BONUS REVIEW: One Thing I Know by Kara Isaac

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Howard Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary


Lucas Grant has a sports radio show in Madison , Wisconsin. And while he’d love to spend the show talking Badgers, Brewers and Packers, his listeners have other plans. Lucas is single and straight-talking. And he is plagued by women calling his show to ask for relationship advice.

Rachel Somers is the personal assistant to relationship guru, Dr. Donna Somerville, at least on paper. In reality, though, Rachel writes the best-selling books, and her aunt Donna is the face of “Dr. Donna.” Most of the time. But every once in a while, if there’s a scheduling issue, Rachel will fill in for Donna on radio programs. Like Lucas’.

When Lucas joins Dr. Donna for a book tour titled Feelings and Football, it’s a chance for his career to grow. In fact, he gets a job offer that would really help out Lucas’ whole family. But the catch is that he has to dig into Dr. Donna’s history and expose any secrets he finds. Lucas has no patience for lies and deception, so he’s okay with the idea of digging for the truth. Plus everything with Donna seems on the up and up. But Rachel is growing more uncomfortable with all the deception about her role in the brand. And she’s not sure how people will feel when the truth finally comes out, especially how Lucas will feel.

Review


The plot for this book reads like a typical Hallmark movie. The reader knows going in that it’s all going to fall apart about ¾ of the way through. It’s just a matter of how it falls apart and what pieces are irreparably damaged in the end.

One Thing I Know delivered everything I expected and one thing I didn’t. The main characters were terrific. I completely understood how each of them got to where they did in the whole Dr. Donna situation.  The romance built up at just the right pace, and then it all came crashing down about the time I was expecting as well. I was not expecting the faith elements to the story, but they were handled so nicely. I struggle sometimes with books that try to wedge faith into places where it doesn’t fit or where the “message” might as well have neon lights around it. But this has a nice, light touch. It fits. It raises real questions. Characters who initially aren’t interested give faith a try when they’ve run out of options. And there’s no fake, miraculous resolution or conversion. It all just fits the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and highly recommend it to romance fans as well as fans of “women’s fiction” or Christian fiction.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