The One You're With

 Title: The One You're With

Author: Lauren K. Denton

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, dual-timeline

Source: Net Galley

My Review:

Lauren Denton is an author that when I see her name I try to get her books. She is a distinguised writer, writing clean fiction novels. The One You're With is also well written, with great character development. 

The One You're With is a story about marriage, the choices we make, and not taking love for granted. Denton writes with a clear voice and the message becomes apparent as you get further into the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I loved that it was about a couple that was already married, instead of meeting and then dating like so many other books right now. I appreciated the depth of the writing and the struggle that Mac and Edie endured. While they always appeared perfect, even "perfect" couples encounter bumps in the road at times. I also appreciated the conversation between Edie and Avery about not being perfect.

I struggled a bit with this book, especially at the beginning. It was predictable. I had a difficult time picturing a couple that was as close as Edie and Mac were supposed to be, keeping such big secrets about their summer apart. My husband and I have been married twenty-two years, and this was completely unbelievable to me and colored the first half of the book. Once I got past that I could appreciate the messages and the writing better. Also, as it is labeled "Christian" fiction, I would have loved to have seen a faith element in the book.

I would recommend this book to those who love realistic contemporary fiction, with a bit of drama. The book is a clean read and the messages are good.

Thank you to Net Galley and Thomas Nelson for the opportunity to read this book. I was not required to provide a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

★★★/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Written in Lauren K. Denton’s signature Southern style, The One You’re With tells a story of marriage, choices, and what a good life really looks like.

High-school sweethearts Mac and Edie Swan lead a seemingly picture-perfect life in the sleepy-sweet community of Oak Hill, near Mobile, Alabama. Edie is a respected interior designer, Mac is a beloved pediatrician, and they have two great kids and a historic home on tree-lined Linden Avenue. From the outside, the Swan family is the definition of “the good life.” And life is good—mostly. Until a young woman walks into Mac’s office one day. A young woman whose very existence threatens all Mac and Edie have built and all they think they know about each other.

Nineteen years after a summer apart, with a family and established lives and careers, the past that Mac and Edie thought they left behind has come back to greet them. For the first time, constants in their lives are called into question: their roles as parents, their reputation as upstanding members of the community, and the very foundations of their marriage. As they wade through the upheaval in both their family and professional lives, they must each examine choices they made long ago and chart a new course for their future.

“In The One You're With, author Lauren K. Denton dives headfirst into a complicated, tangled situation that shakes the foundation of one family's life as they're forced to reckon with both the past and the future. Denton asks the tough questions, and with great sensitivity and intuitiveness, she unfurls an insightful, emotional story of the impact of the decisions a husband and wife in the present day made two decades earlier.  A complex, compelling, powerful story about the roads not taken, the seismic shifts that can happen in an instant, and the way that sometimes, the decisions of the past shape the future in ways we couldn't have imagined.” —Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names and The Forest of Vanishing Stars

“Lauren Denton is a master not only of Southern fiction, but at capturing the nuance of complicated, messy relationships. This is one of those rare books that I devoured in less than 24 hours, yet didn't want to end.”  —Colleen Oakley, USA TODAYbestselling author of You Were There Too

“Reading a Lauren K. Denton book is like spending time with treasured friends. With her warmhearted Southern voice, she expertly guides readers along the achingly emotional path of a marriage in trouble in The One You’re With. This poignant story touches on how the choices we make can shape a lifetime, for better or for worse, and serves as a reminder to never take love for granted. Fix yourself a tall glass of iced tea and settle in, because you’ll have a hard time putting down this lovely, heartfelt novel.” —Heather Webber, USA TODAY bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café


Full-length Southern women’s fiction
Stand-alone novel
Book length: 116,000 words
Includes discussion questions for book clubs