4,0 de 5 estrellas
A Unique Take on a Romance & Beautifully Written
Revisado en los Estados Unidos 🇺🇸 el 21 de mayo de 2023
4⭐️
Emma Blair was happily married to her high school sweetheart, Jesse Lerner. Both having met in high school and then growing up as they navigated the new chapters in their lives seemed like it would be alright, as long as they had one another. Until one day, Jesse goes missing and is presumably dead. Emma having lost the love of her life never thought she’d find the kind of love she’d experienced ever again, but then she reconnected with her old friend, Sam. Now happily engaged and moving on in life, it seemed like things were looking up for Emma. Suddenly, with one phone call, Emma’s life just a drastic turn in which, Jesse calls her and tells her he’s alive! The big question that Emma faced now was, would would she do when her husband came home and what about her fiancée?! A story told through past and present, Taylor Jenkins Reid yet again wrote a story that had me mind boggled and unexpected with the turn of events!
Just off the premise alone, I was shook! I don’t know what I would have done if I was in Emma’s shoes. This kind of thing could only happen in a book!… or at least as far as I know. Emma’s story was interesting right from the gecko with the way it showed how she met both Sam and Jesse, and later on ending up marrying Jesse. The way the story was set up in parts from how she met Jesse to their relationship from dating to marriage to newly wed bliss, all seemed wonderful and lovely. Eventually the story then turned to the tragic event of Jesse being presumably dead on the helicopter accident, and how later it led to Emma reconnecting with Sam. All these parts were vital to the overall story and with each new detail provided, I was extremely intrigued. I don’t know how Taylor Jenkins Reid’s comes up with these kinds of stories, but I’m always here for it!
From the moment that Emma laid eyes on Jesse, it was no surprise that she instantly had a crush on him. Little did she know at the time as a teen that she would eventually end up with Jesse. Emma and Jesse together were sweet, and understood each other’s desire to leave Acton to go out into the world and explore. As the years passed from them going off to college together, to building their respective careers, and of course further getting serious with each other, it was all coming together. I liked how Emma and Jesse got to travel the world together both with one another and individually for work. Emma and Jesse complimented one another with their shared love of adventure and travel, it was the best thing for them, at least at the time. I could start to see that Emma was starting to think about what she wanted next in her life as far as setting down roots instead of constantly being on the move before Jesse’s disappearance. Although once Jesse disappeared and was presumed dead, it caused a load of grief to fall upon Emma as she believed she lost the love of her life, something that made my heart sad for her.
Over time, Emma started to regain her independence and started to move forward in her life, in doing so she not only became whole again, but came upon someone from her past, Sam. With Sam coming back into Emma’s life, it was like a blast from the past, but also seeing a friendly face she once was always around as a teenager. Getting to spend time with Sam allowed Emma to step her foot back into the dating pool, as well as move on from Jesse. That being said, with Emma moving on, she wasn’t completely forgetting Jesse, she would always love him, but like she said, she wanted to be out to love. I admired how Emma little by little started to move on in her life, which by the way wasn’t easy, but she had her family’s support which made the transition a little easier on her. Sam was a sweet guy, and this time around he got his chance to go out on a date with Emma, and later it became more clear that Sam and Emma were head over heels in love with each other.
With Jesse coming back, it was both a shock and surprise for Emma and everyone. Imagine finding out your husband was alive all this time and managed to survive after a horrific accident?! It’s insane! Jesse being back brought up memories for Emma from their lives before he disappeared and with him back home it also made things confusing especially with her being newly engaged with Sam. Poor sweet Sam was afraid that Emma would leave him and dang I just felt bad for him. This kind of thing was an impossible, unique situation that I can’t imagine would handle easily, let only Emma being caught between her husband and fiancé.
The way Emma was with Jesse and how she was with Sam were two completely different people. Over time, Emma changed as a person and wasn’t the same as she was in her early/ mid twenties and being back with Jesse made her see that her ideals and values for what she once wanted with Jesse weren’t the same. This story highlighted the differences in the kind of love we experience with different people, it’s never the same. Emma had a special love, each unique to Sam and Jesse. As much as I loved how Jesse and Emma got together when they were younger and eventually got married, I could see that Emma realized she wasn’t the same person nor did she want the same things as Jesse did. Jesse seemed like the kind of man that was always game for adventure, spontaneity, and living life on the edge. Whereas, Emma had grown fond of staying in Massachusetts, being in one place, instead of constantly being on the go as she once did. I think Jesse having Emma back after being apart for so long, he assumed things would pick back up where they left off, but some things just weren’t the same.
In true Taylor Jenkins Reid, she wrote a story unlike any romance I had read about especially in this unique circumstance that Emma was faced with. I really found it interesting and insightful how love can mean a multitude of things. The type of love that Emma and Jesse had was true, but as they grew into different people, they saw that they didn’t quite fit together as they once did. The love that Emma found with Sam was a new kind that opened her eyes to a new part of her life that she once could have never imagined, but now meant the word to her. I found myself caught in the middle of who I wanted Emma to end up with, but ultimately seeing how things ended up playing out, it made the most sense how it ended. This wasn’t your traditional approach to finding love, but one that challenged the idea of what you would do when faced with the different types of love you have for two completely different people. Overall, this was a good book and again I really loved the meaning behind the story and how Emma, Sam, and Jesse’s story was told, it was beautiful.
