The One That I Want

by Allison Winn Scotch

Tilly Farmer is thirty-two years old and has the perfect life she always dreamed of: married to her high school sweetheart, working as a guidance counselor in her hometown, trying for a baby. Perfect. 

In fact, on the surface you might never know how tough things used to be. At seventeen, Tilly lost her mother to cancer, her father drowned his grief in alcohol, and she played parent to her two younger sisters more often than being a kid herself. Still Tilly never let tragedy overtake her belief that hard work and good cheer could solve any problem. Of course she’s also spent a lifetime plastering a smile on her face and putting everyone else’s problems ahead of her own.

But that relentless happiness has served her well—her sisters are grown and content, her dad is ten years sober, and she’s helping her students achieve all their dreams while she and her husband, Tyler, start a family. A perfect life indeed.

Then one sweltering afternoon at the local fair, everything changes. Tilly wanders into the fortune teller’s tent and is greeted by an old childhood friend, now a psychic, who offers her more than just a reading. “I’m giving you the gift of clarity,” her friend says. “It’s what I always thought you needed.” And soon enough, Tilly starts seeing things: her father relapsing, staggering out of a bar with his car keys in hand; Tyler uprooting their happy, stable life, a packed U-Haul in their driveway; and even more disturbing, these visions start coming true. Suddenly Tilly’s perfect life, so meticulously mapped out, seems to be crumbling around her. And she’s not sure what’s more frightening: that she’s begun to see the future or what the future holds . . . 

As Tilly furiously races to keep up with—and hopefully change—her destiny, she faces the question: Which is the life she wants? The one she’s carefully nursed for decades, or the one she never considered possible?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Adult Fiction, Romance, Womens Fiction, Adult, Audiobook

273 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

I'm the bestselling author of eight novels including, CLEO MCDOUGAL REGRETS NOTHING, IN TWENTY YEARS and TIME OF MY LIFE, currently in development at Sony. My latest book, THE REWIND, will be released in Nov 2022 by Berkley Books.

As an author, I know how brutal reviews can be, so I'll only post about books I've enjoyed. (Just in case you're wondering why all of my reviews are positive!)

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this, so I'm allowed to say that I love it, right? :)

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I should have known when the reviews were written by People Magazine and Cosmopolitan that ihs book was bound to be a little "fluffy". Who knew that such literature was possible? Sadly, though, I read the whole darn thing. Why? Because the author was good at creating a realistic character. This book is a Lifetime movie. It's interesting while you're reading; you know you should be doing something more productive but can't help yourself, and then when it's over you think..."Wow, I can't believe I just read that!" But....if you ever wanted to know what happened to the high school fluffhead that just never had a clue, this might help you get a sense of not only what her life is like now, but why she was a fluffhead in the first place. Sympathy for the fluffheads! The draw? The protagonist is a 32 year old high school teacher...or guidance counselor. I felt I had to read it to make sure I wasn't insane. But, what separates me from this teacher is...she is in the high school because she wants to relive the high school experience. You teachers know the type....these are the teachers that sign up for every last student activity and are just too damn happy to spend every waking hour at the school. Now, I know, they have issues too. So, there you go. A voyeuristic novel that gives you insight to the woman you really can't stand. And that, my darlings, makes it worth the two hour read.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst. Editing. Ever. If I didn't know better, I would say that Scotch must have published this book in her basement and didn't let a single other person touch it until it hit the bookstore shelves. Tyler calls to say he's coming home on Sunday. On Saturday, Tilly is preparing for his arrival that night. Tyler drops Tilly off at work, but later is watching basketball when Tilly unlocks the door that night. Lord knows how she got home. My favorite was when Susanna leaves the kids with her parents in the morning, picks them up early from her ex-husband's house the next morning, but her ex-husband doesn't answer his phone later because he's hung over. Wait, so at some point, the kids were reshuffled but it didn't stop the guys from getting drunk and then the mom came over and picked them up without waking their dad??? Really??? Oh, and comparing tears rolling out of Tyler's eyes like sperm breaking free? GROSS! Because who doesn't want to picture sperm on their husband's face? Oh wait...

