When Ruby first met Ethan, she had just finished her college degree and was spending the summer at home before taking a job at an advertising firm in New York City. She was the daughter of one of the city's most successful realtors, and her family name and personal ambition were a little daunting to Ethan, a bartender biding his time until he took over his father's garage. Sure, he was learning a little about computers and spent some time with a friend working on a chess game app, but mostly he was a townie who was happy where he was in life.
But he found Ruby's eyes enchanting. And Ruby found Ethan's smile captivating. The rest, they say, is history. A beautiful summer spent together turned into fall, when Ruby moved to the city to start the rest of her life. The hectic pace of her new job, the chaos of life in the city, combined with the distance between them did permanent damage to their relationship, and they both moved on. Alone.
Now Ruby is a smart, successful, beautiful woman married to her job, living the life of a singleton in New York City. And Ethan went from cute bartender to multi-millionaire and creator of one of the tech world's most successful networking sites. And let's not forget, one of the most appealing bachelors around. And they're about to meet up again, after 10 years apart, at her sister's Scottish wedding. Sounds like the basis for a good romantic comedy. Or for the new novel The One That Got Away, based on Jane Austen's Persuasion.
Author Melissa Pimentel brings together a cast of colorful characters for her story of young lovers torn apart. The story is very modern, but those hints of Austen come through over and over as Ruby and Ethan try to figure out their feelings for each other. There is pride. There is prejudice. There is sense. There is sensibility. The whole gamut of Austenness can be found in this story, and it brings to mind all the reasons that we love her so much. Pimentel has written a charming tale that weaves together the classic and the contemporary, the British and the the American, and the romantic and the comedy. Highly recommended for fans of movies like The Wedding Date, Gwyneth Paltrow's Emma, and Kiera Knightley's Pride and Prejudice.
Galleys for The One That Got Away were provided by St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.