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One Small Thing
From the national bestselling author of When You Go Away comes a novel about infertility, parenthood, letting go of expectations-and finding unexpected joy...
At 28, Avery Tacconi has the career of her dreams, a husband she adores, and a beautiful suburban California home. She has all she ever wanted except for one small thing...a baby. And after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, hope is running thin.
Then her husband, Dan, discovers he has a ten-year-old son he never knew about. With the boy's mother now deceased, Dan is the new rightful guardian. He's anxious to bring his son into their life. But for Avery, this child is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive-and of Dan's secret past, a sordid life she knew nothing about until now. Only when Avery is able to open her heart to all of life's possibilities will she begin to appreciate her imperfect, unexpected family for what it truly is: a perfect blessing.
At 28, Avery Tacconi has the career of her dreams, a husband she adores, and a beautiful suburban California home. She has all she ever wanted except for one small thing...a baby. And after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, hope is running thin.
Then her husband, Dan, discovers he has a ten-year-old son he never knew about. With the boy's mother now deceased, Dan is the new rightful guardian. He's anxious to bring his son into their life. But for Avery, this child is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive-and of Dan's secret past, a sordid life she knew nothing about until now. Only when Avery is able to open her heart to all of life's possibilities will she begin to appreciate her imperfect, unexpected family for what it truly is: a perfect blessing.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Jessica Barksdale Inclán
49 books460 followersJessica Barksdale Inclán's sixteenth novel, What the Moon Did, and her first short story collection, Trick of the Porch Light, were published in 2023. Her novels include Her Daughter’s Eyes, The Play's the Thing, and The Burning Hour.
A Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominee, her short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming in the The Sun, Salt Hill Journal, Tahoma Review, and So to Speak. Her work has been recognized and honored by The Sewanee Review, The Wigleaf, The North American Review, and The Ocotillo Review
She taught composition, literature, and creative writing at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California and continues to teach novel writing online for UCLA Extension and in the online MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.
For more information, go to: http://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
A Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominee, her short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming in the The Sun, Salt Hill Journal, Tahoma Review, and So to Speak. Her work has been recognized and honored by The Sewanee Review, The Wigleaf, The North American Review, and The Ocotillo Review
She taught composition, literature, and creative writing at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California and continues to teach novel writing online for UCLA Extension and in the online MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.
For more information, go to: http://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 2, 2022
Randi (ow) was Dan’s h/school sweetheart; he loved her desperately; they were together for 8 years, lived together, became drug and alcohol addicts together. Their life was filled with addiction issues that comes with that dark life; so bad that he became estranged from his parents.
He eventually sees the light, leaves her and a year late the meets the h, Avery. He’s the antithesis of the old Dan.
He doesn’t tell her ANYTHING of his past/ that he lived with someone, loved someone, that he stole, that he was a junkie a mere 2 years before he met her, was disowned by his parents because he loved the ow so much and wouldn’t give her up.
The book starts now that they’ve been married for 2 years. They’ve been having heartbreaking fertility issues. I felt for her. She’d readied her baby’s room but packed it all up when the fertility treatments didn’t work.
Then they find out the ow had his baby. She’s died and their son (Daniel, named after the H) came to live with the Hxh. Randi, part from being an awful person, was one of worst mothers I’ve read about. The boy had an awful childhood.
Daniel now moves into their baby’s room. 😩
Avery can’t deal with the emotional side of things but she does a lot to ensure that Dan gets his son, because Dan is a woe-is-me kinda guy. She’s a very practical woman and he’s a bit of a wuss. Until it came to looking after his son, that is.
She’s mostly working now, very seldom at home and doesn’t want to face their new life.
He was very sorry , of course, that he lied, etc but I felt he was way too impatient with the h. He was upset that she couldn’t accept Daniel and their new life fast enough. She felt, when he took paternity leave etc that he was more involved with Daniel than when they were trying for their own baby.
The h has an emotional affair with an om, Mischa, and kisses him. 👈Cheating. The H is disgusted but didn’t seem THAT terribly crushed allthough he was definitely hurting. Had she not decided to give their new family a try I believe he would’ve gone on without her just fine now that he has his son. The h discovers she’s pregnant but hasn’t yet told him by the end of the book.
The end:
“Aves, I think,” he whispered into her ear, “it will be okay.”
Avery watched Daniel holding his breath underwater as Luis counted, and she nodded. She wished she could say “Yes” out loud, but somehow, Mischa Podorov and “Randi Gold had slipped between the two of them, and she knew she wasn’t ready. It would take a while for that sexy Georgian ghost to slink away, turning the corner with his jars and bottles of caviar and Stoli and dark red wine. Randi would be with them as long as Daniel was, but she wouldn’t always be standing before them clicking her long nails.”
NTS
NEATEN REVIEW!
