From the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo of The Royals and When It’s Real comes a sensational new novel about a girl falling for the one boy she should never have met… keep her safe by monitoring her every move. When Beth sneaks out to a party one night and meets the new guy in town, Chase, she’s thrilled to make a secret friend. It seems like a small thing, just for her.
Only Beth doesn’t know how big her secret really is…
Fresh out of juvie and determined to start his life over, Chase has demons to face and much to atone for, including his part in the night Beth’s sister died. Beth, who has more reason than anyone to despise him, is willing to give him a second chance. A forbidden romance is the last thing either of them planned for senior year, but the more time they spend together, the deeper their feelings get.
Now Beth has a choice to make—follow the rules, or risk tearing everything apart…again.
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Erin Watt has such entertaining books. This one was the deepest and possibly my favorite. A guy accidentally killed a girl’s sister and three years later she falls in love with him. How could that ever work out?
I loved Beth, really loved her. The way she grieved felt real because it was basically the way I have grieved over deaths. Just because one isn’t a huge crier doesn’t mean they are affected any less inside their heads.
Chase, Chase, Chase. I wanted to shake him … a lot! What happened was horrible but it wasn’t on purpose. And he needed hugs … a bunch of them. But from Beth’s parents perspective I get it, that was their other baby. But from an outside perspective it’s much easier to see both sides of the coin.
This book was not full of lust like a lot of their other books. It was one that made me think, gave me emotions, and as hard as it is sometimes to do—forgiveness is the best option. If these two authors could write something like this together, I can’t wait to see what they have next
Beth’s sister has been killed three years ago. A car ran her over – the driver didn’t see her.
Charlie Donnelly. 16 years old at the time, he was sent to juvie for three years. And now, in Beth’s last year of school, he’s back.
And he’s going to her school.
Which she didn’t know when she had a rebelling-against-her-mega-overstrict-parents one-night stand with him at a party last weekend!
Everyone at school and in town hates him. Especially her parents. She should too, right?
But she doesn’t – she feels like she has to defend him and befriend him….
But her parents would never allow that.
They don’t allow anything. Not even driving, working, going away to college!
What will happen to Beth & Chase?
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT
I LOVED THIS BOOK!
I started reading and expected a cute little teenie romance. But ugh. No. That was so not what I was getting! This was so much more. Such an amazing dramance!
You start reading and you like Beth immediately. She just wants to enjoy her last year in highschool and then leave for the big world – aka go to college.
BUT HER PARENTS!!! UGH! Those people!
I can understand where they’re coming from. Of course they want to make sure that their only living child will not be hurt or harmed. But they just go way too far. I wanted to call child protective services while reading! You see sparks of the old amazing, funny parents here and there, but they just exaggerated with everything!
And Beth and Chase! Ugh, those two. How can they ever be together after what happened???
I was crying so much while reading. I was constantly afraid of what might happen next. What cruel things the kids at school would do to get rid of Chase. Or what new thing her parents would come up with.
Beth and Chase are so perfect for each other.
He’s so sorry for what he did. He feels so guilty.
And Beth feels guilty too – for liking him. For falling for him. But he’s just so sweet and nice and kind and … He listens to her. He gets her. She gets him. Under different circumstances they would be the IT couple at school.
But what happened happened.
And the reader can only hope that Beth’s parents and the town will one day forgive Chase.
I sooo want them to end up happily together at the college of their dreams.
But it doesn’t look too promising through most of the book ….
… but there’s still hope!
Also – I so wouldn’t mind seeing this on Netflix someday soon!
I listened to the audible version of this story and absolutely loved it. The narrator did a fantastic job and the author gives you a story that is sweet and heartfelt. I enjoyed Beth and Chase characters but Chase was definitely my favorite character. I hated the way people treated him as much as I hated the way Beth parents were way too overprotective of her. They took things too far at times. Jeff played his role well and I hated the way Scarlett turned on her friend because of him but being young and in love can cause you to do dumb things. The ending was sweet and let me with a smile on my face. I will be recommending this story to my book loving family and friends and I look forward to more books from this author.
