Review by Tester013 -- One Way or Another

[Tester013]

[Following is a volunteer review of "One Way or Another" by Mary J. Williams.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The first book in the series “The Sisters Quartet”, One Way or Another by Mary J. Williams tells the story of Calder Benedict, one of a band of four sisters who had no one to rely on except for each other most of their lives, as she falls in love with Adam Stone. Loyalties will be tested as Calder is forced at times to decide the trustworthiness of her new boyfriend and choose between him or her sisters. Will their relationship prevail? Does Adam harbor Calder’s best interests at heart?

Despite parental neglect, the blood within the Benedict sisters is blue. Calder has worked most of her life building her charity, Erica’s Angels, and proving that she’s more than the superficial rich girl most think she is. On the flip side, Adam’s background is far more modest, though he has had the benefit of having loving parents. Throughout the book, Williams tells the wonderful tale as the pair falls in love with each other, and Calder learns to trust another man despite not having any father figure growing up.

Right from the start, it is immediately evident that Williams has taken the time and effort to carefully craft the backstories of each of the characters, which made the book especially enjoyable for me. Despite the book’s focus on Calder, the author gives us a glimpse of the sisters’ relationships right from the get-go. Unlike other romance novels which prefer to hide the characters’ past, Williams is very willing to tell us what kind of family the Benedict sisters grew up in for allow the reader to better understand Calder’s thought process. This clarity adds to my enjoyment when reading the book as I feel that I can better understand the characters’ actions, instead of being subject to unexciting “reveals” and “twists” from my experiences reading other romance novels.

Nevertheless, I do find the use of profane language somewhat off-putting when reading this book. Whilst the presence of sexual situations in a romance novel is to be expected, the use of profane language seems somewhat necessary, even if to convey the frustrations of the characters. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, there are better ways to convey the situation, and resorting to vulgar language seems somewhat lazy on the part on the author. However, despite my annoyance, I must acknowledge that the instances of profane language are not very prominent, and for readers who are perhaps more sensitive than me to such language, it is not too terrible of a nuisance.

Overall though, I found the book to be a rather interesting and enjoyable read. It seems that the grammatical errors noted in previous reviews have been corrected by the publisher, and I found the copy I’ve received to be well-edited. As for the rating, I would give this book 3 out of 4 stars, subtracting a star for the general nuisances I’ve noted earlier. I find this book to be suitable for most audiences, but as this is a romance novel, perhaps younger audiences should not be recommended to pick up this book.

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One Way or Another
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