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Love the One You're With: A Novel
Love the One You're With: A Novel
Love the One You're With: A Novel
Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

Love the One You're With: A Novel

Written by Emily Giffin

Narrated by Kathleen McInerney

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

How do you know if you've found the one? Can you really love the one you're with when you can't forget the one who got away?

Emily Giffin, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof, poses these questions—and many more—with her highly anticipated, thought-provoking new audio novel Love the One You're With.

Ellen and Andy's first year of marriage doesn't just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she's living is the one she's meant to live. At once heartbreaking and funny, Love the One You're With is a tale of lost loves and found fortunes—and will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered what if.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 13, 2008
ISBN9781427204226
Love the One You're With: A Novel
Author

Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin is the author of Something Borrowed, her smash-hit debut novel that was made into a major motion picture. She is also the author of Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, and Heart of the Matter. Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children.

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Reviews for Love the One You're With

Rating: 3.4290406664914586 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

761 ratings56 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Story revolves around Ellen -- recently married, her life turns somewhat upside down when her old flame, Leo (he of an "intense" past love) returns to her life. Keeping Leo a secret from her husband Andy (he of a "pleasant, stable" love), Ellen finds herself torn between the two and questioning the state of her marriage. Adding to her troubles is the fact that Ellen's best friend, Margot, is Andy's sister (and was not one bit fond of Leo).

    Many books have been written on the "old boyfriend returns" subject and while Giffin's is nothing outstanding, she handles the topic convincingly, giving Ellen surprising depth. A quick and rather enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I think maybe I just don't like "Chick Lit". I didn't like the two books I read by Curtis Sittenfeld, and I didn't really like this one.

    It's not that it's bad. It's just not what I'm looking for. I found the action in the story to be limited, and often not very interesting. The main way in which I engaged with the characters was to feel frustrated with Ellen for her continued insistence not to be honest with her husband, her sister, her friend, her ex, herself...anybody. It just got tedious. She just seemed whiny to me, and a whiny main character isn't all that compelling. My kids whine, and I love them, but not because of their whining. There's more to them than their whining. I couldn't really say the same about Ellen.

    Speaking of which, I never felt convinced that the main character's name was Ellen. She didn't seem like an Ellen to me and Giffin didn't really manage to help her grow into her name. Giffin dropped names throughout the novel, as though deeper meaning could piggyback into her story via the significance of a name. But simply saying, "Tribeca" or "Astoria" or "Mellow Mushroom," or having the characters discuss Elizabeth Smart in a passing way doesn't give the story more significance. On the contrary, as far as Elizabeth Smart goes, I thought this casual mention of a horrible ordeal endured by a living young woman was distasteful and only served to solidify my impression of the characters---all of the characters---as superficial and shallow and basically not people I would want to know in real life.

    In addition, the book was written in present tense, something I strongly dislike. I consider it, often, to be a device employed for the purpose of bringing a sense of urgency and tension to a novel. But if that tension couldn't exist in the past tense, then present tense alone isn't going to suffice.

    All in all, I just found the book to be flat. At one point I thought, Well, it seems like this book is almost done. But then I found that I was only about halfway through, and I felt disappointed that I still had that much more to read. My husband suggested that I just call it quits and move on to another book. I didn't dislike it that strongly. It's not even an active dislike at all, just a lack of "like." Like plain Cream of Wheat. Nothing to offend, but nothing to love.

    I think this could be decent airplane reading, though, and it does address issues of infidelity and the way that sometimes we can confuse a nostalgia for the past for a longing for a change in the present. I just think it could have been done better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think we all have that one love in our lives that we look back on and wonder “what if?“ this book puts words to the feelings and turmoil and excitement of turning down that path, but in the end, knowing that you truly love the one you’re with.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I just finished this book and found it emotionally heart-wrenching, especially near the end. I won't add any spoilers, but I've started giving a lot of thought about how many of our internal conflicts manifest as external conflicts as a way for us to work things out. Great read, though not recommended if you are looking for a light-hearted, laugh out loud romp.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    While there were several laughs, it was painful to read this - to have this woman in such inner turmoil. I loved her first 2 books best (Something Borrowed and Something Blue).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    While I was listening I kept thinking, ugh I hate this book! What is wrong with this woman?! Then I got to the end and listened to the interview Giffen gave and I finally understood. She mentioned that no one wants to read about a boring character with the perfect life or a stepford wife. It's far more interesting to examine different aspects of the relationships around you. At that moment everything clicked for me and I realized that she is absolutely correct!

