I enjoyed reading Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin. It is about a woman who is happily married in a seemingly "perfect" marriage. However, one day, she runs into an ex-boyfriend, and her emotions go wild. Throughout the story, she wrestles between the roller coaster feelings she has for her ex-boyfriend and the pleasant life she lives with her husband who she really does love. The scenery changes from New York City to Atlanta, Georgia, and I loved the way the author compared and contrasted the two scenes. I also loved the family issues tied into the story with her mother dying a premature death (not during the book though) and her relationship with her sister along with her husband being the brother of her best friend. The only part of the book that I was not pleased with was the end. When I finished the book, I did not feel like there was complete closure, but for the most part, I enjoyed reading this book. ( )

Love the One You're With is Emily Giffin's fourth novel; I've read them all, and this may be my favorite one yet.

It took Ellen Dempsey a couple of years to sort herself out again after the abrupt end of her intense post-college relationship with Leo, the journalist she met during a stint at jury duty. But when she was ready, there was already someone waiting - Andy Graham, her best friend's brother. Their relationship may lack some of that intensity, but it's compatible and comfortable, and Ellen's genuinely happy with it...until she unexpectedly runs into Leo on a New York City street, and the encounter makes her start asking herself a lot of questions. Meanwhile, Andy's asking questions of his own, but his involve leaving their New York life behind and moving back to his hometown, Atlanta. His family is there, along with a position in his father's law practice - but aside from that, what does the upscale suburb of Buckhead hold for Ellen and her photography career?

I liked most of the characters in this novel, which is narrated in the first person by Ellen - and I really liked Ellen. The character has a lot of self-awareness, even as she does things that she realizes are probably not in her best interests and could very well backfire on her. She has a tendency to idealize her husband's family and their background, but I think it's understandable to anyone who's ever felt their own upbringing to be lacking somehow; for her, much of that sense of lack is the result of the early death of her mother, and it colors many of her relationships. The most important women in her life are her best friend/sister-in-law Margot and her older sister Suzanne, but mother loss plays a role in how she relates to men as well; it's part of the intensity and insecurity in her relationship with Leo, and a factor in the comfort of her marriage to Andy - the same comfort that makes her wonder if she's somehow "settling."

Emily Giffin does a fine job of drawing believable, human characters who have to make choices that aren't always black and white, and that rarely turn out to be final or perfect. I related to Ellen a lot, and I think other readers will too - most of us have had reason to wonder about our relationships and who we are in their context, at one time or another, haven't we? Giffin's brand of chick-lit is lower on the fluff and melodrama than some examples of the genre, and I'm sure that's part of its appeal for me. Love the One You're With is a smart, character-driven novel, and its author remains on my must-read list. ( )

Read 2009

I couldn't connect with the character telling the story, so I gave up, I read the last 2 chapters to feel like I finished it and I can't imagine the whole book being about her dilemma on 'Love the one your With' BORING ( )

Emily Giffin, you are always there for me when I need to escape into someone else's life and problems.

I thought of her 4 books this one was my least favorite, but I still really liked it. I fell right in to the character and her struggle between choosing the life (and man) that is safe and secure and the hot rollercoaster of a romance with "the one that got away". The book is junk food, but it's delicious!

Also, I LOVE how cute her books look on my bookshelf. I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I almost gave it an extra star for design. ( )

In the fourth novel by Emily Giffin, we meet Ellen, who has been married to Andy for 100 days when she runs into Leo - the one who got away. We explore the back story of Ellen and Leo, who had an amazingly intense relationship that went awry and then ended abruptly at his instigation. Despite the fact that Ellen loves her husband dearly and is best friends with Margot, his sister, she finds herself keeping it secret that she has met up with Leo. When he gets in contact to offer her a brilliant photography assignment, Ellen finds herself tempted by more than just the offer of work. From there we see through Ellen's eyes as she wavers between the perfect life and wonderful husband on one hand, and wondering 'what if?' about her past relationship with Leo.

I have read all of Giffin's novels and by now I know what to expect. The stories come from a first person perspective and concern women in a relationship dilemma. It is much like sitting down over coffee with a best friend and hearing about her woes - the writing is comfortable and the novels offer a gentle perspective on the various problems that can inflict partnerships. The characters are usually somewhat cliched, and some suffer from being one dimensional as well, but Giffin has a warm voice and invites you to feel sympathy for the situation of the main characters. Here as well, it was hard to conceive that Ellen would end up with anyone but the man she eventually chooses - this would be too subversive for a Giffin book.

Here I could identify easily with Ellen - anyone who has had a past relationship end with little explanation and still feels rogue feelings for that person will understand how she got caught up in contacting Leo again when he came back into her life. Giffin explores the ideas of the grass being greener - how those who fall into a rut can see another person or relationship as being preferable, rather than dealing with the problems that exist. I enjoyed Giffin's commentary on how the money her husband earns can be more of a hindrance to Ellen's life than a blessing.

I loved Ellen's enthusiasm for photography and the way that this both led the plot and provided poetic passages that lifted Giffin's writing above that of other 'chick lit' authors. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the shots that she took at Coney Island, and could actually imagine them from the descriptions.

So, this novel was much as I expected and a diverting read on a rainy afternoon, but certainly nothing that would challenge the intellect. Enjoyable and fluffy. ( )