Maybe in Another Life
Fast paced
Sweet
Pretentious

Maybe in Another Life

One choice. Two different paths - with stunningly different results. From the bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six. 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 her friend 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 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.
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Reviews

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Tabea@attako
2.5 stars
Jan 6, 2024

Hannah is such a pick me, gosh. Stupid high bun. The plot was nice tho. Nice idea with the alternative universes. I‘m definitely Team Henry 🤞

+2
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Alexis Donahue@donahuealexis
4 stars
Jul 20, 2023

Night nurse Henry! I’m glad that in either life scenario she finds love. Hers and Henry’s love is my favorite though and the storyline that I tend to lean towards. Ethan’s storyline is sweet though in the future with the baby. I was throughly engaged throughout the story though.

This review contains a spoiler
+1
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bug@bugspray
4 stars
Sep 23, 2022

This is the first Taylor Jenkins Reid book I’ve read and I really liked it. It’s definitely not perfect, but I like the way she writes; her dialogue is interesting and realistic, most of the characters are pretty well fleshed out, and I love anyone who writes in present tense because it’s refreshing and interesting and I feel like it’s a little harder to do well while avoiding the story feeling rushed.

I chose this book to start with because the concept seemed really interesting to me, and it was very enjoyable to read. It was done well, wasn’t confusing when it switched between the two timelines, and it all felt well-paced and thought out. The tension of finding something out in one timeline and waiting for it to unfold in the other drew me in and was very satisfying to watch play out. I liked picking out all the small similarities and differences amongst the big ones. I like that Gabby and Hannah’s friendship was a big focus of the plot, thought I do kinda think it would’ve been interesting for it to have centred around them even more, if the whole book was more focused on platonic love rather than romantic love. I genuinely was expecting for the ending to be them living together and realising that they were soulmates, even though they are just friends.

I like Henry a lot but I kinda hate ethan and do wish that Henry & Hannah ended up together in both timelines, but I understand why they don’t. I get the point of having two very different happy endings, of two perfect lives made from very different decisions.

My only genuine complaint is that some of it felt very on the nose and clichéd and like the author was really really trying hard to drive home a point about fate. I feel like the plot speaks for itself without the characters having to bring it up constantly, and it feels a bit of a disservice to the writing to be repetitively spelling it out. Overall I did really enjoy it though. It was enjoyable and cute and easy to get through. At some point I would like to reread but read through all of one timeline and then flip back and read the other one and see how it works when reading them as two separate stories.

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Amy Blood@amyblood
3 stars
Aug 29, 2022

Highlights

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bug@bugspray

I don't believe that being in love absolves you of anything. I no longer believe that all's fair in love and war. I'd go so far as to say your actions in love are not an exception to who you are.

They are, in fact, the very definition of who you are.

Page 274
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bug@bugspray

But I wonder how different my world would be if any of those things had happened. You can't change just one part, can you? When you sit there and wish things had happened differ-ently, you can't just wish away the bad stuff. You have to think about all the good stuff you might lose, too. Better just to stay in the now and focus on what you can do better in the future.

Page 233
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bug@bugspray

And I think to myself that if, by being here, I have taken away one one-hundredth of the pain that Gabby feels, then maybe I have more of a life's purpose than I ever thought.

"Divide the pain in two," I tell her. "And give half of it to me."

Page 203