Book Review: Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.”

Published in 2015, Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows Hannah Martin who, at the age of twenty-nine, still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence with her best friend Gabby. Shortly after, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent story lines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she’s found him.

Book Review: After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Maybe it doesn’t matter if you need someone during the everyday moments of your life. Maybe what matters is that when you need someone, they are the one you need.”

Originally published in 2014, After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows Lauren and Ryan whose marriage reaches the breaking point, so they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

Rating:

I’m an absolute sucker for a story about coming to a turning point in a marriage, whatever that may be, and about how you move forward and where you go from there. So this book completely pulled me in.

A beautifully honest portrayal of marriage, love and family, After I Do is far more than just a love story, it’s a story about what love means to us, why we fall in love, how love changes us, and who we are both with and without love.

Taylor Jenkins Reid always creates such authentic characters and Lauren and Ryan are both brilliantly developed. It was so interesting to see the story from both of their points of view, the way that they deal with their new situation, the ways that they still think about each other and, ultimately, their thought processes around what their relationship means to each other.

I related to the story at times – I think most of us will admit that we could make more effort in our relationships at times, with both spouses and family. But the dislike that these characters had for each other also took me aback slightly at first, as I suddenly began to worry that they wouldn’t find their way back to each other.

But the way this story progresses is done brilliantly. It’s heartwarming, reflective, touching, and overall just filled me a lot of emotion. Loved it!

Book Review: Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“No matter how strong you are, no matter how smart you are or tough you can be, the world will find a way to break you. And when it does, the only thing you can do is hold on.”

Published in 2013, Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid is set on a rainy New Year’s Day, when twenty-something Elsie heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn’t expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Ben cannot even wait twenty-four hours before asking to see her again. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they’ve eloped.

Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. Elsie hears the sirens outside her apartment, but by the time she gets downstairs, he has already been whisked off to the emergency room. At the hospital, she must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met, and who doesn’t even know Elsie exists.

My Top Reads Of 2022 (Previous Releases)

Following my post from yesterday listing my favourite 2022 releases, here are my top reads of 2022 which were released in previous years (in no particular order):

Book Review: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Just because something isn’t meant to last a lifetime doesn’t mean it wasn’t meant to be.”

Published in 2016, One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows Emma Blair who, in her twenties, marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure. But on their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Years later, now in her thirties, Emma has returned to her hometown when she runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness. That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly? Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

Book Review: Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.”

Set to be published on 30th August, Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows retired tennis player Carrie Soto who is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.

Audiobook Review: Evidence Of The Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Often, I feel overwhelmed by this sinking feeling in my heart that I will never be enough.”

Evidence Of The Affair is a short story by Taylor Jenkins Reid that follows the correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer which reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their souls. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story.”

Published in 2020, Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group, The Six, and their beautiful lead singer, Daisy Jones, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup. Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they split at the absolute height of their popularity… until now.

Book Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“A lifetime holding it together. One party will bring it crashing down.”

Set to be released on 27th May, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid is set in Malibu, August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; Jay, a championship surfer; Hud, a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. The only people not looking forward to the party are the Rivas themselves, who all need to get something off their chests. By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames.

Book Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is ‘you’re safe with me’- that’s intimacy.”

The 2018 book by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo follows ageing and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo who is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds — revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love — Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.