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Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:From the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo; now with a bonus conversation with Julia Whelan and Taylor Jenkins Reid, recorded exclusively for this edition. At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby's guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she's ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan? In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she's found him.… (more)
User reviews
Hannah is a habitual mover, having lived in multiple different cities since graduating, but now she's going to try moving back to her hometown -- LA.
Interestingly enough, though the two timelines are night-and-day different, some things must always be meant to happen in life. It's an interesting ride, to see what happens to Hannah and her friends around her as these alternate universes play out, chapter by chapter. "Maybe in Another Life" definitely belongs on your beach/summer reading list. Best read while eating a cinnamon roll.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve read a few books that say we are really living in a four dimensional world instead of three and that we do have parallel lives happening and also some of our past lives co-exist at different points. It would be really interesting to think that we could possibly be living different experiences and not even know it. I didn’t want to put this down. It flowed very smoothly and makes the reader care for the characters. There are a few times you laugh, a few times you might tear up, a few times you cheer and a few times you want to smack the back of Hannah’s head. But all in all, worth the read.
I was so interested n this book, and it did not let me down. I was afraid it might be hard to follow two completely different storylines, but this wasn't the case. Each story switched off from chapter to chapter, but the author did an amazing job of make the book still flow very well. Everything made sense and was not too difficult to keep up with. That's a pretty fantastic feat in a story that is set up this way.
I was curious if I would prefer one storyline to the other, and I kind of did. However, I was drawn to the questions asked in this book. Are we happy as a result of the choices we make, or do we make an active decision to be happy? Could we be happy with any number of people and results in our life? I won't tell you how either story ends, but I will say that I found the conclusions to be very satisfying. This book will both entertain and make you think at the same time, which is a hard balance sometimes. It was definitely a lot of fun to read though.
Book provided for review.
Fantastic book!
In this novel we look at one night when Hannah makes a choice. Who will she go home with? In one she leaves with her high school boyfriend, in the other she leaves with her best friend, in both she grows and becomes a better version of herself. I was
Quantum mechanics is not for your average bear -- it's confusing with all of its complex theories. But this book manages to take one theory and turn it into an enjoyable, entertaining novel. What if every time we made a choice another version of ourselves lives out that choice? That means there could be millions of versions of us living out different variations of our lives. I’m probably not explaining it well, but it’s an interesting theory and you should check out the Wikipedia entry.
I thought this novel was a clever approach to the magical "go back in time" storyline, allowing the reader to think about their own life and the choices we take. It would be great for a book club to discuss the role of fate or destiny versus how choices impact the future. While not particularly deep or well-written, I found this novel to be a fast and fun read. I liked thinking about how I might be living in an alternate reality right now, based on choices I could have made in the past.
In life, we always have a choice resulting from more than one option. We always chose what we either want more or what we think is best. Who are we to know that that particualr decision, no matter how insignificant it seems, is the right one? Does every decision we make set off a separate chain of events... sending our lives into a completely different path?
This story is equally heartwarming and heartbreaking. You will find yourself so full of emotions, you won't know what is up and what is down. You may see up as down and down as up. The story is written with such great talent, you won't be able to decide which path was the correct path or incorrect path. Reid has such a talent for messing with your head and emotions, you will be equally mad and pleased with this book.
I was equally pleased and displeased with this book... I didn't know which story was the better of the two. One minute I was begging for the pain to stop, then the next minute I was smiling with a full heart. This is not like any other book you have read. It is so well written, there is no way you can't fall in love with this story. You will need a box of tissues and a stiff drink to make it through this one. It is definitely a top read of the year book!
I received this copy for an unbiased review, which didn't affect my rating.
I think my favorite part about this book is how real it felt. These characters are all people that I might know or meet. There are no cliches or stereotypes. The dual plot-lines were both engaging and the romance was not overdone. One of the reasons I don’t read many romance novels is because everything is always so over the top. There’s always just a little too much drama and passion for it to seem real to me. Here, Hannah is just a real girl, dealing with real girl problems and trying to find her way in the world. She could be my friend, the girl next door, or the girl I stand in line with every day while I’m getting my coffee. Her man problems are the same problems many women of her age have. There’s no over-the-top drama, no ridiculous circumstances, just real life, and that made this book so refreshing to read. I felt like I could relate to Hannah and got much more invested in her life that I usually do in a fictional character.
That’s not to say that there’s not any drama at all. There definitely is! Real life has plenty of drama and there’s enough here to keep the book interesting without taking it too far. I could not decide which version of Hannah’s life I liked better. After each chapter I’d say to myself, “this is definitely the life I’d want if I were her,” and then change my mind after the next one.
