One Small Thing

By: Erin Watt

Narrated by: Charlotte North

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…

Beth’s life hasn’t been the same since her sister died. Her parents try to lock her down, believing they can 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.

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!

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.

Contains language and sensitive topics (rape, death)

I’m writing this review because on my audible wish list would be a way to know if a book contains language and certain sensitive themes in order to make informed book choices. I know I can find that info elsewhere but how cool would it be to have that option right in the app?!

Ok, now onto the audio book review: 1. Charlotte North is an amazing narrator! It’s great to be able to settle into a narrators tone and cadence right from the start.
2. The Erin Watt did a great job of creating problems and relationships for her characters that didn’t have simple solutions. It made me think about how I’d handle similar situations.
3. All in all, a good listen. Just be aware that there is a lot of language and sensitive themes including death.

True heroes with perfect flaws that make them REAL

I love romance and I end up reading a lot of fluffy stuff with no real grit and the characters tend to be either perfect or terrible but not very real. This author has surprised me. I’ve read two of her books and both times I was really on a roller coaster with the characters. I felt like they were making bad choices at times but I also understood that they were making choices that someone in their situation might make in real life. Like real humans - their thoughts were clouded by emotions.

I really loved going on this journey of self discovery and grief and love. I felt like the storyline could have gone really wrong with this young girl falling in love with someone who made a choice that ended her sister’s life. But the author pulled it off. I found it very believable that they would both be grieving and connect over it in an odd and unexpected way. Like no one else could understand…except them. I really bought the whole story. I only wished for a little more time with the two characters actually being together but what I did get was so good!

I also found this story to cover sex in a very tactful way. It wasn’t graphic but it was an important part of the story.

I appreciated how the main character experienced the consequences of all of her bad rebellious teenage choices. The author did a good job of creating a relationship between the main character and her parents in which she is making bad choices but we as the reader completely understand why. And yet we also see the good in her very overprotective parents in the end. Because of her realistic inner struggle with being controlled, and her complex struggles with her parents, I felt like this is actually a really healthy story for an older teen.

YA Romance

Not pure love, not as spicy as an adult romance. Themes that may be triggering. Really engaging angsty & real drama.

Unbelievable story line, written well

If you are a fan of Erin Watt, you will be a fan of this book. While many of the aspects of the story would never happen in the real world, you very quickly move past the improbable parts to root for the main characters. At times, the main character, Beth appears a little spoiled and immature, but the authors do a good job of getting you back in her corner.