REVIEW: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

In One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Growing up in Acton, Massachusetts, Emma Blair dreamed she would one day travel the world instead of taking over the family bookstore. She was able to realize that dream when she fell in love with Jesse Lerner, who shared her hopes of seeing other countries and going on grand adventures. They lived a fairy tale romance until the day it all shattered. The day of their first anniversary, the helicopter Jesse was flying in near Alaska went down into the Pacific. With her beloved husband presumed dead along with the rest of the crew, Emma’s world was torn apart.

‘I stare out the windshield, stunned at what is happening to my quiet and stable life.
I have a husband and a fiance.’

Unable to remain in California with memories of Jesse, Emma heads back to Acton. Being in her hometown grounds her and after many months of suffering through debilitating grief, she begins to live her life again. A chance encounter brings Emma a glimpse of happiness when she reconnects with an old friend. After much guilt on her part, she and Sam start dating and eventually get engaged. Only a few months later, Emma learns that Jesse is still alive and very much wants to pick up where things left off. But can things ever be the same again? How will she choose between her new life and her first love?

‘But I guess that’s sort of the point of love between two people–you can’t re-create it. Every time you love, everyone you love, the love is different. You’re different in it.’

One True Loves was a wild emotional ride. In a good way. With a premise that completely sparked my imagination, this was one book that I simply just could not put down–I had to know the outcome. And I have a feeling others will be just as captivated.

‘I don’t think that true love means your only love.
I think true love means loving truly.
Loving purely. Loving wholly.’

Taylor Jenkins Reid has written some of the most complicated, touching women’s fiction I have ever read. I love how she can put characters in tough situations and can ask the questions that it seems no one else dares. And that the answers are not easy, but they are real and completely from the heart. This story was a perfect example. Here the issue was: What happens when a widow moves on with her life after struggling through her grief, only to find her husband is not dead? And how does that change her future?

Simply put, there was no easy answer for Emma. For obvious reasons and some not so obvious reasons. I think readers will likely find themselves just as torn as Emma herself was in deciding how she should proceed. It was an almost impossible situation to be in; to choose her current fiance whom she adored and was extremely happy with, or her beloved husband who thought of nothing but getting back to her in order to stay alive. How does someone even go about making such a decision?

My heart was torn in two because both relationships were special. Emma truly loved both men. But who she was with her husband Jesse was different than who she became after losing him and who she was when she started dating Sam. That was really where the crux of the matter came into focus for Emma and she had to take a step back to look at things. I liked that this was told strictly from her POV, so we got to dig in deep emotionally with her and followed along through each stage of her grief and recovery. Some of it was brutal. I’ll be honest. But where part of the novel was also the history of Emma meeting Jesse and Sam back in high school, there were also some absolutely romantic, beautiful, funny, and hopeful moments, lightening the overall tone.

I absolutely adored One True Loves. I can’t think of any other author that can make me fall in love twice in one story and have it feel so realistic. Whether or not you agree with the choice Emma made (I did!!) the journey was, to me, what this was really all about. There was no clear-cut choice. There were three people, all in love, and all with the chance of getting their heart shattered. I can say that it ended in a way that had me smiling through my tears. Actually, I still am as I think about how it all worked out. I hope this story resonates as much with other readers as it did with me.

Book Info:

Publication: Published June 7th 2016 | Washington Square Press |

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a “Best Book of the Summer” by Glamour and USA Today—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.