What would you do if the love of your life returned from the dead? Taylor Jenkins Reid poses this agonizing question in One True Loves, a novel that strips away the romantic fantasies we cling to and forces us to confront the messy, complicated reality of human hearts. This isn’t your typical love triangle—it’s a sophisticated examination of how we grow, change, and redefine ourselves through loss and healing.
Emma Blair’s story begins with the kind of whirlwind romance that feels destined for eternity. She and Jesse Lerner transform from high school sweethearts into globe-trotting adventurers, building a life around spontaneous travels and endless possibilities. Their love burns bright and fierce, the kind that makes you believe in soulmates and happily-ever-afters. When Jesse disappears in a helicopter crash over the Pacific, Emma’s world doesn’t just shatter—it ceases to exist entirely.
A Masterful Portrait of Grief and Renewal
Reid’s greatest triumph lies in her unflinching portrayal of grief. Emma’s descent into despair feels viscerally real, from her desperate vigil on the roof watching for Jesse’s impossible return to her sister Marie’s gentle but firm intervention. The author captures those early stages of loss with remarkable precision—the bargaining, the denial, the way grief makes you question your own sanity. When Emma’s mother literally holds her naked body in the shower because she can’t stand on her own, we witness grief at its most raw and devastating.
But grief, Reid understands, is not a permanent state. It’s a process that reshapes us, sometimes beyond recognition. Emma’s journey from Los Angeles travel writer to Massachusetts bookstore owner isn’t just a change of scenery—it’s a complete metamorphosis. She becomes someone who values stability over adventure, community over wanderlust, quiet contentment over passionate intensity. This evolution feels earned rather than convenient, a natural response to trauma that fundamentally alters one’s priorities.
The Complexity of Second Love
Enter Sam Kemper, Emma’s high school friend who represents everything Jesse was not—steady, present, understanding of her need for roots rather than wings. Reid avoids the trap of making Sam a mere placeholder or Jesse’s inferior replacement. Instead, she crafts a character who loves Emma not despite her past but because of who she’s become through surviving it. His willingness to share her heart with a ghost demonstrates an emotional maturity that makes him genuinely compelling.
The chemistry between Emma and Sam develops slowly, believably. Their relationship feels lived-in and comfortable, built on shared history and mutual understanding rather than explosive passion. When Sam tells Emma he’ll never ask her to choose between her past and present loves, it’s a moment of such profound generosity that it reframes our understanding of what true love might actually look like.
The Return: A Masterpiece of Emotional Complexity
Jesse’s return after three and a half years should feel like a miracle, but Reid masterfully presents it as something far more complicated. The man who returns from his Pacific island ordeal is simultaneously the Jesse Emma married and a complete stranger. His survival story—training to swim increasingly longer distances until he could attempt the open ocean—showcases the same determination that made him attractive initially, but also reveals how isolation and trauma have changed him.
The scenes between Emma and Jesse crackle with tension and heartbreak. Jesse’s frustration at Emma’s short blonde hair—a seemingly trivial detail that represents everything that’s changed—brilliantly encapsulates how impossible it is to simply resume a life interrupted. He wants to pick up where they left off; she’s no longer the same person he left behind. Their confrontation in Maine becomes a devastating exploration of whether love can survive fundamental change.
Technical Craft and Emotional Resonance
Reid’s prose style perfectly matches her subject matter—clean, accessible, but emotionally sophisticated. She has a gift for capturing complex feelings in simple, devastating phrases. When Emma realizes during her reunion with Jesse that “he was right for me then, you are right for me now,” it’s a line that encapsulates the entire novel’s central thesis about how love evolves with time and circumstance.
The pacing builds expertly toward Emma’s choice, with Reid resisting the temptation to provide easy answers or clear villains. Both men are fundamentally good; both loves are real and valuable. The author’s decision to reveal Emma’s choice gradually, through action rather than declaration, demonstrates confidence in her readers’ intelligence and emotional sophistication.
A Few Minor Stumbles
While largely successful, the novel occasionally leans too heavily on coincidence—Jesse’s survival story, while researched and plausible, sometimes strains credibility. Additionally, some supporting characters, particularly Emma’s parents, feel somewhat underdeveloped given their importance to Emma’s emotional journey.
The book’s treatment of Jesse’s trauma could have been explored more deeply. While we understand his physical survival, the psychological impact of three years of isolation and the violent death of his companions receives somewhat superficial treatment. This feels like a missed opportunity to add even more complexity to an already nuanced character.
The Heart of the Matter
What makes One True Loves remarkable is its refusal to provide simple answers to complex questions. Reid doesn’t ask us to believe that one love is “truer” than another, but rather to consider how we grow and change through different stages of our lives. Emma’s choice isn’t really between Jesse and Sam—it’s between the person she was and the person she’s become.
The novel’s title proves ironic in the best possible way. Perhaps we don’t have just one true love, but multiple true loves appropriate to different versions of ourselves. Perhaps the real question isn’t who we’re destined to be with, but who we choose to become and which love supports that version of ourselves.
Final Verdict
One True Loves succeeds brilliantly as both an emotional journey and an intellectual exploration of love’s complexities. Reid has crafted a novel that respects its readers’ intelligence while delivering the emotional satisfaction that romance readers crave. It’s a book that will spark discussions about the nature of love, loss, and personal growth long after the final page.
For readers who appreciate emotionally complex contemporary fiction that doesn’t shy away from difficult questions, this novel represents Taylor Jenkins Reid at her finest. It’s a story that understands that sometimes the bravest thing we can do is let go of the life we planned in order to embrace the life we’ve actually lived.
Similar Reads You Might Enjoy
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – Another exploration of love, loss, and difficult choices
- The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo – A heart-wrenching tale of timing and fate in love
- After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – The author’s earlier work on marriage and separation
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – Love across time and circumstances
- Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Reid’s exploration of parallel love stories
About the Author
Taylor Jenkins Reid has established herself as a master of emotionally complex contemporary fiction. Following her debut Forever, Interrupted, she continued exploring themes of love and loss in After I Do and Maybe in Another Life. One True Loves represents a mature culmination of her ongoing fascination with how relationships evolve through crisis and change. Reid’s ability to find fresh angles on universal experiences has made her a standout voice in contemporary women’s fiction.