He eventually sees the light, leaves her and a year late the meets the h, Avery. He’s the antithesis of the old Dan.
He doesn’t tell her ANYTHING of his past/ that he lived with someone, loved someone, that he stole, that he was a junkie a mere 2 years before he met her, was disowned by his parents because he loved the ow so much and wouldn’t give her up.
The book starts now that they’ve been married for 2 years. They’ve been having heartbreaking fertility issues. I felt for her. She’d readied her baby’s room but packed it all up when the fertility treatments didn’t work.
Then they find out the ow had his baby. She’s died and their son (Daniel, named after the H) came to live with the Hxh. Randi, part from being an awful person, was one of worst mothers I’ve read about. The boy had an awful childhood.
Daniel now moves into their baby’s room. 😩
Avery can’t deal with the emotional side of things but she does a lot to ensure that Dan gets his son, because Dan is a woe-is-me kinda guy. She’s a very practical woman and he’s a bit of a wuss. Until it came to looking after his son, that is.
She’s mostly working now, very seldom at home and doesn’t want to face their new life.
He was very sorry , of course, that he lied, etc but I felt he was way too impatient with the h. He was upset that she couldn’t accept Daniel and their new life fast enough. She felt, when he took paternity leave etc that he was more involved with Daniel than when they were trying for their own baby.
The h has an emotional affair with an om, Mischa, and kisses him. 👈Cheating. The H is disgusted but didn’t seem THAT terribly crushed allthough he was definitely hurting. Had she not decided to give their new family a try I believe he would’ve gone on without her just fine now that he has his son. The h discovers she’s pregnant but hasn’t yet told him by the end of the book.
The end:
“Aves, I think,” he whispered into her ear, “it will be okay.”
Avery watched Daniel holding his breath underwater as Luis counted, and she nodded. She wished she could say “Yes” out loud, but somehow, Mischa Podorov and “Randi Gold had slipped between the two of them, and she knew she wasn’t ready. It would take a while for that sexy Georgian ghost to slink away, turning the corner with his jars and bottles of caviar and Stoli and dark red wine. Randi would be with them as long as Daniel was, but she wouldn’t always be standing before them clicking her long nails.”
NTS
NEATEN REVIEW!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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March 17, 2022Putting a pin in this one. DNF @ 10%—already disliked the wife enough that I have no desire to read further.
Maybe I’ll come back to it.
Maybe I’ll come back to it.
July 6, 2011
Touching tale. Maybe hit close to home, because I've seen things like this happen. The book played out well, and you just want to reach out and hug all the characters and clap some sense into others. Some parts you just want to jump into the story and throttle people and you can't help but feel sorry for Dan,Daniel and Avery. This book teaches that EVERYONE makes mistakes, but that there can be forgiveness and blessings.
March 18, 2022
This was a really interesting read. Plenty of angst and internal thoughts and a heroine that made me stabby at times but I was hooked. I would have liked an epilogue that gave us more closure but I definitely enjoyed the writing.
August 6, 2012
Giving it 4 stars because nothing says "fraught" like going through infertility treatments only to discover your husband fathered a child a decade ago with another woman...who is now dead...
March 15, 2022
Unlikable h, Weak H and no ending. It just ends with no resolution
April 22, 2009
I wanted this story to be less predictable than I thought it would be... alas...
November 13, 2015
This was one of those books where I didn't care for the main character, Avery, very much . . . yet found the story utterly absorbing.
November 22, 2022
for once, heroine is soo mean. what she said about daniel the kid. yuck and she's cheating too.
40% into the story i just want to yell at her. poor Dan the H. even though he has a dark past. but he was a hi schooler at that time. and he did everything he can to leave that life and be the goodest person that he is today. he work hard to build his life, finished college, got a job, having a house and supporting his wife (the bitchy avery) to have children she wants soo much and jealous of her friend for having a baby. also, H past with randi (his hi school lover) is over a year before he met avery the h. it's not like he was cheating on avery w/randi and then having a son w/randi while he was married to avery. nopee. but avery hated him soo much bcoz of it. the h in this book is sooo bitchy about him not telling her about his past, about randi. i mean, who even told their current partner about their past lover??
all in all, i just wish Dan divorced avery. but ofc that doesnt happen.
40% into the story i just want to yell at her. poor Dan the H. even though he has a dark past. but he was a hi schooler at that time. and he did everything he can to leave that life and be the goodest person that he is today. he work hard to build his life, finished college, got a job, having a house and supporting his wife (the bitchy avery) to have children she wants soo much and jealous of her friend for having a baby. also, H past with randi (his hi school lover) is over a year before he met avery the h. it's not like he was cheating on avery w/randi and then having a son w/randi while he was married to avery. nopee. but avery hated him soo much bcoz of it. the h in this book is sooo bitchy about him not telling her about his past, about randi. i mean, who even told their current partner about their past lover??
all in all, i just wish Dan divorced avery. but ofc that doesnt happen.