I have to say this was a very daring endeavour for an author to pursue. The subject matter was definitely different from everything else I’ve ever read.
But it was an interesting idea and I’m glad I read it.
Honestly, it isn’t really a book I think I’ll read again. All of the negativity got a little too heavy for me to handle. I read to escape, and while yes I do enjoy a book with good angst and drama and conflict, the harsh treatment of so many of the characters towards Chase sometimes got difficult for me.
On the positive side, it was an engaging enough story with characters that you connect enough with that you hurt when they hurt.
This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased, honest opinion.
I went into this one a little nervous about what to expect. I absolutely LOVE their Royals series and it’s truly hard to read other books by this author duo without comparing to it. This one sadly didn’t work for me. I found it to be very difficult to read and fairly predictable. This is not a peppy, happy book. It does have an amazing theme to it, which I can totally appreciate. But overall, I was disappointed.
This story follows a family and town as they deal with the lose of one of their own, Rachel. Rachel was killed in a car accident by Charlie Donnelly. Beth, Rachel’s sister and formally known as Lizzie, meets Charlie, aka Chase, at a party one night and they have instant chemistry. Eventually, Beth finds out who Chase really is but still has issues denying her feelings for him. I’ll stop there so I don’t get too much into the plot.
The characters in this one were absolutely dreadful. I strongly disliked 95% of them. I’m talking serious loathing on my end. I think that made the book that much harder to enjoy because you felt Beth and Chase’s emotions of being constantly judged, criticized, and weighed down. It wasn’t easy to process as a reader so I cannot imagine how the actual characters felt.
The theme for this book was there’s something good to be found in every single day. It may be the tiniest of things but it’s still something. These days it is extremely easy to get bogged down so I can appreciate this story telling us to just look for one small thing. Just one thing in each day to push you forward or to let you deal with all you are going through. For that, I loved the book. I just wish I enjoyed the overall story more.
This will fall under the category of “Its not you, its me”.
Sadly there was more than one small thing I couldn’t get on board with. I wanted to slap most of the secondary characters and I could not get on board with the appeal of loving someone who took a family member away. It hit my feels in a way that I won’t voice in this kind of public forum.
Forgiveness can happen, but love in this form. I just couldn’t do it.
DNF
I just can’t with Beth’s parents. Just can’t. I don’t even care about the rest of the story.
Hooo boy. Where do I start? I didn’t think I would make it out of this one with my emotions intact. Meet our main characters: Beth, whose parents have gone beyond the pale on helicopter parenting since her sister died three years ago. And Chase, the boy who was driving the car that killed Beth’s sister.
That’s some baggage, yo.
Beth and Chase meet up at a party one night, and not knowing who the other is, spend a memorable night together. If they were any other people, we’d have a boring story about a couple of teens dating during their senior year. Instead we get a story of forgiveness and acceptance.
My feelings regarding OST are very conflicted. On the one hand, I want to believe that love can conquer all. On the other hand, can something as massive as Chase’s actions that night ever be truly forgiven and forgotten? I don’t have answers, but it is worth some philosophizing over.
Regarding the character development, Beth and Chase both were well fleshed out and showed incredible growth. Beth’s relationship with her parents felt over the top, but I’m not seventeen anymore, so I have to remind myself that I would have acted the same back then.
The ending of the book threw me a bit. It felt rushed and unnatural. To be fair, I’m an epilogue-lover so I would have killed for a longer chapter to get their post-ending.
Overall, it was the type of Erin Watt story that sucks me in and keeps my attention. Can’t wait for the next!
Fantastic story about forgiveness and starting anew, this book was so compelling and suspenseful. The suspense is not of the criminal kind, but rather the suspense (or worry) about the events that will happen as the story unfolds, and its effects on the people involved. It kept me glued to my Kindle and that day there was no gym and no cooking.
