Again I am late to thr table with this review but here it is in 2024

This is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, I was slightly wary as I love Jane Austen, but loved this cute and to be honest loosely based version.

Reading this on a cold frosty day and having no work to go to, I was transported away from everything

Ten years ago, Ruby and Ethan were madly in love. Now, not so much. Not having seen each other in years, Ruby and Ethan are thrown together for Ruby's sister's wedding in England. Ethan has definitely changed over the years and has gone from a bartender to a millionaire Ruby tries to convince herself that she loves her life in New York, but spending time in England has made her think.

Recommended read

A light hearted updated version of persuasion which is one of my g=favourite books of all time, did it live up to it, not really but I enjoyed the romance and the characters

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

I did enjoy this book I could really have done without the "Then" chapters, personally, I don't think they added anything and towards the end, I just skipped them because id rather read the "Now" chapters. For all I know, I missed something important but I just found them a slog to read through.

A lovely story of love both past and present. The story is well written and has lots of likeable characters. Cleverly set in both the present and the past the story is told through the main characters Ruby and Ethan. I would love to read a sequel as I think the story finished a little too early for me. I’d have liked to have read an epilogue of a few years later to see what the future held for the characters. I also think it would make a great TV movie and would deliver all the warm and fuzzy feels that us chick lit lovers love so much.

I would highly recommend this book to those who love romantic, easy to read stories.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

This is a great book!!

A modern day re-telling of Jane Austen's famous Persuasion, I love this concept of taking a hugely loved book and giving it a new lease of life and I think that Melissa Pimental has done a fantastic job. It has the essence of the original but with the modern day feel, which is fun and romantic.

This is a charming, easy to read story that will capture the readers attention and have them turning the page as fast as they can read.

This is a lovely book to cosy up with and just dream along with it. It certainly made me think back in time at my own past loves with a sigh! Ruby and Ethan were the perfect couple until Ruby decided that there was something greener over the hill, so off she went to the big city and left Ethan behind. Now a successful career woman and still single, she is taking time off and heading to her little sister's wedding in Edinburgh, where the very eligible Ethan is best man.
I must admit that I did get a little flutter because you know what the outcome will be but it is the getting there that makes it a cracking story. The ups and downs and misunderstandings along the way. I loved that it didn't all just centre round the two prime characters but included so many other people too. As Ruby's real feelings resurface she has to keep them hidden from an Ethan that seems to have moved on in life without her, especially after eaves dropping in on a conversation.
There are some lovely chapters that made me smile where this invasion of American friends and family of the wedding party and the Scottish residents try to make sense of each other. It really is Ruby to the rescue as far as the wedding goes with what and who really matters in a family the most making it an emotional winner.
The story goes from present day back to when they were a couple and how Ruby begins to understand why she made the choices that she did. The story flows nicely, it doesn't grip you, it envelops you and left me with lots of what ifs to think about. I originally got this book through NetGalley.

A light-hearted romantic read. Well written with realistic situations. Very enjoyable. Great characters.

This is (apparently) a modern-day retelling of Austen's Persuasion, but I didn't know that when I started reading it - and I wasn't familiar enough with the source material (or it wasn't obvious enough) so I didn't spot that at all. I didn't love Ruby - she's quite hard and abrasive - and that makes it hard to get on board with sympathising with her. I liked Ethan, but I didn't think you really got enough of him for it to make sense why he still liked Ruby and vice versa. And the supporting characters didn't have a lot of sympathetic figures in them either. So, really, not quite what I was hoping it would be, but not actively bad either.

This was a great chic lit although perhaps a little light on the romance.
Ethan is best man for his best friend and Ruby is bridesmaid for her sister. Ethan and Ruby haven't seen each other for ten years, not since their break up due to Ruby moving to New York. The book hasn't got chapters just "then" and "now" which I liked because you were getting the current story and what really happened ten years ago. There were a few laughs along the way and it only took me a couple of days to read due to it being an easy read.
This is Melissa's second novel, I haven't read the first but will look out for her in the future as although this is not my typical read it was very enjoyable.
I would like to thank netgalley and penguin random house for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Very good. Enjoyed it start to finish. Characters and story well developed.

