"One Moment" by Kristina McBride

NOTE: I received this book from Netgalley to review.

Oh.My.Gosh! This book was AMAZING! It was so completely different, so mind-blowing and so all-consuming that I feel like I'm floating in the air, now that I've finished it. It was pretty short, so it didn't take me too long to get to the end. Besides, the story was so enthralling that it had me pulled in from the very first page. And it never let me go.

At first, I thought that perhaps all the flashbacks that were used to put the pieces together, might ruin the story somehow, but they didn't. If anything, they made it sound so much more realistic, so much more true. And I can say that this is one of those books that have a ring of their own. A sound that makes you think of all the good things and all the bad things in life, and how just one moment could ruin or lift up your entire world and it would never be the same again.

This is a book with a moral lesson - one that many people don't ever get to learn, until it is too late. It's the lesson where you must learn to trust your eyes and heart to see the reality of things. That you shouldn't make up a reality where everything's bright and yellow and you feel comfortable so you choose to live in it. That the truth is what sets us free from the burden of all the lies and secrets and the things that we hide, tucked away so that nobody would see how ugly and corrupted we are on the inside.

It talks of love so deep it makes you go blind to everything else; of pain so excruciating it could tear you apart and break you into gazillion pieces; of letting go and learning to cope. And finally, of hoping and finding what's real and true and worth living for.

Here are my thoughts of the characters, who, by the way, were so realistic in every single thing they said and did, that as I was reading I felt I was right there in the story with them. It was simply amazing!

*Maggie was the narrator, through whose eyes and ears I saw the story unfold. It was her pain I felt, her misery that knocked on my heart, her devotion, etc. And even so, she wasn't the central figure in this story. I think she wasn't even the central figure in her own life. Until the horrible accident that took all her happiness away and threw her into a reality she'd never even thought she'd had to face. But through the pain, the lies and secrets she uncovered, and the anger that had built up in her, she managed to resurface and find her ground. And she grew up and stood tall and boy, was that brave! I wanted to be there, congratulating her for the decision she made in the end, because she deserved to be free of all that pain. I loved Maggie through and through. She wasn't a silly girl who couldn't get a reign of herself. She wasn't clueless, or brutal, or merciless. In fact, she was what an everyday girl looks like. With her fears and hopes.

*Joey was the other major figure in this story. Not because he was actually so much in it - because really, he was there in only the first couple of chapters. But his presence lingered in the rest of the pages. And those flashbacks brought him to life over and over again. I don't think I liked him though, even in the beginning, when I was clueless of where the story was headed. But as Maggie figured all clues and details, one after the other, I got to dislike him even more. In the end, I sort of hated him even.

*Adam won me over from the very beginning. Now that I think about it, even his name drew me near to him. Adam... Adam... sounds nice, doesn't it? Anyway, I just felt like he belonged to this story. With his caring and considerate actions, he just completely won me over. And to be honest, I sort of wanted him for myself. I was a bit angry with him for allowing all those secrets to be kept for so long, but I honestly couldn't hold it against him. All I could do in his presence is swoon. Hard. Especially when it all got revealed in the end.

Well, those are the major characters. The minor ones did matter too, and they were all perfectly portrayed in their different layered personalities. I honestly can't believe how extremely well each one of them was created. But they were, and I think I might be re-reading this story soon.

I not only recommend this book, I ENCOURAGE you to buy it and read it. Because it's THAT good. And I can tell you that it was worth every second of every minute of every hour of my time. Enjoy!