A review by bbivnca
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

✦✦✦✦✦/✦✦✦✦✦
*One True Loves* is not a book that I would have picked up at the bookstore. It’s a book that my mom would have read, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. The main character is in her thirties, and this book is about finding her way back home and learning how to love again after her husband was gone. I thought the romance was great. I was able to side with both of the love interests, and that’s not really common for me when I read books that have love triangles.
Towards the end, I was starting to harbor negative feelings about Jesse. I thought he was being really selfish, and he was. He did, however, realized that nothing will ever go back to the way things were before be was gone. He had a hard time grasping that with or without him, everyone’s lives will go on. It’s amazing how Taylor Jenkins Reid was able to make dislike a character and like him at the same time. Sam is an absolute sweetheart. He is kind, patient, and understanding. He loved Emma for who she is and saw that she was greater than the sum of her parts. Jesse failed to recognize that she wasn’t the girl who eats Ben & Jerry’s and Diet Coca Cola when she was sad anymore. She went through hell and back when she lost him. Her innocence and self at 20 will never come back.
There were things that she did that did not sit right with me at times, but I think that’s what makes TJR’s writing so beautiful. She is able to make me empathize with flawed characters that I do not necessarily relate to. TJR is a mastermind at creating complex characters and she never fails to make me fall in love with each and every character that she creates. Overall, the ending worked out in my favor.
I was screaming when Sam proposed for a second time, and my mom looked at me like I was insane!
Love, love, love everything about this book.
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