The One & Only

A Novel

De: Emily Giffin

Narrado por: Sofia Willingham

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved author of Something Borrowed and Where We Belong 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.

Praise for The One & Only • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY POPSUGAR

“A page turner.”—Southern Living

“The One & Only is one to read.”—Associated Press

“Giffin scores again by bringing her discerning understanding of matters of the heart.”—Family Circle

“A poignant story about growing up and growing into your own skin.”—BookPage

“Touching.”—New York Daily News

“Deep, beautifully written . . . [Emily Giffin’s] latest focuses on a forbidden love of sorts, but in a new setting: a fictional small college town in Texas.”—Marie Claire

“Each and every page of this story is entertaining. . . . Giffin is a talented writer who always comes up with a plot that is just a bit different than anything others are writing about. . . . Find a shady spot; get a cool drink, and just luxuriate in the joy of a book well written.”—The Huffington Post

“Brace yourself for a tearjerker: A tale of friendship and loyalty in a small, football-crazed Texas town shows how quickly things can change when tragedy challenges all that the characters hold dear . . . [A] page-turner.”—InStyle

“[Giffin’s] protagonists . . . live full, interesting lives outside the purely personal realm—no more so than Shea Rigsby, the funny, flawed, but sympathetic central character in the The One & Only.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“In bestseller Giffin’s much-anticipated latest, a young woman’s life is upended when tragedy strikes the football-obsessed Texas town she’s always called home.”—People

“To fill your Friday Night Lights void: A tale of die-hard love in a diehard Texas football town from the bestselling author of Something Borrowed.”—Cosmopolitan

What a Christmas Tree and a Man Have In Common...

I am so glad I took a chance on this book because I greatly enjoyed it, especially the storyline. For me, Emily Griffin's books always have interesting scenarios that start out really good. Then she can't stop herself from herself. Her chic-lit bushwah cup just flows over at times, to the point that I start skipping over the endless monotonous conversations, repetitive banter and that tiresome pondering that chic-lit protagonists routinely do. This time the author was able to rein that in, much better. There is one point, though, in this book where Shea and the love of her life are stealing themselves away. As they are moving to another room, offhandedly he mentions that he needs to tell her something later. Now in real life, that would be the end of it till later. Shea, on the other hand, spends FOREVER wondering what he might say... an INSANE GREAT LENGTH........ I think a whole chapter was devoted to her pointless wondering... It felt like she got out a yellow legal pad to number the possibilities. I was screaming out loud at Ms Griffin once again for her wasting my time. Thankfully, she pulled it together and before long had me laughing out loud, guessing at the direction she was going, and physically crying. It's rare anymore that I physically cry over a book, like I did this time.

I like where she ended this novel. I thought the author pointed the direction HER characters were going nicely, then allowed me the opportunity to wonder a scenarios of my own. I don't need to see May/November go to ugly in January.

The lives of the characters in this book revolve around football, thus this book is about football. If you do not have a general knowledge of collegiate football and the game in general, you may not enjoy this book. The other thing that will make or break this book for you is to ask yourself if you can enjoy a story about an unconventional nontraditional relationship.

I rarely am critical of the narrator, but I would be lax if I did not mention Sofia Willingham's performance. It's distractingly irksome to the point of making the listener weary. I listened to her previous work, after finishing this book, this was not her normal speech. She must think Texans speak incredibly slow and sleepily while half whispering.

Oddly Great

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A good story that pulls on all your emotions and makes you really feel what all the characters feel.

What did you like best about this story?

You don't know the story really ends, not until the last page.

What does Sofia Willingham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

You really the emotions through her story telling, more so than when you read the book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A love that grew only because a tragedy happened.

Football abs Romance; what more can you ask for

This was a well written book. I loved the pace and tone of it. If you like football as well, as a sappy romance this is a must read.

Excellent

Highly recommend. My favorite Emily Giffin book yet. The narrator also did a fabulous job.

Not her best work

Too much football talk. Especially college football. Ugh. Additionally, rape in college is a big deal considering 1 in 4 women are raped. Could've used the book to emphasize that platform for young women.