"Daisy Jones & The Six"

“Daisy Jones and the Six”

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

This year, I have fully developed into a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books. After reading the first four, I chose to read “Daisy Jones and the Six”. This book is an oral history of a fictional rock and roll band from the 70s, as they go through the first initial fame to full blown insanity, to their downfall. Daisy, Billy, and the other bandmates are not the best model citizens, as they drink, do drugs, and have reckless sex. Our ensemble cast is interesting, but I felt disappointed with this book. I felt that I enjoyed the rise to fame story, but I was disenchanted by their ridiculous actions and choices.

With Daisy and Billy portrayed as arrogant and selfish lead characters, the smaller bandmates squirmed in the sidelines. However, I feel that the side characters were the most interesting and entertaining characters. I loved reading about Karen and Graham, Eddie, Pete, and especially Camila.

The format of the book was an element that I have not seen often in fiction books. The story of the Six and Daisy is told by the accounts of each character, written in a format that is reminiscent of bio-pics and music PBS specials. I’ve seen many friends and fellow reviewers say that the format reminds them of “Behind the Music”. Additionally, a large portion of the book was related to the music, which incorporated song lyrics. For the actual story, it made sense to sprinkle in a bit of the lyrics, but I did not feel that we needed each song printed in the back of the book.

I felt that I preferred the elegant but rags to riches story from Reid’s other popular hit, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”. At least with those characters, the ones who we love are wonderful. The ones we do not like get their just desserts. We are not meant to love or care for Daisy or Billy, so why are we supposed to be stuck reading about them for so long? I was heavily reminded of “A Star is Born”, in many examples.

In conclusion, I do recommend this book. However, I fully recommend Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other books more than this. Unless you love ‘sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll’ stories. I rated this book a 3 out 5.

"One True Loves"

“One True Loves”

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Review written by Diana Iozzia

“One True Loves” is a beautifully written romantic drama by the great author, Taylor Jenkins Reid. I have become a big fan of hers lately, so perhaps my review is clouded by my interest and recent love for her books. However, I don’t care. I really loved this book and here’s why!

“O.T.L”. is about a woman named Emma Blair, whose husband who was presumed dead after a helicopter crash comes back. She has become successful, growing into a mature and wise adult, who chooses to take over her parents’ book store, a place she once held contempt for. She has healed after Jesse’s presumed death and fell in love with a childhood friend named Sam. When Jesse returns, after surviving three years on an island and being rescued, Emma finds her next decision impossible: who should she choose?

From the get-go, I love Sam. Sam is stable, kind, forgiving, loving, and sweet to Emma. He helps her heal, naturally, without expecting her to drop all of her sorrow and fall into him. He protects her and helps her grow. So, my initial reaction is support for him. We learn more about Jesse, how he was a fun, free-spirited love of hers. Her first one true love. Now, he’s angry, he’s frightened. He doesn’t understand how Emma could have moved on and why she can’t just let go of Sam. He drives illegally, he initiates sex that makes Emma uncomfortable, and he doesn’t communicate caringly with her friends and relatives. Personally, I have never hated a love interest so much. I know I don’t understand what losing a husband is like, but this is an exceptional case. I still hate him. So, where do we go from here?

I loved this book. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid’s prose. I think she’s honest, wise, and hilarious. She has a levity to this book that makes it feel loving and sweet, but we still understand the implications of every choice she makes. There were so many beautiful and cute moments, like Sam playing “Piano Man”. I can’t really tell you what I thought of the ending, because it might reveal how she makes her choice.

I highly recommend this story. I think this is one of Reid’s best books. So far, I’ve only read three. In order of favorites, 1. “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, 2. “One True Loves” (this), and 3. “After I Do”. I plan to read her book, “Maybe in Another Life Next”. An additional aspect of this book that made me enjoy it was listening to it as an audiobook. It’s such a natural read, with a fantastic narrator. It was a very easy story to listen to while laying in bed, while falling asleep, when I woke up in the morning, and when eating breakfast. I felt it was easy to concentrate on, but I could also multitask while listening. I fully encourage you to listen to this as an audiobook, or if print is the way to go, I hope you enjoy it that way.

"After I Do"

“After I Do”

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Review written by Diana Iozzia

“After I Do” is a romantic contemporary fiction with a wonderful depiction on marriage. And marriage falling apart. This book follows two spouses, lead character, Lauren and her husband, Ryan. Lauren and Ryan have hit the point in their marriage that after years of being together, they have fallen out of love for each other. They decide after many emotional fights and long nights to separate for one year.

We meet a fantastic cast of characters. I listened to this book as an audiobook. As much as I loved the narrator, her ‘boy voice’ was silly and definitely detracted from the story. Her narration for the females was great, giving little characteristics to each. Lauren has a close family of her mother, her brother Charlie, her sister Rachel, and her grandmother. We also meet some new characters to everyone’s lives: Charlie’s pregnant fianceé, Natalie, the mother’s boyfriend, Lauren’s coworker and friend, Mila, and David, Lauren’s second love interest.

I felt that although I have never been through a marriage difficulty such as separation and possible divorce, this felt like a very natural read. There are many wonderful scenes of heartbreak, happiness, love, longing, and more. I felt that this was a perfect book. At no point did I wish something were to be written differently. I loved the dialogue, the characters, the detail, the story. I could go on for pages upon pages about the dialogue, but I won’t. This was the first audiobook that I truly enjoyed and would give five stars to. I cannot wait to read another book by this author.

I also enjoyed that Ryan’s perspective wasn’t told in first person narration, but we read e-mails from him, which was a nice story telling technique that I didn’t expect.

Oh, actually, I can definitely name something that I wished wasn’t included. God, is it awkward to listen to sex scenes being read out by a narrator? Especially the first one which was full of Lauren screaming. I shudder thinking about it now.

In conclusion, I fully recommend this book. It made me feel so deeply for the characters. I swear, don’t listen to an audiobook in public, because this one was very funny, and I probably looked strange laughing to myself. This reminded me very much so of “The Last Five Years”, which is a favorite musical about the dissolution of a marriage. However, “After I Do” was a much lighter and fluffier version. This is a nice, relaxing read for vacations or tired days after work.