Review by NathalyM -- One Way or Another

[NathalyM]

[Following is a volunteer review of "One Way or Another" by Mary J. Williams.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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One way or another by Mary J. Williams is a light and entertaining romantic novel that focuses on the relationship between the main characters and doesn't waste too much time on silly drama.

The story starts with a short prologue about the four Benedict sisters and their unique relationship. All from different fathers, the Benedict sisters live with their mother in a mansion in new york. Despite their weird situation (or maybe because of it), they are as close as they can be and rely a lot on each other.

Then, we are taken back to the present and the story focuses firmly on one of the sisters: Calder.

While a lot of people may think of Calder as a shallow rich girl with too much free time, the truth is she is a very down-to-earth person who runs a successful multimillion charity. In general, Calder is content with her life, but because of her mother (who has married and divorced six times), she doesn't have much faith in love.

And then she meets Adam.

Usually, I have trouble liking male main characters in romantic books, mainly because I find their jealousy and excessive protectiveness very uncomfortable, but Adam was different from the beginning. He is a sweet man that respects Calder's independence while also supporting her and protecting her when necessary.

The relationship between Calder and Adam can be described with one word: adorable. It begins with a couple of lucky encounters that quickly turn into dates and then more. The whole progression of the relationship felt very organic, maybe a bit rushed towards the end, but still very enjoyable.

One of the things I liked best about the book was how it handled the romantic drama. Adam had a slightly crazy, very desperate "friend" called Aurora, and from the moment she was introduced I assumed she was going to be the cause of a lot of some drama... thankfully, I was wrong. While Aurora tries to manipulate Calder, she never really falls for it, and there is even one particular scene that mocks not-so-subtly a certain romance story cliche that I enjoyed a lot.

That said, this book is probably not for people that enjoy a lot of drama mixed with their romance, since all the issues between the characters resolved in a fast and relatively painless way. Instead, people that are tired of drama and want a simple and sweet romance story with characters that don't fall into the typical useless girl and overprotective guy cliches will probably love this book.

Asides from Calder and Adam's love story, the book also does a great job of characterizing the other sisters and giving hints at what they're stories might be. I really loved the relationship between the sisters and the way they supported and protected each other. There is also a secondary plot regarding Calder's mother's new boyfriend, that will probably develop in the rest of the books of the series.
Regarding the narration, the book is narrated in the third person, with some chapters from Calder's perspective and some from Adam's. For me, this was a big plus, since I think love stories are a lot more enjoyable when you have both perspectives.

The narration itself is quick and to the point. My only complaint is that I think the author put a lot of dots where commas could have worked better. This slowed down the reading at the beginning, but eventually, I got used to it. I also found a couple of minor punctuation mistakes, but nothing that distracted too much from the reading.

All things considered, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series (in fact, I already started with the second one).

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One Way or Another
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[Erin Painter Baker]

I read romance novels looking to escape, and some days what I want to escape is the drama. Sounds like this might be a great candidate for one of those days.