colleenlovestoread's review
4.0
Tilly Farmer is a total optimist and is completely happy in her life. She is living in the same small town she grew up in, married to her high school sweatheart and is the solid rock all of her friends and family lean on. She and her husband are even trying for a baby to round out their perfect life. Then a chance meeting with an old friend changes everything.
Ashley Simmons, an old friend from Tilly's past who has now become a psychic, has given Tilly the gift of clarity. Tilly starts passing out when she stares at old pictures and somehow is able to see into the future. What she sees, however, changes everything she has come to believe as solid and true and she is powerless to change it. She is also losing control of her own feelings and is being forced to feel true anger for the first time in her life. But will these premonitions help her to realize that maybe, just maybe, things have never been what she believed them to be anyway? And maybe, just maybe, things are better that way?
I just loved this book! Who hasn't, on some level, felt a little like Tilly Farmer? After her mother dies when she is seventeen she tries so hard to protect her two younger sisters and take all the weight of what has happened on her shoulders so they don't have to. When her father becomes an out-of-control alcoholic she steps in to support him and help him get on the right track. All this time she is trying to find the best in her circumstances and to deflect any unpleasantness away from her life. I can definitely relate to focusing on the positive and trying to ignore the less pleasant aspects of life just so you can get through the day. What becomes detremental, however, is when you begin to believe that the positive side is the only one out there.
Tilly has focused her attention on picking up the pieces and moving on from her mother's death so quickly that she has deluded herself into believing that everything is okay and what she sees on the surface is the only truth out there. When you do this you fail to see what those people around you are really going through and feeling, and that can be quite a shock when you are forced to face the truth. You can also fail to see what you really want in life if you only focus on what is easiest and most pleasant.
This book in unlike anything I have read before. Allison Winn Scotch did a wonderful job of melding the mystical and ordinary to give the reader a new approach to an old theme: open up your eyes and you just might find out what you really want from life.
Ashley Simmons, an old friend from Tilly's past who has now become a psychic, has given Tilly the gift of clarity. Tilly starts passing out when she stares at old pictures and somehow is able to see into the future. What she sees, however, changes everything she has come to believe as solid and true and she is powerless to change it. She is also losing control of her own feelings and is being forced to feel true anger for the first time in her life. But will these premonitions help her to realize that maybe, just maybe, things have never been what she believed them to be anyway? And maybe, just maybe, things are better that way?
I just loved this book! Who hasn't, on some level, felt a little like Tilly Farmer? After her mother dies when she is seventeen she tries so hard to protect her two younger sisters and take all the weight of what has happened on her shoulders so they don't have to. When her father becomes an out-of-control alcoholic she steps in to support him and help him get on the right track. All this time she is trying to find the best in her circumstances and to deflect any unpleasantness away from her life. I can definitely relate to focusing on the positive and trying to ignore the less pleasant aspects of life just so you can get through the day. What becomes detremental, however, is when you begin to believe that the positive side is the only one out there.
Tilly has focused her attention on picking up the pieces and moving on from her mother's death so quickly that she has deluded herself into believing that everything is okay and what she sees on the surface is the only truth out there. When you do this you fail to see what those people around you are really going through and feeling, and that can be quite a shock when you are forced to face the truth. You can also fail to see what you really want in life if you only focus on what is easiest and most pleasant.
This book in unlike anything I have read before. Allison Winn Scotch did a wonderful job of melding the mystical and ordinary to give the reader a new approach to an old theme: open up your eyes and you just might find out what you really want from life.
jules72653's review
2.0
I found the author's choice of words to be very distracting. Example: "she peeled back her gums to show her teeth." Really? I would have sworn those were lips you usually pull back. Also, "she plugged her camera into the cord" when the other way around would have made sense. If I had more books in the house to read I would have ditched this one early on.
lisamquinn's review
2.0
Let's just say I felt Sarah's desires to play editor stronger than I ever had.
It just didn't work for me.
I liked the cover...although I'm not sure how it fits with this book.
I wouldn't be opposed to reading "Time of My Life"...just not right now.
It just didn't work for me.
I liked the cover...although I'm not sure how it fits with this book.
I wouldn't be opposed to reading "Time of My Life"...just not right now.
tara3117's review
2.0
Worst. Editing. Ever. If I didn't know better, I would say that Scotch must have published this book in her basement and didn't let a single other person touch it until it hit the bookstore shelves. Tyler calls to say he's coming home on Sunday. On Saturday, Tilly is preparing for his arrival that night. Tyler drops Tilly off at work, but later is watching basketball when Tilly unlocks the door that night. Lord knows how she got home. My favorite was when Susanna leaves the kids with her parents in the morning, picks them up early from her ex-husband's house the next morning, but her ex-husband doesn't answer his phone later because he's hung over. Wait, so at some point, the kids were reshuffled but it didn't stop the guys from getting drunk and then the mom came over and picked them up without waking their dad??? Really??? Oh, and comparing tears rolling out of Tyler's eyes like sperm breaking free? GROSS! Because who doesn't want to picture sperm on their husband's face? Oh wait...
The only good thing about this book (and what saves it from a one-star rating) is the plot. I love the idea, however outlandish, of being able to see the future. That's pretty cool, even if you can't fix it. The reinvention and all that, eh, it's in every chick lit book these days. I did like the mystic aspect and for that, I give this book two stars. I'm not rushing to pick up any of Scotch's forthcoming books ever, but this one had a little saving grace in the plot.
