Book Review: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

ABOUT 

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.

My Thoughts 

This has been my fifth time reading Taylor Jenkins Reid and if you have been following my blog, you could tell that I am a big fan of her work. It seems that everything she writes grips me from the very beginning. One True Loves is no exception.

Imagine thinking your husband, your first love is dead and as soon as you move on with a fiancé' no less, after three years, he returns very much alive and anxious to begin where you guys left off.

This was exactly the case with Emma Blair. Emma, upon hearing that her husband Jesse was found alive had to make a decision. Jesse had been Emma's "One True Love" since high school. It was difficult for her to move on, but her fiancé Sam, (who loved Emma from the sidelines since high school) made it easy for her to get over Jesse's death with his charming ways.

She was now in a situation where she had a husband and a fiancé. Emma had a decision to make. Sam or Jesse?

I loved everything about this story, there was love, sadness, loss. But what stood out for me was the theme of grief and starting over. Too often many people who lose someone like a spouse, feel bad I think to move on. Emma's story in how she dealt with grief and starting anew was handled quite well by the author which made for excellent reading,