In brief: Emma thought she would love Jesse forever, but he disappeared in a helicopter crash. Emma is distraught but slowly rebuilds her life, including a new relationship with Sam. Then Jesse phones years later. Where to from here?
The good: It’s an impossible question and situation to ponder.
You are viewing: Who Does She End Up With In One True Loves
The not-so-good: Doesn’t have the complexity of later TJR novels.
Why I chose it: Catching up on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s backlist and chose this after seeing there’s a movie coming out.
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Year: 2016
Pages: 331
Publisher: Washington Square Press (Simon & Schuster)
Setting: Mainly Massachusetts
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Rating: 7.5 out of 10
I like to think I discovered Taylor Jenkins Reid (in Australia at least) before she was cool. I stumbled upon on an audiobook of Maybe in Another Life, which was really fun and later found The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo at the library. It was near impossible to find any of her books in Australia at the time, but wow, things have changed. It’s easy to find her backlist anywhere. Scrolling through the ‘coming soon’ section on a cinema website, I noticed that One True Loves is about to be released as a movie so that was the easiest choice for what to read next. It’s going to be interesting how to put so much internal angst and emotion for the main character Emma into a visual format.
One True Loves asks on the cover of my copy (not the movie tie-in) what it means to love truly. I think the premise of this novel is better summed up as how love and connection change over time. As one person grows, how does the other? Does being together influence change in each person in a certain direction? Unlike later TJR novels, this novel is pretty much focused on this question without too much other subplots. That’s fine, this is an earlier novel of hers, but having read her more recent and complex character novels it does feel like TJR-lite. It has all the feels still, but on a much smaller scale. Also, it’s a little cheesy at times.
The story opens as Emma and fiancé Sam are celebrating with her parents when she gets a call she never expected. It’s her husband Jesse, who went missing after a helicopter crash several years ago. He’s alive and he’s coming home soon. (This isn’t a spoiler; it literally happens in the first chapter and is on the back blurb). The story then goes into how Jesse and Emma met in high school (fortunately this part is pretty short, I wasn’t really keen on the school romance) and how she is diametrically opposed to doing what her parents wants (taking over the family bookstore, she doesn’t even read). The story moves forward to their marriage and the wanderlust Jesse and Emma have always felt. This in turn is partially why Jesse chooses to go on the ill-fated trip that leads to his disappearance. Afterwards, Emma is bereft but slowly rebuilds her life in a completely different way in her home town. She becomes closer to her sister and discovers she enjoys both reading and working in the bookshop. Meeting old colleague Sam leads to a new, and different relationship. Emma is content. But when Jesse reappears, it’s understandably uncomfortable with a lot of soul searching. Jesse isn’t always the most sympathetic of characters, expecting things and Emma to be as he left it years ago. (Again, understandable but he takes it a little too far in my book). Personally, I found it easy to make my ‘choice’ as to who Emma should end up with based on their actions. But the whole angst-ridden ride was bumpy, uncomfortable and equal parts sweet/soppy. I would have liked more exploration into Jesse’s time on the island and the aftereffects on his mental health (surely he should be seeing someone?). Emma makes some bad decisions during the period of Jesse and Sam overlap which was cringy rather than adding to the plot/decision making.
I felt that the conclusion was bundled up too neatly and quickly, but perhaps that is how it goes when you’re confronted with something like this. It’s not TJR’s best, but as always, she puts a unique spin on an emotional topic.
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Category: WHO