The only good thing about this book (and what saves it from a one-star rating) is the plot. I love the idea, however outlandish, of being able to see the future. That's pretty cool, even if you can't fix it. The reinvention and all that, eh, it's in every chick lit book these days. I did like the mystic aspect and for that, I give this book two stars. I'm not rushing to pick up any of Scotch's forthcoming books ever, but this one had a little saving grace in the plot.
kellyherself's review
2.0
Synopsis: Tilly Farmer loves her life. She loves her job as a high school guidance counselor, she loves her high school sweetheart husband, and she loves that she and her husband are finally trying to have a baby. To some, including Tilly, it appears that Tilly has the perfect life. Then one hot summer afternoon, Tilly attends the school fair. She encounters a girl from her past, Ashley, who is the fair's fortune teller. Instead of telling Tilly her fortune, Ashley says she is going to give Tilly some much needed "clarity."
Tilly decides to dismiss the entire episode until something bizarre begins to happen to her. One moment, Tilly is just fine. The next, she is having a vision of her dad, a recovering alcoholic, falling off the wagon and wrecking his car. More bizarre than having the vision is having the vision come true. Quite literally, Tilly begins to see the world in an entirely new way, and she doesn't enjoy most of what she sees. Soon, Tilly's world is unraveling, and Tilly is forced to learn that what we believe to be true and what are actually true are two very different things.
Review: I've read Allison Winn Scotch's other two works, The Department of Lost and Found and The Time of My Life, and I adored them both. Unfortunately, my experience with The One That I Want was much different. My first problem was the characters, especially Tilly. I did not like Tilly, and when you don't like the central character in a novel, it makes it a little difficult to care about the story itself. I found Tilly to be really self-absorbed for a character that spends the majority of the novel claiming that all her actions are for others. For Tilly, everything was about Tilly and keeping her perfect life perfect.
I thought the plot of the novel was pretty thin. A character having visions that come true would normally sound like a story tailor made for me, but the plot of this novel was, for lack of a better word, hokey. Therein lies the problem with this novel for me. I felt the whole thing was wrapped up with a big hokey bow. Nothing felt real. I am not a reader that needs 100% realism. Magical realism and fantasy are two of my favorite novels. But whatever the genre or the novel may be, I need to feel a genuine connection to the characters and an interest in their fate (i.e., the plot). I didn't have that with this book.
I still adore Allison Winn Scotch and I look forward to her upcoming novel, The Memory of Us.
Tilly decides to dismiss the entire episode until something bizarre begins to happen to her. One moment, Tilly is just fine. The next, she is having a vision of her dad, a recovering alcoholic, falling off the wagon and wrecking his car. More bizarre than having the vision is having the vision come true. Quite literally, Tilly begins to see the world in an entirely new way, and she doesn't enjoy most of what she sees. Soon, Tilly's world is unraveling, and Tilly is forced to learn that what we believe to be true and what are actually true are two very different things.
Review: I've read Allison Winn Scotch's other two works, The Department of Lost and Found and The Time of My Life, and I adored them both. Unfortunately, my experience with The One That I Want was much different. My first problem was the characters, especially Tilly. I did not like Tilly, and when you don't like the central character in a novel, it makes it a little difficult to care about the story itself. I found Tilly to be really self-absorbed for a character that spends the majority of the novel claiming that all her actions are for others. For Tilly, everything was about Tilly and keeping her perfect life perfect.
I thought the plot of the novel was pretty thin. A character having visions that come true would normally sound like a story tailor made for me, but the plot of this novel was, for lack of a better word, hokey. Therein lies the problem with this novel for me. I felt the whole thing was wrapped up with a big hokey bow. Nothing felt real. I am not a reader that needs 100% realism. Magical realism and fantasy are two of my favorite novels. But whatever the genre or the novel may be, I need to feel a genuine connection to the characters and an interest in their fate (i.e., the plot). I didn't have that with this book.
I still adore Allison Winn Scotch and I look forward to her upcoming novel, The Memory of Us.
kellyhager's review
4.0
If you were to ask Tilly, she'd tell you she has the perfect life. She's married to her high school sweetheart and she still works at said high school (as a guidance counselor) so she gets to go to prom every year. She and her husband are even trying to have a baby.
But then she goes into a fortune teller's tent and the woman (an old friend of Tilly's) gives her the "gift of clarity."
Except it's not really a gift so much as a complete nightmare. She starts seeing things--her alcoholic father getting drunk at a bar; her husband packing up and moving--and the visions start happening.
It's an interesting premise--as her books tend to be--and while I preferred Time of My Life, I enjoyed this one, too. I don't know if I would want to know the future, especially if I couldn't do anything to change it.
But then she goes into a fortune teller's tent and the woman (an old friend of Tilly's) gives her the "gift of clarity."
Except it's not really a gift so much as a complete nightmare. She starts seeing things--her alcoholic father getting drunk at a bar; her husband packing up and moving--and the visions start happening.
It's an interesting premise--as her books tend to be--and while I preferred Time of My Life, I enjoyed this one, too. I don't know if I would want to know the future, especially if I couldn't do anything to change it.
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