August 14, 2020
El libro está muy bien escrito y tiene un ritmo de lectura ágil y sencillo. Me gustó la historia, aunque es bastante predecible y me parece que falta un desarrollo mejor de la resolución. También siento que se podría haber desarrollado más la aceptación del niño a sus padres tanto como se trabaja la de ellos a él. La protagonista es insufrible, su postura está justificada y se puede llegar a entender por qué actúa como actúa, pero de todos modos no la justifica o la hace menos inaguantable. El resto de personajes me parecieron más interesantes, el esposo de Avery es el que tiene mejor desarrollo de personaje, en mi opinión, y la autora hace bien con él todo lo que hace mal con la protagonista que al final tiene un click muy forzado y que no me termina de convencer del todo. Pero en general fue bueno para pasar el tiempo y me terminó gustando.
March 1, 2026
A couple going through IVF discover the husband had a child with some other woman. Story takes off from there. Fast read.
April 29, 2026
First, please understand I do not rewrite the book synopsis in my reviews. This isn't a book report for me. It's a personal book review: character development, writing style, things I liked or disliked, how the story made me feel, etc. Feel free to skip my review if that is not what you are looking for. :)
The writing of One Small Thing is wonderful. The author is thorough in her descriptions of character emotions and plot descriptions. I enjoyed how the story went along in a fluid and easy fashion, without me having to backtrack thinking, "Wait? How did we get here???"
The characters were all extremely well built, to the point they felt very real in my head. I like that! This includes minor characters. I also loved that there are not TOO many characters of which to keep track.
It was when the main plot unfolded that I started to struggle. It wasn't a struggle with the story. It was a struggle with being frustrated with Avery, the wife. Author discussion in the back of the book described her as "prickly." And that's a perfect description. I wanted to shake her out of her selfish bitterness that she carried over into everyone and everything in her life. I tried putting myself in her shoes with how I might act if given such unsettling news that threw all my plans off-kilter and while I would definitely be upset for a while, I still don't think I would take it to the level she did. She was extremely annoying throughout most of the book. But that also means she was well written into her part to derive such strong feelings in me while reading. Her husband, Dan, had the patience of a saint putting up with his wife while dealing with his own struggles with the situation. Daniel, the son, was immediately lovable and perceptive to the emotions of those around him for such a young child. Obviously, it manifests because of his real mom's lifestyle and how he sometimes had to be the grown-up. I wanted to reach through the pages and comfort him with a big hug!
My only issue was the ending. I was happy with where it led, but I wanted more details. I just wish there was one more chapter! Even a small one. Or an epilogue!
Even with that, I really enjoyed the book. My first of hers. I have another book of hers in my huge TBR stack and am looking forward to reading it.
The writing of One Small Thing is wonderful. The author is thorough in her descriptions of character emotions and plot descriptions. I enjoyed how the story went along in a fluid and easy fashion, without me having to backtrack thinking, "Wait? How did we get here???"
The characters were all extremely well built, to the point they felt very real in my head. I like that! This includes minor characters. I also loved that there are not TOO many characters of which to keep track.
It was when the main plot unfolded that I started to struggle. It wasn't a struggle with the story. It was a struggle with being frustrated with Avery, the wife. Author discussion in the back of the book described her as "prickly." And that's a perfect description. I wanted to shake her out of her selfish bitterness that she carried over into everyone and everything in her life. I tried putting myself in her shoes with how I might act if given such unsettling news that threw all my plans off-kilter and while I would definitely be upset for a while, I still don't think I would take it to the level she did. She was extremely annoying throughout most of the book. But that also means she was well written into her part to derive such strong feelings in me while reading. Her husband, Dan, had the patience of a saint putting up with his wife while dealing with his own struggles with the situation. Daniel, the son, was immediately lovable and perceptive to the emotions of those around him for such a young child. Obviously, it manifests because of his real mom's lifestyle and how he sometimes had to be the grown-up. I wanted to reach through the pages and comfort him with a big hug!
My only issue was the ending. I was happy with where it led, but I wanted more details. I just wish there was one more chapter! Even a small one. Or an epilogue!
Even with that, I really enjoyed the book. My first of hers. I have another book of hers in my huge TBR stack and am looking forward to reading it.
