Wow! I was so amazed with Twice in a Lifetime. I love when stories can manage to be both heartbreaking and hopeful. I also loved these characters and the relationships they form both romantically and platonically. Overall, it's an amazing read! I highly recommend it, but please check content warnings before diving in.

Twice in a Lifetime
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 12/6/22
Author: Melissa Baron
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Narrator: Megan Tusing
GR: 4.12

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

⚠️ Content Warnings: Death, mental health, anxiety disorder, suicide, grieving, parental abuse, traumatic brain injury, and insecurities.

My Thoughts: This book was SOOOOO good, just brilliant, I was absolutely blown away and listened within a few sittings. I was holding to a flood of emotions by the end. This is not a lighthearted book, it deals with some heavy issues, but it is worth the read. The opening hooked me and I was seated for a wild ride. Image getting a text message from your husband, that you did not know that you had, three months in the future to alter the course of your life. While generally, I stray away from time travel concepts, the way the author does this is so unique, it immerses me into the book.

The story is mostly narrated by Isla, in her POV, however Ewan does have some narrated chapters, which I enjoyed. The narration is also told from the past and present tense. The narrator does an excellant job with the narration of the different voices, really making you feel like you are there in that cottage.

Isla is an artist, she is insecure, timid, shy, and suffers with anxiety/panic attacks. Ewan is strong, fierce, and loves Isla with all of his heart. I was emotionally invested in this book, I cried, laughed, and then cried some more. About two thirds in the book, something that I did not see coming happened, I was screaming at the book, however, the author’s writing style is so sharp, the way it was written really brought it full circle. If you are triggered easily, please use caution when reading this book. The characters were developed so well, with depth, with flaws, emotion, chemistry, and so creative. Their love story is one of the most intense I have read, and it will have you coming back for more. The author’s writing style was complex, sharp, connective, engaging, and brilliant.

For a debut novel, this is impactful and I know we will see many more great things from Baron. This is a twist of Oona out of Order and Back to the Future. I HIGHLY recommend picking up this book when it releases on Tuesday. Matter of fact, I would preorder it now!!!!

This book is what happens when you mix The Lake House with Groundhog Day.
Our MC receives a text from an unknown number from a person claiming to be her husband... from the future. Like the main character when she received that text, I felt disconnected from the content.

This novel deals with death, anxiety, suicide, and depression. As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, I could not keep myself interested, and I felt myself struggle to press play and continue. If I hadn't been deep cleaning my house, I would have stopped the book to attempt to re-listen to it at another time.

I love Time Travel books. I find them so interesting and this one didn’t disappoint. Isla finds herself getting a text from a number she doesn’t recognize stating his name is Ewan, her husband but she isn’t married…yet.
Ewan discovers he can talk to his deceased wife in the past and is hoping that he can prevent an accident that led up to her death. But there is consequences when you mess with fate and try to rewrite history.
I really enjoyed this story. The heroine is not your typical heroine and struggles with depression and a self worth. This book does talk about suicide so warning if that is a trigger for you.
It is well written, Ewan was a perfect hero. The narrator was good as well.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free copy of the audio for a honest review.

Twice In a Lifetime by Melissa Baron
Pub. Date: Dec. 6/22
Audiobook review 🎧:

What if you could get a glimpse of the future? And what if this allowed you to prevent potential devastating events? Would you? This is a choice Isla, an anxiety ridden artist, must make. Isla recently lost her mother and moved to Missouri for a new start. However one day she gets a message from the future which changes her life forever. In turn she has many choices to make and needs to find Ewen, her future husband, to help her with everything.

l love alternate timeline tropes. I am intrigued by the idea of interacting with people from the past or future. As well as chances to redeem oneself. The characters are interesting and engaging and are brought to life by the narrator.

I had to ponder this book for a while before reviewing. What I thought would be a lighthearted romance turned out to be thought provoking and emotional. The addition of mental illness and suicide into the story weighs heavily on the reader. Melissa Baron has done an excellent job of presenting these with grace, honesty and respect for those who experience mental illness in real life. For all of theses reasons I definitely would recommend this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review this early release audiobook.

My mind has been twisted a couple times by time travel novels and movies but the trope can get worn out too. I’m happy to say this falls in the first category and gave my mind a nice tickle. It was a cute and tragic romance where each person is trying to spare the other.

