55 pages • 1 hour read
Taylor Jenkins ReidOne True Loves
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Question of Soulmates and Everlasting Love
One of the central themes of One True Loves, in keeping with both the romance genre and the title, is the idea of soulmates and everlasting love. These concepts are explored in the novel through a love triangle, a popular romance trope. This context is established in the Prologue, where an engaged Emma suddenly receives a call from her missing husband, who survived a helicopter crash. As the details of the situation are gradually revealed, it becomes evident that these are not frivolous circumstances. Emma loves both husband Jesse and fiancé Sam, and must grapple with the former’s reemergence.
The first part of the novel explores Emma’s relationships with both men. Jesse is set up as her soulmate from the start—even as their high school romance unfolds, the reader already knows that Emma will eventually marry him. Emma falls for Jesse the moment she sets eyes on him, and her love is eventually requited: After their first conversation, Jesse is equally smitten with Emma. The night of this conversation ends in a kiss, which sparks a summer romance that matures into a relationship. Emma and Jesse encourage each other to break free of familial and societal expectations, and to follow their dreams. They travel the world and seem made for each other; as such, Jesse buys a ruby ring and carries it around for five years, waiting to propose to Emma. When her husband disappears, Emma’s world falls apart.
However, Sam is an equally worthy contender for the role of “soulmate.” While Emma and Jesse’s relationship is fast-paced and passionate, Emma’s relationship with Sam is more of a “slow burn.” There is chemistry between the pair even in their high school years. Sam’s feelings are evident (as he asked Emma out on a date early on), and Emma feels attracted to Sam (especially upon seeing him shirtless at a party). These feelings are left unexplored in the wake of the more overwhelming romance Emma has with Jesse; however, the connection between her and Sam is just as undeniable. Despite many years apart, Emma and Sam hit it off when they reconnect. Sam becomes an integral part of Emma’s healing, allowing her to finally move on from Jesse’s “death.”
When Jesse reemerges, Emma has already built a new life with Sam. The novel’s conflict arises because Emma’s lives with both men have been forged in the absence of the other. She loves both men, as both have respectable qualities and share precious memories, but she must ultimately choose one. The novel posits that, while some love is destined to be, it doesn’t necessarily have to last forever. Emma and Jesse attempt to reconnect, but realize that their love is best left in the past due to their new circumstances. Jesse acknowledges this out loud to Emma when he eventually finds someone else to love. Emma and Jesse are as much soulmates as Emma and Sam, or perhaps even Jesse and his new love. Thus, Emma and Jesse in particular are able to preserve the happiness of their relationship through shared memories, even as they move on. Emma isn’t framed as disloyal or indecisive for loving both men, but rather someone who committed to the soulmate she was with at the time.
Identity Formation in the Face of Expectations
A second important theme is how identity is formed in the face of familial or societal expectations. This theme is introduced alongside Emma’s introduction: Born and raised in Acton, she is the younger of two daughters, to parents who run a bookstore that has been in the family for two generations—Blair Books. The girls work at the store, as mandated by their parents, and are expected to take over the business as adults.
However, it is clear that Marie is considered the “ideal” daughter: She conforms to her parents’ expectations. Along with being popular at school, she is also an avid reader and an aspiring writer, the perfect “Bookseller’s Daughter.” Emma, almost in rebellion against her sister, is less social, despises reading, and longs to travel the world.
When Emma and Jesse meet, they share a desire to break free of their family’s (and others’) expectations. Despite being touted a prodigy by newspapers, and his family’s hope that he’ll train for the Olympics, Jesse confesses that he hates swimming, and wants to quit doing so competitively. Emma, in turn, confesses to hating reading; she doesn’t want anything to do with Blair Books. Jesse and Emma both dream of attending college in California, a place antithetical to their cold, small hometown of Acton. The choice of location is as much about its geography as it is about rejecting expectations and establishing an independent identity.
Emma and Jesse support each other in moving to California. Interestingly, Jesse’s trajectory remains separate from his family’s plan for him, while Emma’s trajectory constantly calls back to her family. She unexpectedly becomes a writer, a college class helping her discover that she enjoys writing as much as traveling. Eventually, after years of traveling the world, she begins to tire of constantly moving around, and longs to settle in one place. Marie’s life—pregnant, living close to home, and taking over the bookstore—is no longer unappealing to Emma.
Emma’s pangs, along with her affinity for writing, call into question how much of her identity as a book-hating wanderer was shaped in response to the people around her. Teenage Emma’s identity is largely formed through rebellion, in order to carve out her own niche. This is emphasized by a grieving Emma deciding to move back to Acton. When she starts reading and working at the store, devoid of any real expectation that she will do so permanently, she falls in love with both.
Having already proven herself as an individual separate from the Blair identity, Emma is now free to reconcile with her book-loving side. This reconciliation is cultivated by her family’s support after Jesse’s supposed death. Emma eventually changes her last name back to Blair, and chooses to remain one even upon marrying Sam. She is her own person and a Blair.
Growth and Change as Individuals and within Relationships
A third important theme is the idea of people growing and changing over time, and how this impacts relationships. This is an important theme, as it subverts the idea of having only one “true love” and ensures that the characters receive their genre-mandated happy endings.
Emma and Jesse began their relationship as teenagers. They grow together, supporting each other through difficult conversations with their families, and encouraging each other to pursue their dreams. However, there are hints of change even before Jesse’s disappearance. Emma begins to long for a place to settle down, as opposed to Jesse who shows no signs of slowing down. When Jesse goes missing, Emma is given the opportunity to explore her need to settle down, albeit in a tragic context. She heads home, gives up traveling and writing, and takes over Blair Books.
Emma’s process of grieving and healing includes discovering reading and working at Blair Books. The latter especially gives her a sense of purpose and self-worth, which positively impacts how she grows and changes over time. She enjoys working at the store, giving her a concrete reason to stay in Action; there is a real future she can imagine. This future is so different from the one she once imagined for herself, that it allows her to embrace other changes: cutting her hair, changing her last name, and taking up the piano. Other changes happen over time as well, such as her inability to eat cheese and losing her taste for Diet Coke.
Emma’s changes as an individual impact her relationships as well, primarily the one with Marie. Marie supports Emma through her time of grief; in turn, Emma is able to be present for Marie when the latter discovers that her daughters are going deaf. The sisters grow closer, and when conflict does eventually arise over the bookstore, their relationship is strong enough that they can air out their issues and move forward, rather than apart. Moreover, Marie serves as Emma’s maid of honor at her second wedding.
Marie comes to know Emma well enough that she is able to diagnose Emma’s conflict over her two loves as one of identity, rather than loyalty or passion. Through no fault of their own, the new Emma and the changed Jesse no longer fit together as they once did. The younger Emma was better suited to spontaneous, risk-taking Jesse; the older, more settled Emma appreciates Sam’s steadfast nature. And so, in acknowledging these changes in herself, Emma is able to recommit to Sam, even as she frees Jesse to heal and find someone else to love.
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