Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - One True Loves

Ow, my heart 🥹🥹🥹🥹 I am not well. You know going in that the ending is going to break your heart one way or another, but it’s still such a gut punch. I cried multiple times. 5 stars

Side note: the entire premise of this book is borderline unbelievable but the least believable part is that book store manager and a music teacher can afford to live in Cambridge. And she commutes to Acton? And gets there with time to spare to have breakfast dates? Does she leave the house at 4am? Massachusetts people will get it, everyone else just live in blissful ignorance believing this is possible 🤣

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kayaisreading's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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angelanoelle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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annasbooks00's review

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emotional sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.25

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conspystery's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This book is pretty good. It’s casually written and easy to read but not overbearing, which I think is the point. The premise is interesting, and its execution is well-done; none of the characters felt too shallow for its well-rounded plotpoints and the conflict at its heart. I liked what it had to say about loss and change, and I felt like it gave the characters a decent amount of space to explore its themes in depth. It was a solid contemporary romance with a fresh, healing take on moving on.

I didn’t really love it, though. I didn’t feel strongly about it at all. Mostly I was underwhelmed. I’ve read three of TJR’s other books-- Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo-- and I adored them all. I consider them to be some of my favorite books of all time. I think what drew me to them was their more literary and historical aspects, the extent of the worldbuilding in them, and the deeply compelling characters and plotlines that interweave with each other throughout them. One True Loves is not that, and maybe I shouldn’t have expected it to be, but I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. I’ve never liked reading romance, so maybe I should’ve predicted that I wouldn’t adore this book, but I thought the fact that TJR wrote it would save it for me.

To its credit, I didn’t actively dislike this book, which is a feat knowing how difficult I tend to be with romance novels-- I actually quite enjoyed the nuance with which it approached grief and the idea of moving on and how its scope was philosophically broad enough to be applied outside of just romance, and a few moments stood out to me in the writing as particularly striking (the comparison Emma makes of Jesse’s expectations for her to Penelope waiting for Odysseus was outstanding; it complemented her intelligence as a character and her background growing up around literature as well as thoughtfully communicating the themes of the novel, and also I really like Penelope so maybe I’m biased)-- but I think I just expected it to be more special than it was to me. The fact that I didn’t absolutely hate it is a testament to its merit in this genre. As I wrote, it’s a solid contemporary romance. It’s a pretty good book. I just wish it had been as exceptional as TJR’s more literary works, which is maybe not a fair expectation, but I have it nonetheless. It just wasn’t for me.

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kaitlynnnng's review

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emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

Wow. This story broke my heart, put it back together, broke it again, and put it back together again.

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kfmcf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This one was t o u g h emotionally. There was no team to pick. You're just stuck with this woman as she makes decisions that no one would could or should ever be asked to make.
I think there was a bit of suspension of disbelief that I struggled with at points that caused me to knock it down to a 4, but overall I found this book a success.
Don't read if you're not in an emotional stable place though, for real.

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arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

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