Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves presents readers with one of contemporary romance’s most emotionally complex scenarios: What happens when the love you’ve grieved and moved on from returns from the dead? The novel follows Emma Blair, who has rebuilt her life after losing her husband Jesse in a helicopter crash, only to have her world completely upended when he returns three and a half years later—alive but forever changed.
This isn’t simply a love triangle. Reid has crafted something far more nuanced—a meditation on growth, grief, and the uncomfortable truth that we can love multiple people in different ways throughout our lives. The premise alone is enough to keep you reading, but it’s Reid’s skillful character development and emotional authenticity that transforms this high-concept story into something genuinely moving.
A Masterclass in Character Evolution
Emma Blair: The Woman Caught Between Two Lives
Emma serves as Reid’s most compelling protagonist to date, surpassing even the memorable characters from her previous novels like Forever, Interrupted and After I Do. What makes Emma remarkable isn’t her predicament itself, but how Reid portrays her internal journey with such raw honesty. She’s neither the devoted Penelope waiting eternally for her husband’s return, nor is she a woman who callously abandons her past for convenience.
Reid brilliantly shows how Emma has genuinely grown and changed during Jesse’s absence. The woman who returns to Acton, Massachusetts broken and grieving isn’t the same person who eventually chooses to love again. When Jesse returns, Emma faces the devastating realization that they’ve both evolved in different directions. This isn’t about choosing between two men—it’s about choosing between two versions of herself.
Jesse: The Man Who Couldn’t Come Home Again
Jesse Lerner could have easily become a one-dimensional obstacle to Emma’s happiness, but Reid gives him remarkable depth. His survival story on a Pacific island is handled with restraint—Reid wisely focuses on the emotional rather than the procedural aspects of his ordeal. Jesse’s desperation to reclaim his old life feels authentic and heartbreaking, making his ultimate fate all the more poignant.
The scenes where Jesse grapples with Emma’s transformation—particularly his admission that he “hates her hair” because it represents how much she’s changed—showcase Reid’s ability to find profound truths in seemingly trivial details.
Sam Kemper: More Than a Second Choice
In lesser hands, Sam might have been merely the “safe” option, but Reid imbues him with genuine appeal and depth. His patient understanding of Emma’s complicated feelings, his willingness to accept that she’ll always love Jesse, and his own journey from teenage infatuation to mature love make him a worthy romantic lead. The slow-burn development of their relationship feels earned rather than convenient.
The Prose: Reid’s Evolving Style
Reid’s writing in One True Loves demonstrates significant growth from her earlier works. Her prose is cleaner here, less reliant on dramatic flourishes and more focused on emotional truth. She has a particular gift for capturing the small moments that define relationships—the way couples move around each other in familiar spaces, the comfort of shared silence, the specific pain of recognition fading.
The novel’s structure, moving between past and present, could have felt gimmicky, but Reid uses these shifts purposefully to build emotional resonance. The contrast between Emma’s memories of her life with Jesse and her present reality with Sam illuminates just how much both she and her circumstances have changed.
Exploring the Uncomfortable Truths About Love
The Myth of “The One”
Reid’s greatest achievement in this novel is her willingness to challenge romantic mythology. The title itself—One True Loves—is deliberately provocative. By the end, we understand that the “one” isn’t a person but rather a specific love that exists between two people at a particular moment in time. Emma’s love for Jesse was real and profound, but it belonged to who they were then, not who they’ve become.
This perspective is both liberating and unsettling. It suggests that our deepest loves might be circumstantial, tied to specific versions of ourselves that we eventually outgrow. For some readers, this might feel diminishing to the power of love; for others, it’s refreshingly honest about how relationships actually work.
Growth vs. Loyalty
The novel grapples with challenging questions about loyalty and growth. Is Emma betraying Jesse by choosing Sam? Is she being true to herself by honoring who she’s become? Reid doesn’t provide easy answers, instead allowing readers to sit with the discomfort of these questions.
The Supporting Cast and Setting
Reid’s portrayal of Acton, Massachusetts, and the Blair family bookstore creates a believable small-town atmosphere without falling into cliché. Emma’s family members, particularly her sister Marie, feel like real people with their own concerns and perspectives. The bookstore itself becomes almost a character, representing stability and growth in Emma’s life.
Areas Where the Novel Falters
Pacing Issues in the Middle Act
While the premise is compelling and the resolution satisfying, the middle section of the novel occasionally drags. Some of the introspective passages, while beautifully written, slow the narrative momentum. Reid sometimes overwrites Emma’s internal conflict when the situation speaks for itself.
Predictable Resolution
For all its emotional complexity, the novel’s conclusion feels somewhat inevitable from early on. While this doesn’t diminish the impact of Emma’s choice, it does reduce some of the dramatic tension. Reid telegraphs her ending perhaps too clearly, making the journey feel less surprising than it could have been.
Underdeveloped Secondary Characters
Some supporting characters, particularly Jesse’s parents and Emma’s coworkers at the bookstore, feel more like plot devices than fully realized people. Given Reid’s skill with character development, this feels like a missed opportunity to add more depth to the story’s world.
Cultural Impact and Themes
One True Loves arrives at a moment when traditional romantic narratives are being questioned and reimagined. Reid’s willingness to suggest that we might have multiple “great loves” in our lifetime feels both contemporary and timeless. The novel speaks to anyone who has ever wondered about the paths not taken, the loves not pursued, or the people we might have been under different circumstances.
The book also functions as a subtle exploration of grief and recovery. Emma’s journey from devastating loss to renewed hope offers a blueprint for healing that feels genuine rather than prescriptive.
Comparison to Reid’s Other Works
This novel sits comfortably within Reid’s growing body of work while representing a step forward in her development as a storyteller. Unlike the more melodramatic elements in Forever, Interrupted or the somewhat contrived premise of Maybe in Another Life, One True Loves feels grounded in emotional reality.
Reid’s later works, including The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six, would show her moving toward more ambitious narrative structures, but One True Loves represents a perfect balance between high concept and intimate storytelling.
Recommendations for Similar Reads
Readers who appreciate Reid’s exploration of complex love should consider:
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – for its examination of love under impossible circumstances
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – for its unique take on enduring love across time
- The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo – for its exploration of timing and choice in love
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – for its nuanced family dynamics
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Reid herself – for readers ready for her more ambitious later work
Final Thoughts
One True Loves succeeds because it takes its impossible premise seriously without drowning in melodrama. Reid treats her characters’ emotions with respect and allows them to make choices that feel true to who they are rather than what the plot demands. The novel’s central message—that we can love deeply multiple times in our lives—is both hopeful and realistic.
While it may not be Reid’s most ambitious work, it might be her most emotionally honest. In a genre often criticized for unrealistic expectations about love and relationships, One True Loves offers something rarer: a story that acknowledges love’s complexity while still believing in its transformative power.
This is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary romance that grapples with real emotional questions. Reid has created a novel that will likely spark discussions about love, loyalty, and the courage required to choose happiness over obligation. In the end, that’s perhaps the best compliment you can pay any work of fiction—it makes you think as much as it makes you feel.
- Recommended for: Readers of contemporary romance, book clubs seeking discussion-worthy material, anyone who has ever wondered about the road not taken, and fans of authors like Jojo Moyes, Nicholas Sparks, and Jennifer Weiner.
- Perfect for: A weekend read that will leave you contemplating the nature of love long after you’ve turned the final page.