There are authors who write stories. And then there are authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid—who build entire emotional ecosystems through their books.
Whether she’s writing about a reclusive Hollywood legend, a crumbling marriage, a record-breaking tennis player, or the first female CAPCOM at NASA, Reid’s novels are united by a singular focus: human transformation. Her work is cinematic in scope but deeply intimate at its core. With every novel, she gives readers front-row seats to the complex inner lives of women who defy expectations and reshape their identities—sometimes at great cost.
This article explores the complete collection of Taylor Jenkins Reid books, from her early contemporary romances to her era-defining, character-driven dramas. Each entry is summarized in depth, providing new and seasoned readers alike with a clear view of the emotional landscapes these novels inhabit.
Whether you’re a first-time reader wondering where to begin or a longtime fan revisiting the journey, this guide to the books by Taylor Jenkins Reid is designed to walk you through each title’s heart, conflict, and enduring power.
1. Forever, Interrupted (2013)
An Intimate Debut on Grief and Unexpected Love
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s first novel delivers a heartbreakingly authentic look at sudden loss. Forever, Interrupted follows Elsie Porter, a quiet woman who meets, falls in love with, and marries Ben Ross—all within six months. Their spontaneous union is filled with real, tangible joy. But only nine days after their wedding, Ben is killed in a tragic bicycle accident.
As Elsie is thrown into unexpected widowhood, she must also confront Ben’s mother, Susan, who didn’t know Elsie even existed. The novel alternates between two timelines: one chronicling the love story as it unfolded, and the other tracing Elsie’s grief and search for meaning in the aftermath.
Though this is the most understated of the Taylor Jenkins Reid books, its emotional resonance is undeniable. Reid explores the pain of a future stolen too soon and the quiet, aching process of rebuilding when every plan has crumbled. It’s a story about love’s endurance—even in absence.
2. After I Do (2014)
Reimagining Love Within a Failing Marriage
In After I Do, Reid turns her focus to the slow erosion of a long-term relationship. Lauren and Ryan have been married for nearly a decade, but what once felt electric now feels suffocating. They fight, withdraw, and finally agree to an unconventional solution: a one-year separation with no contact.
What begins as a marital experiment quickly becomes a profound personal journey for Lauren. Freed from daily conflict, she confronts the question many avoid: What does love look like after it loses its sparkle? As she reconnects with herself, her family, and her emotional needs, Lauren begins to redefine her idea of partnership.
Among the early Taylor Jenkins Reid books, After I Do stands out for its refreshingly realistic tone. Instead of romanticizing hardship, Reid offers a story of emotional evolution and individual awakening. It’s a novel that reminds readers that sometimes, choosing yourself is the most loving act of all.
3. Maybe in Another Life (2015)
The Power of Choice and Parallel Realities
Reid introduces a dual-timeline structure in Maybe in Another Life, a novel that explores the butterfly effect of a single decision. When 29-year-old Hannah Martin returns to Los Angeles, she faces a simple choice: should she leave a party with her best friend, or stay and reconnect with an ex-boyfriend? From that choice, two versions of Hannah’s life unfold.
In one reality, she experiences a loving relationship and a serious injury that reshapes her path. In the other, she pursues a different relationship and contends with an unexpected pregnancy. Both timelines are equally real, equally rich in emotion, and ultimately convergent in their exploration of self-discovery.
This is one of the more experimental books by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but it works seamlessly. By embracing the concept of “what if,” Reid doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, she suggests that fulfillment is not found in a perfect path, but in the person you become along the way.
4. One True Loves (2016)
Two Great Loves and the Evolution of Identity
What if your first love returned from the dead—just after you’ve found love again?
Emma Blair thought she had it all. She married her adventurous high school sweetheart, Jesse, and they built a life of travel and shared dreams. But when Jesse disappears in a helicopter crash, presumed dead, Emma begins a long and painful healing process.
Years later, she’s engaged to Sam, a gentle soul from her past. Just as she finds peace again, Jesse is found alive. Now, Emma is torn between the man she once loved and the man who helped her rebuild.
This emotionally rich novel is one of the most powerful Taylor Jenkins Reid books because it doesn’t force a neat conclusion. Instead, it embraces complexity. Love isn’t always about choosing the past or the present—it’s about choosing who you are now. Emma’s journey is a poignant reminder that we are not static beings—and that sometimes, the right answer is simply growth.
5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017)
Hollywood, Queerness, and the Cost of Legacy
This is the novel that launched Reid into literary stardom.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo tells the story of an aging Hollywood star who selects unknown journalist Monique Grant to write her biography. As Evelyn unspools her glamorous yet deeply personal story, Monique is drawn into a tale of ambition, sacrifice, sexuality, and forbidden love.
Structured as a memoir-within-a-novel, Evelyn’s narrative is breathtaking in scope. She details her rise through the Golden Age of film, her marriages (strategic and sincere), and her lifelong, secret romance with fellow actress Celia St. James.
