Reviews with content warning for Body horror - One True Loves

The writing style was mediocre. Did make me cry a couple times bc it made me reflect. But, I found it lacking the action and character build up in side characters. It fell flat. The ending also seemed too easy for me. Was giving Jess and Paul from New Girl and that didn’t seem good to me lol

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simplexdreams's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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spellboundchapters's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

“It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? That every single person on this planet could lose their one true love and live to love again? It means the one you love could love again if they lost you.”

"I am finishing up dinner with my family and my fiancé when my husband calls." I love this premise, this immediately became one of my favourite first sentence in a book ever. I mean, what would you do in this situation? I kinda fell in love with both of them haha, I liked the fact that the author didn’t try to make one of them the good guy and the other the bad one. For the majority of the book I was feeling pretty torn haha, and I’m glad the book went in the direction I hoped it would! That last chapter owns my heart.
The writing wasn’t the best (even though there are a few good passages here and there), but it was extremely easy to read and very addictive. I just wished there would’ve been less corny dialogs and "I love you"’s and more character depth. They all seemed pretty shallow, especially the main character. Even as a teenager she doesn’t really have any passions or hobbies? And as an adult she likes to read and play the piano but she never really talks about it a lot. Even Jesse’s PTSD was so convenient for the story and pretty unrealistic. I’m wondering if several POVs would’ve been a better choice for this story.
I loved the family dynamics in this book! Emma isn’t close to her family at all growing up and moves far away as soon as she gets the opportunity, and only became close to them during her adulthood — I just thought it was refreshing to see this in a book. The sisterly bond’s evolution was beautifully portrayed too. ♥️ And the MC finding comfort in books when her whole life is falling apart is both tragic but also beautiful. 😩
This was a very quick read for me and one I would gladly re-read! I just think everything resolved a bit too quickly and easily… Maybe I just love the drama too much 😂

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emma_kay's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

So good! I think the way it unfolded was really beautiful, but still (relatively) realistic.
The only issue I had with this book is that if you took away their names, I wouldn't be able to tell Jesse and Sam's dialogue apart. They had different hobbies and stuff, but their voices were too similar.

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bookishcoffeedrinker's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have only read one TJR book before this one and DnF'd another.

With all authors there are hit and misses and this one was somewhere in between as a cute contemporary romance to start of the new year.

(For reference I've read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and absolutely adored it. I DNF'd Daisy Jones and the Six. It wasn't quite my style.)

Spoiler
This book centres around Emma Blair who's husband goes missing on their one year anniversary from being married. She grieves, moves on and a few years later she is engaged to an old friend Sam who worked with her at her parents bookshop while in high school. Plot twist her husband is alive and comes home, now she has to choose between her fiancée and recently now not presumed dead husband Jesse (who was her high school sweetheart).

Spoiler
The formatting of the book jumped back to flashbacks to explain the way the mc's met and how they all came together. The dry humour and witty banter from the teenage years was fun and relatable and it didn't bore me. Into the early adult years Emma and Jesse's relationship felt glossed over and abruptly he was gone and boom we've set up a love triangle.

Spoiler
Skip over to the end because I'm too lazy to write a really long review the things that irked me the most were the fact that Emma was able to make her decision in just three days, Jesse accepted her decision in one conversation and the fact that Jesse's return felt unrealistic as he was on a deserted island for 3 years and showed no sign of PTSD apart from saying he didn't "feel right."

I'll come back and write a better review eventually. I am just spouting a summary at this point.

Overall this book was enjoyable. It's not something I'd jump to recommend to people at first look at my bookshelf but if you want a cutesy fast paced romance read this would be appropriate. It wasn't a TJR tear-jerker but I am willing to read more of her books because I am a sucker for contemporary romance.

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mallory10100's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

i loved this book, taylor jenkins reid remains my favourite author!! a great last read of the year :)

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