✱✱Book Review✱✱ Review Tour: The One by Audrey J. Cole

The One

by Audrey J. Cole

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Thriller

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To save their marriage, Sloane must forgive her husband’s affair. Instead, she tries a more tempting option—settling the score. But will it prove to be a deadly mistake?

ER doctor Sloane Marks is shattered when she learns her husband Ethan slept with his partner at Seattle Homicide. She considers leaving him and joining The One, having gone to college with the popular dating app’s billionaire founder, Brody Carr. But at forty-two, Sloane feels she has no choice but to forgive Ethan if she wants a chance at creating the family she never had.

Months later, Sloane bumps into Brody, who’s recently returned to Seattle. In due time, Ethan worries she’s cheating. His suspicions are confirmed when he learns the rich app founder took Sloane on a freediving excursion in the San Juan Islands. When Brody’s famous wife dies in an accident, Ethan becomes the lead investigator in her death—which he suspects wasn’t an accident at all.

Caught between a distrusting husband and a powerful billionaire who protects his secrets at all costs, Sloane is in a fight for her life. And the only way out is to take matters into her own hands.

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EXCERPT

“There are risks,” Brody says, “and that’s why you train and refine your technique. But some divers have gone much deeper than me. The world record for free immersion freediving, which is what I did, is one hundred and thirty-two meters.”

Sloane does a quick calculation in her head. That was over four hundred feet. It seems unfathomable.

“In free immersion, you have no propulsion equipment, and you can only pull on the rope to assist with the descent and ascent.”

Sloane feels a shiver creep down her spine at the thought of plunging to the dark depths of the ocean, aching for oxygen while enduring the crushing pressure. “I can’t see why anyone would risk their life like that. For what? Ego?”

Brody shakes his head. “Freediving isn’t about that. You do it for the dive itself. Mentally, you learn to succumb to the depths. Finding peace in the absence of all stimuli. Using the lack of light and sound to go inside yourself. The freedom of being one with the water, at a depth few people have ever reached, mastering your fears and surrendering to the darkness by allowing yourself to be carried into the deep.” He stares out the window at the water, as if forgetting she was there. “When you get to about forty meters, it feels like your natural buoyancy is reversing, and the ocean starts pulling you down. It’s a freefall that feels like you’re flying.”

Except you’re sinking, Sloane thinks.

“It’s an inner stillness that is unlike any other human experience. The only time I’ve ever felt pure joy. You let go of everything, even the urge to breathe. Your heart rate slows. Some divers have recorded a heart rate of only ten beats per minute.”

“That would induce unconsciousness.” Sloane gapes at him, and Brody laughs.

He shakes his head. “But in freediving, it doesn’t.”

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Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

Those are some seriously good twists! And I find myself with a problem - I'd like to talk about those twists and the fact that there were a couple I didn't even guess at, but what little I just said about them will have to be enough because anything else would venture into spoiler territory. I will say that there are also some things I did see coming, but with the way the story is done, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to (again, to say more would give away the book's secrets).

I feel like this one falls into the domestic thriller genre, and while I wouldn't say there's a romance, it certainly revolves around a relationship. To be honest, I didn't find any of the characters particularly likable. In fact, I wanted to give them a good shake more often than not, but that wasn't a dealbreaker for me. I don't feel like I had to like the characters to enjoy their twisted actions or their sometimes lack of decision-making skills (at least good decision-making skills).

The only drawback for me is that the story seemed to stall a bit at the beginning. It wasn't enough to make me want to stop reading, so it's not a big deal, but it is something I noticed. Other than that, the story has good flow and a steadily rising tension that held my attention all the way to the big reveal and finish.

I've somehow only read a couple of Audrey J Cole's books, which is something I need to remedy. I've enjoyed her work each time, and I look forward to reading more of it. As for The One, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good domestic thriller, and I'd say it would be a good one to read as you laze by the pool or on the beach this summer. 

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Audrey J. Cole is a USA TODAY bestselling thriller author. She resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children. Before writing full time, she worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse for eleven years.

Connect with Audrey:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AudreyJCole

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audreyjcole

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/audrey-j-cole

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@audreyjcole

Website: https://www.AUDREYJCOLE.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Audrey-J.-Cole/author/B071GFZMLT

Link to buy The One on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPPZ7N8R

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GIVEAWAY

Audrey J. Cole will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC, to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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