This is a really tough book for me to review, because I really didn’t enjoy the writing style or dialogue very much, but I really liked the concept of this story and I was thrown off my guard by an absolutely incredible twist towards the end of the book that I absolutely didn’t see coming. Meet Me in Another Life follows two characters who seem destined to meet again and again in different lifetimes, always in the same city but their relationship changes from meeting to meeting.
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The concept for this is a really strong one, and it reminded me a lot of The Good Place or the Firebird trilogy that came out a few years ago. Unfortunately, the actual execution doesn’t always live up to the great premise: I had a lot of issues with slightly unrealistic dialogue and choices that the characters make sometimes. Also, I found it a little difficult to remain interested at parts because the different “timelines” aren’t revisited once their chapters are completed, so I found myself struggling to care about the different iterations of these characters. Additionally, it is slightly jarring that these characters relationships change in the way they do, because in some chapters they’re family members or teachers/students, but in others they’re romantically entangled, which is ever so slightly jarring to the reader for obvious reasons.
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While these sound like quite large issues, I absolutely loved the twist in this one and it renewed my interest and investment towards the end when I thought back to the clues that had been laid earlier on in the book. This is definitely not the most well-written book I’ve ever read, but it’s one I’ll be recommending for that shocking final stretch when it comes out later on this year!

A stunning, magical tale that explores the complexities of life and love.

Are our younger selves simply different from us now or did those earlier selves cause us to be who we are? If we change over time or transform into someone new, how does that affect the idea of a soulmate? If we could live many lives, our love stories could reveal something critical.

In Meet me in another life we see these love stories connected not only through romantic love but across a spectrum of love for example platonic friendships or parental love.

This idea, that who we are, and who we love are intimately connected with the lives we and others have led are woven throughout its narrative. It left me thinking If we evolve across time does that affect the construct of love.

it is difficult to describe how moving and beautiful this novel is. I was enthralled by it and stunned by the author's exquisite writing. Her ability to write such vivid worlds and craft such an intelligent plot is breath-taking.

I adore Thora and Santi in their many reincarnations, even when they were at their very worse. In each one, I learnt something more about them and got closer to the truth. It was written in such a manner that I felt part of their investigation and searched for clues alongside them. The reveal had my heart breaking.

Ultimately this is a book about love and you will lose yourself in the wonderful world of Thora and Santi just as I did.

Highly Recommended for fans of The Time Traveller's Wife and The Invisible Life of Addie. Or if you just want something very special to read.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book; in the first half I wasn't convinced by the two main character's relationship, but was intrigued about why they kept living parallel lives, and in the second half, I was sold on their relationship, but didn't understand why they kept coming back to life! I think this is more to do with me though, as I don't usually read the fantasy genre, rather than the writing. I did find the book entertaining, but I do wish the overall plot had been a bit more structured so it was easier to keep track of what was happening.

Possible spoilers.

3.5 stars

I very much enjoyed the majority of this book,the way Santi and Thomas weaved in and out of each others lives... at different ages,but always in the same place.
How they had different relationships,friends,lovers,siblings... there was just something special always pulling them together.

Then when they become aware of whats happening,and start to question what that something special is,the whole book was now something very different.
Not better,or worse,just different.

Interesting.

I requested this lovely book from NetGalley and was so so happy to have read this.

This was such an intriguing book, full of mystery, romance, life changing events and full of questions and more questions. I loved the concept of Thora and Santi meeting each other in all these different lives and being connected by tiny things that crop up in all of their lives.

It can get confusing at times and doesn’t really get fast paced until about 70% in. But, I found this book matching the pace that it was written in and I liked the way it read. It made me have questions, emotions and just trying to find out why Thora & Santi were always in each other’s lives. I like the whole plot of why they are in each other’s lives that we find out 85% in. The ending actually shocked me as we were told one thing but it lead to another and it was so so sad. I definitely connected more to Santi than Thora. I really liked the ending but was also sad with the way it ended off for one of characters.

I knew that the moment I started crying 20% into this book that it would be one hell of whirlwind and boy was that true. The story is original, captivating and emotional. The chance of crying during this book is a high one, so get your tissues ready if you want to embark on this journey.

The story follows two main characters - Thora and Santi, who end up meeting each other for the first time whilst studying at uni. Santi is a strong believer that everyone has a life set out for them, whereas Thora believes that life is forever changing based on the decisions you make. They clash together in a strange perfect harmony and despite their different views, their friendship is a special one. After their initial meeting, Santi passes away and leaves Thora in shock. However, we then start to realise, it was never really the end all along.

