One True Loves

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[girlinthepages]

I think I am becoming a bit of a Taylor Jenkins Reid junkie. I read and loved Maybe in Another Life a few months ago, and I was just as hooked on her recent release, One True Loves. I read this one over the span of a weekend trip to Disneyland, so you can imagine that it must've been good if I was able to focus on it while being in immersed in all things Disney (I'm a bit of a fanatic).

One True Loves is a story that refreshes the concept of a love triangle. Emma was married to her self proclaimed soul mate in her twenties, and had a joyous and adventurous life. When her husband Jesse goes missing and is presumed dead, she eventually moves on and is engaged years later, only to find out that he survived and is coming home. So while yes, the protagonist does find herself caught between two men and two relationships, the dynamic is so unique and the stakes are so much more different than other novels with love triangles at their cores. It's one of the worst possible positions to be in, as there was never any intent for the triangle to exist, as one person was assumed dead.

While the novel had an interesting plot, what really stood out to me was the quality of the writing. Taylor Jenkins Reid has such a gift with conveying real emotions at such pivotal life stages for women in early adulthood. I loved seeing the progression of Emma from her twenties to thirties, the acknowledgement that so much can change in less than a five year period during that time of your life. I also loved that she leveraged the second person POV for certain scenes, as it really immerses readers into empathizing with Emma's situation. Though from the book's synopsis you know that Emma's husband, Jesse, is going to go missing, having the relive the trauma with Emma (as it is told mostly in flashback format) really had me feeling for her. I've been talking nonstop for three days to anyone who will listen about the impossibility of her situation, and what they think they would do, because I find it all so heart wrenching and fascinating. I can't stop thinking about the grief and joy and despair that Emma cycles through in the novel when the impossible happens twice- her husband disappearing, and surviving and returning after all of those years.

While I really enjoyed the plot of this book, I found that I didn't care for Emma that much as a character. While I appreciate that she stood by her decisions for moving on when others judged her for getting engaged and finding happiness with her husband gone, I also just inherently disliked how she handled the situation of juggling Jesse and Sam. Sure, it's a really tough situation and none of us really know how we'd react unless we were in it, but I felt like her indecisiveness at times felt disingenuous and I wanted her to feel more of a depth of emotion, such as that which came across in the chapters when she lost Jesse. Older Emma seemed so much more detached and harder to empathize with. I also think she made her decision about who to be with very, very quickly, and while the buildup of the plot was great, the resolution was a bit too hasty for me.

Overall: Taylor Jenkins Reid is a master of writing realistic, riveting romances that are centered at the heart of the transitional time of early adulthood. Her books maintain the integrity of adult fiction while still navigating the tenuous period of the early-late twenties that generally falls into the New Adult category, and when so many people are still figuring out who they are. One True Loves is a book that broke my heart for the characters several times over, but also included narratives about personal growth and change and aging. While not my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid novel due to the ending, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this one!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages