A delightful romance about an elementary school teacher, who is a single Mom and puts "her whole self" into whatever she does. ( )

Single mother to nine-year-old Henry, Meg has been on her own since the day she told her husband she was pregnant. That same day he told her was seeing someone else and he walked out of her life and hasn’t been back since.

For nine years it has been just Henry and Meg struggling through life but a chance encounter at Lulu’s Café changes their life when the outrageously handsome Ahmed wants Meg to take a leap of faith and allow him into their lives. Initially Meg fends off Ahmed’s advances but then Meg remembers her own theory on life. Just like the Hokey-Pokey you have to throw your whole self into life to be truly happy and she decides to let him in.

With her own failed marriage, her sister’s unhappy marriage, her parents on the verge of divorce and blast from the past in the form of a phone call from her ex-husband can Meg really find true love the second time around?

One True Theory of Love really snuck up on me. It took me a while to get through the beginning of the book but the last 2/3 of it made up for the slow start. By the end of the book I had cried twice (but according to my book club friends, I was the only one who did LOL). It was surprising that I was so drawn in by the characters that it affected so much but this was a charming romance that took truly gave me a much needed break from the realities of life. I highly recommend this one for anyone who loves a happy ending. ( )

I was excited to read this book because I loved the author's A Veil of Roses, which I read as soon as my local library received it. The reason I read the that book over two years ago was because my husband is persian, as are the majority of the characters in A Veil of Roses. At the time I read that book, I had no clue that we would be moving to Tucson, where both of these books take place, a year later.

One of the strengths of One True Theory is that it is very grounded in place, in setting. Having lived in Tucson nearly a year now, I knew where just about every landmark and intereseciton was located, or even what it looks like. Fitzgerald even mentioned the Persian restaurant Ali Baba, which we are very familiar with (but she did not mention what they ate. . . I would like to imagine that they ate the koobideh kabob, as that is the best item on their menu.)

Though the point of the book seems to be Meg's relationship with her son Henry, and her remaining anger about her exhusband, in addition to the romance and growing love with Ahmed, the real focus of the book seems to be "father issues": Meg's relationship with her father, Ahmed's relationship with his father, Henry's non-existant father (and that he wants one), and so on. Because of Ahmed's issues, and the fact that he was sent to live with his American grandparents in Wisconsin, he is just beginning to reclaim his Persian heritage. One thing that is irritating, however, is that Ahmed's first name is Arabic! He (his character) would have been born at a time when many parents in Iran were picking names that were more specifically Persian as opposed to Arabic. . . as was the case for my husband. . . so part of that doesn't ring true for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, the romance, and I would not be opposed to a sequel. However, I liked A Veil of Roses more, and need to re-read that book! ( )

I loved Laura Fitzgerald's first book, "Veil of Roses"; she was kind enough to send me two copies of her new novel, one for me and one for BookCrossing. I ought to state here that my name appearing in the acknowledgements (whee! hooray!) did not have a bearing on what I thought of this new novel!

So, we find Meg Clarke, devoted single mother to her son Henry (beautifully portrayed) and enthusiastic, loving teacher to her kindergarten class. She worries about her sister, trapped in domestic servitude, loves her Dad unreservedly, and has a very difficult mother who she only manages to avoid due to Clarabelle having a reluctance to travel more than five minutes from her house. Meg's just about got over being abandoned by her husband when she fell pregnant, and has a good, if slightly narrow, life set up, enjoying living in her apartment complex in a community of odd and interesting folk.

Then she meets Ahmed in a cafe. The spark is immediate and mutual. But is it worth stepping out into the fray again for? Meanwhile, around Meg things are changing, people are reinventing themselves and getting or giving themselves second chances. Should she let Ahmed into her and Henry's life? Just what is the state of her parents' marriage as they reach retirement?

This is a lovely book. More than a simple love story, we have loads of fully rounded, fleshed-out characters, Henry and Clarabelle, in all her awfulness, being my favourites. Ahmed is a truly yummy romantic interest but also a kind and lovely man, and the scenes between him and Henry are beautifully observed. It's worth noting that the city of Tuscon is almost a character in its own right, portrayed lovingly and taking on a role in the novel.

There's an author discussion section in the back which did reassure me that I wasn't going mad - this novel was originally a thriller about a man being drawn into the Iran-America conflict (Ahmed is Iranian American) and I was sure I'd seen a scene early on with a police raid... I was looking for this throughout the book, hoping it wouldn't happen - and it didn't!

Anyway, an excellent read with a lovely cover - and I will be offering a bookring for it soon! ( )

One True Theory of Love is a sweet, romantic story about a woman who needs to come to terms with the hurts of her past in order to be able to move forward in life. Meg is a great, complicated character, though she wears so much of her emotion on the surface. It's easy to underestimate her, and indeed, she underestimates herself more often than not. Meg is a very well-written woman and an extremely likable character that is easy to relate to.

At the beginning of One True Theory of Love, I wasn't entirely certain how to classify this novel. The description seemed like it was a book about a woman's need to live again after being crippled by past hurts, but the first few chapters of the book screamed "romance novel." The book equalized into equal parts romance and self-discovery after that (hence, why I classified it as chick lit). I quickly realized, though, that Meg is in no way crippled emotionally. While she was hurt deeply in the past, she decided to live happily rather than collapse into a bitter shell of a person. It's an amazing example of how to pick yourself back up after a huge setback. What I really liked about it is that it was in no way preachy; she didn't choose to live freely and happily because she is better than the rest of us. Meg did it because she had a son to think about, and she knew she was at a crossroads in her life. It really is a testament to the power of optimism!

Ahmed was an interesting character. I actually really liked the way he was treated in this book. He was Iranian-American. He got some questions about his culture; there were maybe a few pages discussing his feelings on Iran. But generally speaking, the only way the reader remembered that he was of a different background was because of his name. This isn't a book about a different culture, about what separates us. Instead, it was about what Ahmed and Meg have in common - their love for one another. I think this treatment stems from the fact that the author's husband is Iranian American. (Don't get me wrong, I adore multicultural fiction - it's one of my favorite things to read. But sometimes I enjoy reading about people's similarities rather than their differences!)

There were definitely some issues within the book - Meg's lack of closure, Ahmed's general distrust - but these are human issues that Fitzgerald writes very well. Neither of the character are perfect (which can sometimes be frustrating for the reader), but then again, if they were perfect then where would the enjoyment be in reading about them? In the end, One True Theory of Love is a very sweet novel about living life to its fullest and about putting your whole self in.

From S. Krishna's Books ( )