The story continues to show a myriad of different lives for Santi and Thora. In each life they encapsulate a different relationship e.g. teacher and student, father and daughter, brother and sister. It becomes apparent that their lives are never-ending, trapped in a cycle that can't be broken. When one dies, they reappear again in another life. However, despite continuing on in their new lives without worry, suddenly they begin to realise that something is not quite right and memories from previous lives begin to haunt them. Who are Santi and Thora? Why are they always with each other? Why can't they leave this place?

This book was such a fun mixture of mystery, romance and it had an added twist at the end.
I will say that it does get a little tedious in the middle, after so many lives I found myself yearning for a change in the story but once they begin to clue in (60% through), I honestly couldn't put it down I had to know.

The ending was good but I think was a little rushed and could have been better! It was such a load of confusion suddenly thrown on the reader that it didn't leave me much room to feel emotional. Then again, they are my only two critiques.

I think if you love Addie LaRue and want a little mixture of time-travel and sci-fi, definitely pick up this book when it comes out!

“I thought of a labyrinth of labyrinths, of one sinuous spreading labyrinth that would encompass the past and the future and in some way involve the stars.” Borges. The Garden of the Forking Paths

Are our lives determined our choices? Are we truly free exert our free-will, or are our choices determined by our circumstances, the people around us, the cards we’re dealt with, or by a higher power? Do we make our choices because or the kind of people we are, or is the kind of people we’ve become determined by our previous choices? Is there a right path? Are faith and science incompatible?

We first meet Thora as a physics student in Cologne: a culmination of all the choices she has made, the path that she has chosen, one possibility among several others. And she wishes she could start again. She meets Santi, an intruder in her universe, gazing at the stars. He’s so different than her: he believes in God, and in fate, and in a higher plan. And yet, they both want to explore the universe and see what no one else has seen. In this life their relationship is cut abruptly, a tragic end to something that could have been. But they’ll meet again, and again, and again. Same city, different relationships: friends, lovers, enemies, partners... always bound together, trying to make sense of it all.

In Meet Me in Another Life, Catriona Silvey created a tight-knit universe, with carefully selected words and images, riddled with clues and full of meaning. Still, the book is never predictable and you’ll be taken on this journey, alongside Thora and Santi, until the very end — and it doesn’t disappoint.

I haven’t felt this excited about a book in a very long time and upon finishing it, I felt like reading it again.

Thora and Santi are destined to meet over and over, as lovers, father and daughter, teacher and student…
Not a past lives story so much as a parallel lives mystery. For the first half of the book, because the relationships between the characters kept changing in a Quantum Leap kind of way as many different lives were covered, it was hard to know what was important or what to care about or what the stakes were, because you didn’t really know who these people were to each other. But things become more interesting when Santi and Thora start to remember other lives and other memories and other constellations… In the second half the pace picks up, the mystery increases, and the layers build to become greater than the sum of parts.
It’s an ambitious and interesting novel, interested in themes like fate vs the universe being random and meaningless, and whether identity is fixed. Well worth reading.

The beginning of the book was great, but as I was progressing with the chapters, it started getting quite repetitive in terms of the main characters’ fights and the overall storyline of each life... Didn’t appreciate the ending either, kept waiting for something better in the last few pages, but it just didn’t happen.

I’m still giving 4 stars as I quite enjoyed the book and appreciated the writing style/characters introduced, even if the reason behind the main characters coming back to life or the overall ending isn’t something I hoped for and/or expected after reading the synopsis.

I feel like it’s my own fault for expecting something remarkable. The cover of the book is stunning and the book itself was so hyped up by other Booksta accounts, I just didn’t think there’s even a slight chance of this book getting less than 5 stars from me... Maybe if I didn’t have such high expectations for this book, reading it wouldn’t have been as disappointing.

Wow! Just wow! I can't even begin to describe just how much I loved this book. This novel is unique, clever, magical, emotional, questioning. It's just brilliant. A new bar has been set.

Santi and Thora are destined to keep meeting in subsequent lives and they are in a race against time to decipher why.

I love how the chapters are mini life stories that feature the intimate cast of the previous lives as well as tokens, themes and clues. It reads like a 'sliding doors' effect, with multiple doors and choices to select from.