The only good thing about this book (and what saves it from a one-star rating) is the plot. I love the idea, however outlandish, of being able to see the future. That's pretty cool, even if you can't fix it. The reinvention and all that, eh, it's in every chick lit book these days. I did like the mystic aspect and for that, I give this book two stars. I'm not rushing to pick up any of Scotch's forthcoming books ever, but this one had a little saving grace in the plot.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this ARC from Crown Publishing's "Read It Forward" program. I requested it thinking that it would be something of a late-bloomer's coming of age story, which I love because as much as I love teen coming of age stories, it seems to me that the ones with adults finding themselves pack a little bit more of a punch and a bit of a deeper meaning. This story both was and wasn't what I'd thought and expected.

Tilly Farmer is stuck in a rut and doesn't even know it. She's 32 and describes her life as "perfect". She's lived in one town all of her life, loved one man all of her life, and her only goals are 1) to have a baby, 2) to stay perfectly happy in the same way as she is now, and 3) to plan prom. Again.

Until Tilly comes into contact with a fortune-teller who gives her the gift of "clarity", and soon afterward Tilly's life starts to fall apart around her.

This "clarity" is my main issue with the book. It's misleading. I felt misled. Tilly has created her own little perfect worldview and refuses to see things as they really are, deluding herself into thinking that the status quo is perfectly fine, and can't understand why others may not like it. She's a guidance counseller who doesn't understand why her students would want to move out and away from what she sees as the perfect town which allows for the perfect life. So I'd expected the "clarity" to give her insight into other people's perceptions and feelings, but instead it was more of a half-hint glimpse of the future that's coming without any context at all. I actually think that this part could have been switched to simple dreams, or a fortune-telling or removed altogether and the story wouldn't have suffered.

I couldn't identify with Tilly, and so I didn't really care what happened to her. I liked the secondary characters a LOT more than I liked her. At least they knew who they were and didn't delude themselves completely. The story didn't feel finished to me. I don't think that Tilly really came full circle and learned who she was. It seemed more to me like she just swapped one perfection-substitute for another.

I won't talk too much about the editing, because this was an uncorrected ARC, but I do want to mention one thing that bugged me - the author's almost melodramatic use of the word "broken" that Tilly uses to describe everything that isn't "perfect". Her friend is depressed because her husband was caught fooling around with his co-worker, she's broken. The townspeople have secrets, they're all broken, and the town's broken. It just seemed ridiculous to me to use that word for such mundane everyday stuff. True, you might feel broken when your life falls apart, but "broken" is so dramatic a word that it should be used sparingly when it fits, not for every little thing that goes wrong.

Anyway... This was an OK read. I think that it could have used a bit more fleshing out and plumping up of the characters, especially the main, but it wasn't bad.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange book. I wanted to like it, and it really grabbed me in the beginning, but the writing got to me after a while - many strange similes and metaphors and occasionally a really poor word choice (that word, I do not think it means what you think it does). The protagonist seems to blame a mystical event at the hands of a pseudo-fortune teller for all her troubles, and yet it is not a catalyst at all: it merely lets her see the truth of what's already going on around her. Also, it was very difficult for me to empathize with her insistence on everyone staying where they are and keeping everything frozen in time and place. At the end, she "learns" her lesson, but you don't see that as a gradual process - suddenly she just seems to be enlightened (and she tells us all about it, instead of our seeing it in action - show, don't tell!). In short, I think this book needs some serious heavy-duty editorial work.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I both liked and disliked The One That I Want. The storyline was interesting and I enjoyed the magical realism aspect of it, but for some reason I just could not connect with Tilly's character.
I hate to sound nitpicky, but one thing that bothered me was the language in the story, at times it felt uncalled for and distracting. Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one to drop the 'F' bomb in conversation, but in this story it just distracted me. It felt like it was overdone in some of the conversations. I know Tilly was mad with the situation but I'd rather have seen her less on the defense.

There is a plot twist and the end that I thought was good also. All in all, this was an okay read for me. I do recommend it, others might love it. Though I didn't particularly love this book, I would definitely read Allison Winn Scotch again.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with rating this book. Truth, it's a 2.5 star read. Even as I type, I've switched the rating between 2 and 3 stars, trying desperately to find the rating most appropriate for this book that was an odd mix of enjoyment and irritation. But, while it was fast and easy to read, I disliked the main character beginning to end...my dislike lessened only in the smallest measures by her supposed "growth." But is it truly growth when the main character simply shifts the focus of her myopic attention?

We start with Tilly, as cookie-cutter a hometown cheerleader turned guidance counselor as she can be, reliving her high school glories via her students and obsessing on the perfection of her life married to her high school sweetheart. Why would anyone think her life less than perfect? (Yes, inject as much sarcasm as you like.)

