"Heart-warming and inspiring. A truly phenomenal story."
Title: One
Genre: YA Contemporary / Verse
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: August 26th 2015
Page Number: 448
Rating: 5/5
Grace and Tippi are twins – conjoined twins.
And their lives are about to change.
No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world – a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?
But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined…
I'm not entirely sure how I am meant to express my love for this story into words. I finished this life changing novel this morning and I already want to pick it back up and reread it in its entirety. I first heard of this novel from Amber at themilelongbookshelf. She loved it and said it was easily one of her favourites, so I looked into the synopsis and found myself being completely interested in it.
When it arrived in the post, I knew that I wanted to pick it up then and there. I started it the morning after and finished it within three hours, with tears running down my face and a pack of tissues in my hand. I knew right then that this book had become not only my favourite book of the year, but one of my all time favourite books. It's not just beautifully written, but it has extremely diverse, yet relatable characters. Grace and Tippi may be conjoined, but their outlook on life - that their life isn't as bad as others - was really fresh in YA. They didn't mope around or let their situation hinder them, they lived life as best as possible, and that attitude really adapted onto myself.
And it's not just Tippi and Grace that you grow to love. You begin to understand every character, and how Tippi and Grace affect their life. It reminded me of Wonder by R J Palacio. How August's disability didn't hinder their lives, but enhanced it, and that's what Grace and Tippi did for those around them. They opened their minds to something else, something different. And I loved seeing that take place because it made it real.
There are so many twists and turns in the book, but I don't want to spoil anyone on what happens, however, I will say, like Amber said to me "Have a box of tissues on hand, because you'll need them".
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