Book 30/30.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was my second Taylor Jenkins Reid read, the first being the extraordinary, unputdownable The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo that was my book 30/30 in 2019. I say all the time that I like to start and end my reading challenge on a high, and while this wasn’t my last read of the year it was the last of my target, so some TJR was definitely in order 🤩🤓
One True Loves is a 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. 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 she 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.
That synopsis is right up my romance-is-my-fave-genre alley, which is why I decided on this book for my book 30/30. I was dead sure it would be a 5 star read, just like Evelyn Hugo, but it fell short 1 star. Whether it fell short on its own merit, or because I was comparing it to the incomparable Evelyn Hugo, I’m not quite sure 😐🤷♀️
That said, TJR did a great job of building up Emma’s love story with Jesse, detailing how she fell apart after he “died”, and how Sam was instrumental in her journey to healing. Whether you are #teamJesse or #teamSam the author did an incredible job showing the strengths of both relationships such that you couldn’t help but root for both men. Emma may not have chosen the person I went into the book rooting for, but I understood her choice and was ultimately happy with it, even though it also made me sad.
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 