When, at the fair, she runs into her old childhood BFF turned fortune-teller (why not, right?), she is granted the gift of "clarity" and the ability to see into the future. This is the most interesting part of the novel, btw. And she proceeds to do NOTHING with this gift until the very end when she instigates a vision in order to locate her drunk sister in the snow. We are granted a handful of "future scenes" via this new-found ability which offer clues of obvious future events that Tilly is somehow clueless enough to neither guess at nor take proper action on.

No, I take that back. She uses at least one of those scenes to take proper stalker action cutting her hair and dressing up to fit the image of new love interest Eli's "date" at the prom. I mean is no one else troubled by the fact that Tilly's "growth" involves the desperate act of "forcing" fate by deliberately mimicking a woman that might not be her at all?

In the end, Tilly transitions from shallow happy cheerleader/counselor to...something not much better, a shallow happy cheerleader/counselor willing to take a vacation and maybe go back to school to learn more about her rediscovered photography hobby. Oh yeah, and maybe she doesn't need to keep her husband trapped in a miserable hometown marriage...but is she truly setting him free? Or is it just that she's realized he snores and is annoying in bed? Whatever will she do if it turns out Eli has sleep apnea?

I would say the book was disappointing except that it never built itself up to the point where I expected a whole lot. It delivered only what its beginning promised...a shallow read of a shallow main character. Any hint of depth is glossed over by time and the steady focus only on herself.

What enjoyment I had was in large part due to schadenfreude as we watch this shallow woman undone by ordinary and often not-so-terrible problems. Her husband has hit middle age and has realized some regrets. Her father has relapsed with his drinking problem. She isn't pregnant after a couple months of trying. Yeah, not fun. But not the end of the world. And some of her troubles might have resolved with less angst had she taken that gift of "clarity" and worked on expanding her view of self and others prior to the implosion of her life (which, given she got a "preview" provokes even less sympathy).

So...to borrow a phrase from my nieces...I say meh.

So, 2.5 stars...rounded down for the stalker resolution and lack of depth.

[Anna Travers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if this deserved 4 stars but it was an easy read

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but I didn't get very far into it.

Here's a sentence from the first page: "And now, once again, it's July, one school year behind us, another on the horizon, the wave pulling out the grads, the tide washing in the new ones, and just as I have done the past five years, I am planning prom."

This sentence is on page 3: "Tyler, my husband, tells me to give it up, to stop pouring so much of myself into these kids, into this life inside the halls of Westlake High, and I suppose that he's partly right: maybe I'm a little too close, too tied up in my alma mater, but what the hell."

I'm wondering who the hell edited this book because there is a plethora of sentences like the ones above. I became annoyed very quickly. I gave up because I couldn't find the story for all the commas.

It got two stars because the cover was fabulous.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Random find on the mail library display this week. Thought I'd give it a go (I like the cover) and so far so great! Love it!
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I absolutely loved this book. It's a super light fiction story about an early 30ish lady who is content living her small life in her small town and being perfectly satisfied. She goes to a town carnival and runs in to someone from the past who has a fortune telling tent and the lady passes on the gift of 'clarity'. Shortly after, her perfect content life begins to show the wear and tear at the seams of each relationship and her gift of clarity enables her to move on with her life and find out who she is on her own (one of my favorite themes). LOVE IT!

[Kerry Torgusen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute light read, exactly what I needed at the moment

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh..

Ok so it wasn't TERRIBLE. I liked everyone, but this has been on my TBR for like 13 years and I probably could have skipped it!

[Sarah Hetherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t have many thoughts on it. Not that much happens, but it’s not boring. I wouldn’t really recommend it, yet I also wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clarity.

Isn’t it something we’ve all wished for at some point in our lives? Clarity in regard to a decision we must make, a choice we’ve already made, or perhaps something else entirely – that insight we crave, the answers to the questions we may not have even realized we had. In a way, it’s a monumental theme that can tie everyone together, that common thread that can be interwoven between people, even when the idea of clarity means something unique for each person. It’s also one of the main messages in Allison’s new book The One That I Want, which I absolutely loved.

Allison has an incredible propensity for crafting novels that not only pull you into the story, but also make you relate it to your own life, sometimes without even thinking twice. I would be reading a scene in TOTIW, entirely absorbed by the characters’ world, when I’d suddenly find myself thinking about how a choice Tilly made could apply to one I have – or haven’t – made myself. And it’s not just Tilly who’s so relatable. It’s all of the characters. They’re human, they’re real, they’re images of who we are as people. And, the mark of a truly talented author, it’s easy to relate to parts of almost every character. That’s one of the things that intrigued me the most about this novel. The characters paint a picture that goes all the way across the spectrum. Many of them are different in important ways, yet I found myself both understanding and relating to so many of them.

