Maybe In Another Life — Taylor Jenkins Reid

“I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.”

Genre: Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions car crashes, hit-and-runs, cheating, and miscarriages.

Do you believe things are meant to be? “Maybe In Another Life” follows Hannah Martin through two distinct timelines, both separated by a single, somewhat meaningless, decision. With alternating chapters, this book will show you two different perceptions of Hannah’s reality. So, will things be radically different for her or will things stay fundamentally the same? That depends on whether you believe things are meant to be or not, I guess.

I mean, might as well start off by saying that Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my all-time favorite authors, so she already had that going for her, but I must say this book delivered more than it had promised. Plus, if you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you must know that I am the biggest fan of alternating timelines and POVs. That is to say, “Maybe In Another Life” pretty much started with a baseline rating of 3 stars, so getting to 5 was pretty easy.

One of my Goodreads friends said this was one of their favorite books and I can totally see why. I wouldn’t say I had a favorite version of reality, but I did just want Hannah and her friend Gabby to be happy in both, in the end. I just wanted to know if things would work out either way. And in my opinion, they did. And this brings out some comfort to me, that no matter what we do, things will turn out the way they’re supposed to. Life will take its course into its own hands, and we’re just here for the ride.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy books with alternating chapters/timelines. Well, I’m not even sure if timeline is the word because they’re technically happening at the same time, it’s just different concurrent realities… but you get the gist. Also, if you like Taylor Jenkins Reid books in general, then definitely grab this one as well. I think this would be a really cool gift for the right reader, too, so definitely add it to your lists.

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“For some reason, I think I’ll feel better if things are meant to be. It gets me off the hook, doesn’t it? If things are meant to be it means I don’t have to worry so much about consequences and mistakes. I can take my hands off the wheel.”

One True Loves — Taylor Jenkins Reid

“All I know is that my parents have always made love seem easy and sometimes I wish they prepared me for how truly complicated it can be.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions injury descriptions, death, and suicidal thoughts.

“One True Loves” follows Emma Blair’s story in a somewhat chronological order. Emma falls in love with and marries Jesse, her high school sweetheart. On the day of their first wedding anniversary, he is lost at sea and presumed dead after a helicopter crash. Emma then moves back to her hometown and after some time falls in love again and gets engaged to Sam, a high school friend—only for Jesse to be found, alive, after surviving years on a deserted island. Now with a husband and a fiancé, Emma is left to find within herself where her love lies.

This book perfectly describes how it’s possible to love two people at the same time in completely different ways. I empathized with Emma, felt for Jesse, and just absolutely loved Sam. I felt like this was a slow-paced book only because I’ve gotten so used to books with alternating timelines. In “One True Loves”, we get to see a glimpse of the future before jumping on a normal timeline, but after learning that Jesse was alive and getting to know him in the first few chapters of the normal timeline, I couldn’t help but want to see another glimpse into the future and then another and another.

I would say this was a very sad book even though it had a somewhat happy ending. I wouldn’t have had it any other way but at the same time, I wish the characters hadn’t had to go through that. That’s how lovable they were, you really did not want to see any harm done to them.

I don’t know why but this book reminded me of Colleen Hoover novels. this wasn’t that big of a tragedy but if you enjoy CoHo books then I would definitely recommend “One True Loves”.

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