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emaan0920_ 's review for:
One True Loves
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Premise:
Emma and Jesse are high school sweethearts who eventually marry. One year into their marriage, Jesse disappears on a mission, and is presumed dead. After a period of heartbreak and grief, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, who was in love with her since they were teenagers. Slowly, Emma finds love again and before she knows it, she's engaged. Just then, it's revealed that Jesse was alive this whole time, and he wants her back.
My thoughts:
I have read TJR’s historical fiction novels and enjoyed them, so admittedly I decided to read a contemporary novel by her with the same expectation. But unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. Maybe it was because of the love triangle, or maybe it was because I went in judging this book with the same eyes as with the author's historical works. Both of those would be on me. Or maybe it's because the back cover summary gives so much away except for whom Emma ends up choosing.
The main reason I'm not that big on love triangles (or quadrangles, etc) is that I almost always end up preferring one guy over the other, or others. When I started reading, I didn't think I was going to prefer one guy over the other, but the guys' individual personalities and how they each reacted to the predicament at hand made that impossible. In this case, I found myself more sympathetic with Sam, and found Jesse to be a bit pushy.
But I had complicated feelings towards Emma as a protagonist. I understand being torn between two guys, but sometimes it felt like she was leading them both on. If one is unsure, ideally they wouldn’t make any moves towards the other party until they are. Regardless, there’s…action with both the guys, and even after Emma makes up her mind about Sam, she still sleeps with Jesse. That felt like cheating, and it’s a no from me.
I also thought the execution was a bit fast. I saw another review mention this, and I agree. Basically book is divided into three parts: 25% flashbacks with Sam, 25% flashbacks with Jesse, and the remaining 50% was in the present time after Emma learns that Jesse is alive, where she spends time with both. And a good portion of that time, she’s on a three day trip with Jesse in Maine, which is where she comes to a realization that Sam is the one for her. I’d imagine it would probably take longer than three days to figure this out.
Regardless of all that, I thought the final message was pretty bittersweet. And looking back, this is a lesson Jesse learns.
Emma and Jesse are high school sweethearts who eventually marry. One year into their marriage, Jesse disappears on a mission, and is presumed dead. After a period of heartbreak and grief, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, who was in love with her since they were teenagers. Slowly, Emma finds love again and before she knows it, she's engaged. Just then, it's revealed that Jesse was alive this whole time, and he wants her back.
My thoughts:
I have read TJR’s historical fiction novels and enjoyed them, so admittedly I decided to read a contemporary novel by her with the same expectation. But unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. Maybe it was because of the love triangle, or maybe it was because I went in judging this book with the same eyes as with the author's historical works. Both of those would be on me. Or maybe it's because the back cover summary gives so much away except for whom Emma ends up choosing.
The main reason I'm not that big on love triangles (or quadrangles, etc) is that I almost always end up preferring one guy over the other, or others. When I started reading, I didn't think I was going to prefer one guy over the other, but the guys' individual personalities and how they each reacted to the predicament at hand made that impossible. In this case, I found myself more sympathetic with Sam, and found Jesse to be a bit pushy.
But I had complicated feelings towards Emma as a protagonist. I understand being torn between two guys, but sometimes it felt like she was leading them both on. If one is unsure, ideally they wouldn’t make any moves towards the other party until they are. Regardless, there’s…action with both the guys, and even after Emma makes up her mind about Sam, she still sleeps with Jesse. That felt like cheating, and it’s a no from me.
I also thought the execution was a bit fast. I saw another review mention this, and I agree. Basically book is divided into three parts: 25% flashbacks with Sam, 25% flashbacks with Jesse, and the remaining 50% was in the present time after Emma learns that Jesse is alive, where she spends time with both. And a good portion of that time, she’s on a three day trip with Jesse in Maine, which is where she comes to a realization that Sam is the one for her. I’d imagine it would probably take longer than three days to figure this out.
Regardless of all that, I thought the final message was pretty bittersweet. And looking back, this is a lesson Jesse learns.