The Complete Guide to Reading Taylor Jenkins Reid Books:
And ranking them.
I have ticked off one of my New Year’s Resolutions which was to read every book written by Taylor Jenkins Reid! I am so excited to write this article!!
If you are new to me, you may not know that Taylor Jenkins is my favourite author. I love her so much and I think she is a wonderful writer. If you don’t know who Taylor is, she is an American author best know for her bestsellers, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & the Six (which got adapted to an Amazon Prime series).
Taylor has written 8 novels and a novella, totalling to 9 books. The first thing I am going to do is rank these books from my least favourite to absolute favourite. After that I am going to tell you in which order to read them if you want to read all of them. If you don’t want to read all of them, which ones you should read.
9. After I Do:
It pains me that I did not like this book as much as I thought I would, cause I anticipated it so much.
This book follows a couple after one year of marriage. Their marriage is suffering, it is in the ICU and they are thinking of pulling the plug. However instead of that, they decide to take a break from each other. They spend one year apart. The only rule is that they cannot contact each other. They can do anything with anyone. They just have to not contact the other under any circumstances.
The book was too serious for my liking. I get it now that the falling apart of a marriage is a serious matter however I did not get it when I picked up the book. I thought that it was going to be a light, fun read where the couple gets to do whatever they want. I did not account for their emotional state or the fact that taking time apart was a tactic to work on their marriage.
I loved the familial relationships in the book. And I got to understand how much pain people are in when their marriage is failing.
8. Forever Interrupted:
Imagine you fall madly in love. You find your soulmate, the person the world makes sense when you are with. The person you want to spend all of your life loving. When you meet them, you feel like your life is just beginning.
You fall in love fast (6 months) and you get married because it is logical to do so. After 8 days of being married to the love of your life. She/he dies. Yes, a tragic death, just after 8 days. What would you do? How would you feel?
That’s what happened to Elsie.
This book was set up to be sad from the beginning because that’s how the book begins, with Elsie’s husband, Ben dying. From there it alternates between Elsie and Bens’ relationship as they are falling in love and the present when Ben has died.
Riddle me this, if this book is this sad, why did I not cry?
It is not because I don’t cry easily because I do, okay. I cried after watching The Cinderella Story, If the shoe fits and any other cheesy romcom you can think of, I have cried after it.
To me this story was forgettable. Unlike her other books, it did not stick with me.
7. Maybe in Another Life:
This book follows Hannah, who doesn’t know what she is doing with her life so she moves in with her best friend Gabby and her husband. They go to a party and Hannah has to decide whether she goes home with her best friend or her ex-boyfriend who is actually a very nice guy.
From there we follow a reality where she goes home with her best friend and another where she goes home with her ex-boyfriend.
I am so fascinated by this concept. That any decision I make can influence the trajectory of my life. The fact that my life would be completely different if I didn’t start a blog on Medium or went to a different university or took a different major.
I just love that so much and it was so interesting to read about. I loved the fact that it didn’t wrap things up in a cute bow called fate. It did not say that no matter which decision you make you will always end up in the same place like most media likes to do. Because every decision you make does influence where you end up.
6. One True Loves:
I will not say much about this book because I said a lot about it in this article.
Basically this book is about Emma whose husband dies in a plane crash and after so much pain and grieving she moves on with her childhood friend who eventually becomes her fiancé. She then gets a call that her husband, Jesse survived the plane crash and he is indeed alive.
She has to make an impossible choice. Does she choose her fiancé or her husband?
5. Evidence of the Affair:
This is Taylor’s novella.
The entire novella is written in the form of letters. The first letter is written by a man to a woman telling her that their spouses are cheating on them with each other. From there they develop this friendship as people who understand each other.
I really enjoyed reading this and it was so quick too. It is less than 100 pages. Even then, the character development was spectacular.
4. Daisy Jones & the Six:
This book is usually people’s number 1 book by TJR. They love this book so much. They reread this book every chance they get. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Maybe it’s because I read the book instead of listening to the audiobook like most people recommend. That is something I am going to do before the end of the year.
