one moment

one moment
kristina mcbride
ya/romance
egmont usa
published 2012

This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie's life.  Now it's the one she'd do anything to forget.

Maggie remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party.  She remembers climbing the trail with her perfect boyfriend, Joey.  She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her.  So why can't she remember what happened in the moment before they were suppose to dive?  Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below - dead?

As Maggie's memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense.  Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party?  Where did he go after taking her home?  And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?

The beginning of this book was so promising. Although I don't know what I expected realistically.  There are places in the book where the writing kind of comes off as forced.  As if the writer wasn't exactly sure how teenagers act so she just blurted something out.  But that's not my biggest issue with the book.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

I cannot believe that Adam finds Maggie crouched down at the top of the cliff, memory repressed because she found out HER BOYFRIEND WAS CHEATING ON HER.

Ugh.  That's beyond pathetic.  It all boils down to this:  She discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her at the most inopportune time, basically kills him (albeit accidentally), represses the memory of what she discovered, mourns his loss as if they were married for 50 years, finds out he's an asshole but ignores it, finally stops ignoring it, remembers what she forgot and falls in love with another guy.

Maybe I could believe the whole amnesia thing.  I mean, she's a teenager and they're prone to hysterics, right?  When you're a teenager you feel everything so much.  Every teenager is basically emo.  But then after all that nonsense she falls right in love with her best guy friend, her boyfriend's best friend and happy ever after.  I wanted to slap Maggie silly.

It was a disappointment all around.  Maggie was pathetic and self-centered.  Her friends were clueless and/or backstabbers and her boyfriend was a class-a asshole.  I liked no one.