You're the One That I Want: A Novel Hardcover – April 25, 2017

YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT is a moving, romantic, wistful story of friendship, love, broken hearts, and a path not taken. It begins with a walk down the aisle, and goes back in time to reveal the beginnings of a childhood friendship between Maddy, Ben, and Robert, advancing through their lives to the present.Told only from the points of view of Maddy and Ben, they share how the three met, how their friendship grew, how it changed, and how the changes affected the threesome. Their story is a love story - joyful and sad, sweet and bittersweet. It is filled with moments that are, moments that could be, and moments that aren’t to be.The instant that Robert and Ben met Maddy, they adored her. And she adored them. Soon they were inseparable. The best of friends. Nothing could tear them apart. Not their changing interests. Not whomever they were dating. Not even Ben’s growing feelings toward Maddy.But when a trip to Paris with their art class ends in ways that none of them expected, leaving one of them heartbroken, keeping their friendship from falling apart won’t be easy. Especially with hidden feelings, bad timing, a colossal mistake, a lapse in judgment, unexplored possibilities, and impulsive decisions threatening to derail them and an important choice to be made that could irrevocably destroy their friendship.Giovanna Fletcher created a love story that was at times one-sided and maybe unrequited and at others was filled with possibility. The author also created another love story that was at times full of the promise of a happily-ever-after and at others was on the verge of a disastrous end.Both love stories involved Maddy. And the author left it up to her character to choose. A character who was loved and in love, who was both confident and uncertain, happy and angry, sentimental, emotional, regretful, remorseful, and guilt-ridden. Making for an affecting and captivating read with an unpredictable outcome.YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT is the perfect blend of charming and heartwarming and heartrending and tragic. The love story has the potential to be ill-fated for one of the three best friends, out-of-this-world incredible for another, and somewhere in between for the third. It is a lovely and enchanting and tearful read that is certain to make readers choose which love story they’d want for Maddy.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed her first novel Billy and me and looked forward to this book. In this story Maddy, a bride on her wedding day, wonders if she is marrying the right guy. She, the groom Rob, and the best man Ben have been best friends from age 9. The book tells their lives from primary school up to the present from their own perspectives. This could have been a typical romantic triangle story but by examining each person's side of the story we have a richer understanding of their lives. The reader can really understand the bride's dilemma and you can equally root for her to end up with either Ben or Rob. There are quite a few outright romantic scenes and you may need a tissue or two. I enjoy a good romantic read, but this story is much more. It will take you back through childhood and school and make you think about about the meaning of true friendship and romantic love.

I wanted to absolutely love this book. I was a big fan of "Billy and Me" and I think Giovanna is an absolutely amazing human being. However, this novel seemed to fall short for me. Parts were a bit predictable, the story anti-climatic, and the narratives of Ben and Maddy were both hard to distinguish between at times. Still though, it is a decent chick lit if you're looking for something to pass some time.

The first chapter hooked me in.. The story in and of it self (the way that it was written) was not how I had expected it initially; nonetheless it was a great read and I truly enjoyed it.

Giovanna Fletcher is my favorite author! I have read and loved almost all of her books. I was a little disappointed with ending, but that is how life would be. Sometimes things just don't work out the way that you think they will. I loved that it was a realistic ending, even though my heart wanted it the other way.

amazing!

Fantastic read! Can't wait to get her next one!

I thought You're the One That I Want was thoroughly entertaining to read. The writing style seemed thoughtful and there was a good balance of humor, plot, and description. While it wasn't a book that changed my life I didn't expect it to be. I expected it to be fun and entertaining which it was

I was pleasantly surprised with this book! Before purchasing I'd read dozens of mixed reviews, but eventually decided to buy it as I thought the premise sounded good.. I'm so glad that my initial opinion hasn't changed!I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would definitely read it again!**** SPOILERS BELOW ****The reason I've given this 4 instead of 5 stars is because of 2 reasons..First is .. the copy I've got (which I purchased Brand New directly from Amazon), had a lot printing/spelling errors in. When reading, my mind would skip & automatically correct as I read, not disturbing my flow, but it was something that couldn't be ignored. My reading experience of the story wasn't disrupted though.Second is .. At a few points in the book, Maddys constantly overthinking & secondguessing the same thing over and over. And even though I completely understand the reasoning behind this, I feel like that a little too much focus was on this. It did get irritating after a couple of times, with the amount of focus it had got (considering there were other as important {if not, MORE important} things going on).However, having said that, I would definitely read this book again! Highly recommended!!

