I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Emily Giffin. 
 I mean, on the one hand you have SOMETHING BORROWED and SOMETHING BLUE, which are utter chick lit PERFECTION -- and the unfortunate standard by which I judge all of her other books. (Which, on the other hand, may not really be all THAT fair, because they never seem to match the magic of her first two novels.) 
 Even so, Emily Giffin is one of the few authors that warrants me at least reading everything she writes, if not purchasing it for another try at a later time. 
 So, I was nervous about THE ONE AND ONLY when I saw that it featured a woman who is absolutely obsessed with all things football -- mostly because I really hate watching football and hearing about football. Nap time, right? 
 Luckily, I was wrong. Giffin did an amazing job of integrating -- what could be described as nothing less than an utter OBSESSION with football -- with enough finesse and skill that it didn't detract from the story (for the most part). Granted, I did think that huge chunks of football chatter could have probably been eliminated in the first three-fourths of the book, but I was still interested enough to keep reading despite it all. 
 One thing that I did LOVE about THE ONE AND ONLY is that Giffin really put a twist on her theme of a best friend stealing a man -- only, this time it's not Lucy's boyfriend or husband that Shea is after -- it's Lucy's father! 
 Now, I definitely have a thing for forbidden romances -- especially with large age gaps -- so THE ONE AND ONLY was right up my alley. I loved seeing the dynamic of Shea and Lucy's friendship against Shea's secret passion for Lucy's father. The only part that didn't quite jive with me, I think, is that I don't think enough attention was given to the friendship between Lucy and Shea -- which made one of Shea's later decisions seem a little unfounded, in my opinion. 
 The pacing of the story was a little bit off at times, I think, and I found myself nearly ten pages from the end, wondering if my book was missing about a dozen chapters. My biggest criticism of THE ONE AND ONLY would be just that --- so much devotion was given to building the foundation of Shea's relationship with football that it almost felt like Giffin gave up at the end of the story, hastily wrapping up the first four hundred pages in about five more. 
 The rushed ending took away a star for me, but I'd still give THE ONE AND ONLY four stars, because I really enjoyed the idea of a best friend/best friend's father type conflict, although it still can't quite match up to SOMETHING BORROWED/BLUE. Even so, I'm glad I picked this one up, and I'll still continue to read everything Giffin writes in the future!