry to Tess. Tess has an equally strong effect on him. This is one of those few books where I liked nearly each and every character, with the exception of Steven Swift, who had a few redeemable moments but was an all out loser in the big picture when it came to being Tess' father figure. Because of him, Tess has to live a life filled with lies and follow a set of rules, which puts her on a certain life path. When she is no longer dependent on him financially, she is able to pursue her own dreams, but unfortunately, the rules are still there no matter how hard she has to work to get by. I really liked Tess, she felt an obligation and loyalty to herself and family even when her dad disappointed her. At the same time, she also didn't want to be a social taboo like her parents and so much of her upbringing living in deceit drives her behavior and decisions. Regardless, she manages to be a respectable and brilliant person with a much stronger moral compass than her dad. That's not to say she didn't have significant struggles, especially when it came to Dylan, who has a girlfriend, Hannah, and Tess was even protective of Hannah for very specific reasons. Walking that fine line between truth and lies can only go so far before Tess' opportunity for happiness is ruined and she has to decide if it's worth it to expose her dad by formally breaking his rules, otherwise, she might never live the life she wants. Even when things got tough, Tess still thought about other people and took the high road, her integrity made her admirable even with the lies. By the end of the book, I still wasn't subscribing to Steven Swift's fan club but I'm so glad that Tess was able to move forward without the guilt. i felt like giving this a 2 because i wasn't a fan of the main romance (or the main dude really who i thought was just really blah) but i did think this was well-written and it invoked enough emotion in me that i felt like it deserved a 3 (or at least a 2.5 but i'm gonna round it up since goodreads still won't let me give half-stars. they really need to get on that.)had it focused less on the romance and more on perhaps tess and hannah's relationship (or lack thereof) or just tess herself even then i could've seen myself easily giving this a 4 because what we got with tess and her struggles with regards to her father and trying to not become her mother were probably the most compelling parts of the story and the scene we got with hannah and tess at the end of the novel was interesting as well. it made me think of how much i would have loved to have seen more of those two interacting instead of just having hannah constantly in the background of things.
What do You think about One & Only (2013)?
Cute, quick,skimmed a bit without missing anything.
—Cass
