Love the One You're With

Emily Griffin

Rating 3.5/5

Note: There are some spoilers in this review.

Love the One You're With is a romantic novel that a friend reccommended I read when I was having second thoughts about a relationship I was in a few years ago. Since then, I have read the Emilly Griffen novel several times and believe most women will find the content relatable. The writing is honest and relevant and the material has the potential to be made into a script -- it is written like a  romantic comedy with more depth than usual films in that genre.

Ellen Graham is a Pittsburgh native who leads a happy life as a photographer living in New York City with her caring, wealthy, and handsome husband Andy. Their life is romantic and stable -- after a bad break up Ellen fell in love with her college roomates older brother and has been happy ever since.

When Ellen bumps into her ex Leo, a sexy free-spirited journalist --  the man who broke her heart before she met Andy, Ellen begins questioning her life  and her place in her husbands conservative Southern family.

Emily Griffen takes the reader back and forth in time outlining key details of Ellen and Leo`s up and down relationship. We find out the two met while surving jury duty and their love affiar is described as passionate and intesne from the outset. The way Ellen describes the love she felt for Leo leads the reader to wonder if she in fact feels this way for Andy.

 Leo and Ellen shared more than a sexual connection. Ellen describes how she opened up to him about the death of her mother at the young age of 13 and how they bonded over their vulnerabilities, finding comfort as friends and lovers. Leo is depicted as a sexy, brooding, aspiring journalist with a chip on his shoulder that Ellen desperately wanted to fix with the love she felt for him. Although her love never faded, his dialed down and the two seperated.

When Leo appears out of the blue, old feelings stir up.

Ellen agrees to a  friendly cup of coffee. She is honest with him and immediately tells him she is happily married, but Leo doesn`t seem to care.

A few days after their meeting, Leo offers Ellen an opportunity of a lifetime -- to photograph rock legend and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Drake Watters. Whether Leo is doing this to get closer to Ellen or simply because he wants to see her succeed is unknown, but it appears to be a combination of the two.

Although it has been eight years, Ellen finds herself just as vulnerable as she was before and still having a hard time saying no to Leo. She eventually accepts the offer.

The photoshoot takes place in L.A. and the idea of being alone with Leo in a different state, away from her husband, forces Ellen to make a decision regarding what she wants and who she wants. The protagonist is faced with the novels biggest moral dillema and Griffin succeeds in having the reader sympathize with Ellen but also, root for Leo!

Despite the powerful attraction and intense chemistry that Leo and Ellen share, she eventually realizes that Leo has not changed his mind about marriage and monogomy. Her brief emotional affair allows Ellen to address some deeper issues with Andy that was drawing her to Leo and in the end, all is well.

The novel is great easy-reading summer material. Although I liked Andy as a character, I was rooting for Leo in the end. I could not help but cry when she left his New York City apartment and said goodbye for good. Does that make me a homewrecker?

Image taken from emilygiffin.com