There’s Tilly, the small town girl who let some of her big dreams fall by the wayside. There’s her husband Tyler, who has done the same … until now. There’s her sister Darcy, who learns that sometimes those big dreams, the ones you thought were going to take you to new places, end up bringing you right back where you belong. There’s her advisee CJ, a high school senior whose perspective is imbued with hope and light. That’s just a sampling of the diverse characters who Allison portrays with such ease. She has the ability to make us understand her characters’ motivations, even when we don’t agree with their decisions. And, as always, her book tells a story that resonates long after the final page is read. The ideas remain, the implications for our own lives resound in our minds as we consider not only the characters’ journeys, but also our own.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

From My Blog....

Well-written and beautifully descriptive, The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scott is a novel about happiness, a simple word, yet difficult to obtain. I struggled in the beginning thinking I was about to read another clichéd (a baby will make Tilly's good life perfect), and at times unrealistic (the friend turned psychic), novel. Thankfully my earliest judgments were proven entirely incorrect. Yes Tilly does gain insight, rather the gift of clarity, from her classmate Ashley Simmons, and yes she would like to have a baby, but there the comparison ends. The One That I Want is an astonishingly deep look at the many facets and complications life offers on a daily basis. Scott introduces the readers to a diverse cast of characters, each one with their own strengths and weaknesses, family problems, marital issues, or the regular personal issues. The reader will quickly become absorbed into the lives of Tilly, Darcy, Susanna, Luanne, and Ashley and the small town of Westlake and the secrets kept and lessons learned. The One That I Want is a delightfully fresh and witty novel which looks at some fairly complex life issues all the while Scott reminds the reader, "sometimes we are all a little stuck". I highly recommend The One That I Want to anyone looking for a wonderful book to read with powerful messages of love, family, hope and happiness despite the odds.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So if you were given the power to see the future of your life, would you think it was a gift or a curse? Tilly thinks she has the perfect life: she lives in her hometown, is married her high school sweetheart (and is trying for a baby), and works as a guidance counselor for her old high school. She is happy and content as a clam—or so she thinks until she is struck with a curse where she can see into the future and is horrified by what appears. How can this be? She loves her life and can’t imagine life any other way. As Tilly navigates around her feelings and tries to understand why everything is falling apart, she soon discovers that there just might be life somewhere else, and it might even be better. And the ending was a surprise (to me anyway).

I loved this and even though it might appear to be "chick lit", and while it will appeal to young women, it addresses so many universal issues that all women will enjoy it, and maybe even a few men. I also would recommend this for women's book groups as there is much fodder for discussion.

I also loved her previous book THE TIME OF MY LIFE, which appeared on the library's Best Books of 2008.

[Marie desJardins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I admit I haven't yet finished this book, and I promise that if and when I do finish, if my opinion has changed, I'll update the review. But 50 pages in, I'm pretty sure I won't change my mind.Tilly is an annoying, self-absorbed, stuck-in-the-past, still-organizing-her-high-school's-prom-as-a-guidance-counselor caricature of a can't-grow-up person. Then an old friend who has become some kind of psychic magics her somehow, with the Gift of Clarity, and then she starts to resent the things she's done to help others, dislike her stuck-in-her-ways life, be irritated by her self-absorbed husband. She's annoying before the Gift of Clarity, and annoying after the Gift of Clarity, and I find the very idea of the laying-on-of-hands Gift of Clarity to be ridiculous anyway.

I'm not sure I can bring myself to care enough about Tilly or her stupid decision about which high school musical to put on for long enough to finish the book. But if I do, and somewhere along the way it becomes more worthwhile, I'll keep you posted.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of this book. I love Allison Winn Scotch and her books just keep getting better and better. In her new book, Tilly, a guidance counselor, is suddenly given the gift of clarity. By looking at photos, she gets visions that allow her to see into the future. The only problem is the future doesn't look that rosy. Why is her husband attempting to move them across the country and why is the life that she once believed to be perfect, suddenly in upheaval. Although the premise of seeing into the future may sound implausible, Scotch writes the book in such a way that women can relate to Tilly's journey as she questions her life choices. Anyone who has ever looked at their life and wondered what would have happened had they taken a different path, will enjoy reading about Tilly, her husband, friends and family. I didn't want this book to end!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tilly is 32, and trying for a baby with her beloved husband, while working at a great job and living in the town she grew up in. It's a wonderful life, except it isn't. A fortune teller at the school fair - who is a former friend of Tilly's - gives her a gift, the gift of clarity. And suddenly Tilly is having "flash-forwards" to events that haven't happened yet, but are not things that figure in her perfecdt life.

