*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"I would choose you all over again."

When put to the test would you make the same choices to keep your love even if it means going through all the painful moments again? Many theoretical questions are asked in the remarkably emotional Twice In A Lifetime by debut author Melissa Baron but the most important is if we can get back a lost love do we?

Despite the parallel reality aspect of this romance the writer has written one of the most honest portrayals of living with chronic anxiety and the exhaustion it causes main character Isla. Narrator Megan Tusing gives an award worthy performance of someone who desperately wants to live differently but is betrayed by her mind and body.

Isla receives a text claiming it's her husband from the future. She thinks it's a prank but the wedding picture Ewan sends and the inner most secrets he knows about her gives her pause. Through texts then calls she begins to fall in love with Ewan. Still why is he talking to past her, did something happen to future her? Are they together?

This story didn't go where I thought it would. In fact, it's sweetness, swoon worthy leading man and it's theme, "...be kinder to yourself...have forgiveness for yourself," made me want the ending to be more detailed and to experience Isla and Ewan's love at least once in a lifetime.

I received a free copy of this book from Dreamscape Media via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book had a lot of promise and I was so interested at first. but there was a bit too much up in the air for a romance (which is what i was expecting). to much was up in the air. I just couldn't get into the romance aspect of it.

This was exactly what I needed. I'm so pleasantly surprised by how genuinely emotional this book was.
I loved this book. I loved the writing, the plot (no stupid misunderstandings to push the story forward), loved the supporting characters and most of all I loved the hero and heroine. Isla and Ewan were not perfect, they were flawed and they each had their personal problems to deal with but they were a joy to read about. They were eachother's oposite but still perfect for eachother. Their interaction made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The chemistry between them was sizzling. The supporting cast of characters was great and unique. And the story was interesting and kept me reading well into the night.
Ms. Baron wrote a lovely, heart-warming love story and I loved it! It made me swoon, made me sigh, it made my cry....and made me smile. It is a perfect example of everything I love about romance and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Ms. Baron.
Last but not least, I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator did an amazing job which only added to my enjoyement of it.

I feel like this book is the perfect mix of sweet and heavy. I felt like the mental health aspects were very well done and touched upon with care.

I really enjoyed this book and I laughed and cried, but also smiled so much at Ewan and Isla’s interactions.

Twice in a lifetime is a time-bending romance with dual timelines. Isla is struggling with an anxiety disorder when she gets a text from her husband in the future. He offers proof to her and insists that he be contacting her in the hopes of preventing a future incident. Isla develops feelings for Ewan in this time but understands that altering things now might mean she doesn’t meet and marry him in the future.

This audiobook was extremely well narrated and packed an emotional punch I was not prepared to encounter. The story has some important trigger warning themes such as suicide, anxiety disorders, depression, family trauma; so if you are seeking a light hearted romantic comedy, consider a different read. However, if you are searching for a unique plot line, dual POV, dual timeline, and character growth driven work or fiction, add this to your TBR!

I enjoyed this listen thoroughly and appreciate NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me this listen in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Twice in a Lifetime was an emotional, heartbreaking, and beautiful story about a girl who finds out what her future looks like and has the chance to change it. I found myself really invested in this story and their future because the characters were so lovable and I wanted to see them happy.

I found the story a bit morbid at first and didn't think I liked it but it became much more than that as the book progressed. The characters were very well-built. Isla has so much baggage and has issues seeing herself in a positive light. She has the most character development from start to finish and it was amazing to see how much she changed.

Ewan was my favorite character from the start. He is so caring and selfless. He'd truly do anything for Isla. I am really happy to see how much everything changed from the beginning of the book to the end. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up. "Twice in a Lifetime" offers its readers a time-warp romance with some sobering themes and emotional depth. I enjoyed rooting for theses characters, and found the narrative easy to follow and easy to sink into.

Isla is having a challenging year, when out of the blue she gets a text from a stranger, Ewan. Stranger still is his insistence that he is in fact her husband, contacting her from the future and hoping to avoid a traumatic incident that will later come to pass. She comes to have feelings for Ewan, but changing anything in her current time may mean that she never gets to enjoy a relationship with him in the future. She must make a choice between saving their relationship or saving herself.

