Reading Every Lifetime After felt like stepping into a vivid dream I never wanted to wake from. From the first page, I was absolutely spellbound—this is one of those rare books that pulls you so completely into its world that you don’t dare put it down. There’s something intoxicating in Ross’s prose: beautifully written, emotionally resonant, with such care for the details of place, time, and the human heart.

The characters are wholly believable. Claudia Baxter, trapped by the glamour and pressures of her Hollywood life, and Iris Winterton, speaking from a wartime past I could almost see, smell, feel—both are so achingly real. Their fears, their small triumphs, their sorrow, all of it rings true. And when the time-slip mechanism kicks in—Claudia slipping into the story of her heroine, Iris grappling with the foreknowledge of what’s to come—it heightens the emotional stakes in ways I didn’t expect. It’s not just a romance, or a period story, or even simply fantasy; it’s a deeply human tale about loss, longing, and the strands that connect our pasts and futures.

The premise of intertwined lives across different times is gorgeous, and the pacing supports it beautifully. Ross builds up the tension slowly, layering secrets, overlapping realities, echoes between Claudia’s modern world and Iris’s wartime one. There were moments when those overlapping realities left me slightly uncertain—wondering whether I’d caught every shift, every fold in time—but that ambiguity also enhanced the feeling of being caught between two existences, seeing the edges where they blur. It’s daring and it almost demands more from the reader, but in doing so, it makes the journey richer.

What struck me most was how realistically the horrors of war are rendered—not as abstract, distant events, but as lived, painful, overwhelming. The scenes at Doverley during the war are heartbreaking; Ross doesn’t shy away from what it meant to love, to wait, to lose. Yet she balances that with hope, with moments of beauty: a sunset, a whispered confession, the fragile human connection that persists even when everything else is falling apart.

In the end, Every Lifetime After didn’t just entertain me—it called to my soul. It’s a book that lingers. Even after the last page, I found myself turning over the lives of Claudia and Iris, thinking of love unfulfilled, choices made under impossible conditions, and what it might mean for our own lives if we could touch our pasts. It’s one I won’t forget, and one I’ll happily recommend to anyone who wants a story that pierces both the heart and the imagination.

HQ always had the most beautiful and unique titles. I wasn’t quite sure where this novel was going at first but it drew me right in. I love entertainment celebrity themed novels and how fun for an actress to set foot into an actual “movie” IRL. It was fun, enjoyable, interesting , and a great different type of romance than your typical to check out!

2 Hollywood A listers, recovering from the loss of their baby, have to cope with Paparazzi and social media gossip during the filming of their new movie, telling the story of an RAF squadron in WW2. Claudia feels a strong connection with the heroine of the film, Iris, and is desperate to find out the true story of the main characters .A wonderful, emotional story, I read it all in one day, just couldn't put it down.

A poignant love story with a dual timeline, Every Lifetime After toggles between past and present as actress Claudia Baxter struggles to play WAAF Iris Winterton in an upcoming movie about the true-life disappearance of a WWII fighter plane and all its crew., and the subsequent disappearance of Iris herself.
Was Iris responsible for the death of Robbie, the pilot she loved? Claudia can't believe it.
Meanwhile, Claudia is fighting her own demons, their grief from a late miscarriage driving a wedge between her and her husband , Nick, who stars as Robbie in the film.
As the story progresses, and Claudia (and the reader) become more immersed in Iris's story, it becomes clear that there is a link between the two women. Can there be a rational explanation, or is Iris reaching out across the years , and Claudia reaching back?
This was an enthralling story. Both past and present threads held me gripped. The world of war and the world of film were equally immersive, and Jennifer Ross describes them both vividly and with real authenticity. The reader is caught up in every scene, carried away with every emotion, and longing for both Iris and Claudia to have happy endings, despite the horrors of wartime, and the angst of loss that underpin both their stories.
Jenifer Ross brings settings and characters to life with beautiful prose, excellent pace and breathtaking suspense.
I've enjoyed her previous books, where she writes as Jenny Ashcroft, but the element of supernatural mystery in this story took it to a whole new level. I loved it.