It’s been three years since the death of Rachel, Beth’s sister. Her parents haven’t dealt well with their tragic loss and their response is to restrict Beth’s movements in an effort to protect her from harm. Their worry about something happening to their remaining daughter has succeeded in smothering Beth to the extent that she’s acting out and rebelling against her parent’s restrictions. In one such rebellion, she sneaked out to a party where she meets this guy she liked a lot and loses her virginity to him. That forges a bond that she needs to keep secret from her parents so they won’t ground her for eternity.
Beth is counting the days until she graduates from high school and can escape her town. Everybody looks at her with pity as the girl whose sister died in a car accident. When finally, her senior year starts, she meets the guy she had sex with, and to her horror, she learns he’s the person responsible for her sister’s death.
Beth is in a turmoil because she feels a bond with Chase, she understands her sister’s death was an accident and feels for Chase who is ridden with guilt. On top of that, the whole school and her parents are in an uproar and claiming for his expulsion from school, claiming Beth cannot be made to withstand attending school with a murderer.
We live Beth’s suffering from her lack of freedom, her confusion about her feelings for Chase, her desire to be with him but also hide her feelings so she won’t be rejected by her friends, and her rebellion about her life in general. Chase is anguished about his role in Rachel’s death, has been punished with three years in prison, but the prison of his soul is worse. He feels he deserves all the punishment he gets in school. There’s also Jeff, Rachel’s boyfriend, who comes back from two years abroad, where he was sent to get over his loss. He comes back revengeful and hostile against Chase and strangely possessive and overprotective with Beth.
This plot moved fast and was so riveting. I loved how Chase and Beth supported each other in the few moments they could steal together. Beth’s relation with her parents was stormy and fraught with yelling and fights, yet through it all you could feel their love, anguish and worry about their “surviving daughter”. Their life is strife in confusion and heartbreak. The road to redemption and forgiveness was very tumultuous, suspenseful and heart-breaking. Secrets come out that shed light on the events of three years ago and make forgiveness achievable. The meaning of the book’s title is a wonderful conversation between Chase and Beth, meaning that Chase looks for one small thing every day to make his life worth living, and thus gives Beth a great lesson in thankfulness and acceptance. Great story!
4.5 Stars!
One Small Thing is an angsty, heart wrenching story and I absolutely loved it! An addicting story of forgiveness & letting go, once I started reading I couldn’t put it down.
Chase & Beth are both trying to put their pasts behind them, and struggling with where they fit in the present. A chance meeting results in an impossible relationship, and the fallout from their choices impacts everyone around them.
This book isn’t an unrealistic high school romance. High school, especially these days, isn’t easy and this book brings light to these issues. Bullying, abusive relationships, and grief are all present, and written beautifully. The struggles of every relationship – parent & child, friends, enemies, lovers – are all touched on, and the consequences of actions aren’t glossed over.
If you are looking for a light, fun read this isn’t it. But if you are looking for something that will pull you in, fill you with emotion, and make you really think, then this is the book for you!
Let me start by saying Erin Watt know how to make me pick up her books and suck me in right away and once I start reading her books? I just can’t put them down. This one? Wow, the story line was freaking amazing and I was at the edge of my seat in some parts because I wanted to make some of the decisions for Beth and some of the decisions for Chase because they were went for each other. But then I would set back a little and I would want to make totally different decisions, I was just as confused as them, I was literally making my life crazy just by reading this book.
Okay, okay, backing up a little bit ’cause I just I just confused the heck of everybody. So, Beth’s sister died from a tragic accident and her hasn’t been the same since then. Why? Because her parents have become extra, extra careful with her and in order to keep safe they monitor her every single move, they know where she is at all times.
Then on night Beth sneaks out of her house to go to a party and there she meets the new guy in town, Chase, she has this thrill about it and it’s just such a small thing, right?
But her little secret really isn’t so small…Chase is fresh out of juvie and he just wants this chance to start his life over. But he has more demons to face than anyone realizes including what he did the night Beth’s sister died.
Beth finds herself in a lifetime situation, forgive or not forgive. Give it someone another chance? Will she be able to give her heart to Chase knowing what role he played that night? Will she follow the rules or risk it all?
