Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The One by John Marrs

31 reviews

monique1316's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0


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read_with_loren's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75


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effy's review against another edition

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4.25

I found it a little difficult to get into this book at first because there are quite a few POVs and they all follow very different narratives that don't really cross-over. Once I got a handle on each storyline and the narratives connected with them, I really started to enjoy this book and was really, really hooked.

The multiple POVs did a really good job of building tension and keeping me itching to pick this book up. They were also really good at showing a variety of scenarios where Match Your DNA could impact people's lives.

I quite enjoyed that a number of the plotlines seemed somewhat open endings but in a way that felt like the natural conclusion to their stories, if that makes sense? The twist
that the system was hacked to create deliberate mismatches throws the rest of the story into an interesting light and I enjoyed that it was up to the reader to decide who were genuine matches.

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leebeeloves's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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vereadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Rating ★★★★☆

“If you’ve got the opportunity to love someone as much as they love you, then grab it with both hands and hold on to it for dear life.”

This is my third book on my journey to read 5 books to see if I can trust gabby tastes. A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner the one you are genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…



“We have roughly 100 trillion cells in our bodies and inside each of them are two metres of DNA – if you unravelled them all, they’d stretch to the sun and back a hundred times.”

Sometimes a book catches my attention because it has a good concept. But it isn't well executed. That was my fear with this book. However, John Marrs manages to execute this concept very well.


The book seems like a collection of short stories surrounding the same theme: What if a DNA test could tell you who your soulmate is?

“It’s that feeling you don’t get when you’re around anyone else, like nobody in the world matters when you’re in their company. Like you and them are this one, solitary...thing... And no matter what crap the world throws at you, you can get through it because you have them on your side.”

The book intersperses 5 points of view that show us how this DNA test affects the lives of each of the characters, generating different and unique stories that explore all the what if...

“What if it turns out our DNA doesn’t Match?” “Then we’ll be mindful that maybe we’ll need to put more effort into our relationship. Like John Lennon said, ‘All You Need Is Love.’” “Yes, but he also said, ‘I Am The Walrus,’ so let’s not hold too much credence to his pearls of wisdom.”

The One explores the negative side of science and technology applied to relationships in the best Black Mirror style. If you have any experience with this tv show, you will know that the endings are not exactly happy.


Some points of view caught me from the beginning, and others gained strength towards the end. But each story left me thinking about how science and technology affect our way of interacting and relating.

“Maybe when you took it back to basics, that’s what love really was: just being there for someone when the sun rises and sets.”

An engaging psychological thriller with short chapters that favor reading fluency and brings to the table discussions about technology, love, relationships, and especially one of the moral dilemmas of science: Is it okay to play God?



Can I trust gabby tastes on thrillers?

Rock Paper Scissors ★★★☆☆
The Silent Patient ★★★★ ½
The One ★★★★☆ 

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tenasadie's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25


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bethsbooketlist's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 -  LOVED LOVED LOVED !!! This was a local book club read and I wish I could be at the chat to discuss because wow. Just wow. It was a thriller with so many twists and turns - I didn't expect how the story was going to play out. A really cool concept that I haven't read before. There was a host of characters that we follow with completely different stories, and every time their chapter ended I couldn't wait to return and see where their story went next. There was no character I didn't enjoy following.

The writing was maybe not the most literary  but it really didn't matter. Every page had me gripped hook, line and sinker. Definitely reading more of this author in the future 


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kara_v's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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atlas_shruggs's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Another decidedly OK book for this year. The plot was decent, I'll give it that, and some of the characters were pretty interesting. The Novum was cool, with the whole DNA Matching, but I just didn't feel particularly invested in any of the characters and their stories. In the beginning I found Christopher's chapters to be the most entertaining, but during the end I was looking forward to Nick's chapters more than anything. I kind of felt like this book was just five books all mashed together, since they didn't really overlap at all, and some of them felt way too different from the other ones. If you made me read one of Jade's chapters and then one of Christopher's and told me they were from the same book, I would think you were lying. I'm not sure if this is because I'm not used to reading adult thrillers, but I had to make an index of the characters and their main plot points so I wouldn't get too confused.
Over all I think I just didn't really mesh with the writing style, so it was pretty average for me.
Also like, all the trigger warnings for this book, jesus. 

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rooroo_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book took me in directions that I was never expecting. It was dark, it was twisted, and it was just so darn good. I loved that there were so many perspectives being followed to show the real impact of the Match Your DNA test, and the way that everyone was so different gave it dimension. At first, I really hated that we got such short chapters for everyone and that the chapter would end right as something was happening, but towards the middle and end of the book I started to appreciate the anticipation that the shorter chapters were able to create, so the next time we met that particular character there was a bigger impact from whatever was happening.

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