October 28, 2013
Avery Tacconi had her life planned but everything was not going as planned. She had her education, perfect job and marriage as planned, but the baby didn't happen. She is now in her second year of unsuccessful fertility treatments. Then her husband gets a call telling him he may be the father of a 10 year old boy, whose mother has recently died. This is a past that he has not told Avery about; a sordid life that he wants to forget. But facing his past and bringing his son to live with them threatens Avery's mapped out life. She retreats from her husband, drops the treatments, goes back to her traveling job and pretends the boy is not her responsibility. The story has a good premise, but I could not warm up to Avery, in her desperate for a baby mode or her rejection mode. By the time she works through her problems, I was tired of her selfishness. However, there were some great characters here. Dan overcame his past and stepped up to his responsibilities, despite his insecurity and estrangement from his parents. Avery's mother, Isobel, who spent 4 years in depression after her husband's death and during Avery's teen years, is now desperately trying to make up for it. These 2 especially came across as characters to root for. A mixed bag.
March 20, 2009
PERSONALLY SIGNED COPY - PERMANENT COLLECTION
"At twenty-eight, Avery Tacconi has everything in life planned out - and everything is falling right into place. She has the career of her dreams, a husband she adores, and a beautiful suburban California home. She has all she ever wanted except for one small thing...a baby. And after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, hope is running thin.
Then her husband, Dan, discovers he has a ten-year-old son he never knew about. With the boy's mother now deceased, Dan is the new rightful guardian. He's anxious to bring his son into their life. But for Avery, this child is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive - and of Dan's sordid past, a life she knew nothing about until now. This is not the man she fell in love with. And this is not part of the life she's mapped out. Only when Avery is able to open her heart to all of life's possibilities will she truly appreciate her imperfect, unexpected family for what it truly is: a perfect blessing."
"At twenty-eight, Avery Tacconi has everything in life planned out - and everything is falling right into place. She has the career of her dreams, a husband she adores, and a beautiful suburban California home. She has all she ever wanted except for one small thing...a baby. And after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, hope is running thin.
Then her husband, Dan, discovers he has a ten-year-old son he never knew about. With the boy's mother now deceased, Dan is the new rightful guardian. He's anxious to bring his son into their life. But for Avery, this child is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive - and of Dan's sordid past, a life she knew nothing about until now. This is not the man she fell in love with. And this is not part of the life she's mapped out. Only when Avery is able to open her heart to all of life's possibilities will she truly appreciate her imperfect, unexpected family for what it truly is: a perfect blessing."
July 20, 2016
Content-wise, the storyline is unique and I would have loved it if the characters would have been in the least bit likable. The female main character has a fatal flaw in that everything has to be perfect. She has been totally thrown by th fact that that she has been unable to conceive. She is selfish and thinks only about herself. I can understand some anger/frustration in the scenario but she is just into herself.
The male main character is a little more likable but is a complete wuss. He can't seem to make a move on anything unless he has someone supporting him. When his wife went into her own little head trip he had to get his brother to go with him to deal with things. Then he ends up over at his somewhat estranged parents and ends up putting his head down on the dinner table and crying because it all just too much to deal with.
In addition, the ending just sucked. It just came to this abrupt halt when you thought make this whole mess might be able to be worked out. Definitely not worth reading and I wish I had not.
The male main character is a little more likable but is a complete wuss. He can't seem to make a move on anything unless he has someone supporting him. When his wife went into her own little head trip he had to get his brother to go with him to deal with things. Then he ends up over at his somewhat estranged parents and ends up putting his head down on the dinner table and crying because it all just too much to deal with.
In addition, the ending just sucked. It just came to this abrupt halt when you thought make this whole mess might be able to be worked out. Definitely not worth reading and I wish I had not.
July 30, 2009
One Small Thing: a baby is all Avery wanted. After trying for 2 years with fertility treatments, there still is no hope for a child. Then she learns her husband has a 10 yr. old boy from a previous relationship before he met Avery. The boy's mother died. Now Dan's past life has come out and now he must take responsibility for this child. Avery is backing away from Dan, wants nothing to do with the boy.
You will need to read this good book to find out if Avery accepts the boy and Dan back into her life. It is a powerful novel with many ups and downs for both Avery and Dan.
You will need to read this good book to find out if Avery accepts the boy and Dan back into her life. It is a powerful novel with many ups and downs for both Avery and Dan.
January 22, 2009
Pretty good (a 31/2 star really). 28 year old Avery is desperate for a baby and shocked to learn that her husband has a 10 year old son from a previous relationship (that he didn't know anything about)The son comes to live with them and she struggles to deal with her feelings of loss, betrayal and longing.
October 23, 2008
Another "very good" read by this author. I really enjoy most of her books.
February 2, 2009
Just shy of four-stars in my opinion.
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January 15, 2010books I've read
July 6, 2012
Enjoyed it, a good summer read.
November 11, 2012
A very believable story regarding a couple, who in the middle of fertility treatments, find out the husband has a son from a previous relationship.
July 5, 2013
Would not recommend to those currently struggling with infertility- too close to home. Interesting premise and a quick read.
Currently Reading
November 13, 2010Still reading... about half way though it!
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January 24, 2012kindle 244
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