    This book does a really great job at examining the dilemma what if the one who got away somehow came back? You know, the person with whom you never quite got closure. What would you do? How would you handle the situation?

    While I'm not particularly fond of the path Ellen chose along the way, I kind of get it. This is a book that will keep you reading and will have you looking at your own life and the relationships you have or have had along the way.

    Excellent read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I surprisingly like this book. I found out about the author's research for the plot and it surprised me, too. I know some readers hate this for the theme of plot but I think it becomes good when it is written nicely. Griffin did. Let's face it, it happens in real life. No relationship is perfect. No one can make decisions in clean cut. What a boring life you have if you do not make mistakes.

    It was fine for Ellen to be confused. Her feelings are valid. Society is partial when men have affairs because they're men; when women stumble with this situation, they always perceive her as a bad person. For me, however, Ellen did not really cross the line. She needed to take the job with her ex because it was an opportunity for her career to grow (although she harbored other feelings) and kissed him. But she redeemed herself in the end. And that's what matters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Everyone has a love story. A good one to share with others on the sofa, like in the movie when Harry met Sally. And a tainted one to be reserved. They all start out the same. A true love story about how marriage is a choice! Listened on audio Kathleen Mcinerney
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Light, fluffy and predictable. An easy summer read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Emily Giffin portrays the thoughts and emotions surrounding lost and found love well, as main character, Ellen, explores what it means to have run into an ex lover and the flood of feelings come back to her. The writing style, which allowed me to connect with Ellen, along with the appropriately explored distress that a woman who knows only monogamy must be going through at loving two people at the same time... that's the reason for a 4/5 star review.*************** FURTHER REVIEW IS BASED ON SPOILERS****************While I understand that the traditional resolution of monogamy is likely what plays best to Giffin's audience, the resolution of this book much left to be desired for this reader. Ellen finally learns to stand up for her needs and express herself, finding a way to navigate dual home living between NY and Atlanta, but she limits her potential happiness by conforming to a structure that is, in essence, unbelievable in today's world. It is obvious that the character has the ability to love more than one person at a time. She loves both her husband and her ex. And instead of admitting that to anyone, she again buries the emotions and pretends to be satisfied with the materialistic resolution of getting to spend her weeks in New York, focusing on her art and business, and her weekends in Atlanta with her husband and her husband's family. She doesn't return calls of the ex, leaving him high and dry as she once felt when he did the same to her. What kind of lesson is that in how to treat others, let alone yourself?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ellen Graham, 33, has been married to her perfect husband Andy (brother of her BFF and former college roommate Margot), for one hundred days. Then she runs into her former boyfriend Leo on the streets of New York. Whereas life with Andy is sweet, life with Leo was tumultuous and tempestuous, and Ellen can’t stop wondering if she did the right thing by “settling” for niceness, wealth, stability, and a large, warm extended family. The book might have been more interesting had Ellen come to a more radical conclusion, but alas, it is totally predictable. In addition, it was sort of boring.I was, admittedly, looking for something light, but this book was a bit too light, even though it touched on some weighty subjects. But there was far too much emphasis on outfits and home furnishings. And, unlike Sophie Kinsella, who adds a lot of humor and self-deprecation to her books with light themes, this one had none of either.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book had me from page one and kept me there until the end. It is filled with suspense and anticipation, at one point I was truly dreading what would come next and couldn’t put the book down. I simply love it when it’s like that.
    Also, there is the happy ending! With Leo or Andy? This I will not tell…
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not nearly as funny as some of her other books. I never really got into it, nor did I care much about what happened to the characters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Listened to this book via audio while traveling....great author! Love the One You’re With is a powerful story about one woman at the crossroads of true love and real life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was surprised on how human this story was. Although the main protagonist, Ellen, was sort of unlikable.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great depiction of the angst, heartbreak, and pull of loving two men. Emily as always adds in lots of details from NY to the "proper" ways of the South, and keeps me riveted until the very end. Until the last few pages, I wasn't sure which man she would choose, and it was a great ending. I had to force myself to put it down and complete my work each day! Great read
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Blah. Really more like, 2.3 stars...
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What would happen if a short time after you were married - happily - you ran into an old lover - a relationship that ended unsatisfactorily. You never really understood why things changed. And then he offers you phootgraphic work that you really want and you take it. Then the questions start. Do you tell you husband? Nothing has happened - yet. And to complicate things your best friend is your husband's sister. And as if that was not enough your husband has moved you from New York where you loved it to his home state and you are not fitting in there. These are the dilhemmas the main character in this book has to face and work through. A light read with to me predictable ending
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And yet another good read by Emily Giffin.

    it took me a bit to get into the story, I admit to that, but once I was in, I could not let go.
    Really enjoyed the main character Ellen, flaws and all. On one hand I knew what would happen in the end but the author kept it interesting.