This is not just one of the most popular Taylor Jenkins Reid books—it’s a modern classic. Reid deftly interrogates the price of fame, the constraints of queer love in a conservative era, and the moral ambiguity of survival. Evelyn is a complicated, unforgettable protagonist. Her story is one of the most emotionally layered and culturally relevant novels in contemporary fiction.
6. Evidence of the Affair (2018)
A Novella in Letters and Longing
Told entirely through letters, this slim but impactful novella begins with a letter from a woman named Carrie to a stranger named David. She reveals that her husband is having an affair—with David’s wife.
Rather than rage or confrontation, their correspondence becomes an outlet for processing betrayal. As the months pass, they share thoughts, reflections, and eventually, fragments of healing. The emotional intimacy that forms between them becomes something greater than either expected.
Though this novella is often overlooked among Taylor Jenkins Reid books, it demonstrates her mastery of emotional nuance. Evidence of the Affair is compact yet resonant—a subtle, powerful meditation on the ways we connect through shared pain.
7. Daisy Jones & The Six (2019)
A Fictional Rock Band, a Real Emotional High
In this vibrant oral history, Reid takes readers inside the rise and fall of Daisy Jones & The Six, a fictional 1970s rock band whose explosive chemistry and personal demons make them legends.
Daisy is magnetic, flawed, brilliant. Billy Dunne, the band’s frontman, is equally compelling and equally broken. Told through a series of “interviews” with band members, managers, and producers, the novel allows readers to piece together the truth from competing narratives.
This novel is a storytelling triumph. One of the most celebrated Taylor Jenkins Reid books, it captures the sex, drugs, and soul of rock ‘n’ roll while exploring addiction, ambition, artistic ego, and unspoken love. By the final pages, it feels almost criminal that the band never really existed.
8. Malibu Rising (2021)
A Family Saga Fueled by Secrets and Surf
Set in Malibu in the summer of 1983, this novel chronicles 24 hours in the lives of the Riva siblings—Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit—as they prepare for their annual, infamous party. By morning, the mansion will burn to the ground. But what burns inside the house is nothing compared to what simmers inside each sibling.
Interwoven with flashbacks to their turbulent childhood with singer Mick Riva and their resilient mother June, Malibu Rising is both a family saga and a metaphor-laden meditation on inheritance—emotional, cultural, and otherwise.
This is one of the most thematically rich Taylor Jenkins Reid books. It explores how people raised in the shadow of abandonment choose survival, how siblings form their own myths, and how fire can be both destructive and cleansing.
9. Carrie Soto Is Back (2022)
A Woman’s War Against Time and Obscurity
Carrie Soto is a legend. The most decorated tennis player of her generation. The most hated. And now, at 37, she’s staging a comeback.
After years in retirement, Carrie sees her Grand Slam record threatened by a younger athlete. Determined to reclaim her title, she trains harder than ever, guided by her beloved father and coach, Javier.
But the story isn’t just about competition. It’s about aging, identity, cultural bias, and what it means for women to stay ambitious after their “prime.” Carrie is not likable—but she is unforgettable.
Among Taylor Jenkins Reid books, this one is the most physically driven, yet its emotional arc is just as powerful. It’s a character study of a woman who refuses to go quietly—and who learns to find meaning beyond medals.
10. Atmosphere (2025)
Love, Loneliness, and the Stars Above
In her most ambitious novel to date, Reid travels to the early 1980s to tell the story of Joan Goodwin, a brilliant astronomer and the first female CAPCOM at NASA. From behind the console at Mission Control, she monitors the shuttle missions, including one that changes everything—STS-LR9, helmed by the woman she secretly loves, Commander Vanessa Ford.
As Vanessa embarks on a mission that turns catastrophic, Atmosphere weaves together the thrill of space exploration with the quiet ache of a forbidden relationship. Set during a time when queerness had no safe place at NASA, this novel explores what it means to love from a distance—across oceans, silence, and even low-Earth orbit.
This is one of the most breathtaking Taylor Jenkins Reid books—emotionally, visually, structurally. It combines meticulous historical detail with Reid’s trademark emotional depth, making it both an epic and an elegy.
Taylor Jenkins Reid Books in Order
Forever, Interrupted (2013)
After I Do (2014)
Maybe in Another Life (2015)
One True Loves (2016)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017)
Evidence of the Affair (2018)
Daisy Jones & The Six (2019)
Malibu Rising (2021)
Carrie Soto Is Back (2022)
Atmosphere (2025)
Final Thoughts: Why Taylor Jenkins Reid Books Endure
Taylor Jenkins Reid has built a career on stories that blur the line between intimacy and spectacle. From failed marriages to comeback tours, from rock bands to rocket launches, the books by Taylor Jenkins Reid consistently ask: Who are you when the world stops watching?
Whether you read them for their complex heroines, cultural relevance, or emotional honesty, Taylor Jenkins Reid books never leave you the same. They are more than stories. They’re a reckoning—with love, fame, family, identity, and the person you might still become.
If you haven’t yet explored her full collection, now is the time. Each novel is its own orbit. Together, they form a literary constellation—brilliant, bold, and utterly unforgettable.