They encourage each other to follow their dreams: Emma to leave Acton and attend college in California, and Jesse to quit competitive swimming. Emma and Jesse have a conversation at the party, in which Jesse confesses that he hates swimming despite being extremely good at it, and Emma reveals that she hates reading despite her parents owning Blair Books. They end up attending the same high school party after graduation, where Jesse is also present Jesse has since broken up with his girlfriend. Sam graduates high school at the end of Emma’s sophomore year. Emma finds Sam cute, but is overwhelmed by her crush on Jesse and unable to reciprocate his feelings Sam backs off, and Emma and Sam eventually become close friends.

While working a shift at Blair Books one evening, she is asked out by Sam, a boy who also works at the store and is a couple of years older than her. Emma develops a crush on him, but is forced to quell her feelings when he starts going out with another girl. In her freshman year, she comes across Jesse Lerner, a classmate who is handsome and popular, and considered a prodigy swimmer. Emma is far less popular at school and hates reading-she wants to leave Acton as soon as possible and travel the world instead. She has an older sister, Marie, with whom she is not close Marie is the perfect “Bookseller’s Daughter”-smart, popular, an avid reader and aspiring writer. Part 2 explores how Emma deals with Jesse’s reappearance.Įmma is born and raised in Acton, Massachusetts, where her parents own and run a bookstore, Blair Books, founded by her great-uncle. Part 1 follows Emma’s high school life and relationship with Jesse, Jesse’s disappearance, and her eventual engagement to Sam. The Prologue sets up the novel’s context and central conflict: the return of Emma Blair’s first husband, Jesse Lerner, from his presumed death, just two months after she gets engaged to another man, Sam Kemper.

This guide is based on the Simon and Schuster UK Kindle Edition.

One true loves by taylor jenkins reid