One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Review

When I had listened to a couple of short audio books recently I was sort of back in the groove, and when scrolling I noticed this. I've enjoyed previous books by Taylor Jenkins Reid so thought I would probably like this one. It is eight hours long and it probably took me six weeks to listen to it while driving places, but I managed to keep the thread of the narrative pretty well. That's partly because it's quite a simple story, I think. But I did really like the narrator, too. She was interesting and kept me going with listening. I enjoyed doing so, so I might start another audio book soon!

The main character of the book is Emma. She is from small town New England and she grew up with her parents and her sister. She and her sister didn't really get along as teenagers. Their parents owned a book shop - Blair Books - and Emma and Marie were expected to work there. Marie wanted to grow up and run the store; Emma wanted to get as far away as possible. Sam Kemper worked in the shop too and one time, he asks Emma out. But she says no and he leaves for college and that's the end of that. 

Emma then meets Jesse at a party. He is captain of the swim team and a total jock. They're quite opposites but they get together. They go to university in California and make a life out there. Jesse becomes a camera man and Emma is a travel writer. They get married at Jesse's family cabin in Maine and have a happy first year of marriage. But then, on their first wedding anniversary, the helicopter that Jesse is travelling to a job in goes down. Jesse is presumed dead. 

But right from the beginning of the book, the reader (listener...) knows that Emma is engaged again - to Sam - but that Jesse is alive. It is three years after his 'death' and he is back - but what does this mean for Emma? The narrative flips backwards and forwards in time, showing how Emma went mad with grief when Jesse disappeared and how she managed to put herself back together and fall in love with Sam and get engaged to him. 

At all points it's obvious that she loves both men. She deeply loves them, but for different reasons. And she's different people when she's with each of them, which I think is one of the main points of the book - how people who love you bring out the best in you, but different sides. I really liked how the whole thing was portrayed. I felt nothing but sympathy for Emma, and for Sam, and mostly for Jesse. There's a lot of it where he's just quite dense, but it's hard to not feel sorry for him. 

I've just seen there's a film of that so I will definitely put that on my list of things to watch. I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins-Reid - Review

I had heard people raving about this after I read Daisy Jones & The Six recently, so I requested it at the library. As you can see, this is a Readers Group Item so the librarian had to override the system to allow me to borrow it, and I had to faithfully promise to take it back just a week or two later if at all possible. That was fine, I took it back a week later when I went to my weekly craft club at Penistone library. This is the good thing about cultivating a relationship with your local librarians though - they're willing to do stuff like this for you!

So in this book a young journalist called Monique is called to her boss's office to say that Evelyn Hugo wants to to give them an exclusive interview. Evelyn is a reclusive film star, and her stipulation is that Monique must do the interview. Monique is very much a junior so her boss is surprised, but wants the story so much that she's prepared to send Monique. So Monique ends up in Evelyn's Manhattan apartment to listen to her story. Evelyn has decided to auction off some of her world famous dresses for charity, so Monique assumes the interview will be about this. 

However, Evelyn tells Monique that instead, she wants to give Monique her entire life story, which Monique will then auction off to the highest bidder as a book, which will obviously make her millions. Monique isn't sure how to make this fly with her employers, but the two start talking anyway. 

Evelyn has indeed been married seven times. She was born in New York and lost her mother as a child, and married her first husband in order to escape her abusive father. She made her way to Hollywood and made friends with someone at a studio, Harry. With him, she became a star in the 1950s, and became world famous. She had an abusive relationship with a costar, Don. I can't remember all seven of her husbands but I was so intrigued by all of them and their stories. But then it turns out that the real love of Evelyn's life was someone entirely unexpected, and someone who she hurt very badly, without ever really meaning to. 

I loved this book, I thought it was so compelling and interestingly written. I'm giving it four out of five.

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Review

I have heard so many people raving about this book, so when I saw it in a charity shop on a recent trip to Holmfirth for just £1.50 I snatched it up. Then I had a conversation with the woman in the baker's who said she had loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and that I should read that! I'm on it - I have reserved it at the library after a bit of a kerfuffle. 

Anyway I picked this up in mid November. People on Instragram raved about it, but a couple said that they had found the structure weird to get into. It's not told in typical narrative structure. Instead it's told in oral excerpts, in interviews with Daisy and the six members of the Six. It's a brilliant way to tell a novel, and even though I found it quite difficult to get into, once I had then I definitely liked it. It's interesting because you get different people's points of view straight away, and you get differing versions of what happened. That's always true in life - people have different versions of the truth, especially when recollecting events that happened years and years ago. I liked picking up on the inconsistencies between what people said.

So Daisy Jones is from LA, child to two parents who don't really care about her. She is a singer and has a friend who is also a singer, Simone. As she gets older Daisy gets a recording contract, but she's stuck doing covers. It's the early 70s and Daisy is fashionable and cool. She wants to sing her own songs, though. She is also a drug addict. She undeniably has talent, but as the book goes on she is losing it due to her addictions. 

The Six are a band headed by brothers Billy and Graham. I'm writing this a few weeks later and I can't remember the names of the rest of the band, sorry, but there's Karen who plays keyboards and two more brothers, one of whom is called Eddie. He gets more and more displeased with the band as the years pass. He and Billy often fight with each other. Billy has a girlfriend, Camila, who he later marries. As The Six start their first tour Camila is pregnant, and with that pressure, Billy goes a bit off the rails. 

Daisy and the band get put together by their label, and while Billy doesn't want her anywhere near his band, even he can't deny that together they make brilliant music. Their fame escalates, and Daisy joins the band. They have one brilliant album and then split up - but why? Here is why. Daisy and Billy are drawn together, even while they desperately try not to be. 

I enjoyed the book - I'm a big music fan so I love stories like this full of drama and intrigue. I know that the book was inspired by the interpersonal lives of Fleetwood Mac, and I think that shows. I am giving this four out of five.