One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

One True Loves Published by Washington Square Press on June 7th 2016
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Women
Pages: 352
Goodreads

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a “Best Book of the Summer” by Glamour and USA TODAY—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

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.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m part of an awesome Summer Reading Challenge this summer and the June books are out! Today’s post is about One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid. While One True Loves isn’t her only book, this is the first book by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I’ve had the opportunity to read.

I won’t lie – a book that starts out with the following line has me hooked:

I am finishing up dinner with my family and my fiancé when my husband calls.

After I said “whaaaaaaat?” out loud for everyone to hear, I jumped right into this book. The storyline is about Emma Blair, who marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They leave their small Massachusetts town and head to California where they build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown. Emma and Jesse are in love and they are doing exactly what they want to do – they are traveling the world, living life to the fullest and seizing their opportunities for adventure along the way.

After only a year of marriage, the unimaginable happens – Jesse goes missing. His helicopter disappears into the Pacific and all of the occupants presumed dead. Emma just can’t believe it and feels that Jesse just couldn’t abandon her life this. She thinks because he was an all-state swimmer he should be able to swim to safety and survive.  Her beliefs are so strong that she stands vigil for his return just waiting for him.

When her sister finally forces her to realize that Jesse isn’t coming back, she moves back to Acton, Massachusetts so that she could reconnect with her family and help run the family book store in an effort to heal her grief. As the years pass, Emma slowly rebuilds her life and moves forward, the pain of Jesse’s loss easing with each passing day. 

Flash forward three years and Emma is engaged to Sam Kemper, who is an old family friend. She is happy in a way she never expected to be ever again. As Sam and Emma begin to plan their wedding, she receives the phone call – see first sentence above and it all makes sense. 

My heart was aching for all of them – for Emma, Jesse, and Sam – throughout the entire book. The characters are relatable and tangible. It really makes you wonder how you yourself would react if you were in a similar situation as Emma, or even Jesse or Sam. I loved how Emma evolved from the beginning to the end of this story, and I’ll be honest with you – I was a little teary a few times while reading One True Loves. Both Jesse and Sam seem to be good men who love Emma dearly, and neither of them really deserve to be hurt, but this is their situation and they all must figure out what’s for the best.

One True Loves was a quick read and I loved how well the book flowed. The story kept moving and kept me turning pages to learn what would happen next! The story was bittersweet and definitely tugs on the heartstrings of readers. This book is a perfect book for the best summer ever!

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author, essayist, and TV writer from Acton, Massachusetts. Her debut novel, Forever, Interrupted, has been optioned with Dakota Johnson attached to star. She is adapting her second book, After I Do, for Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family. Her most recent novel, Maybe In Another Life, has been featured in People, US Weekly, Cosmo, and more. One True Loves is available now.

In addition to her novels, Taylor’s essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, xoJane, and a number of other blogs. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and their dog, Rabbit.

You can find Taylor Jenkins Reid on her Official Website HERE, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest! 

I received a complimentary paperback copy of this book from the publishers and BookSparks as part of the 2016 Summer Reading Challenge in exchange for this post, which is my honest review and unbiased opinion.

Keep checking out BookSparks’ Summer Reading Challenge 2016! There are so many more books you’ll want to put into your beach bag! This is going to be the “best summer ever.” #SRC2016 #BestSummerEver #BestSRCEver!

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