So many feelings reading this book but at the same time? So worth it too, it was a great roller coaster to in, I totally, totally recommend this one!!! 5 stars
Erin Watt you get me every time!!
Beth’s life was awesome until one terrible night her sister was killed. An accident that destroyed her whole family. Rachel was the perfect sister but one night at a party she ran across the street and got hit by a reckless driver named Charlie who stole a car as his one act of defiance and drove to fast and killed her.
No one will ever be the same. Three long years later Beth can’t take the prison her life has become sneaking out of the house fighting with her parents and going to a party with a bunch of strangers. The only thing she took for herself was one night with a stranger.
Her life gets more complicated she when she sees him on the first day of school at Darling High.
I really liked this book it’s not as crazy as the Royals but has sort of the same feel. Such a sad story that has some happy moments and a ton of high school drama.
I could not put this book down I love this Duo of authors!!
Beth can’t get the boy from the party out of her mind, he’s a bright spot in her dim, prison-like life with overprotective parents. She thinks she’s hit the jackpot when she arrives to school and finds Chase is the new student, except people can’t stop pulling her away from him and whispering behind his back. Discovering Chase has ties to the night her sister died should stop anything from moving forward, but Beth can’t shake the feeling she has and she can’t stand what her so-called friends are doing to him. Willing to give him a second chance the two embark on a forbidden friendship that soon turns into a romance.
One Small Thing is about friendships, family, and forgiveness. Beth needs to learn to forgive, Chase needs forgiven, and all of them need the compassion of their friends and family. It’s a coming-of-age tale built on a dark event, but handled in a fairly light manner. There’s bullying, that really needed handled better, and there’s secret rendezvous. It’s typical teenage romance and drama, the sort of novel that is usually fun to escape into. Beth is a bit younger in maturity than her age lets on, she sneaks out of her parent’s home, bends quite a few rules, and doesn’t seem to understand where her friends and family are coming from. Then again, her method of dealing with her sister passing away is not what I’d consider typical. Chase is hell bent on punishing himself after his involvement in Beth’s sister passing away, but he is really the saving grace of this story. He’s sweet, smart, determined, and far kinder than any male teen character I’ve seen in a book. He comes bearing words of wisdom, shining light on a story that could be a typical drama novel and makes it the romance it is. Their connection and interactions, as well as those with secondary characters, is over the top, but to be expected with YA angst. I just think it was missing something, some sort of further development and this one might’ve been a hit for me.
I really wanted to like One Small Thing, the plot of overbearing parents and falling for the boy who caused your sisters death could’ve made for a fantastic YA/NA romance. Bring on the drama. Unfortunately, the blurb gives much of the story away and I really just never liked Beth a whole lot. She is quick to anger, her moods are volatile, and she makes choices that I think she knows better than to make. She’s acting out of anger, sure, but I think she is much more level headed at her age than she acts. She puts herself in dangerous situations and I really struggled with that. Chase is far more adult, likely due to his time spent in a juvenile detention facility, and I couldn’t see how he carried a flame for Beth. She puts them both in bad positions and, as he calls out, fails to own their friendship in public. He’s nicer than I am. I’ll give them this though, how it works out is sweet, if not easy and expected.
I think One Small Thing is one of those situations where it’s not you, it’s me. I think this book is definitely more age appropriate for the YA readers, though maybe all around YA fans will enjoy it as well. Personally, I think it could’ve been more advanced, the story had the bones to be better. One Small Thing is filled with angst, romance, and coming-of-age truths. I loved the background on the book’s title and think it, and Chase, are the reason why I ultimately enjoyed the novel.
ARC provided.
One Small Thing is a quick, enjoyable YA contemporary read. I haven’t read any other books from this writing duo and didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t overly impressed with the story, it was quite predictable but it flowed easy and kept me turning pages. There was a lot of high school drama that I didn’t love. And, yes, the story does take place in high school and the book is intended for teenagers but I don’t think it was necessary to use every high school cliché imaginable. So I can’t say I loved this book, but I am sure it will appeal to most Erin Watt fans.
