For the love of GOD thank goodness I didn’t read Ruth Ware’s One by One while I was stuck on that mountain in Tennessee! For REAL. It’s insane to me that I actually had it packed in my suitcase! No words can explain how thankful I am that I chose not to open the cover until I was safely back at home and not freezing and hungry while snowed in on top of that mountain. Omg. That would NOT have been a good choice. Nope, not a good choice at all. Holy hell. Once I safely returned home with heat, food, and a working vehicle was when I decided to read and review this one. Yikes!

Synopsis of One by One {Ruth Ware}:

My Review of One by One {Ruth Ware}:
Some of the characters were very well developed while some lacked some pretty big character development and as a result…I kept confusing everyone throughout the ENTIRE book! Pair this with the fact that some of the characters had some pretty unique and possibly gender neutral names (Inigo, Ani, Tiger, etc.) and I truly had no idea who anyone was while reading. This is a MAJOR con and the number one thing that I absolutely hated about this book…I couldn’t keep anyone straight! I spent the majority of this book feeling frustrated by this and wasn’t able to properly focus on the story lines because I was too busy trying to figure out who everyone was! Ugh.
There were 2 major ongoing topics in this book that I have absolutely zero background knowledge of and as a result I had to do some Googling while reading. The inner workings of a tech company? The terminology and logistics of skiing? I truly know nothing about either and my lack of background knowledge was a definite hindrance to my understanding of this book while reading. I LOVE when books teach me new things and although I DID learn a bit about these topics, unfortunately my research is what taught me, not the words in this book. If you are like me and have zero knowledge of these 2 topics, get ready to Google.
The beginning of this book and the end of this book were undoubatly the best parts. I was honestly pretty bored throughout the middle. There were absolutely times where I debated putting it down and moving on. I’m glad I stuck with it because the end was great (BUT using words like “stuck with it” should never be used when describing a book that it supposed to be enjoyable sooooo…)
I’ve now read 4 Ruth Ware books. The Woman in Cabin 10…I don’t believe I ever reviewed this on my blog? I read it years ago. I remember really liking it, not necessarily loving it? The Turn of the Key…LOVED LOVED LOVED it! You can read my review of that book HERE. In A Dark, Dark, Wood…I read this over the summer and put it down without finishing. You can read more of my thoughts on that book HERE.
Bottom Line:
I wish the whole book could have somehow just consisted of the beginning and the ending…the entire middle was pretty boring.
Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Xo,
Jenny
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Thanks for the honest review. Good to know I can skip this one. 🙂
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You’re welcome 🙂 I don’t know that I would necessarily skip it but I wouldn’t put it at the top of my list of books to read 🙂
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I just started reading this a few days ago, so I’m still at the beginning, and now I’m a little apprehensive about the middle. Right now I’m having the hardest time keeping the alternative chapters narrated by Liz and Erin straight, so it’s not off to a particularly strong start with me, though I’m looking forward to see how it all pans out.
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Yes I usually love alternating chapters but I agree, it was hard to keep these straight. I felt like I was basically confused the entire time while I was reading this book for so many reasons, lol. Let me know your thoughts as you keep reading! I enjoyed the end but that whole middle section…ugh!
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The writing style is the same for both characters, so it blurs things quite a bit. I’m only about 60 pages in, and starting to get confused, so it might be slow going, haha. But I’d love to keep discussing this with you!
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YES!!!! Totally agree on all of that including the discussion ❤️
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Yay! Haha, it’ll probably a long drawn out discussion because my toddler keeps trying to steal my book and there’s no way I can stop in the middle of a chapter without coming back to it completely confused. I did get to the first bit of skiing, though, and can see what you mean about needing Google. I’m hoping I can get away with pretending I know what they’re talking about.
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Oh get ready to Google, lol…
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Haha, I finally gave in and did it! And, boy, had I been so off the mark about so many things… But I can see how everyone gets confused together; it’s so hard to pick out individual personalities, especially the Rik-Danny-Inigo-Carl and the Liz-Erin and the, weirdly, Ani-Inigo-Erin-Miranda-Eva.
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YES!!! 💯
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Just finished the book and feeling kind of bewildered by all of it. I can absolutely see she’s a very talented author, though, and I’ll definitely be checking out some of her other books.
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You must read The Turn of the Key next! My favorite by her!
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I’ve read so many good reviews about it that I absolutely intend to, and am very excited about it!
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