I found this to be a heartfelt story that held a heavy message yet delivered it in a mostly lighthearted way. Though it is fundamentally a love story, labeling it as a romance seems to underestimate its weight.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio version of this book. Everything I write is of my own thoughts feelings and opinions. I am in no way affiliated or compensated for my review.
I loved this book more than I want to admit. I loved the dual type timeline. How Ewan and Isla have found a way to contact each other through the time space continuum to find each other and reach out to each other to be able to change history. I honestly wonder if this were real would we really go back and change our life or would we just take life as it comes. This is basically the premise of this book. I will definitely listen to this book again.

Isla is recovering from a hard year with her mental health when she gets a text from Ewan, who claims to be her husband. He’s actually got proof and they learn they’re living in different timelines. They’re no longer together in Ewan’s time for a reason he doesn’t want to share. They set out to help each other, but will the decisions now put their future relationship in jeopardy?
This is not the first time-bending romance I’ve read this year surprisingly, but it may be my favorite. The book focused quite heavily on Isla’s anxieties and insecurities almost to the point where the romance felt secondary in the story much of the time. Because of this, the book felt a bit more sad and heavy than I’d been expecting picking up a romance. But if you’re looking for a book like that, I’d highly recommend this. There was a lot of growth in Isla, you’re definitely rooting for both Isla and Ewan, and I always enjoy seeing how different authors handle sci-fi timelines.
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not this gem of a book sneaking in just in time to be one of my top reads of the year! I loved how the concept of time was presented in the story that was very reminiscent of The Lake House (one of my favorite movies). The mental health representation was spot on; it’s like the author was inside my head. Isla was so relatable and Ewan is now one of my all time favorite book boyfriends. I will definitely be rereading this heartbreaking, endearing and hopeful book in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copies!

“Isla has fled the city for small-town Missouri in the wake of a painful and exhausting year. With her chronic anxiety at a fever pitch, the last thing she expects is to meet a genuine romantic prospect. And she doesn’t. But she does get a text from a man who seems to think he’s her husband. Obviously, a wrong number—except when she points this out, the mystery texter sends back a picture. Of them—on their wedding day.”

Calling this book a ‘romance’ is like calling Field of Dreams a baseball movie.

It is.

And it really isn’t.

Romance. Death. Time-travel. Anxiety. Fate. Depression. Free-Will. Sex. Suicide. Art. Trauma. Friendship. Family dynamics.

This book does it all, and manages to do it well.

I love the characters, the inner dialogue, the found family.

I love the dual POV, and the art talk, and finding beauty in both the urban and in nature.

My only gripe is that, as stated above, this book is NOT A ROMANCE.

Anyone looking for a lighthearted romp should look elsewhere, because HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS.

And not the sexy kind.

7.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC.

This was such a unique trope and storyline. I was so excited to see how this would play out. When this started off, I was really intrigued and thought the characters were interesting and relatable and I was really rooting for them. However, after a certain event happens that throws everything for a loop, I found their journey a bit confusing and found it hard to suspend my disbelief. I did think the ending lessons were important and meaningful though. I thought the ending was fitting but not surprising in the least. This had a lot of potential but lost my interest a bit in the middle. Overall though I did enjoy this and found the overall lessons in this to be the most important aspect of this. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked on this book from the first chapter. My heart broke over and over for these two. The author’s writing is beautifully done, and is flawless when it comes to changing points of view.

I loved the time travel story line.

TW: suicide, death,

𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨!

Oh wow, I was not expecting to love this story so much, what a fantastic read. An original and powerful story about second chances that left me thinking so much. It touches sensitive topics but loved the writer’s approach. Loved it!

Thank you TLC Book Tours and Alcove Press for this tour invite.

𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 by Melissa Baron released December 6, 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

This story broke my heart in a beautiful way. I'm very familiar with anxiety, and I thought the author handled it perfectly. The story ended exactly how it needed to. Good narrator for the role. It was a book I couldn't stop once I started. Well done.

I was expecting this book to be a lot like The Lake House or another one of those movies where the characters communicate through time and then find each other. Those usually gradually work up to the characters communicating. This book started the process right away. I didn't feel like I got to know either character at all before this happened and I had to stop reading because I didn't care about Isla. Who was she? Who was this man texting her all of a sudden?

I guess I like to be wooed a bit before the big event.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC! These thoughts and opinions are strictly my own.