Read this book if you are looking for an escape within real life. I suppose there is a small touch of sci-fi but definitely not the romance I was expecting. In fact it was anything but. It was a pleasure to read throughout.

It is such an amazing read. A perfect gift for friends, colleagues, your mum

I had no words when I finished this book and I don't think my review will capture how much I loved this. I do think that this could be my favourite book of this year and I will definitely be buying a physical copy once it is out. I don't usually post eBook reviews on Instagram but I definitely think Meet Me in Another Life deserved a space on my grid.

Meet Me in Another Life was not what I expected at all. Based on the title, cover and what I remembered of the synopsis, I was expecting this to be romance or to lean towards the YA side but it didn't.

At first, I found the chapters a little confusing but at the same time, it had me hooked. I couldn't work out why the characters had the same name, looks and characteristics in each life, what their relationship ultimately was and why was Cologne so important so I started treating this like a mystery, marking down what I thought could've been clues (thinking back, I must've missed so many!). The further into the book I got, the more obvious the clues were but there was no way I could've predicted the ending. There was something mentioned in the early chapters that didn't that mean much until the ending and it was so, so smart!

This book is just so unique and I will definitely be recommending it to everyone I know.

Meet Me in Another Life is a truly beautiful and complex tale, encapsulating what it means to be human, to truly live and love and make choices. I think many readers will read this book and be left with a lot of food for thought and maybe even a shift in mindset – while the concept is quite fantastical in a sense, the things Thora and Santi experience and the questions explored in the novel are so universal that I think it will prove relatable to anybody who chooses to give this book a go.

What initially drew me to this book was the idea of past lives, of these two characters coming back again and again but somehow always finding each other. While this would form the basis for a pretty awesome story of star crossed lovers, Catriona Silvey takes this idea and makes it so much more interesting by switching this up. In some lives Thora and Santi are together, in others they have a strictly platonic relationship, in others they’re family but at the core – they have this complicated and enduring bond, this love that surpasses it all. They also go through trials and endure a lot of back and forth, some of which is genuinely frustrating to read, especially when it comes to Thora as a character, she’s a bit like marmite in my opinion, you either love her or hate her. Thora is more of a realist and at times I found it hard to understand or relate to her rather cynical way of looking at the world and her near constant way of self sabotage and negativity. I related more to Santi and I think I appreciated his outlook more but I did value how different these two were and how their dynamic shifts and changes over their lifetimes.

While the story can be read as a testament to love of all kinds, it also speaks to the very human and real questions and issues we all face day to day. From wondering whether we’re following the ‘right’ path in life, to seeking more and trying to find contentment and happiness and also dealing with death, grief and what comes beyond life, Silvey manages to pack in the range of human experience. At times it is quite profound and in others I felt like it was a bit awkward and repetitive.

I also liked the prose, there are some gorgeous quotes and I was highlighting furiously on my kindle whilst reading, I just know I’ll go back to those lines again and again. There’s something understated about Silvey’s writing style, it isn’t excessively descriptive or detailed, and she has the skill to say a lot with a little and I love when writers can do this. I loved the way Silvey writes about Cologne – having never been there, she does a great job of bringing the city to life, it felt very artsy and bohemian and fit so well as a backdrop. I was also a huge fan of the repeated motifs; street art, stars, astronomy and constellations, it was just so quietly stunning. The writing style was reminiscent of V.E. Schwab’s in The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue to me, it gave me the same sort of feeling and I can say I’m definitely a fan.

I really don’t want to spoil anything – especially when it comes to the truth behind why Thora and Santi seem destined to keep coming back and why they’re tied together. I didn’t predict why it was all happening but it’s one of those stories where once you do find out, you find little bits of foreshadowing and clues scattered throughout the novel which gives you that ‘aha’ moment and wonder how you didn’t figure it all out before. I thought the reveal and subsequent follow through and conclusion felt true to the rest of the novel and the characters, even if it did have me crying into my duvet on a sleepy sunday morning.

Overall, Meet Me in Another Life isn’t quite what I expected, as I thought this was going to be a straightforward love story but it turned out to be something utterly different. I genuinely enjoyed this novel for the most part so I’m intrigued to see where this author goes next, rest assured, I’ll definitely be following along for the journey.

Santiago and Thora are people who keep meeting each other in different lives with no recollection of their previous encounters.
I enjoy the beginning of this book but I found as the book progressed I started to lose interest.
I normally enjoy books about reincarnation but this one fell flat for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.