Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - One True Loves

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

110 reviews

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Emma falls in love with Jesse the moment she looks at him. Sam fall in love with Emma the first time they talk to each other.

After an unfortunate accident, Jesse is pronounced dead. Emma begins the grief journey and after years of this she writes to Jesse.

"When you lose someone you love, it's hard to imagine that you'll ever feel better. That, one day, you'll manage to be in a good mood simply because the weather is nice or the barista at the coffee shop on the corner room and bridge your order." -Emma

However, after three years of being "dead" Jesse returns. Emma is faced the the impossible choice of being with Jesse (her husband) or Sam (her fiance).

"I don't think you're trying to figure out if you love Sam more or Jesse more. I think you're trying to figure out if you want to be the person you are with Jesse or you want to be the person you are with Sam." -Marie

Emma realizes that she is no longer the same person she was when she fell in love with Jesse. Jesse is no longer the same guy Emma loved. They can both still love each other but they might not just be for each other now.

"And what has confused me ever since I found out he was alive is now crystal clear: We are two people who are madly in love with our old selves. And that is not the same as being in love." - Emma

A truly impossible situation written beautifully. This one will definitely make you cry. What would you do?

Content Warnings

bxnny's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

daniofthewood's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

gwenswoons's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Love love loved.

Content Warnings

birtch's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

nicolecurlsuptoread's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [5/5]

Feels 😭😭😭😭 [4/5]

📌 You’ll dig this if you like

» Second chances

» Friends to lovers

» Love triangles

Emma and Jesse were high school sweethearts, all the firsts! They build a life together away from their families and the day before their first wedding anniversary, Jesse takes a work trip and is assumed dead when his helicopter crashes in the Pacific.

Almost four years later, he calls Emma to tell her he’s alive and he’s coming home to her. Except, she’s engaged now to the guy who’s loved her since high school.

This book ruined me. I haven’t had a good book hangover in a while and One True Loves did it. It was devastating and tragic and beautiful and all the adjectives that can be used to describe a book that will stay with you.

The romance was secondary to the themes of loss, grief, and how to move forward. Then, how to choose between the loves of your life. What do you do when you’ve always believed in one true love, but you have two?

📌 What stood out

» I loved that the book is divided into aptly titled sections, but otherwise didn’t have chapter numbers.

» The chapter when Emma goes back home. Moving from the story being in the first person, then as if it’s being narrated from above, like an out of body experience, helped me connect to the grief piece. That’s what it feels like, and it was perfectly captured.

» In the prologue, Emma talks about everyone’s life having a moment that splits it into before and after, pre and post. The poignancy of that concept was visceral for me. I know my moment and can recall it with stunning clarity. I was hooked by and connected with One True Loves from page 6.

📌 Moments

» Emma and her sister Marie start out as enemies, or at least, not really having anything to do with each other as teenagers. They have a moment toward the end of the book that is balm for their hurt and misunderstood souls.

Let me leave you with this moral of the story quote:

"There is nothing more romantic than this. Holding the very person that you thought you lost, and knowing you'll never lose them again. I don't think that true love means your only love. I think true love means loving truly. Loving purely. Loving wholly."

🚫Contains some heavy themes. Please check warnings.

Content Warnings