One True Loves

Just because something isn’t meant to last a lifetime doesn’t mean it wasn’t meant to be.

One True Loves

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reed

I’ve read a few Taylor Jenkins Reed books before this one. This author has a writing style I can slide through like butter, and I wanted to see if her earlier works would have that same property. Up until this point I had only read the four books in her historical fiction famous women series: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, and Carri Soto is back. This book predates those and falls into her contemporary romance era, but it feels like a disservice to market this book as a romance. Romance can imply a beach read where two people meet—hijinks ensue—and then fall in love. This book is about love, but the conflicts in this book are not hijinks. The issues our leads face are the bigger, broader, and more serious cousin of hijinks. They are hijonks. (Please allow me this joke. Hijonks made me giggle and that is sacred.)

Emma and her husband Jesse were high school sweethearts with a romance sweet enough to be a standalone book.  Their story is cut tragically short when on their first wedding anniversary Jesse is presumed dead after his helicopter goes missing over the Pacific ocean. Emma is crushed by disbelief and grief. As time passes, the hometown she had once worked so far to leave, becomes her safe haven.

Emma rebuilds a new life, and in doing so finds love again. Four years after the accident she is engaged to Sam and flourishing.

Until…

Jesse is found! He survived the crash and is finally on his way back to Emma, his wife. Now Emma must reconcile the life she thought she lost and the person she was, with who she is now. And Reed, holds no punches.

This book is a nightmare of what ifs. What if the worst happens and you lose your loved one? What if you find love again? What if your lost love returns and you have to decide which love you can keep? What if soulmates don’t exist? It’s enough to make me reenact ‘The Scream” by Edvard Munch. My anxiety and existentialism can’t handle it.

Emma’s experience once Jesse returns is the headliner of this book, but the standout for me was seeing her shape a new path for her life. When Jesse ‘dies’, so does the life Emma had before. She develops new priorities, habits, relationships, and goals. It was beautiful to see her find her footing. So, when Jesse returns, it’s not just about picking between her two loves, it’s her recognizing that she’s a different person now. In a story as grief-laden as this one, I was surprised to find this theme of hope, of how even after your life goes up in a blaze, your life comes back to you with new and surprising growth that’s just as beautiful.