I Loved You In Another Life by David Arnold

Pages: 339 

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 10th of October 2023 

A sweeping romantic novel from NYT bestselling author David Arnold about the power of soulmates and love

Evan Taft has plans. Take a gap year in Alaska, make sure his brother and single mother are taken care of, and continue therapy to process his father's departure. But after his mum's unexpected cancer diagnosis, and as Evan's plans begin to fade, he hears something - a song no one else can hear, the voice of a mysterious singer ...

Shosh Bell has dreams. A high school theatre legend, she's headed to performing arts college in LA, a star on the rise. But when a drunk driver takes her sister's life, that star fades to black. All that remains is a void - and a soft voice singing in her ear ...

Over it all, transcending time and space, a celestial bird brings strangers from an escaped murderer in 19th century Paris, to a Norwegian cosmonaut in low-earth orbit, something is happening that began long ago, and will long outlast Evan and Shosh.

 I LOVED YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE explores the history of love, and how some souls are meant for each other - yesterday, today, forever.

What I Have to Say 

I enjoyed reading this, but it didn't take my breath away. I liked the characters, the story was sweet with all the flashbacks to their past lives, but I don't know, I expected more. 

The thing that I think I liked most about this was how much it normalised therapy. Evan has a therapist in the book and quite a few chapters were set in his appointments talking about various things that were happening. It felt refreshing in the way that it wasn't such a big thing, it was just an ordinary part of his life. As it should be! 

I also liked how some of the flashbacks to the past lives showed gay relationships. Although I feel that more could have been done with the different types of people shown in these bits, it was good to see a nod to the LGBTQ+ community. 

I definitely liked this book, but ultimately I don't think it will be one that stays with me. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for Providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

The Last Beginning (and thoughts on The Next Together) by Lauren James

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Walker Books 

Released: 6th of October 2016 

Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives. But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove's investigation? 

For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future.

What I Have to Say 

When I first read The Next Together, I thought it was amazing.  But talking about it with my friends after, I found many of them found it a little too romance orientated. For those who dislike romance, the sci fi factor is not strong enough to keep them interested in the book. The solution to this? The Last Beginning. 

The Last Beginning is, in  my opinion, the actual story. It's beautiful and perfect and has exactly the right balance of sci fi and romance. It has a great sense of mystery and Ella is the most perfect character ever. I feel that The Next Together would work much better as a prequel, something to read that adds to the story but doesn't stand as well on it's own. 

The beauty of these two books is that you can read them in either order and they still make perfect sense. In my opinion, this book would be best read first, especially if you don't like books centered too much on romance. 

Reading this one second, will just make you want to read the first one again anyway.