Review: You're the One That I want

Title: You're the One That I Want
Author: Giovanna Fletcher
Publisher: Penguin
Year published: 2014
How I got this book: I listened to it as an audiobook on the app StoryTel
My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads synopsis:
Maddy, dressed in white, stands at the back of the church. At the end of the aisle is Rob - the man she's about to marry. Next to Rob is Ben - best man and the best friend any two people ever had.

And that's the problem.

Because if it wasn't Rob waiting for her at the altar, there's a strong chance it would be Ben. Loyal and sensitive Ben has always kept his feelings to himself, but if he turned round and told Maddy she was making a mistake, would she listen? And would he be right?

Best friends since childhood, Maddy, Ben and Rob thought their bond was unbreakable. But love changes everything. Maddy has a choice to make, but will she choose wisely? Her heart, and the hearts of the two best men she knows, depend on it...

My thoughts:
This is my first book by Giovanna Fletcher, and I definitely want to pick up more books from her after this. The book si light-hearted, captivating and heart-breaking. 

We follow Maddy, Ben and Rob throughout their childhood until their all adults, from the perspectives of Maddy and Ben. Their story begins when they were all children, all of them in the same class. I really enjoyed how we got the see how their relationships evolved as they grew up, and how the dynamic in the group changed with them.

The story takes place several places, depending on where the characters are in their lives. We follow them on a class-trip to Paris when their teenagers, and they are obsessed with finding the love of their life in the City of Love.

We have one chapter from Maddy and one chapter from Ben at the different stages in their life. The story is easy to follow, especially as we get to know their age in the chapter title. Without that, it might have been a bit more confusing.

The best thing about having this dual perspective, is that we learn how to people experience the same things. Even though they are best friends, they react so differently from each other, and it's clear that they can think for themselves, and not just follow each other.

If you're a fan of light-hearted romance books, with a lot of focus on friendship, I would recommend picking this book up. It is definitely a romance novel, but the two narratives aren't the love interests, which makes this story all the more interesting. We learn about their friendship through their lives, and how life-changes like moving to university affects their friendship.


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