One Small Thing
by Erin Watt
4 Iowa Stars
Well goodness, what an eye-opening story to read. It’s an emotional journey that Erin Watt takes us on. I mean think about it. If you are a parent, how do you move on after the unexpected death of a child. Even more, as the sibling who lost their older sister, what can you do to not always be living in your dead sister’s footsteps.
Lizzie now known as Beth is struggling in life. Her parents are suffocating her with boundaries. All because they are afraid of losing her too. It’s her last year of High School and it should be the best time of her life. Instead, she’s without a phone, without a car and even worse…. without a DOOR!!!
Chase is free and starting a new school. Although served his time for doing the crime, he will never forget. Everyone knows what he did. Even starting at a new school in the next town over, the bullying is horrible.
It’s when these two meet for the first time, as Chase and Beth, a bond was formed. Now we need to figure out how to make this bond survive through all the problems that will come with it.
If we could all pick One Small Thing each day!!! I enjoyed reading this one.
#BookBistroBlogApproved
Audiobook Review: 5 Stars
What is better than drama? TEENAGE DRAMA!!
Erin Watt did it again!! They are the queens of teenage drama!! I loved the drama in The Royals Series and I loved it in this book too, but let me tell you, the drama in this book is the sum up of the 5 Royals books and multiplied for 3! And I am not exaggerating here. Oh. My. God. I had all the feels while reading this book. All of them! And more!
I’m gonna try to review this book with all my feelings
Sadness
Beth’s family is still grieving the loss of their older daughter. It was sad to see how each member of the family expressed their sadness. Beth became a rebel child while her parents became overprotective and that is a bad combination, and I knew that would be bad news for them.
Anticipation
I love all kinds of forbidden relationship, and once I knew who Chase was, I felt the anticipation of an epic love story. I loved how they met but I loved it more when they found out who they really were.
Shock
I was in shock by how people reacted to Chase being back in town and in the same school Beth was attending. To be honest, I was not surprised with the bullying of their classmates—and with this, I’m not saying it was right, because it was completely WRONG—but I was surprised with the adults in this town. The principal and the teachers were the worst, and Beth’s parents’ behavior was out of proportions wrong.
Anger
And here is when my feels became intense!! I was angry 80% of the book. I was angry at Beth’s parents, at her classmates, at her teachers, at the school principal. UGH What in the actual fuck was wrong with them?
Frustration
And then came the frustration. I wanted to take Beth and Chase out of the book and take them to a safe place, away from all those bad people. Chase deserved a second chance and Beth wanted to give it to him but everybody was against it.
Disgust
There were two characters in this book that were the worst and had no right to act the way they did. At least Beth’s parents were grieving, but Jeff and Scarlett were the most disgusting characters in this book. Especially Jeff. UGH.
Fear
There was always a lingering sense of threat against Chase along all this book that had me on edge, but I never saw coming what really happened in the end. It was awful and I was so afraid.
Love
Despite all the negative feelings I had while listening to One Small Thing , I also felt the most powerful feeling of them all: LOVE.
I loved Beth and her determination to protect Chase, to accept him, to get to know him and finally fall in love with him. I loved her sense of justice and despite nobody ever backed her up, she never gave up. Yes, she was immature and rebel, but she’s a teenager, I wouldn’t expect any different from her, but her immaturity didn’t make me love her less.
And obviously, I LOOOOOVED Chase, with all my heart. He is the best in this book, and I wouldn’t change one single thing about him. He had to grow up because of his mistakes, and at the same time, he was too hard on himself because of his mistakes.
Hope
The ending was full of hope and that made me so happy. Things weren’t completely perfect for them, but they had hope and I had hope with them. For me, it was the perfect HEA for this story.
