One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: One True Loves
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Simon & Schuster – Washington Square Press
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Genre: Contemporary, Romance

Amazon • Book Depository • Barnes & Noble
“True love doesn’t always last,” I say. “It doesn’t always have to be for a lifetime”

I feel really bad because I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, also by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I had to stop myself from DNF’ing this multiple times. I should have expected I would find this super tropey because the premise definitely is tropey. A happy couple are married and in love when suddenly one of them gets caught in a helicopter crash and is never to be seen again. And of course several years later he comes back but his believed-to-be-widowed wife is engaged. I should have figured this wouldn’t do it for me but I read it all anyways ><!

I think the main problem is the story moved too fast. We go through Emma and Jesse’s first meeting in high school, their marriage, Jesse’s crash, Emma’s grievance, and then we immediately experience Emma moving on and meeting Sam, them dating, and then them getting engaged. There wasn’t enough time to flesh out any of Emma’s lovers, so I didn’t care when her husband died, and I didn’t feel for Emma’s husband or fiancé when her husband came back.

Also, from the very beginning I knew who Emma would choose in the end because one man was obviously written to be unlikable while the other one was written to be lovable. I believe the author’s intention in writing Emma’s lovers was to show how people change from one period of life to the next, but I don’t think one period of life is necessarily better than the other so I don’t think one man should have felt likable and the other unlikable.

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing is also very personal. While her character’s introspection resonated with me in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it did nothing for me in One True Loves. A lot of it had to to with love, and I’m not sure I agree with Emma’s thoughts.

It was a quick and easy read but not one of my favorites.

Goodreads • Instagram • Twitter • Bloglovin’ • Pinterest