Review by Alex- One Lonely Degree

One Lonely Degree by C.K. Kelly Martin

Anything is possible. . . .

Finn has always felt out of place, but suddenly her world is unraveling. It started with The Party. And Adam Porter. And the night in September that changed everything. The only person who knows about that night is Audrey-Finn's best friend, her witness to everything, and the one person Finn trusts implicitly. So when Finn's childhood friend Jersy moves back to town-reckless, beautiful Jersy, all lips and eyes and hair so soft you'd want to dip your fingers into it if you weren't careful-Finn gives her blessing for Audrey to date him. How could she possibly say no to Audrey? With Audrey gone for the summer, though, Finn finds herself spending more and more time with Jersy, and for the first time in her life, something feels right. But Finn can't be the girl who does this to her best friend . . . can she?

One Lonely Degree is C. K. Kelly Martin's second novel, the first being the highly praised I Know It's Over, which I reviewed here. I Know It's Over was actually the first review I ever did on this blog. Gosh, how time flies.

I felt that One Lonely Degree is a mix between Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti. But Speak is much more powerful. One Lonely Degree is mostly the cute, light, summer read that while realistic, doesn't have much deeper meaning. It's straight forward.

Audrey likes Jersy. Finn likes Jersy. Finn is too broken up from her "encounter" with Adam Porter to be able to do anything with Jersy. So Finn gives her blessing to Audrey and Jersy, who for months, date with the excitement from hiding from Audrey's parents keeping them strong. But when Audrey is sent away for the summer after being caught with Jersy... Finn is there with Jersy. And you can guess what happens.

I guess the good thing about that book is that it's fast. The book takes place over several months, but lots of months are simply skimmed through, until summer comes along, so it feels much faster. I was able to breeze through this book, easy, done, whatever.

Some characters, I like. I found Finn relate-able, but also annoying at times. While the whole Adam Porter incident is traumatizing, I found how Finn reacts to it weak, and really, just aggravating. I did like to read about Finn's growth throughout the novel though. She starts out completely dependent on Audrey, but slowly opens up and is able to make new friends. She gets a job. Somewhat grows a spine. Audrey is a bit of a drama queen. Jersy, actually, contrary to others, was probably my favourite character. While he doesn't always do the right thing, he's brave and foolhardy.

The ending was a bit of a surprise. In some ways. It's a bit of your typical ending, but not. I think. I don't know. I liked the ending and how everything wrapped up. It wasn't perfect, but it was realistic and worked well.

The thing with One Lonely Degree, it that it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's got the realistic characters, the simple romantic plot, the uncomplicated and smooth writing. But it's... average. If you want to read this sort of book, go ahead. You may love One Lonely Degree. I guess I was hoping for more since I Know It's Over handles a difficult topic. One Lonely Degree doesn't. Nonetheless, 4/6. It's enjoyable and fast.













Oh, and I apologize for this crap review. It's been... a week since I read the book, and that means I have very little memory of it. My memory's bad like that.