All in all, One Small Thing was a dramatic story about forbidden love, that thanks to forgiveness and determination, it was accepted and grew strong against all odds. And I have to say that thanks to the audiobook and the performance of Charlotte North , I could enjoy it more, feel more intensely all the feelings that this story evoked in me, and love the whole story completely.
Up until the last maybe ten pages of One Small Thing I was prepared to write an amazing review on how redemptive and healing this book was. I was completely involved in Beth and Chase’s story of love, forgiveness, and trust. However, the end was so dissatisfying and abrupt; it ruined much of the joy I had while reading the rest of the story.
Beth won me over from the off; she seemed to be so alone despite being surrounded by people who cared for her. She was angry and sad and had been so isolated by the way her loved ones were protecting her. When she started acting out, I was 100% there for it. I was pretty impressed by how she’s handled herself, as I’m not sure I’d be able to rein my anger in as well as she did in the same situation. I also appreciated how much she grew and realized other people’s opinions weren’t as important as what she knew to be true.
I wanted to not like Chase, much for the same reasons as Beth wanted, but it was impossible. He was so much more than his past, what the general public thought about him, and what he gave himself credit for. Chase broke my heart with the way he continued to punish himself for something he’d never intended to happen. Once he finally began to accept the connection he felt with Beth, I nearly sighed in relief because I could feel the weight of the world begin to shift slightly off his shoulders.
One Small Thing was a poignant story of those precarious years immediately before adulthood, that time when you need to be your own person yet are still firmly under the control of the adults in your life. It’s a story of looking deeper than the surface, beyond the preconceived notions, to the heart of a person and believing in them because of the goodness found there. It was a story about learning to compromise without sacrificing your needs and when to stand-up against the things you can not abide. I was impressed with how much this story had to say about the human condition and how fallible even the most cautious and concerned people can be.
I do have one major wish for this book, and that would be the lackluster ending. For the entirety of the novel we had a huge workup to a fabulous – if somewhat predictable – climax, then we had no real resolution to any of it. There was an awkward aside in the final chapter I think was supposed to satisfy my need for healing and closure, but it just felt like an afterthought. To me, it seemed like the authors weren’t sure how to balance the essential healing the characters deserved with the poignancy of the rest of the story and decided the synopsized ending was the best option. I just know the greatness of the rest of the book was lost in those last few unsatisfying pages.
Erin Watt has been hit or miss for me. Most of their earlier books are so beautiful, so consuming, I wasn’t able to refrain myself from absorbing every word at an alarming rate. However, their later pieces seem to be missing the magic they’d captured in those first several stories. I had really thought One Small Thing had recaptured that enchantment, but it didn’t quite make it there. I only hope to see them return to their roots and deliver more of those captivating stories that won me over, to begin with.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Veronica –
Following the death of her big sister, Beth meets Chase at a party and they have a one-night stand. When senior year begins and Chase is at her school, Beth learns his secret and things between them become complicated as does Beth’s life. Beth and Chase have a strong connection in a way they shouldn’t have given their circumstances. I haven’t read a forbidden romance like this before and I really didn’t know where it was going.
Chase’s ability to keep calm while he is harassed and bullied by pretty much everyone shows amazing strength. He is a guy who, at times, has wisdom beyond his years and he helps Beth see some things in a different light, helping her grow up. I loved their relationship and I think that fact that it is difficult made it that much sweeter.
Beth struggles with her ridiculously controlling parents. They are weighed down by grief, and Beth’s fight to have her voice heard, either by her peers, her parents, or her teachers, is an immense source of frustration for Beth. I was right there with her, feeling everything she felt, angry and frustrated on her behalf.
There is plenty of teenage drama in this story coming from Beth’s friends, classmates, and her sister’s ex, Jeff, who quickly shows Beth he isn’t who she thought he was.
I started reading One Small Thing on a cold and rainy Sunday morning and I didn’t get out of bed until the book was finished four hours later, happy and a little emotional. One Small Thing is an excellent young adult novel about grief, forgiveness, love, and growing up.
Kris –
I really enjoyed this book, it had the perfect amount of drama and teenage angst to keep it easy to read without wanting to scream at the characters too much for being idiots.