Thank you for approving this, unfortunately this book wasn't for me as I struggled with the first person switching to the third person.

This is quite a good modern, romantic novel. It's the story of Ruby and Ethan meeting again, after their relationship ended ten years ago. Ruby's younger sister is marrying Ethan's best friend, which means they will see each other a lot. The book goes into the past and we read about when Ruby and Ethan, were a couple, and tells why they split up. Can they get along? Read on!

Ethan Bailey is best man at his childhood best friend's wedding, and Ruby Atlas is bridesmaid to her younger sister - same wedding. It's obvious from the start that there has been history with Ethan and Ruby, and the book is nicely segmented into 'then' and 'now' allowing the story of their relationship to slowly unfold.

I really enjoyed this novel, plenty of content, great characters, some twists added in and more than a few surprises. A very readable book, easy to get into and plenty to keep your mind ticking over when you put the book aside. Definitely an author I would read again in the future.

I received an arc copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

this is most definitely one of those books that sucks you right in from the word go. I knew as soon as I read abut Ruby and trying to finish up everything she had to at work so that she could get away for a couple of days to the UK for her sister's wedding that I was going to enjoy spending time with her. The whole book starts in this whirlwind way and then we get to know more about Ruby and her 'one that got away' via various flashbacks to her life as it was when she embarked upon this career which is keeping her so busy and what life was like when she moved to New York ten years ago. I really liked this structure and it was helpful in putting THEN and NOW between the flashbacks. Sometimes chapter started with email communication, something which is always fun to read and sometimes we were just thrust right into the action.

I found myself really identifying with Ruby as a character, and not just because she is the same age as me, but also because she is doing what so many of us are doing right now, working ourselves silly because we are in our dream job in our dream city. I also like the fact that she has this front that she puts on, partly due to that one that got away, and slowly, we start to see her letting more and more into her life. I was really rooting for her and really liked the development that she had achieved by the closing stages of the book.

There are, of course, some wonderful supporting characters too. I loved Ruby's BFF Jess, she was a real grounding influence, and again someone we will all be able to identify with. I also really liked the strong family values that run throughout the book. Of course, there being a wedding, family are going to be heavily involved, but I liked that way that the family unit developed as the book progressed.

Of course I loved the setting. We switch between New York, Massachusetts and the North East of England, all places I cold picture well and the feeling of all the places featured was described very well and jumped off the pages and into my reading experience. A few of the phrases that Ruby used with her friends and family got a little repetitive but they kind of became her trademark so I came to overlook them. This book definitely had me on an emotional roller coaster, especially towards the end. I liked the settings, I loved the structure and I thoroughly enjoyed embarking on the journey of discovery with Ruby and the rest of the characters in this novel. Definitely one to add to your TBR this spring!