‘Twice in a Lifetime’ by Melissa Baron was absolutely phenomenal. As someone who lives with an anxiety disorder, this book made me feel so seen. I couldn’t believe how much. Melissa Baron really delves deeply into Isla’s mind, and was precisely on-point with the way she wrote Isla’s anxiety. The mental health rep here was excellent. I identified so strongly with Isla, even down to her grief, and her journey from beginning to end was just so empowering—yes, it absolutely broke my heart at times, but ultimately it was inspiring. Her self-growth was A+. With all the good and bad, ups and downs, Isla kept fighting. The road wasn’t perfect—and it doesn’t have to be—but she had the courage to let love and life in, to love herself, despite that all-too-familiar ugly voice inside her head. Sometimes the hardest wars we’ll ever wage will be against ourselves. It can be an uphill battle, but it’s not impossible, all hope is NOT lost. This book embodies that.

The magic realism, the ‘The Lake House’ style time travel, was such a great and intriguing plot line. And it made the stakes, the love of Ewan and Isla, so high it started to feel insurmountable—especially with the crazy twist I genuinely didn’t see coming. This book was phenomenal, and the romance between Isla and Ewan (loved cinnamon roll Ewan so much, btw, as well as his friends) was a beautiful slow-burn. It was sweet, raw, a bit steamy, tragic, and tender. I really loved them. Isla’s bestie, Willow, was also amazing.

And the audiobook? It made this experience that much better—the narration was perfect and absolutely brought the heart of this story to life.

This book isn’t a romcom—it can be really heavy and heart wrenching at times, so for sure be aware of trigger warnings. I definitely cried throughout a good portion of this book, haha. There’s so much visceral emotion here, it had me emotionally drained. But, it was all absolutely worth it, and this has become one of my top reads of the year.

I highly, highly recommend this book. I was given an audioARC by HTPBooks (thank you!) but loved it so much I went and bought a hard copy for my shelf. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Melissa Baron!

"Twice in a Lifetime" by Melissa Baron is This Authors' Debut Novel!

Isla has left the fast pace of living and working in Chicago for a quieter, slower lifestyle in small town Missouri. With constant concerns of anxiety and panic attacks, along with the recent death of her mother, she's looking for a change after a year that was painful and exhausting. A small cottage in the county sounds just about perfect to Isla!

Out of the blue, Isla receives texts from a number she doesn't recognize, belonging to a man named Ewan who claims to be her husband. He texts a pic of them together on their wedding day as proof.

Isla is shocked! Who is this guy? And, what is he up to...

From the synopsis, I was excited to start listening to the ALC, but immediately discover it's not what I had expected. The narrator, Megan Tusing, uses voicing that gives this audiobook a whimsical feel and sound. This creates confusion about the genre, causes distraction to the story, and becomes the main reason I had trouble connecting with both the story and the main characters.

As I continued to listen, I became confused as to whether this was a Fantasy (because of the voicing), a Time-Slip story, or Romance Fiction. The flow of the story was interrupted several times as it went in different directions and struggled to find its identity. It felt overloaded, unfocused, and repetitive.

I didn't feel a connectivity to the main characters of Isla and Ewan. On the cusp of turning thirty, Isla exhibits a lack of maturity that's hard to overlook and Ewan seems too good to be true. The "insta-love" relationship that develops between them feels completely unbelievable and bleeds over to their character development as the main characters holding down this story.

With that said, what I did enjoy about this story was the focus on Isla's mental health and how sensitively these topics are handled within the storyline. It felt like the one "constant" and it's what rescues this story for me.

This debut novel has great potential but falls short for me in audiobook voicing, genre clarity, and character connectivity. However, the inclusion of the mental health topics elevated this story and increased my rating by a half star. 2.5 stars rounded up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Melissa Baron for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

Twice in a life time
4 ⭐️

Before you read check Trigger ⚠️ warnings!
-suicidal thoughts
-mental health , anxiety, depression,

If you can get past those then it’s a unique story.
The narrator does a great job with the tone of everything said.
Story about love & time travel finding your love twice in a lifetime.
It was a story you want to keep reading/listening. It’s a real representation of how someone thinks when they have depression & anxiety it’s hard and it can be hard to read if it’s a trigger.
Time travel trope is one u haven’t read yet and as my first one I enjoyed it, it was nice seeing how everything played out. It’s not an easy read filled with emotional topics.
If you knew what the future holds would you try and change it?

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook.

This is not a novel for those looking for something along the lines of The Lakehouse - readers should pay attention to the trigger warnings and skip this one if need be.

That being said, this was a touching, heart wrenching, interesting novel. It was tied up well at the end and gave a realistic look at mental health struggles with a side of romance.