Ripe For Reader: ONE TO LOVE by Tia Louise

ONE TO LOVE

(One To Hold #4)

by Tia Louise

ARC Review

Release: October 9th, 2014

My rating: 5 of 5 ⭐️

Kenny has made mistakes. Some she regrets to this day and can never make right. Some she is working hard to rectify and some she has come to see as blessings.

Determined to keep herself on the straight and narrow, Kenny tries to stay away from any and all temptation. Like the gorgeous new guy who just started working at the gym.

Slayde once had it all. A successful career, 'friends', money, women and an attitude. And then he lost it all. With one well-placed punch. No more friends, money, career and the attitude disappeared as well.

He has no time for women. Certainly not the pretty one who works at the gym. She takes his breath away, but he has nothing left to offer.

*****

I have adored Tia Louise's writing since the first book in this series. Written with such incredible insight in the human psyche, with such empathy, revealing not only a great deal about the characters, but equally as much about the woman creating them. Intelligent, warmhearted, understanding, non-judgemental and kind.

Her characters are humanely flawed, as is certainly the case with Kenny and Slayde. Two people who have definitely made their share of mistakes and if we were to meet them at a different point in their lives, we probably wouldn't like them much. And that is what makes this a beautiful story. Tia is taking a huge risk in putting so much faith in her readers. Trusting that we are open-minded enough, and empathetic enough to know that EVERYONE deserves to have a chance at doing better… at righting wrongs. There is no greater forgiveness than the one asked of Kenny.

The recognition that a person can make mistakes so terribly damaging to not only the victims but themselves as well. The realization that we all, at some point in time, have been perpetrators of some smaller or larger 'mistakes' that have hurt or cost others and in return have hurt or cost us. The awareness that we, in good conscience, can hardly sit in judgement of others, when our slates are far from clean.

There is always a chance for redemption, always an opportunity for rectification. Even if you cannot change what is done, you can make sure it makes a positive impact on what is to come.

Kenny made a choice not to let an event from the past, which no one had any control over any longer, dictate her future. It was not an easy decision, but it was a conscientious one.

The character growth in this novel is out of this world. The transition beautiful and painful at the same time. Both Slayde and Kenny were characters that really tugged on my heartstrings, because I saw a lot of myself in them in all honesty, and was rooting hard for their ultimate happiness. Something everyone deserves.

There is a quote from Oscar Wilde that comes to mind: "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." And that is the way it is and should be.

✨A tentative, combustible and ultimately gracious love story.✨

**Copy provided in return for an honest review**