One Way or Another by Kara McDowell Published by Scholastic Press
Published: October 6, 2020
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Sliding Doors meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before in a sweet, smart holiday romance about a girl who decides to stop letting her anxiety stand in the way of true love.
The average person makes 35,000 decisions every single day. That's about 34,999 too many for Paige Collins who lives in debilitating fear of making the wrong choice. The simple act of picking an art elective is enough to send her into a spiral of what ifs. What if she's destined to be a famous ceramicist but wastes her talent in drama club? What if there's a carbon monoxide leak in the ceramics studio and everyone drops dead? (Grim, but possible!)
That's why when Paige is presented with two last-minute options for Christmas vacation, she's paralyzed by indecision. Should she go with her best friend (and longtime crush) Fitz to his family's romantic mountain cabin? Or should she accompany her mom to New York, a city Paige has spent her whole life dreaming about?
Just when it seems like Paige will crack from the pressure of choosing, fate steps in -- in the form of a slippery grocery store floor -- and Paige's life splits into two very different parallel paths. One path leads to New York where Paige falls for the city... and the charms of her unexpected tour guide. The other leads to the mountains where Paige might finally get her chance with Fitz... until her anxiety threatens to ruin everything.
However, before Paige gets her happy ending in either destiny, she'll have to face the truth about her struggle with anxiety -- and learn that you don't have to be "perfect" to deserve true love.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
There is on if, ands, or buts about it, I am a parallel life book junkie. Tell me your book has a parallel life aspect to it and I am so there for it. Also if it is an author I’m already a fan of…double there for it. So when I found out Kara McDowell’s sophomore book, One Way or Another, was a parallel life book, I needed it and I needed it ASAP. Oh and let me tell you it was so worth the wait. It hit my parallel life love right and the feels and never let go.
One Way or Another is about Paige, a girl that is terrified of making the wrong decision, of missing out on something and putting her life on the wrong path. She becomes bogged down/anxious with all of the what ifs that she can’t even bring herself to make the choice. So when she has the option to send Christmas in New York with her mom, a dream she has always had or to go to the cabin her best friend (and long time secret crush) Fitz, she is paralyzed with fear of making the wrong choice. And then fate steps in and Paige finds out which choice is actual the one worth making while also allowing Paige to deal with her long time anxiety.
I’m going to get out of the way right now what I didn’t like about One Way or Another. There really was one thing that truly bugged me about this book and I just can’t let it go. I NEEDED MORE WORDS! Seriously I loved the story so much that I was heartbroken there were no more words when the end came. It was everything my parallel life book loving heart wanted. The way McDowell wrote the twi decisions and how each changed Paige in a different way. How no matter what Paige decided some things were just meant to happen anyway. How Paige grew and changed and saw how her anxiety about making decisions was holding her back. It was all so perfect and I just wanted more, more, more. There honestly wasn’t one thing that I didn’t like about this book (although some of those chapter endings were doozies!!!). It was perfection in a book.
I really can’t say enough amazing things about One Way or Another. Books I hype up in my mind can sometimes let me down, but that was not the case with One Way. It hit all my expectations and beyond. McDowell gave me exactly what I wanted out of a sophomore novel from her and has me looking forward to what else she will bring to my book loving life. Even if you aren’t a parallel life book junkie, get this one on your TBR. It is worth the read even if you will be sad there are no more words at the end.
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