Maybe in Another Life: A Novel

Product Information

My most recent book, Bloemetje: a speculative retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina fairy tale, is available internationally as an ebook, paperback, and hardcover. Sometimes that road takes unexpected twists and turns, but the beauty of it is that sometimes you end up in a better place than you could have dreamed. I started of liking the premise of alternating chapters with the parallel events especially when each chapter started off with the same paragraph. The book almost feels like a choose your own adventure as two different timelines, two different possibilities unfold.

A related moment that made me cringe, is when Hannah and Gabby lay in a bed together and just wish they weren’t straight so they could just simplify their lives and remove all men and just be together tee-hee! life is just a series of breaths in and out, all I really have to do in this world is breath in and then breathe out. Each chapter toggles, unfolding Hannah's fate piece based on whether she goes home with her best friend or ex-boyfriend.From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results. There's heartache and mess contained within these pages, but Maybe in Another Life is mostly a mature coming-of-age story about fate and choices and finding happiness when you're around thirty and still have nothing figured out in your life. I love her flawed characters but I love how perfect are the friendships and the family relationships are.

I have always loved this trope, alongside the concept of the Butterfly Effect, where one tiny flap of a butterfly's wings can impact the whole world. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? After a string of bad luck, she decides to move back to her hometown of LA where she stays with at her best friend Gabby’s house while she gets on her feet and sorts out her life. After the latest incident in which Hannah ends up sleeping with a married man---and actually contemplating a future with him---Hannah decides that maybe it's time to go home.And even though I suspected the truth, I thought that if he never said it, if he never admitted it to my face, then I wasn’t accountable for the fact that it was true. It’s entirely possible that every time we make a decision, there is a version of us out there somewhere who made a different choice. He didn’t even have a paler shade of skin around his ring finger, the way magazines tell you married men will. Then when the storyline deviated I kind of spent the rest of the book trying to match each chapter with each other.

When I come out of the gate, Gabby is holding up a sign that says “Hannah Marie Martin,” as if I wouldn’t recognize her, as if I wouldn’t know she was my ride. I have to admit, I didn’t read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because it has a bisexual main character, and I knew Taylor Jenkins Reid is straight, and I just was not in the mood for dealing with questionable representation. Whether or not you agree, the term “ a sliding doors moment” has entered the lexicon, meaning a moment in a character’s life where their seemingly innocuous decision has far-reaching impact on how their life plays out. I wish Sarah's character was a bit more elaborate and there was more connection with Hanah's parents.A heartfelt, witty and scintillating journey from one parallel universe to another; Maybe in Another Life takes the concept of fate and makes it tangible and engrossing; I couldn't put this book down! With characters who feel like friends and a narrative that hooked me from the first page, After I Do takes an elegant and incisively emotional look at the endings and beginnings of love. As the clock strikes midnight, Hannah must make a choice between leaving with her friend Gabby or staying with Ethan. During a night out with her best friend Gabby, Hannah catches up with Ethan, her former college boyfriend.

Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with her friend Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Even after I got over him, I was never able to extinguish the fire completely, as if it’s a pilot light that will always remain small and controlled but very much alive. I have yet to encounter a TJR book that hasn't left a mark on my soul or one I didn't like, and Maybe In Another Life is no exception.and because of that, i can never walk away from one of her books without learning something new about myself or more fully understanding the kind of person that i am.