I adored this time slip novel from the beginning as I felt such a connection to the characters. Claudia is given the part of Iris, a radio operator in the second world war and, from the beginning she feels a close and emotional connection with the character she is playing. The other character in the film is Iris' boyfriend Robbie, coincidentally played by Claudia's love interest Nick.

The parallels between all the characters become more and more blurred and Claudia strives to find out what really happened to Iris all those years ago and why she feels so closely connected to her.

Superbly written and I couldn't put the book down.

This is a time slip novel at its best, and although it took me a short while to get into the story, once I did, I was hooked. The story is both Claudia's and Iris's, alternating between the two: one in the present day and the other during World War II. The mystery deepens as the two lives cross and intertwine, eventually revealing a bigger mystery.

The writing is excellent and flows really well. The characters have lots of depth and are really well developed. I felt like I was with them as everything came to life and their stories were revealed to me.

This is a wonderful story of life's tragedies and joys, romance which goes beyond time and mystery. It is a definite must read.

What a fantastic read. When Claudia Baxter starts on a film.. . set in world war two she immediately feels a connection to Iris who she is p,aying in the film, a radio operative who love affair with Robbie a pilot is at the heart of the story, As the filming progresses we learn more about what happened to them and also their friends and colleagues. It is beautifully written,wonderful story telling and it is so emotional it takes your breath away. A 5 🌟read and highly recommend this book

a love story that pulled me all the way in and didn't let go until the very end. a dual timeline with its own unique voice.
we have an actress struggling to play her part. that of a fighter plane and its crew vanishing. and then the story of the vanishing itself.
but our actress Claudia is fighting her own fires at home. whats going on for her is emotional and you feel it with your whole heart. her husband is also close at home and at work so the tension never leaves. the quest for answers or healing always there.
and Iris. was she responsible for the unthinkable? surely not?
as we go onwards we get deeper understanding and need more and more understanding of both our timelines and the ,woman in them. and boy do they draw you in tugging at your heart all the more as you come to care for both stories and woman.
there seems to be this link between the two. but its there in the distance right now, ready to fall into place. to read on we must.
this book hooks you on both timelines. they each have their own original voice, colour and sense of place which Jennifer writes so beautifully. you definitely feel like two different people and times are being told. but also there is always there, this thread somehow.
i was rooting for both our characters from the start. they had a little piece of my reading heart thats for sure. its not made easy for them both though. i felt so much for them and their individual strife.
i wondered whether this out of body or dream like state for Claudia was escaping into someone or something else to cope with her loss. and was constantly interested of how Jennifer would write this story until the end. and it somehow all came together. those pieces put into their correct place and i loved every moment of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for this ARC.

This is the story of Iris Winterton, who, together with her friend Clare, was a young radio operative in 1943 at fictional RAF Doverley, North Yorkshire, and her beau Robbie Grayson, a pilot who disappeared one fateful night from his plane, the Mabel's Fury, with five of his comrades. Only one, Tim Hobbs, survived wounded, and is still alive in 2018, the book's present.

"Hello, Clarence."

This is also the story of Claudia Baxter, an actress, who, in 2018 is contracted to play Iris in a film about the disappearance of the Bomber Boys, with her husband Nick Turner playing Robbie. Tim told a writer the story who turned it into the book they are filming from but is everything he said really accurate? Claudia isn't so sure, because she often feels like she is back in time and can see and hear things no one else can. What really happened back then? Can she influence the past and save her own marriage? And what is her connection to Iris?

"My fear is that when our luck runs out, it’s going to do so in spectacular fashion."

There are two timelines which increasingly melt into each other. There were times I had to double back to see whether I was with Claudia or Iris. Iris' story feels a lot more interesting but Claudia's marriage woes after a miscarriage and being hounded by the press give it a modern frame. The supernatural time slip is something you have to be on board with because it's not explainable, but the premise is the thought that we have more than one lifetime to get things right and meet others again.

"You're the cat's pyjamas."

It's a very emotional story and you can feel the happiness but also the fear and grief the characters are experiencing. The person I liked least was Tim because he lied to preserve his own reputation. The chapters are quite long but the story is too magnetic to put down. I would love to see the movie they were making, it has so many quotable moments. If you like a mix of history, supernatural, mystery and romance, you'll love this. The decisions that are made at the end are deeply satisfying.

"Absolutely pancake. Over."

4.5 stars