One on One

Rating:
Summary: You'll love this book
Review: Tabitha King writes beautifully about people and relationships. While setting several of her novels in Stephen King's world, she makes her own mark. 'One on one' is one of three books about the same family. It is by far the richest read of all. The characters are full and complex..You cannot help but become involved. I hope that someday she writes the sequel, because at the end of the story I wanted to know more.

Rating:
Summary: Gut-wrenchingly sexy!
Review: This book is gut-wrenchingly sexy. Sam and Deanie remind us of that painful "aliveness" of our youth. I wanted to make it last. Tabitha King makes amazingly smooth transitions between the minds of each character. It's like soul hopping. You will marvel at the fact that an adult can so well express the thoughts and feelings that we have tucked away in adulthood.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't have asked for a better book!!
Review: This book is one that I could read over and over. Every time I read it, I feel closer to the characters and more involved in the story. Tabitha King does an excellent job of creating a believable, lovable story. I was intrigued by the fact that you could read One on One all by itself, but if you read her other books, you got so much more background information, increasing your understanding of the story. I loved it!!!

Rating:
Summary: Compelling!!!
Review: This is my second Tabitha King book reading and review. She is just an amazing author. She has the ability to make characters that have you thinking about them when you are finished reading as if you knew them personally! I love how she makes the female characters not the *norm* of other books by having them drop-dead gorgeous and perfect. Her characters are flawed both inside and out. Here she takes Deanie "The Mutant" and makes her someone you would fear had you not known what she went through in her personal life. She had Sam see Deanie from the inside and not just what she looks like on the outside. I love how Sam feels the need to protect Deanie and how Deanie feels safe in his arms. A great love story. Like her women characters, Tabitha has the couples experience sex and life unlike glossy characters written in so many other novels!! I recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: excellent, riveting characters
Review: This was one of the best books I've read. The characters are real, the emotions they evoke tear at your heart. The sex is incredible - I have not looked at chains or body piercing without a smile since! This is a book every modern mother should read (for herself and her angst with her teens). This book hooked me into the characters I was so happy to pursue in The Book of Reuben and Pearl. Looking for more

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely riveting
Review: Under weird circumstances, I somehow i got this book. After two days of reading it I am so glad I found it. As someone who has been through the whole "high school" experience, it makes me look back about what I could have changed and what I miss so much about it. Kings analytical prose is so vivid in detail that the characters are easy to identify with, including all the subtles, idiosyncrasies and sexual innuedo it makes readers feel what the characters are going through. It's a fantastic read and once you get going, you can't put it down. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely riveting
Review: Under weird circumstances, I somehow i got this book. After two days of reading it I am so glad I found it. As someone who has been through the whole "high school" experience, it makes me look back about what I could have changed and what I miss so much about it. Kings analytical prose is so vivid in detail that the characters are easy to identify with, including all the subtles, idiosyncrasies and sexual innuedo it makes readers feel what the characters are going through. It's a fantastic read and once you get going, you can't put it down. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting, Sharp, Completely Un-Put-Downable!
Review: Until two days ago, I never knew Stephen King's wife was a published author. Now, after losing most of my sleep last night because of her, I can't understand why she isn't at least as famous a writer as her husband!

I was given this book Tuesday afternoon by a friend who knows my taste in books. It's the only book she's ever told me I really _should_ read in all the time I've known her. I didn't start it until bedtime Wednesday, and finished it Thursday afternoon despite my washing machine going out, several calls from clients, my son having playmates over all day, a doctor's appointment, and lunch out.

WOW.

I never wanted it to end even though I wanted Deanie's ordeal to be over with as soon as possible.

Tabitha King's writing style is almost poetic in its descriptions of feelings and places and situations. Her dialogue is not bogged down by too many adjectives or adverbs, and she knows her characters inside out from the very beginning. These characters aren't just developed -- they spring to life fully formed nearly from the instant we meet them, with all of their baggage properly influential in their decisions, their attitudes, and even in their nicknames. We meet them from a distance, almost like a new kid at school who will become increasingly intimate with them and their close friends and family members. As we learn each fact that constitutes their baggage, we nod and agree that yes, we really should have known that from the way the character acted or reacted.