Chick lit, or hen lit, call it what you will, this is a woman's novel about growing up and making choices. It's the third novel I've read in a row set in a smallish American town, where who you were in High school defines the rest of your life - or how you see yourself maybe.

It's an enjoyable read, with a predicatable ending but still enough revelations and a few loose ends to keep the reader interested.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word, but I really didn't like it. Rarely do I come across a book that I do not like, but this one was definitely up there...I don't think I've disliked a book this much since Curtis Sittenfield's PREP. It was miserable and predictable. Also, I'm all about the details, so it really annoyed me when in the beginning of one chapter she was dropped off, and by the end of the chapter, just a few hours later she was getting in her car in the parking lot and driving home. Trivial, I know, but it irks me. AND the author is guilty of using the word "indelible" way too many times. If you're looking for a great read...keep looking.

[CLM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book because it contained lots of elements I usually like: three sisters, good friends, somewhat of a school setting, etc. However, the heroine was so oblivious and smug (albeit that was the point), her husband was such an idiot, the misery was unending, her ultimate solution was absurd (go to graduate school in photography? how is that going to support you, Tillie?), and I found it all very improbable. Her harping on how broken she and everyone else in sight were became quite annoying. If I had had anything else to listen to while driving back and forth to Cape Cod, I would certainly not have finished this, although I liked several of the author's earlier books.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book, sadly. I loved her first two books and maybe had too high expectations. I found the characters not very likeable so I had no investment in them. Tilly is so immature, living in her high school days, and her marriage suffers since she seems to expect her husband to stay like he was in high school also. I had to force myself to finish this book and only did because I spent so much money on it!
I wrote a review on BN.com that was unfavorable and it is not there. Hmmm.

[Talia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tilly is a 30-something who seems to have the perfect life: her loving husband who was her high school sweetheart, a great job at her old high school, and plans of a baby in the future. But after a meeting with an old friend, Tilly finds herself going into trances where she sees the future, and she is shaken by what she sees. Soon, cracks begin to appear in Tilly’s perfect life, and she wonders which life she really wants, the one falling before her, or the life she hadn’t planned for.

Booooooring. I was very disappointed with this story, especially after I liked “Time of My Life”.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted this book when it first came out, but I refused to spend the hardcover price. The colors of the cover were so pretty, that once I again, I judged a book by its cover but knew I needed to wait until I could read it for free. This time I was not disappointed- cute little story about life and that sometimes what you want is not what you need or is at least beyond your control. There were moments that touched my younger self as I read about the boy who refused to grow up (I had several of them in my life before I met my husband). Overall, a quick read and I enjoyed it.

[Tenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm struggling writing this review because I can't quite tell why I just liked this book and didn't love it. Was it because the transformation of the character was overnight? Was it that the whole concept was just...odd?

The easiest thing may be to say that this was may just fall into the "meh" category...I didn't mind reading it but I wasn't enjoying every minute of it!

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book free as a "Read it Forward" book. It received pretty good reviews, so I thought it would be alright. I got halfway through and couldn't handle the swearing in it any longer. The story was just okay and it certainly was not good enough to warrant me finishing the book. I admit I was rather disappointed.

[Elixxir · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you and the main character are in a fight from the first page for being too annoying to live, the book is probably not going to end well for you. It surprisingly was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and that is a testament to the writer's skill. Maybe next time she'll write about someone I don't feel the need to kick in the shins thoughout the entire story?

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's just say I felt Sarah's desires to play editor stronger than I ever had.

It just didn't work for me.

I liked the cover...although I'm not sure how it fits with this book.

I wouldn't be opposed to reading "Time of My Life"...just not right now.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this three stars but it was just too fluffy and the concept of the weird "spells" from looking at photographs wasn't believable. There wasn't anything special that set this story apart from others in the genre.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine thinking your life is just what you want. You go to a fair and have your fortune told by a old high school classmate. All of a sudden you have visions of the future and they come true. Are you truly as happy as you think you are? I liked this book.