    I now have 2 more books by this author to read. Babyproof and Where we Belong. 3.8
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As you can probably tell from my other reviews of her work, I really enjoy reading Emily Giffin's novels. However, this one was a bit of a let down. It's a good read, but Love the One You're with falls short of Giffin's previous work in that it just doesn't push our preconceptions hard enough. The protagonist, Ellen, has to choose between Leo, an old lover, and Andy, her husband. She wrestles with the choice throughout the novel, and Giffin makes Ellen's uncertainty palpable. This girl just doesn't know what she wants.

    Giffin builds the novel to a startling moment, leaving Ellen in Leo's apartment, leaving her to make the choice. Now, suddenly, Giffin gives Ellen an easy out. She sees the detached behavior and the uncertainty that she hated about Leo. She sees the beauty of her comfortable life with Andy--all because of a painfully well-timed call from her sister, a call that warns her to walk away from Leo.

    Okay, I get it. True love conquers all. The spark doesn't last forever. But, I expected more than a pat answer from Giffin's work, and I feel like a pat answer is all that I got. Ellen's choice suddenly becomes clear and the best option miraculously emerges. In reality, the best option is rarely evident. Love is multi-faceted and tenuous at times. I expected Giffin to acknowledge this fact, which 90 percent of her book addresses, but in the end she shuts down speculation to give us a prettily wrapped ending. I wanted Giffin to demonstrate that exclusivity is not inherent in love, that it is a cultural value that we attach to affection, and that (while it may be worthwhile!) exclusivity is both difficult and a conscious choice. At the novel's end, Ellen claims to have learned this, but I just can't help feeling that by providing Ellen with "an out," Giffin diluted her message in order to show us how happy her star couple, Ellen and Andy, were going to be. So close but not quite there.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This was a sweet book with a good lesson.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I didn't really care for the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book made me so happy! I loved the way this book ended and think she could not have done a better job writing this story about love, present and past, and what choices we would make if we were presented with these options.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    We've all wondered what our lives would have been like IF ______?? IF I took that job? IF I went to that school? IF I didn't lose my first love? Ellen Dempsey wonders what her life would be like if she reunited with "the one that got away". After running into her ex-boyfriend, Ellen struggles to figure out if she "settled" when she got married because her one true love was unattainable or if she really loves her husband. This book was VERY predictable. It was so obvious what choices Ellen would make way before she made them. She tried too hard to justify her actions. Maybe I was so disappointed because I expected it to answer that age-old question?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've read two of Emily Giffin's books before (Something Borrowed and Baby Proof) and enjoyed them, but this book felt completely different. The engaging writing style was gone, and I felt like I was slogging through this book at a snail's pace. I didn't like the main character, Ellen Dempsey-Graham, at all. She seemed like a spoiled little brat most of the time - woe is her, she married a wonderful man who was rich and whose family accepted her like she was one of their own, but she just wasn't happy because some dude who broke her heart a DECADE ago ran into her on the street. Get a grip. By the middle of the book, I was fervently hoping that she would end up alone.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not one of my favorites by Emily Giffin.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It is never a good sign when I find myself rooting against a protagonist. About half way through this book Ellen Dempsey became so sour, embittered and self serving - all I could think was - PLEASE - let her end up ALONE. She is so unlikable she needs some serious karma to come around and shake her up.I just about lost it and tossed the book out the nearest window when she rhapsodized about how amazing her New York friends were for dressing their children in organic black tunics. Oh Lord. Spare me the teenage-like posturing. If I knew Ellen in real life - I would seriously make it my business to avoid her at all costs.I'd give this one a pass if I had to do it over. There are many nicer and more interesting characters to spend time with.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved the concept of this book. Towards the end, I found myself really curious how she would pick. Based on the title of the book, you know who Ellen will choose, but the process to get there was interesting.Definitely another good book by Giffin, and looking forward to more of her reads in the future.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An airport splurge--should have skipped it. Total fluff and not even enjoyable fluff at that. I expected better from her, as I did like a couple of her other books. Don't bother.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    My first book by Giffin. I thought this would be something I would love, but I found it very hard to get interested in. It moved slow for me. Now to decide if I should try another of Giffin's books or go on to another author.