Firstly thank you to Katie at Penguin and Giovanna for sending me a copy of You're The One that I Want to review and for asking me to be part of the blog tour. You can see the blog tour with exclusive content by visiting the blog.This is Giovanna's second novel, after her debut Billy and Me was widely received by readers in the ChickLit world.You're The One that I Want is all about Maddy and her two best friends, Robert and Ben. We first meet Maddy on the day of her wedding to Robert and we are given an insight then as to the relationship the trio have and what the story might hold for them.Immediately after that first scene we are seamlessly transported back in time to hear from both Maddy and Ben right from the first time they met at 6 years old. The rest of the story is told chronologically from their first meeting right up until we re-join them at the altar.I enjoyed the dual POV as this is one thing I really like in a story, particularly when the second narrative is from the guy in the story! I think it was important to have the narrative from more than just Maddy in any case to build up and portray the connection she feels to both of her best friends. There were a few moments during these past scenes where there may be some confusion around whether the narrative is being told first hand or being remembered by the character but I don't think it was significant enough to detract from the story overall.Having been taken on a journey throughout the character’s lives, as a reader, you feel like you know them quite well with the exception of Robert as you only really see him through either Ben or Maddy's narrative. There are some passages in the book were the narrator is unidentified but as the story progresses you become aware of who it might be and the significance of these short sections to the plot.Going into the story I thought I knew what the ending was going to be but in reality after finishing the story it turned out I was wrong in my prediction. The storyline is structured well to allow the plot to develop at a steady pace throughout. This book will be perfect for ChickLit fans who enjoy a dual POV and who also enjoy a bit of suspense throughout.

I pre-ordered this book a while before it was released having enjoyed Giovanna Fletcher's first book "Billie & Me". I follow Gi on twitter and i love how she interacts with her readers and you really see her conceive, grow and "give birth to" her books (at the same time as growing a human inside her!)I thought the book would be a light holiday read but actually it was very thought provoking and to echo the thoughts of another reviewer, you feel like you are part of their gang. Gi writes the characters when they are younger very well and it brought back warm childhood memories for me reading it. It took me a while to realise that bits of Robert's wedding speech were in between certain chapters but once i did, they were an enjoyable addition.I won't spoil any of it for anyone but it did keep me on the edge of my seat - there were so many possible twists but in the end i am glad that Gi "chose her love story and stuck to it". I had seen some retweets on twitter of her followers saying they were either team Rob or Team Ben and i have to say i flitted between the two, even being team Maddy at one point. In the end, i decided i was team tripod! :-) I loved the few racy bits - not too 50 shades and not omitted either. perfect. I also liked the added bits about the onesies and i think Gi reflected a bit of her and Tom's friendship/relationship in her writing. Like most people, i cried - but not at the end like i expected!I can't wait for the next book. Fully recommended.

This was my first time reading a book by this author.Being a fan of "easy reading" when my brain needs a break, I enjoyed this - for the most part. The interchanging of story-telling all throughout, for the most part, was well done although at times I found myself thinking "he's already told us his viewpoint, and perhaps without meaning to, it's pretty obvious what her viewpoint is on this situation through her eyes" - after all, many characters in books are nothing if not predicatable.I did find it intriguing that we had three main characters, but seemingly only two stories being told. The "tripod" - two boys and one girl who grow up from age nine as best friends and remain that way through teen years, college, and later life. However of course the question rises - who will end up with whom, and why?The ending - for me - a little poor, a little obvious, no surprise, which I do enjoy at the end of these kind of tales, and I was actually expecting a twist turn, which for me, did not come. However that said, this was a nice book to sit down and relax with. Would recommend for anyone looking for light reading.

A nice easy read for my holidays. It started off really well and I was intrigued as to where the story was going. I loved the relationship between Maddy, Robert & Ben and it had been well thought out. I particularly liked the way it was written mainly by two of the characters (Maddy & Ben) from their points of view and snippets of Robs Groom's speech dotted in here and there but I felt it had a weak ending. About two thirds of the way through it just got a bit "Samey" and I kind of wanted to shake them up a bit.... it had got quite gripping in parts and started off in that first paragraph so well but then seemed to just fizzle out to a happy ending that was too normal!!!! It's a great holiday book I just like them a bit more gripping.