The author uses present tense throughout the story. I usually find present tense novels awkward, but not in this book. The present tense lets us find out more about Deanie and Sam as they learn more about each other. We are right there with them, going through the hormonal hells and peer pressure battles just like they are. We feel how important the state championship is. We don't blame Deanie for her need of chemical solace; we admire Sam's restraint each time he wants to, but does not, break his training. We become a little annoyed with his righteousness, but we shake our heads and acknowledge that that's just Sam.

Evil characters are not pure evil, except for two which could easily fit into one of Stephen King's horror stories as unearthly bad-guy archetypes: J.C. and Tony.

We want to take Deannie's chains and swing them at Tony with all our might, and we want to put J.C.'s cigarettes (and joints) out on his exposed skin. Our stomachs roil with disgust and Deanie's mother. We want to hug and love the awkward, shy, ugly, unlovable Deanie and we want Sam to find a nice girl with whom he can achieve that physical relase sought be every seventeen-year-old boy. When we read the last page we want to know more about these brave survivors. We don't want to leave them so young and vulnerable, even though we recognize their incredible resilience.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who remembers high school, who might not have fit in, who fit in almost too well, who ever felt a surprising pang of longing or ache for something or someone so unlike themselves.

This incredible story alerts us to the fact that all the perfect jocks and cheerleaders don't lead perfect lives and don't usually warrant the envy of the faceless multitudes on the sidelines. The story is raw and painful. It is a release. It is a treasure.

Anyone who reads it will always remember it. I have not been so profoundly struck by any book in memory.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting, Sharp, Completely Un-Put-Downable!
Review: Until two days ago, I never knew Stephen King's wife was a published author. Now, after losing most of my sleep last night because of her, I can't understand why she isn't at least as famous a writer as her husband!

I was given this book Tuesday afternoon by a friend who knows my taste in books. It's the only book she's ever told me I really _should_ read in all the time I've known her. I didn't start it until bedtime Wednesday, and finished it Thursday afternoon despite my washing machine going out, several calls from clients, my son having playmates over all day, a doctor's appointment, and lunch out.

WOW.

I never wanted it to end even though I wanted Deanie's ordeal to be over with as soon as possible.

Tabitha King's writing style is almost poetic in its descriptions of feelings and places and situations. Her dialogue is not bogged down by too many adjectives or adverbs, and she knows her characters inside out from the very beginning. These characters aren't just developed -- they spring to life fully formed nearly from the instant we meet them, with all of their baggage properly influential in their decisions, their attitudes, and even in their nicknames. We meet them from a distance, almost like a new kid at school who will become increasingly intimate with them and their close friends and family members. As we learn each fact that constitutes their baggage, we nod and agree that yes, we really should have known that from the way the character acted or reacted.

The author uses present tense throughout the story. I usually find present tense novels awkward, but not in this book. The present tense lets us find out more about Deanie and Sam as they learn more about each other. We are right there with them, going through the hormonal hells and peer pressure battles just like they are. We feel how important the state championship is. We don't blame Deanie for her need of chemical solace; we admire Sam's restraint each time he wants to, but does not, break his training. We become a little annoyed with his righteousness, but we shake our heads and acknowledge that that's just Sam.

Evil characters are not pure evil, except for two which could easily fit into one of Stephen King's horror stories as unearthly bad-guy archetypes: J.C. and Tony.

We want to take Deannie's chains and swing them at Tony with all our might, and we want to put J.C.'s cigarettes (and joints) out on his exposed skin. Our stomachs roil with disgust and Deanie's mother. We want to hug and love the awkward, shy, ugly, unlovable Deanie and we want Sam to find a nice girl with whom he can achieve that physical relase sought be every seventeen-year-old boy. When we read the last page we want to know more about these brave survivors. We don't want to leave them so young and vulnerable, even though we recognize their incredible resilience.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who remembers high school, who might not have fit in, who fit in almost too well, who ever felt a surprising pang of longing or ache for something or someone so unlike themselves.

This incredible story alerts us to the fact that all the perfect jocks and cheerleaders don't lead perfect lives and don't usually warrant the envy of the faceless multitudes on the sidelines. The story is raw and painful. It is a release. It is a treasure.

Anyone who reads it will always remember it. I have not been so profoundly struck by any book in memory.