One & Only

Bryeton Books

By: M.K. Chester

Narrated by: Hannah Kopen

A desperate woman meets a man on a mission.

Maggie Sturgus thought she knew the man she married. She couldn’t be more wrong. Trapped in an abusive marriage inside a prominent family, she sees no means of escape when her husband announces his candidacy for the US Senate.

Four friends enlisted after Pearl Harbor. The secret they brought home will rock their small town. Josh Parrish made a promise to protect the girl he’s always loved.

It’s high time he kept his word.

©2020 Martha K. Chester (P)2021 Martha K. Chester

Baskerville Book Reviews

I wanted to say this isn’t your typical romance novel. Most of the romance I read involves people with very little clothes on, so maybe it is. It wasn’t what I expected, nor what I’m used to.

It’s a slow burn. By slow burn, I mean if it was any slower, it would take another book or two for the plot to go anywhere. The character build up is nice, it was all very casual and I just went along for the ride. It took me a while to even realize it was historical fiction. I don’t read summaries and the various (minor) giveaways about a father marrying off his daughter seemed odd to me, but they were odd even for the time the story is set in, I’m sure.

I wish I had more to say about the story, to be honest. A whole lot of nothing happened. It was just an incredibly slow story set in post WW2 I can’t remember where. The reveals are nice, the romance is…. barely there at all. It’s just the kind of book you put on when you want to relax and enjoy a story without thinking too hard.

I can’t get behind the narration on this one. Initially, I was going to say at the very least the audio was clean and clear. Then the obnoxious background hissing began. The narrator reads every character in the same voice and often lacks any sort of emotion to suit the moment. On top of that, she always sounds like she’s in a hurry.

I listen at 2.55x speed and the natural pauses in dialogue still work. But when narrators don’t take the time to read the lines as if they were an actual conversation, it’s noticeable. They sound like they’re speed reading to get it over with.

Beautiful but too slow

Audiobook Review for One & Only by M.K. Chester

Slow burn — 50s household — military romance — domestic abuse — identical twins

The story is beautiful, but too slow and wordy for my liking.

I enjoyed the author’s voice more than the narrator’s voice. The production isn’t great either.

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ❤️❤️❤️
Writing and editing: 🖋🖋 🖋
Flow: 👍🏼
Steam: 🌶

Hannah Kopen: 🎙🎙

I received this audiobook for free through StoryOrigin and this review is voluntary. My opinions are my own.

Loved it.

Loved it, will definitely have to check out the rest in the series.
Was immediately drawn into it as the voicing for it is great, and conveys the right emotions. The era felt like the research was done, and felt fitting.
The main woman character being someone you want to root for. How can she escape an inescapable situation? Josh returning home at the right time, but at the same time much too late.

Love, loss, deceit.

I received an Audible version of this book from Story Origin. This is my voluntary review.
This book has alot of characters. I found it hard to keep track of them without the written word. However, the two main characters were wonderful and I enjoyed their story very much. Abuse. Politics. Selfishness. Post war trauma. Bullying. Cheating. Lies. Secrets. Mystery. Childhood memories and friendships.
The narrator was a little flat. I could here her mouth sounds (swallowing, etc.) and found it distracting. She read at a good pace and was easy to understand.

One & Only

There is a lot packed into this wonderful historical story. The complicated relationships and secrets kept me engaged.

M.K. Chester has written a great story. I enjoyed how everything unfolded, and was satisfied with how everything turned out.

I had some issues with the audio quality. I think Hannah Kopen did a nice job with bringing the characters and story to life, but there were quite a few places where the background noises were noticeable.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.