One True Loves - who would you choose?

A look at some of the books by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Most of you have probably heard of Taylor Jenkins Reid. Her books seem to be everywhere in the past few years. She’s actually been writing books since 2013 but didn’t gain popularity until 2017. Her books didn’t find themselves into my life until 2022 so I’m a bit late to this band wagon!

The first of her books which I read was "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo". Is it a thing for you that the first book by an author is always your favourite? I tend to find that a new writing style, or way of writing means that the first book of its kind is always the one I like the best. This one is definitely number one for me of the TJR books, and I’m not sure if it’s because I choose this one first. There’s a lot of coverage of this book so all I’ll say is, if you are also late to the band wagon, get on it and put this on your list. This has a 4.46/5 on Good Reads.

Next up for me was Daisy Jones and the Six. I’m not sure if I should’ve left this for a bit but I read this one straight after Evelyn Hugo and was a bit disappointed. It is still good but not as good as Evelyn in my opinion. It still gets a solid 4.24/5 on Good Reads, and has been made into a television miniseries, set to premiere on 3 March 2023.

I waited a few months until I read another by TJR and went with Malibu Rising. I also enjoyed this but again, not as much as my first. This has 4/5 on Good Reads. I actually rate this more highly than Daisy Jones. What I will say about TJR is that her books are very readable. Sometimes you just need a warm blanket and a cosy couch at the end of the day, and these books are exactly that. Engaging characters, interesting plot and a definite want to keep on reading.

In 2022, TJR released Carrie Soto is Back. I had to wait awhile (it felt like a lifetime!) for this to arrive from the library, and they have 7 copies which goes to show the popularity of this author. I’m not sure if it was the break between reading but I felt like “TJR is back”. I could not put this down, and polished it off in a day. I think Carrie Soto will be a divisive character for some and I can imagine if this is made into a movie, people won’t like this character even more. I enjoyed her! I got distinct Wimbledon vibes while reading this (who remembers this rom/com from 2004?). As I am about to press publish on this, Carrie Soto has just taken out the best historical fiction of 2022 on Good Reads. I don’t think I would’ve classed this as a historical fiction but I digress..

On the back of Carrie Soto, it got me thinking about earlier TJR books which were less popular. It just so happened that One True Loves was available at my local library so I grabbed it. This is in the “romance” category which isn’t my usual genre. I’ve since learned that this has been turned into a film which is soon to be released so I expect this will increase in popularity soon. Again, could not put this down. This book is about a woman whose husband disappears in a plane crash and is presumed dead. She eventually moves on and is engaged to the new love of her life when her husband is found alive. We had some great discussions in our house about who you would choose - your husband or your fiancé? This book is about exactly that and is like Castaway but from the perspective of Helen Hunt’s character. (There’s not a lot of focus on what happens to the husband while he is missing). This one gets 4.09/5 on Good Reads but if you want an easy read and romance is your genre, add this one to your list. I really like the way this book got me thinking about love, marriage and what it means.

“Maybe, if you're the kind of person who's willing to give all of yourself, the kind of person who is willing to love with all of your heart even though you've experienced just how much it can hurt.
.. maybe you get lots of true loves, then. Maybe that's the gift you get for being brave.”

As someone who spent many years not being particularly brave when it came to love, this made me think! There might be a few of our readers who need to hear this right now too.

This book made me think, it challenged some of my ideas about love and it also made me cry. A book that makes you feel things is always going to be highly rated by me. If you like a romance, add this one to your list. In fact, add any TJR books to your list, because life is too short to read bad books.