🌀Synopsis
Isla leaves the big city, and her anxiety, to escape to Minneapolis. She gets a text from someone who claims to be her husband, but she isn’t married. As she gets to know Ewan she realizes he’s telling her about their future.
He helps her avoid a tragedy that would ultimately end her life but that also means they couldn’t meet in the same way. Instead Isla must find a way to make her own path to Ewan and find their relationship. When he’s saving her life it ends up costing him his. Now she needs to figure out how to contact him from the past to fix it.

I am really conflicted about how I feel about this book.

The writing was great. I loved the character development, dialogue and setting of the story- it is set in St. Louis, and it was fun to hear about the places the characters would go. (I live in St. Louis) Also this book had the time travel aspect that I always love in books. I was nervous that the author wouldn't nail the landing but she did, the ending was put together nicely.

My problem was that this book was so sad. I felt myself avoiding the story, because of the heavy subject matter. I would definitely read another book by this author, just would be careful with the timing , if her future books are as emotional.

What an interesting concept for a book. Isla moves away from Chicago to a small town in Missouri and receives a text from a man claiming to be her husband and telling Isla that she died recently. He even sends her a picture from their wedding day. They text and speak on the phone for days until one day he doesn’t answer anymore. Isla is set on finding him. This was a little sci-fi and romance mixed together. Isla has battled depression and anxiety that leads to panic attacks, and I loved the real representation of all of this. Death, suicide and some time travel are involved and makes this story unputdownable. This was a very emotional book that will make you stop and think if you go back in your life and change one thing, what else changes? This book reminded me a little bit of The Midnight Library, but at the same time, was totally different and I thoroughly enjoyed both. I don’t want to give away too much as I will then give away the entire story. I definitely recommend this one!

This book was reminiscent of The Time Traveler's Wife and the movie The Lakehouse.

I received an audio arc of this novel.

The story: I thought that the story was really fascinating, but it was much more honest and raw about mental illness than i had anticipated. Based on the cover, I had assumed it would be a rom com-esque story, but that was definitely not the case. Having an insider knowledge of what goes through Isla's brain as someone with depression and anxiety was really eye opening and explains the way that these illnesses can shift someone's perspective and effect their day to day life. I do wish we had a more in-depth understanding of Ewan's perspective, as it was harder to grow attached to him as a character throughout.

The narration: I thought the narration was great, the emotiveness was very timely and the pace was good.

I teared up multiple times with this book. It was so honest about what it’s like to live with an anxiety disorder. It also did a very good job of showing just how much letting people in can help your mental state even if it’s the most difficult in the world. Isla and Ewan’s story was so heartbreaking, but it was also beautiful! Don’t worry if timeline stories aren’t your thing because this book is so much more than that!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had the potential of being one of the best books I've read this year. I loved the beginning with the whole time travel element but this book sadly falls flat in the middle before completely crashing and burning. The characters I liked, especially Ewan but I didn't really click with the other characters.

I'm sorry to say that I'm giving this book two stars.

This book is appropriate for ages 18+ for sexual content and swearing. This book also contains LGBTQ representation.

This book wasn't much my cup of tea. I thought the description was intriguing, but sadly I just didn't connect well with it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron.. Wow! What a beautiful book this is. I highly recommend! 5 stars.

This time twist romance was a bit of a mind f*ck and at times hard to follow but the overall message of mental health and finding ways to love yourself despite the challenges life throws you was top notch.

Isla has battled depression and anxiety from a young age, dealing with suicidal ideation among other things. When she gets a surprise text out of the blue from a man claiming to be her husband from the future, she starts to rethink her life choices.

This book kept me on my toes, wondering how things would work out. The multiple timelines were a bit difficult to keep straight but I still really enjoyed how much this book made me think and empathize with anyone who has suffered from traumatic brain injuries and chronic pain.

Great on audio and highly recommended for fans of books like Meredith alone or Oona out of order. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

**Please check TW before reading**

Woah. Twice in a Lifetkme by Melissa Baron is an emotional rollercoaster. The perfect mix of Time Travelers Wife and The Butterfly Effect with amazing main characters. The romance, angst, heartbreak, anxiety inducing moments and friendships were top tier. Amazing read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't finish this one -- the writing style was just really hard to appreciate, and the characters were a bit one-dimensional.