I really loved the alternating timelines. I was concerned that I would feel confused or disconnected because of the alternating chapters but I’m happy to say that that was not the case. There were lots of little details that were the same in each and there were also topics and conversations that were repeated between the timelines, although with slightly different circumstances. There’s not enough repeated to make the book feel redundant or boring, just enough to show that Hannah’s personality is the same regardless of her choices and to make the book as a whole feel cohesive.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. I love the way the author played with these rather philosophical questions. Maybe in Another Life is a fun read with some food for thought. The message I took away is that maybe we are as happy as we allow ourselves to be and that no matter what decisions we make, we have the ability to have a happily ever after – even if it’s not exactly the one you always thought it might be. This would be a great beach read and could easily be finished in one or two sittings once you get hooked. There are well-rounded characters with personality, an interesting plot and realistic romance. This is at the top of my list of recommended summer reads for this year.
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Hannah's character is relatable on so many levels. She's a single 29 year old with no solid career, no city she calls home, and no idea what the future may hold. Even though many aspects of her differ from mine, a myriad of her inner thoughts reflected mine, that at times it was like looking into a mirror.
Much of this reads like a coming of age tale, which I loved, because so often we fixate on college as being that time in our lives where everything will figure itself out, but in reality, many of us are hitting 30 and still wading through the waters, trying to find something to hold on to.
As Hannah's alternate realities play out, I couldn't decide which scenario I enjoyed more. Both had heartache and difficulties, but there was also excitement, love, and laughter. It makes you think that one choice made may alter your future but in no way ruins it. You can always adapt, change, and still find a way to be happy even if it didn't turn out exactly like you planned.
Hannah is 29 years old and after a lifetime of moving around and feeling rootless, she is moving back to LA. She'll live near her best friend Gabby again and maybe even reconnect with Ethan, the high school ex-boyfriend she's always thought might one day turn out to be "the one." On her first night back, she goes out to see a bunch of friends, including Ethan. When Gabby and her husband are ready to go home, Hannah must decide whether she's going to go with them or if she wants to stay out a little longer and pursue what she suspects could in fact happen with Ethan. And in the pivotal moment of making a decision, the universe splits and her life spirals outward from both options, radically changing the trajectory of her life in unexpected ways.
Oddly, both choices are the right one and lead to vastly different outcomes in her life. Both choices also include aspects that must have been fated as well because they happen regardless of her chance decision at the bar. But as the narrative flips back and forth between the two realities that she is living concurrently, her decisions have altered almost everything. The flipping back and forth between the different lives is a little bit confusing and difficult in the beginning but adjusting to the back and forth becomes easier as the novel progresses. And the chapters start to end just when the reader wants them to continue, just when a situation needs resolving or Hannah is on the verge of making another decision, giving the narrative pacing a breathless and anticipatory sort of feel all the way through.
There are echoes from one life to another, especially in the dual endings, that ask us to question whether we could be happy in more than one reality. Is your soul mate the only person out there for you? Is your profession the only one that can be fulfilling? Reid seems to argue that we make our own lives and our own happiness and that we can construct it differently, but no less contentedly, based on chance and our choices. The novel is a fun and quick read with an interesting and quirky concept. Hannah's choices, in both of her lives, will resonate with readers who have probably wondered "what if?" more than once in their own lives. This novel makes is delicious to contemplate those endless possibilities for ourselves.
I actually really enjoyed seeing the story from two different view points and how it shows how life can change with one simple decision. I also loved the friendship
The ending really slowed down for me though. It just went into too much detail at times and I was ready for everything to wrap up.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one though.
And it was just fine to listen to, but this book is romance/chick-lit. Which I really don't much like. Oops.
The
The best parts? The bits about LA--Urban Light at LACMA, the many donut shops of LA (though I wonder--is Primo's supposed to be Porto's, or is it Primo's on Sawtelle--I don't remember them having huge gooey cinnamon rolls, but maybe they do?).
The love stories were cute, and for this reader who has only discovered heartbreaking love at middle
That said, I realize the exploration of choice here is not very deep. The choice we started with was trivial and the events that followed thereafter (at least in one of the parallel narratives) were more of the lightning strike of destiny than a consequence of choice. Still what the book is trying to say that even small choices can cumulatively lead to different outcomes.
I enjoyed the book, and read it fairly quickly as it kept me interested in the outcome of both story-lines. There were parts that were boring though with repetitions of character traits, and almost identical scenes in both stories.