Summary: Emma Blair has accomplished most of her high school dreams before she’s thirty years old: left small-town Massachusetts for school in California with her high school sweetheart, Jesse, travels the world for her work, and married the love of her life. Emma’s life is everything she’s ever wanted until tragedy strikes on her first-year wedding anniversary: while on assignment, Jesse’s helicopter goes missing over the Pacific, and he’s gone forever. Despite what the seventeen-year old version of herself would have wanted, Emma goes back home to try to put life back together again. When she runs into an old friend, Sam, Emma finds herself falling in love all again. Being engaged to Sam feels great, until the unbelievable happens: Jesse is found alive.

My Rating: 4.25/ 5 Stars

**Warning: There are spoilers below for Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves**

My Thoughts:

One True Loves is my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book, and I first heard about the book from Kristin of SuperSpaceChick. Being a fan of adult contemporary books, I was more than interested in One True Loves when I heard its out of the ordinary plot.

My favorite aspect of One True Loves was the way in which Taylor Jenkins Reid separated the story into parts. I liked how we had a section dedicated to Jesse and Emma’s love story, followed by Emma and Sam’s life together up to their engagement, with later parts obviously focused on Emma figuring out life post-Jesse’s return. I think my favorite section was Emma and Jesse’s love story, as I really enjoyed seeing Emma as a teenager and it was interesting to see how opposed she was to her parent’s dream of her running the bookstore with Marie. Another one of my favorite parts of the novel was seeing Emma grow to love reading and the bookstore.

Speaking of Blair Books, I loved Emma’s family and their love for the bookstore. I may or may not have enjoyed spending time with the Blairs a bit more than the focus on Emma’s romance dilemma (way to miss some the “point” of the story, Fangirl). I really liked Emma’s parents and seeing Emma build a stronger relationship with Marie, and I enjoyed how Emma was able to rebuild her life back in Acton. As much as I want to see the world, I’m definitely one to appreciate a homey lifestyle and the little things in life, so it was really cool to see Emma love her new life back home (Sam was also a very nice touch).

While I thought Jesse and Emma’s life together was adorable and dream worthy, I loved her relationship with Sam a bit more because of the comfort he provided for her. I also thought the way they met was so funny, as Emma mistakes Sam for an employee in the music store instead of a fellow customer. Obviously their relationship is just as serious and real as Emma’s relationship with Jesse, however, I loved the more casualness of her and Sam’s life: living near their hometown and working there, agreeing to marry each other while holding a burger and milkshake in their hands (#goals), etc. While the outcome of the book wouldn’t have affected my opinion too much, I was rooting for Emma to stay with Sam. I definitely agreed with Marie’s belief that Emma was a different person when she was with Jesse, and even though she loves him, their relationship just wouldn’t be the same. Plus Sam’s tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches sound too good to pass up.

I’m looking forward to picking up Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other novels soon! Have you read One True Loves? Let me know in the comments!