Beth is going through a major change in her life, she’s acting out and trying to find herself after her sister’s unfortunate accidental death. Beth’s parents keep holding tighter and tighter every time Beth tries to break free, they’re worried about losing their other daughter. Understandable from a parent’s perspective, but it was almost over the top what this mother and father were doing to their remaining child. I got angry at them numerous times! I have no idea how I might react to losing a child and can’t really say for sure I wouldn’t put alarms on all the doors and windows, but… maybe? Chase is also going through a major life change, having just been released from juvie for an accidental death charge, he’s at a party and hooks up with a girl who’s looking to have some fun. Sure didn’t know it’d be the sister of the girl he hit with his car three long years ago. I think Chase was written perfectly with just the right amount of self-loathing but wanting to be a better person. I fell in love with his character quickly!
The mean kids at school added a good dynamic of “us against the world” to the fledgling relationship between Chase and Beth and I was quite invested in the entire story. I felt the ending was a good way to pull the story together and help Beth’s parents understand that accidents happen, and maybe forgiveness is the key to moving on in life after a tragedy.
Jordan –
I first read Erin Watt’s The Royals series, which immediately had me hooked. Now, I never pass up the opportunity to read a book by Erin Watt. This writing duo knows exactly how to grab my attention and keep it from start to finish, which is how I always seem to find myself reading until the sun comes up.
One Small Thing follows the story of Beth, who is just starting her senior year in high school, which should be an exciting milestone for her, but nothing has been the same in her life since her sister died. Her parents can’t stop hovering over her every move, but Beth can’t handle being smothered by their fear of losing another daughter. After sneaking out one night to a party, she meets Chase, who is finally out of juvie and ready to start fresh. When Beth learns about the role Chase played the night of her sister’s death, she knows she shouldn’t have anything to do with him, but she can’t seem to stay away.
One Small Thing wasn’t exactly my favorite by Erin Watt, but it still has that perfect addictive quality that I have always found in this writing duo’s books. Plus, let’s not forget their ability to make the most swoon worthy book boyfriends. However, it just felt like some characters’ reactions to certain scenarios seemed so extreme and the only level-headed character was Chase. This doesn’t change the fact that I still found it to be an enticing read and can’t wait to see what Erin Watt has in store for us next!
4 STARS for Erin Watt’s One Small Thing
Sarah –
OMG – the DRAMA!!! This angst-fuelled young adult romance takes the tired good girl/bad boy trope to another level when Beth accidentally sleeps with the boy who killed her sister.
Beth and Chase’s attempts to reconcile their attraction with the pain Chase inflicted on Beth’s family are deliciously gritty, but I didn’t completely love either Beth or Chase. Beth gets increasingly whiny and miserable and I found her more childish behaviour difficult to connect with. Chase takes the strong, silent self-loathing thing a little bit too far. He is monosyllabic for most of the book and is never quite worthy of Beth’s starry-eyed adoration
While Beth and Chase were both interesting enough to hold my attention, the other characters are predictable stock YA clichés. The bland, generic ensemble cast includes super strict parents, spiteful mean girls, misfits from the wrong side of town, and a rich kid who isn’t quite as nice as he seems. The characters are neither convincing or interesting.
I was intrigued by the premise of this story, but the concept is better than the execution. The plot circles around tediously normal high school life and Beth’s endless emotionally incontinent cycles of rebellion/rage/lust/heartbreak/isolation. Chase’s whole story doesn’t quite make sense to me and without more dynamic characters, the book doesn’t deliver the emotional impact promised in the blurb.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of One Small Thing by Erin Watt to read and review.
WOW! My first book by Erin Watt didn’t disappoint at all. I’m not normally a fan of YA but there was just something about One Small Thing that kept me glued to my kindle.
I think it was mostly because I knew it was all going to blow up for Beth at some point but I had no idea when or what the culprit would be that finally sent her over the edge. Tensions were high with the two new kids to school. One guilty of an accident, and one guilty of being a jerk.
