Fresh Fridays: One & Only by Viv Daniels (Canton #1)

Fresh Fridays: On Friday, I review a brand new series (ie. only has one book released so far) to see if the series is worth keeping up with. Here is this week’s offering:

One & Only by Viv Daniels | Canton Series

Other books in the series:

Series: Canton
Author: Viv Daniels (penname for Diana Peterfreund)
# of Books: 2 (One & Only, Sweet & Wild)
Book Order: Connected
Complete?: No, Sweet & Wild will be released in 2014
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Drama
Heat Rating: warm
Point of View: First Person POV

Thoughts:

Normally, I avoid books with “love triangles” like the plague. As soon as I see two male/female characters in the synopsis, I immediately list the book as a pass on my Goodreads account and move on. I can’t stand the back and forth between the heroine (or hero) and the idea that “I love both of them so much in different ways” (aka Bella-Swan-I-can’t-live-without-him syndrome) has never made sense to me. I’m a hopeless romantic but even I have my limits.

Why I ended up picking up this book–despite the fact that it screams love triangle–is the fact that Tess is an illegitimate child. Nowadays it isn’t a big deal if your parents aren’t together and affairs seem commonplace but the idea that Tess’ mom is a legit mistress to a man really captured my attention. So I put aside my fears of an irritating love triangle and focused on some good drama.

To be fair, the love triangle isn’t really a love triangle (in my opinion). I also like that Tess isn’t the one torn over two guys, but that she is the “other woman” essentially (which she would hate to classify herself as :P). It put a different spin on things and it made it easy to be on her “team”.

Tess and Dylan are both likeable characters and watching how they meet and fall in love is super cute. And as a science student myself, I can appreciate their hard work and great brains. Now if only I could find someone like Dylan in my labs…

Overall, I found the drama pretty mild but I did like that the story wasn’t predictable. There were a few things that threw me off course and that kept things interesting. I also really enjoyed the characters so it wasn’t a chore to read this book in the slightest.

I’m looking forward to Sweet & Wild and will definitely be picking it up when it comes out.

Conclusion:

A solid and well-written New Adult read. It isn’t like other books out there so it is super refreshing!

Rating: 4/5

Similar Reads: Into the Deep by Samantha Young (Into the Deep Series #1); Everything Between Us by Mila Ferrera and Foreplay by Sophie Jordan (The Ivy Chronicles #1)

Synopsis for One & Only (from Goodreads):
One night they can’t forget…

Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she’s sworn to keep: the father who won’t acknowledge her, the sister who doesn’t know she exists, and the mother who’s content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship — Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university.

One love they can’t ignore…

Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan’s life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess’s legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother’s footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time.

…And only one chance to get things right