Oh where do I start on my thoughts on The One (The Only One #1) by Belle Ami, the book is being classified as a romantic suspense; I found it neither suspenseful nor romantic. I have almost two pages of notes I took while reading this book, I’ll just share a few of them in no order of importance.

• The biggest one is what does Chapter one have to do with the rest of the book? Was it meant to show Miles as a kind and caring guy? Or maybe it was to show that Miles likes rough sex and liked to voice his sexual thoughts as well?

• What is the plot of the book? The main mystery seems to be the circumstances surrounding the death of Adilea’s parents... was it truly a car accident or was it murder?

• The author goes into much detail on the equestrian events in the book.

• I found the book to be choppy, fluid and smooth in some parts and then disjointed in other parts. The transitions between sections didn't always make sense either.

• Not sure what the actual time span of this book is – best guess is approximately 3 years give or take a few months ( 9 months for baibies, maybe 3 months for Miles & Adilea’s meet & whirlwind romance, babies 1st birthday, reference to no sex for at least a year after the divorce)

• I found the author was almost clinical in some of the sex scenes and then in other scenes took on the hip and flowery author speak for body parts.

• There was at least one if not more than one sex scene where Adilea said no, or stop to Miles…His reply was you will not deny me what’s mine, and magically the sex scene would be justified by Adilea in her mind as being ok and hot

• There is little character development

• I found very little reason to like the characters. Miles is pushy, dominate, spoiled, uncaring, and unfeeling. Adilea is naïve, too trusting, and goes with the flow, she has no backbone until maybe the last 2% of the book. Karolin is two faced, spoiled, and is not above hurting people to get her way. David is nice, religious, hard working, supportive, and in love.

• There is no chemistry between Miles and Adilea, I never felt the love or romance between them, it is referenced by both Miles and Adelia. Miles only tells Adelia he loves her once in the entire book, and that because she asks him to say it. Even when they get married he never expresses his love for her.

• Adilea become pregnant while on birth control pills, I found this to be questionable – thought that it could have been part of the plot to get her pregnant, that maybe the pills had been tamper with, but Miles says it happened because they just hump like rabbits – so any link to the plan Miles & Karolin have was a lost opportunity, this could have added to the intrigue of the story.

• The sex is not romantic – it lust fueled, male dominated for the most part, rough, and shows little consideration for Adilea. At least one romantic sex scene might have helped to increase the connection, and chemistry between our H/h.

• I think that many people equate the lavish gifts, the trendy get aways, the big homes, and sex as a display of love.

• We learn some of the back story for Miles & Karolin as children, but nothing helps to explain the strange relationship they have, especially from Karolin’s point of view.

• Solarian, a business that Miles has help fund, and that Adilea’s father was going to speak out about has a big part in the “overall” death of the parents, but it’s not integrated into the stoyline well. It doesn’t add to the mystery or the intrigue.

• David, the officer who has helped Adilea throughout the book becomes the third leg of the romance, and here I felt a much better connection and chemistry, even though they have had less page time together

• We have drama, corporate espionage, blackmail (which includes ecstasy& LSD to facilitate a rape), a sister with a plan (what the actual goal of the plan is who knows?), lots of equestrian activity, marital issues, and a potential lover on the sidelines.

I think that if all of this was put together in a better fashion, one could create a truly romantic suspense novel. The main idea being add some suspense, and make the romance between the H/h believable and emotional. I really think there’s just too much going on and it’s not tied together well. I almost feel like the author was trying to keep the reader awake with all the jumping around, non linear timelines, tidbits of intrigue, and erotically written sex scenes.

I received this copy of the book from NetGalley as a free read. Its Published by CreateSpace, and was brought to market between Feb 14-21, 2014
All in all a 2 star read for me
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The One

The Characters

Miles, Helene, Lars Lindstrom, Faye Lindstrom, Adelia Lindstrom, Lucas Jackson, Detective David Weiss

The Story

Another one bites the dust.

Too many characters with no connection, I have no idea how these people affect each others lives. Much too much description into things that didn’t seem important to the story (like the horses). Little to no interaction with our whole cast (which brings it back to no connection). I think Adelia and the Detective might have something going on but I don’t have the patience to wait around and find out. I need the characters to come together and share some page time.

So in the end I guess this one is not for me.

The Random Thoughts

*DNF so no rating