My heart just went out to Chase because no matter what he did he couldn’t get away from the one mistake that would haunt him for the rest of the days. And the more time he wanted to spend with Beth, the more complicated things became. Stolen glances, secret head nods and clandestine midnight meetings couldn’t stop the inevitable from happening.
Was it a touch predictable? Yes. Did that make me root for Beth and Chase any less- nope. One Small Thing was teenage hormones and angst on steroids. It also packs a powerful punch of not just fighting for your dreams but also fighting for what’s right.
5 ” Charles Manson” Stars
I generally steer clear from NA/YA stories. My road back to innocence is a one way street. I left my youth long ago and have a hard time identifying with juvenile teens or tweens
HAVING. SAID. THAT . This theme could be at any age, at any turn of life. Doesn’t matter the characters were high schoolers, the dilemma doesn’t diminish or increase in its dimensions. Couldn’t at all, becuase it’s as big as Iowa as it is. Human frailty is explained at the most basic level here. The central theme or the message that the authors wanna send across is that the actions of today impact all your tomorrows and so it’s vital and imperative how we behave in certain situations. Could be a drunk, rebelling, teenager or an egomaniac with anger management issues. Try and visualise high schoolers like that. Bullies, daft ignoramuses, full of piss and vinegar, feeling invincible.
On a rush , in a rush, speeding through life and on streets, until with screech of tires and metal on metal clanks, glass shatters and rubber burns and everything goes blank ! Lives are destroyed, families torn apart and an entire town has lava of rage flowing on its streets, it’s schools, it’s homes, it’s suburbs. Everything is burning !!
I’m still shaking my head at the incredible story that has been unputdownable trip for me. And as they say man can fall from the highest mountain and find his legs, but when he falls in his own eyes, he struggles to meet his own eyes in the mirror. Guilt is a concrete block hanging around your neck when you’re drowning in a sea of mistakes and blunders you committed.
Everywhere I look, I see a closed door. A dark passage. Locked windows. If there’s a way out, I can’t visualize it.
these past three years, the walls just kept closing in on me more and more, the noose around my neck kept getting tighter and tighter, until finally I snapped.
And then there’s the survivor syndrome. The The Child Who Survived
We all carry our own burdens and are trapped in prisons of our own makings
“you teach people how to treat you.”
And how do we keep breathing, keep moving, one may ask ?
you focus on One Small Thing a day
And Chase Charlie Donnelly is focusing on keeping his one foot in front of the other. Every step, very mile, every day is a step towards freedom from his Darling Cage.
He urges Elizabeth Jones to do the same. Focus on just wants in front of you and keep moving.
I focused on one good thing instead of all the messed-up stuff.” One small thing.
Each day that passed was one day closer to my release. No cage is forever, Beth. I tried to find one small thing that I could be grateful for each day,
I fell in love with Chase. His calm, his self flagellation, should’ve annoyed me, but it showed me his maturity. His selfless love for Beth is just swoonworthy. Despite his suffering, he refuses to cower down or put Beth in harm’s way
“You waiting for me is the one small thing that will keep me going.”
To say that this story is profound is an understatement . It’s a rule book by which to live through a disaster, if it strikes your life unfortunately. It teaches that forgiveness and acceptance is bigger than all prejudices combined. It shows us the way out of grief and onto the path of healing.
Easier said than done, but who said life was easy anyway!
I jumped in the book blind and emerged red, puffy eyed but smiling through the pain. And there is a lot of pain in it.the town of Darling is so messed up and broken due to the accident that it witnesses, you couldn’t put it back together even if you wanted to. Running away to another country or sticking there and stewing in your angry juices don’t work out in the long run. Getting away and starting fresh might. And THAT’S what this book shows how to.
Contrary to my biased expectations, I enjoyed reading it immensely. I was invested in Chase & Beth. this book was excellently told, beautifully penned. My first book by the duo, certainly not the last
**On a footnote, if the world was full of dogs, I’d be the happiest. Cause they’re non judgemental!