This book is about the band, Daisy Jones & the Six. The band broke up and no one knows why and many years later the band members are interviewed . They are talking about how the band started and all the things that went on. It then revealed why they broke up.
The book is written in interview style and when you listen to the audiobook, the characters are all voiced by different actors and you get to listen to the music. That is why people recommend the audiobook.
It was interesting to see how people interpreted the same situation in totally different ways. The assumptions people made about one another or about what someone said.
It is just like real life. You are only responsible for what you say, not what people hear.
3. Malibu Rising:
Ranking Carrie Soto is Back and Malibu Rising was extremely hard and I am still not sure if this is the correct order but for now let’s go with it.
This book is (chef’s kiss) stunning. It is soooooo good. It is one of my favourite books of all time. I loved this book with my whole heart. I would kill to read this book again for the first time.
This book is about the Riva siblings, who are Mick Riva’s kids. Mick Riva was a famous musician in the 1950s and also one of the 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Nina Riva the oldest child throws a party every year in her beach house. If you know about this party and where it is, you are automatically invited. All of her parties are the party of the year. They are the place to be. However this year Nina has just gotten a divorce and is still going through a heartbreak. Her ex-husband, Brandon, a famous tennis player left her for Carrie Soto.
This story alternates between the past and the present. The past is Mick Riva making his way to Hollywood, meeting and marrying the siblings’ mother. The present takes place in 24 hours where people are getting ready for the party, going to the party and after the party.
This story is absolutely amazing and heartbreaking. It explores the relationships between siblings, family dynamics, alcohol addiction, and other themes I don’t want to spoil for you.
It will just break your heart. Your heart will break for the characters in the story.
2. Carrie Soto is Back:
Carrie Soto is a legendary tennis player. She holds the record for getting the most Grand Slams. She is retired until her record is threatened by Niki Chan, the new star of tennis.
Carrie comes out of retirement to defend her title which I think is absolutely stupid. Is she planning on coming out of retirement every time someone threatens her title? It is seriously giving insecurity. And I was super embarrassed for her.
I was very reluctant to pick up this book because I thought I wouldn’t like it. Carrie made an appearance in Malibu Rising. She is the woman who Nina’s husband left Nina for. I didn’t like her then and I didn’t think I’d like her now.
To be fair, I still don’t like Carrie as a character. I don’t like how she treats people. She has no filter, she says these very mean comments about people out loud.
I loved this book. I cried so much while reading this book because even though I didn’t like Carrie, I understood her. That is how good TJR’s writing is.
1. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo:
I guess I am a cliché. Her most famous book is my favourite book. That is because it is her best book.
I have read this book 4 times and I plan on reading it more in the future. It is my comfort book. I read it everytime I feel like the world is ending. I fall even more in love with it every time I reread it.
This story is about Evelyn Hugo, a famous Hollywood actress. Throughout her career she has been married 7 times. Now she is in her seventies and all her husbands have died. She is the only person who has insight to those relationships.
She hires Monique, a relatively unknown journalist to write her biography. She is ready to pull back the curtains and let everybody know what went on behind her glamorous life.
Which Books Should You Read First?
I would highly recommend that you read her historical fictions. Namely Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & the Six, Malibu Rising and Carrie Soto is Back.
These books are significantly more well written and more interesting than her other books.
Another interesting thing is that TJR has created this universe where all her historical fiction exists. So you might see some characters, magazines, places that from one of the books appear in another book. Here is a cool YouTube video explaining all the books’ connections.
Read the Books in This Order:
- Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Daisy Jones & the Six
- Malibu Rising
- Carrie Soto is Back
Take note that all her books are stand alones. That is you can completely disregard the order I just gave you and nothing bad will happen. You will understand the plot completely. I just think you will get a lot more from the experience if you read them in that order.
If you want to read her other books. You can read them in any order. They are not connected in any way. However I would suggest starting with her novella, Evidence of the Affair. It is extremely short and well-written.
There you have it guys. I hope you love these books as much as I do.
Have you ever read any book by Taylor Jenkins Reid? What did you think of it?
P.S if you want to purchase any of the books. Please click on its name before its review. Most of them are on sale.
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