A review by enchantingreads_rosyreviews
The One by John Marrs

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“You fell in love with me through your own free will,” [they] continued. “You so desperately wanted it that you talked yourself into it. You can’t blame your DNA for getting you into this mess—you can only blame yourself.”

Holy shit, this book is both creepy & fascinating but it sure as hell is entertaining! I literally couldn’t put it down, consuming it in less than 24 hours & needing to talk about it immediately! It follows 5 people as they are notified their DNA-matched “soulmate” has been identified. Some are already in established relationships, some are engaging in secret illegal activities, some are halfway across the world from their Match & some are straight but their Match is their same gender.😯

"[It felt] like a thousand small explosions going off inside me all at once, but not in a bad way... It was like they woke me up. I suddenly felt more alive than I’ve ever been before, and that’s the only way I can describe it, as lame as it sounds."
... "So why am I sitting here with butterflies the size of eagles circling my stomach, and I can barely look at you, and then when I do, I can’t take my eyes off you?”

I really think you need to go into this book blind, as I did, to make the surprises actual surprises. I mean, I audibly gasped multiple times & my mind was blown in other parts. This book tackles real-world questions about choice, morality, love, & fidelity while examining many different love stories that aren’t all romantic. Really, what would you do if you knew you’d found “the one” but you were already married & had children? What would you do in the interim until your Match was found for you? How would you live? What life would you build for yourself? What kind of person do you think you are & would that identity hold up when challenged? All of these questions are part of this book’s foundation. It bends your definition of family, partnership, friendship & the importance of a support system. Incredible! This book is incredible.

They’d shared so many intense conversations by phone that she’d come to see him as a best friend as well as her Match. Maybe that was more important than anything else, she thought. Maybe when you took it back to basics, that’s what love really was: just being there for someone when the sun rises and sets.

I've already said it, but I REALLY think you should go into this as blind as possible. There are twists & surprises I don't want to spoil because I would never want to rob you of the gasps & jaw drops I experienced in real-time.

The audio was performed in dual style (one narrator per character's POV chapter), but was performed with a cast of narrators so each of the 5 main characters had its own actor. This helped keep the stories separate, because our characters don't interact at all with one another, they simply exist in the same world as each other. Plus, hearing the accents, as a non-British speaker, also helped reaffirm the location of the story. These actors did a fantastic job & made this whole experience quite enjoyable.

"... If you’ve got the opportunity to love someone as much as they love you, then grab it with both hands and hold on to it for dear life.”

Overall, this book was fascinating, thrilling, funny, introspective, creepy, mind-blowing & generally amazing. I absolutely loved it. I know it's been turned into a Netflix TV series, but I read somewhere that it's only ~60% similar to the book, so maybe I'll watch it someday. 
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