Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Emotional Drama / Second Chances
Ideal For: Anyone who loves a romance that’s messy, real and emotionally daring—ideal for fans of love stories that ask what happens when your past comes back to claim you? or how do we choose ourselves when everything around us shifts?
Plot Summary (Spoiler-free)
From the very first pages of One True Loves, Reid plunges you into a love story with the knock-out punch of a tragedy. Emma Blair is happily married to her high-school sweetheart Jesse; they travel the world, dream of a future together. Then his helicopter vanishes—and with it, a decade of their life. Years later Emma rebuilds—leans into a new love with Sam—and when Jesse returns alive, the foundations of her world splinter. What does it mean to love truly? Which version of yourself deserves to choose?
The novel doesn’t deliver a neat love triangle—it delivers a love complex.
Reid’s Craft: Compassionate, Gut-Pounding and Honest
Reid’s voice in this book is deeply human. The plot is dramatic—but the hurt, the yearning, the confusion is quietly rendered. Emma isn’t a fantasy figure—she’s someone who did love, lost it, loved again, and now has to reconcile all that. The writing skips the gloss of dutiful romance and goes straight for the ache.
The pacing is immersive: the early years of Emma and Jesse’s marriage, the shock of his disappearance, the stillness of her grief, the awakening of a new love—and then the storm of his return. Reid structures it so you feel the weight of every second, every memory, every missed decision.
What Works Beautifully
Emotion-soaked stakes. You’re not just rooting for “who she chooses”—you’re rooting for Emma’s right to choose herself.
Characters who feel real. Reid doesn’t give us perfect people. Jesse is loving but scarred; Sam is steady but hurt. Emma is flawed, torn, alive.
Writing that lingers. Select lines echo: “Just because something isn’t meant to last a lifetime doesn’t mean it wasn’t meant to be.”
Courageous premise. Choosing between two loves doesn’t sound easy—and Reid doesn’t wrap it up in simplicity. She honours the pain of both sides.
A Tiny Caveat
If you prefer your romance to always end with tears-free certainty, this book might offer too many bittersweet notes. One reviewer felt the ending wrapped up rapidly compared to the build-up. But given the emotional terrain covered, that doesn’t feel like flaw—it feels like life.
Why You’ll Keep Thinking About It
Finish One True Loves and you’ll carry one question: What happens when the “only” person you ever loved comes back—but you aren’t the same person you were when you left? You’ll remember the quiet bookstore where Emma rebuilds, the moment she hears his voice again, the ache of stepping into someone new while the memory of someone else still presses. The novel doesn’t give you easy answers—it gives you feeling.
You’ll likely tell a friend: “You need to read this. Whatever you expect from a love story—it will surprise you.” You’ll quote: “Good things don’t wait until you’re ready. Sometimes they come right before, when you’re almost there.”
One True Loves earns its five stars because it takes a romance, shakes it until the glitter falls away, and shows you love in its full, messy, transformative glory. Taylor Jenkins Reid has crafted a novel that will make you feel, will make you pause, and might even make you cry. If you’re ready to go beyond “happily ever after” and into “what happens after what should have lasted forever”—this is absolutely for you.
