ONE KISS by Michelle Ashton – Memoirs, Spirituality, Inspirational

One Kiss by Michelle Ashton is a poignant and emotionally unvarnished memoir of life through loss, healing, and the grim, lovely battle of being human.

One Kiss feels like a private journal—vulnerable, scattered at times, terribly real and sympathetic. Readers walk beside someone who’s still dealing with life’s challenges—working through heartbreak, trying to heal, stumbling, getting back up, and asking big questions she hasn’t yet found the answers to.

Much of this book circles around Ashton’s deep, complicated attachment to Noah, the man she calls “Adonis” and her “Twin Flame.” She relates with painful but relatable honesty how it feels like to wait, to hope, to wonder if you should hold on or walk away. Who hasn’t sat there refreshing their messages or praying for a sign that maybe this time things will turn out differently?

But One Kiss reveals far more than just romantic longing, as Ashton opens her everyday life to the reader.

She shares her love for her brother Seb, the joy she gets from her niece and nephew, and the little experiences that remind her she’s still fighting. One moment, she’s breaking down over a memory that haunts her or a silence that’s too loud, and in the next moment, she’s belting out songs in the car or laughing with the kids. That mix of grief and light feels so real because our complex lives rarely offer just one emotion when we struggle.

Ashton’s spiritual experiences thread through One Kiss.

She talks about seeing signs, feeling nudged by something bigger, and wondering if the universe (or angels or God) is trying to guide her. She never comes across like she’s trying to preach or claim some special wisdom, but rather attempting to make sense of her own experiences with touching authenticity.

Through her “One Kiss” project (which gives the book its name), Ashton wants to do something meaningful by helping survivors, protecting animals, and making the world a little less cruel. Even when she’s burned out or doubting herself, she keeps circling back to that powerful question: “How can I turn my pain into something useful?”

One Kiss foregoes a typical memoir structure, reading like a conversation over coffee as someone pours their heart out.

It rambles and loops back on itself at times, lending to its casual and personal tone. In the end, what may stick with the reader isn’t just Ashton’s heartbreak or her spiritual reflections, but her stubborn resilience. She’s learning, piece by piece, how to keep moving when everything feels stuck, how to keep loving even when it’s messy and painful, and how to slowly start building the life she wants to live.

Michelle Ashton’s One Kiss maintains its conversational and realistic style even when it becomes passionate or fragmentary, which complements the narrative since it welcomes readers to empathize with their own experiences. You will likely discover elements of yourself here from times when you’ve felt sad, lost, and weary. The text is not flawless, but healing is not either and that’s what makes it hit close to home.