Review of The Ones Who Got Away (The Ones Who Got Away #1) by Roni Loren
The Ones Who Got Away is the first book in the series The Ones Who Got Away.
Twelve years ago, tragedy struck the small town of Long Acre, Texas. A school shooting left only a few alive, and now a documentary brings them all home.
Olivia Arias has avoided everything to do with her high school since she graduated, but despite the panic, she's agreed to do an interview. While at the school, Liv runs into her old flame Finn Dorsey.
A searing kiss reignites the passion between them, and Finn might be exactly what she needs to break out of her locked-down, safe, workaholic life.
The backdrop of this story was fairly morbid and hard to imagine, but it shaped the characters and their lives.
Liv was a character I could relate to. My PTSD locks me down and keeps me from the life I want, just like hers does. She lives a safe life, never taking risks, in order to keep anything bad from happening. After a reunion with friends she connected with after the shooting, she realizes the depth of her fear and what it's cost her. Her dream was to be a photographer as a career, and she hadn't taken a photo in a long time.
Finn is an FBI agent specializing in deep undercover assignments. He's just returned home after two years undercover to recuperate and reconnect with loved ones before getting his next assignment. The kiss between him and Liv while they're both back in Long Acre ignites a need for her long forgotten. The year they spent secretly dating out of fear of his father's reaction reaches through time to consume him. He offers Liv the chance to get away from Austin on the weekends and take photos at the lake house where he's spending his summer.
The passion between them made for a thoroughly absorbing story. It was delightfully steamy and full of emotion. Roni Loren packed the pages with suppressed feelings and raw desires, and it formed an impactful novel where the shared tragedy of the past affects all the characters, not only Liv and Finn but also Liv's three friends. They have to face down their pasts, and the interesting thing was the difference in how the same event affected each person.
I felt Roni Loren treated the subject with respect and understanding, not sensationalizing it or making it the sole focus of the story. It was tastefully done, and it supported the story well.
The characters were not overly layered, but they had depth. I would have liked to see more personality to them, more quirks and variations between them. They were all different, but they could have been more vibrant. I found them all interesting and worth reading about, which is the major goal. I could get behind them and root for them, including Liv's friends, which is good considering they're the stars of the other books in the series. I'll be interested to read their stories.
The descriptions were very good. I could picture where I was and what everyone was doing, and the environment affected the scenes appropriately. The school was almost an extra character, the cause of all their pain, and it was depicted as at different points clear or appropriately vague. The lake house was vivid with enough description to let me know where I was without bogging the narrative down. Finn and Liv were clear, but her friends not as much. I would have liked more on them.
The dialog wasn't smooth, but it also wasn't choppy. It didn't delve much into cheese and was fairly realistic. It added a lot to the story, though everyone spoke much the same. There was no personality difference in wording, tone, or inflection.
I really enjoyed the novel, full of emotion and second chances.
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