Maybe in Another Life

Product Information

Hannah has a special love for cinnamon rolls. In honor of her, make (or buy from your favorite bakery) some cinnamon rolls for your book club.

I can’t believe I have only one more of her books left to read! (Seriously, if you haven't read her books, you need to. Daisy Jones & The Six was one of my top 5 books from 2019 and One True Loves also was on my list of favorites, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was one of my favorites from 2018.) You need to cut this crap out, Hannah. I’m serious. You are a wonderful person who has a lot to offer the world. But this is wrong. And you know it.”BFF Gabby plans a get together for Hannah's first night in L.A. at a local bar with friends from high school. Hannah also invites Ethan her ex-boyfriend from high school to join because you never know, right? Great fun is had by all and shortly after midnight, Gabby approaches Hannah to let her know she's leaving with Mark. As Hannah gets up to leave with them, Ethan offers a ride to Gabby's later that night if she would like to stay longer. What should Hannah do? I get it, though, her talent probably needed time to bloom and a lot of things can happen in a short period of time. Let’s say that he is. That doesn’t mean that we weren’t fated to meet. For all we know, I’m just playing out the natural course of destiny here. Maybe he’s married and that’s OK because it’s how things were meant to be.”

I need her approval right now. Her opinion of me is currently a better litmus test than my own. It’s been a little rough going lately. And while I know Gabby will always love me, I also know that as of late, I have tested her unconditional support.Don’t be silly,” she says. “Live in my guest room until we’re both ninety years old, as far as I’m concerned.” She gives me a hug and heads to her room. “If you wake up before we do, feel free to start the coffee.”

The feel of MiAL is: light, but heartbreaking; romantic, but also about honest and intimate connections; and, finally harsh realities, along with a touch of serendipity.Once Gabby is flying down the freeway, once driving no longer takes her attention, or maybe once she is going so fast she knows I can’t jump out of the car, she asks what she has been dying to ask since I hugged her hello. “So what happened? Did you tell him you were leaving?” The whole notion behind the story, the thought that our lives are shaped by the choices we make, instantly spoke to my optimistic heart. Through alternating chapters, the author explores what Hannah’s life would be like on both sides of the coin. What happens when she makes the choice to go home with her ex-boyfriend and when she opts to pass, instead. While I thought the idea behind it all was compelling, the execution was way off. This is my fourth Taylor Jenkins Reid, the first two were for me quite a disappointment that I was about to shelf Reid as an author. Maybe in Another Life and One True Loves made me fall in love with this author’s writing.

I enjoyed both storylines equally. It was interesting to see how some of the same things ultimately evolved (but came about differently), and also interesting to see how the characters’ interactions varied in each storyline. I enjoyed Hannah’s friendship with Gabby in both parallels. The first few chapters of the book felt fairly familiar - This could’ve easily been my college girlfriends and me (minus: one very poor decision) in our social routine. Sometimes I worry I’ll never find a place to call home.”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. “Look, I don’t even know that he’s married,” I said. But I did. I did know it. And because I knew it, I had to run as far away from it as I could. So I said, “You know, Gabby, even if he is married, that doesn’t mean I’m not better for him than this other person. All’s fair in love and war.” side note: i read this as an ebook and there were a lot of formatting issues with it, which lead to confusing transitions between the two variations of hannahs life. it became really frustrating after a while and, although i know thats not the storys fault, i definitely would have rated this higher if i had read a physical copy, only because my reading experience would have been more enjoyable. kind of unfortunate circumstances which lead to unfair lower rating.

Carrie Soto is Back

I had been playing the “Well, But” game. The “We Don’t Know That for Sure” game. The “Even So” game. I had been viewing the truth through my own little lens, one that was narrow and rose-colored. Life is long and full of an infinite number of decisions. I have to think that the small ones don’t matter, that I’ll end up where I need to end up no matter what I do. My fate will find me. So I decide to..." I should say that this book is not, for me, romantic at its core. Love and relationships feature heavily in Hannah's choices, but the real strength is in the wonderful, unbreakable friendship between Hannah and Gabby. Ethan? Henry? Who cares? Gabby is everything. Taylor Jenkins Reid has been taking the world by storm with her books. Currently, two of her books have a television or film adaptation set to be released and two more are still in development. As opposed to the current TJR, the version that writes exclusively historical fiction about empowered women in rarely-written-about eras of the second half of the 20th century.)