Ruby and Ethan have a whirlwind romantic summer but then Ruby moves to New York to start a new job in marketing. They try to do the long distance relationship but circumstances go against them and they split up. During their summer of love though, Ruby's sister, Piper, meets Ethan's best friend, Charlie, and their relationship takes a different path and ten years later they are tying the knot. With both Ruby and Ethan being important people at the ceremony they are both forced together at the wedding which is taking place in the UK. How will Ruby cope with seeing Ethan for the first time in ten years? Is she really over him or will he always be "the one that got away"?
I understand that the narrative of this story follows that of Austin's Persuasion and has been compared to this and other books of the same ilk. To me however, this story is new and so I read and am reviewing it based only on itself rather than making any other comparisons.
The story is told in the present with the backstory of when Ethan and Ruby met and how their relationship developed told in flashback. Now and Then to be precise. Along with the Ethan and Ruby story, we also have the fun and games of Piper's wedding and all that entails being set so far away from home. Also in the flashbacks we see Ruby and Piper growing up and learning to get used to their father's new wife. There really is a lot going on in this book. That said, nothing really overshadowed anything else, it all flowed along quite nicely, all the pieces fit in with each other. Apart from the big "why Ruby left Ethan?" that didn't really work for me as well as maybe it could have done. It was one of those things that was hinted at and built up and built up until, when it was finally revealed, it didn't quite have the impact that maybe it should have done. That said, when we had finished with the Now and Then chapters and got on to the After chapter I thought that the author did a really good job rounding off the book. So, when I finished I was completely satisfied.
The characters were on the whole good. I didn't quite find the level of connection that I really crave in a book but I wasn't too far off. I especially loved Ruby's calls with best friend Jess, and Ethan's emails with his father. Another thing that was done well in this book was the masks that people wear to hide what they really feel. As if they believed that "fake it til you make it" would really work in this situation. Many of the characters had them, some more than others, and I won't name names here as some would be a bit spoilery.
The past was mostly included at the right times to inject information and context into the present day story. With quite a few threads running it could have been too busy but the author managed to juggle them in such a way that made their transition mostly transparent.
It's also quite emotional at times. Obviously the love/hate angle but it's also has some very funny moments, and there are also a few rather worrying moments too.
All in all, it was a solid read that held my attention for the majority of the book. I am definitely going to check out the author's back catalogue.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The One That Got Away is a fun, reflective and sweet story about lost loves, missed chances and the chance to start all over again.

The characters are likeable, though at the beginning of the novel I found main character Ruby a little abrasive and overly short with Ethan, but she really grew on me as the novel continued. Her sister Piper is pretty spoilt and annoying at times, but Ruby and everyone else knows this – that's just how she is – and her dad is crackers most of the time, but in a loveable, sweet way. No one is perfect – many have their little faults (though Ethan does seem rather perfect!) which is much more relatable and realistic, or so I felt. You can't help but warm to the characters!

Ruby and Ethan seem so well matched (as they always do, in romantic novels, but still!) and it was really sad sometimes to read about their missed chance to stay together, and how things started to go wrong. I felt quite emotional in some parts! I also enjoyed the way the novel flicks between the two timeframes – then and now – and was intrigued to find out what exactly Ruby was feeling so guilty about.

There are lots of references to things that happened back in what was presumably the 00's, and I enjoyed picking up on little comments and inclusions that took me back to that era when I was a teenager! The novel is also set in Edinburgh, whilst most of the characters are American, so it's quite amusing to read about some of the differences between cultures and places.

The One That Got Away has many of the typical tropes of the romance genre, but it's really well done and avoids veering into cheesiness too much. The writing flows well and it's really easy to read, so I breezed through it in no time. Though some parts are quite predictable, but I think that's expected of many books in this genre, and none of that takes away from what is a sweet, fun story that will leave you feeling happy and satisfied as you reach the last page!

The One That Got Away is your typical feel good chick lit novel.

The story follows Ruby an advertising account manager living the hectic high life in New York. Her younger sister Piper is getting married in a castle in England and as Ruby flies over the main thing that worries her is that she will finally see Ethan. He's her ex boyfriend that she still harbours feelings for.

This book transfers between 'then' when Ruby and Ethan were together and 'now' and has the usual frantic wedding dramas mixed with the classic 'will they won't they' scenario but it really is a superb book.

I read this in a couple of days and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the first book I've read by this author and I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joesph and the author for the chance to review.

A bit too kitsch for me. There are so many books like this.

Ruby is forced to face the past when she attends her sisters wedding. She knows she will have to face Ethan, the only guy she truly loved.

Ruby is almost living her dream life. She has recently been promoted at work. Her sole focus has been on her career.

Ethan is now a successful, wealthy businessman. Ethan was distraught after the breakup and does not want to make the same mistake again.

This is a nice, easy true love story. It has that feel good feeling you get while reading.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and the author Melissa Pimentel for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.