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jesskreads's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
4.0
One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📚 I recommend this if you love: emotional, reflective stories about love, loss, grief and growth
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Book Format: Physical
Number of Pages: 327
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series or Standalone: Standalone
Tropes & Themes: grief, loss, love triangle, small town, dual timeline
🤔 Why I read the book: after reading a few other books by Taylor, I thought I'd also read this one - I hadn't really seen many reviews of it online so went into it blind!
💭 Thoughts:
Follows a first person POV from the view of Emma, who fell in love with Jesse.
A love triangle done the right way!
I liked the way that Emma's relationship with Jesse and Sam is explored, and how she navigates through such difficult emotions and experiences.
Upon Jesse's return, the way he acted to me seemed sort of predictable, wanting things to stay the same - he definitely had his own emotional trauma to unpack!
I wasn't sure who I wanted Emma to end up with but I was happy with the ending!
I enjoyed the character development between Emma and her sister Marie.
📖 Brief plot summary: Emma and Jesse, highschool lovers, get married and move away from their hometown while travelling the world. The night before their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter which goes missing, but he's never found.
Emma navigates through grief and loss, and finds herself falling in love with Sam, who she gets engaged to. One evening Emma receives a call that Jesse is alive. With a presumed dead husband and her fiance, is it possible to have one true love?
📚 I recommend this if you love: emotional, reflective stories about love, loss, grief and growth
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Book Format: Physical
Number of Pages: 327
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series or Standalone: Standalone
Tropes & Themes: grief, loss, love triangle, small town, dual timeline
🤔 Why I read the book: after reading a few other books by Taylor, I thought I'd also read this one - I hadn't really seen many reviews of it online so went into it blind!
💭 Thoughts:
Follows a first person POV from the view of Emma, who fell in love with Jesse.
A love triangle done the right way!
I liked the way that Emma's relationship with Jesse and Sam is explored, and how she navigates through such difficult emotions and experiences.
Upon Jesse's return, the way he acted to me seemed sort of predictable, wanting things to stay the same - he definitely had his own emotional trauma to unpack!
I wasn't sure who I wanted Emma to end up with but I was happy with the ending!
I enjoyed the character development between Emma and her sister Marie.
📖 Brief plot summary: Emma and Jesse, highschool lovers, get married and move away from their hometown while travelling the world. The night before their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter which goes missing, but he's never found.
Emma navigates through grief and loss, and finds herself falling in love with Sam, who she gets engaged to. One evening Emma receives a call that Jesse is alive. With a presumed dead husband and her fiance, is it possible to have one true love?
agnesssimo's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.25
tieganlucy's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. I loved this book so much. Can now officially confirm that Taylor Jenkins Reid is my favourite author. And this has quickly shot up onto the list of one of my favourite books.
amberverg's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
3.75
amandalyn's review against another edition
5.0
Man I am so glad Reid’s books have come into my life. While I didn’t love this one quite as much as Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones, but it was still wonderful. It was a beautiful portrait of love and loss and finding love again. I was definitely crying on the train at the conclusion. True love is rare, and not at the same time. I love her books so much and I’m definitely reading them all soon.
barktea's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
meggie82461's review against another edition
4.0
A solid four stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I feel like a broken record, but I love TJR. Yes, Evelyn Hugo is the best. By far. But, it’s not exactly fair to hold every other books of hers up to it. And honestly, they’re all so compulsively readable. This one, the destination mattered more than the journey for me. I loved where it ended up, but the path there was not exactly smooth. The best part of her books, for me, is that they are so easy to get through, and this one was no different.
It’s a theme that movies and books have done since the beginning of time: what happens when a widow finally falls in love again, but her dead husband isn’t really dead? Well, you get a love triangle in which no one is really to blame, and no one is the villain, but yet someone is going to get hurt.
This book did it well. Yes, it helped that Emma ended up with who I thought she should’ve ended up with. But I also appreciated how it admitted to something that a lot of romance novels try to ignore: that having one true love isn’t really a thing. We grow and we change during life, and we fall in and out of love with people during that time. But that doesn’t mean any of the love we felt wasn’t real at that moment in time, because it was. I personally love romance books (and movies) where one of the leads has lost a partner. I think falling in love after that kind of loss is incredibly brave, and I think bravery is the key ingredient to romance. Putting yourself out there for someone, even though you’ve been gutted? That speaks volumes. But that doesn’t cheapen the love you felt the first time. It’s just that you can’t go through that kind of loss without fundamentally changing as a person. And the person you become, well, they deserve love. They haven’t felt it yet, after all.
As I get older, and more boring, I reject the notion that a relationship is a failure just because it ends. And I will fight anyone who thinks it is weak to try to love again.
I feel like a broken record, but I love TJR. Yes, Evelyn Hugo is the best. By far. But, it’s not exactly fair to hold every other books of hers up to it. And honestly, they’re all so compulsively readable. This one, the destination mattered more than the journey for me. I loved where it ended up, but the path there was not exactly smooth. The best part of her books, for me, is that they are so easy to get through, and this one was no different.
It’s a theme that movies and books have done since the beginning of time: what happens when a widow finally falls in love again, but her dead husband isn’t really dead? Well, you get a love triangle in which no one is really to blame, and no one is the villain, but yet someone is going to get hurt.
This book did it well. Yes, it helped that Emma ended up with who I thought she should’ve ended up with. But I also appreciated how it admitted to something that a lot of romance novels try to ignore: that having one true love isn’t really a thing. We grow and we change during life, and we fall in and out of love with people during that time. But that doesn’t mean any of the love we felt wasn’t real at that moment in time, because it was. I personally love romance books (and movies) where one of the leads has lost a partner. I think falling in love after that kind of loss is incredibly brave, and I think bravery is the key ingredient to romance. Putting yourself out there for someone, even though you’ve been gutted? That speaks volumes. But that doesn’t cheapen the love you felt the first time. It’s just that you can’t go through that kind of loss without fundamentally changing as a person. And the person you become, well, they deserve love. They haven’t felt it yet, after all.
As I get older, and more boring, I reject the notion that a relationship is a failure just because it ends. And I will fight anyone who thinks it is weak to try to love again.
skyegreene's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a rollercoaster of emotions, but done so beautifully. Broke my heart into a million pieces and put it back together again. After 2 TJR books that were both 5 ⭐️ I will read anything this author publishes.