This review does NOT contain spoilers - make sure you don’t read too many reviews because you do NOT want this book spoiled for you. If you start reading and think, “What?” Keep going. This book is not what you may think it is, and that’s ok. Just read it. If you’re a fan of meeting someone familiar in another life then you will love this book. Just trust me. If you were a fan of “Oona Out of Order” you will like it. Just trust me. This one gets a 5 star rating for originality.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this very unique book!

Meet Me in Another Life follows Santi and Thora through different realities.

In one they are teacher and student, brother and sister, husband and wife, father and daughter. It was interesting watching them navigate their encounters. This book was different then anything I've read. I don't want to spoil the ending but it's worth sticking it out to see why Santi and Thora kept crossing paths in each of the lives they lived.

I did find myself confused and questioning what was happening, especially when they went from lovers to father and daughter.

Thora and Santi are foreigners in Germany, brought together seemingly by chance, though they share countless connections to each other. Meet Me in Another Life is their story of trying to understand why and how they are connected before their time on earth is up.

I was pulled into this story immediately by the intriguing premise and pretty writing. I liked how each chapter was a vignette in the lives of both Thora and Santi, and was ultimately curious as to what was truly going on in this book. I liked that it ended up having a Sci-Fi core, as that's not a genre I generally pick up, but it was entertaining nonetheless. The ending is poignant and satisfying as well.

Unfortunately, the pacing for much of the middle felt off. Each new "life" seemed to drag on after a while, leaving me with a "just get on with it" feeling, and while I did like that Silvey painted Santi's and Thora's personalities very consistently throughout, it did get a little repetitious after so many pages of Santi's contemplative complacency and Thora's rage. It was easy to lose interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books, through the Book Club Girls, for offering this early copy for review.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me this arc in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed this book! I love the romance genre so I am picky about it, I thought Silveu did a great job joining romance and mystery together and giving us a satisfying debut novel!

Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey is a genre-defying novel. It cannot be assigned a category, as it is fiction and fantasy, a love story and a tragedy, scientific and spiritual, riddled with nuances and complexities.
The entire story is told in a series of vignettes. Thora and Santiago meet in Cologne, Germany. They are at times lovers, colleagues, student and teacher, siblings, doctor and patient, and a married couple. Their lives intersect over and over, at different ages and situations. While some of the scenarios are sweet and quirky, others are very serious and sad. Thora is the most complete character in the book and she exhibits a thoughtfulness about the human condition, musing “”Does everyone feel the hunger to live every life, to exist as every possible version of herself?” She is at times a nihilist, a dreamer and an explorer. Santi’s character is less revealed. He is of an artistic nature and seems more positive overall, as he appreciates that “again and again, we have been given another chance” to live more lives.
The existential nature of the characters’ discussions made this a challenging read for me at times. It was sometimes difficult for me to track the times and relationships of he characters from chapter to chapter. There are recurring minor characters, and there is the symbolism of the clock tower, the lighthouse and the man in the blue suit. In a way, this felt like the ultimate time-travel story as Thora and Santi ping among places, ages and living situations. The conclusion is terrifying and incredibly moving.
Complex and beautifully written, it is a larger-than-life love story, capturing the hope and despair of humanity.

Thank you to William Morrow/HarperCollinsPublishers and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review.

NetGallery uncorrected eproof ebook

Thank you to HarperCollins publishing and NetGallery for the Advanced Copy Proof

I definitely appreciate the innovation and creativity behind the plot- it absolutely surprised me in the direction it took. The writing was good, and I enjoyed the small details thread throughout the story. I wish I had felt closer to the characters and more invested in their fate. I also felt fatigued in the middle of the book, despite the variety of plot given in each chapter, by the continued living of each life per chapter. Initially I thought the format- 2 people meeting in the same city with variation in their ages and relationship to one another- novel and fun. But it became tedious with repetition. The end of the story picked up my interest as they started to solve the mystery behind their lives.

Santi and Thora meet by chance at the base of an old clock tower after Thora decides to leave a boring party. They hit it off immediately, sensing overwhelmingly that they are not only extremely connected somehow, but that they've known each other forever. Although their connection ran strangely deep, they didn't meet up again. A few weeks later, Thora sees Santi has tragically died. It won't be the last life the collide together....

I'm torn about this book. I believe the premise is incredible and loved how Santi and Thora (and their fascinating cast of supporting characters) kept re-appearing throught their many alternate lives. But I found it all to be a bit confusing and had trouble keeping up. Once things started taking the sci-fi turn, I really struggled. I had trouble picturing much of the later descriptions and was quickly losing interest. It could have been a gem but felt more like a head scratcher.

I can tell this is a book that I will be thinking about for days to come. This is the story of Santi and Thora and how they meet, and meet again. Why do their paths continue to cross? The reason is something I never would have expected.

A science-fiction, parallel universe, alternate lives, romance? “Meet Me in Another Life” is a beautiful debut novel by the author, and I could not put it down!

When I started reading this book, I really couldn’t make head or tails as to what was happening. However, halfway into the third chapter, I got the hang of it, and I found it a unique concept. Imagine reuniting with the same soul in alternate lives? The storyline intrigued me about how Thora and Santi would meet in different situations and how their relationship would change. The story makes you wonder if such a possibility could exist in reality. I loved how their personalities and desires remain the same, no matter which lives they lead. Some of my favorite moments are when they look at the stars and have intense conversations about life.

I loved Thora and Santi as individuals and the special bond they shared. They share a romance that is truly out of the world, and you cannot help but hope that things work out for them after all the challenges they faced. I also liked the mystery element as to who Peregrine was and how the plot progressed with him.

However, while I loved the ingenious ways in which Santi and Thora meet one another, at times, I felt the story was not progressing much initially. It’s only halfway into the book, where the plot starts to take shape, and you wonder how it might turn out. But having said that, I could not put this book down! The author tells the story charismatically that you get glued to Santi and Thora’s connections.

Overall, “Meet Me in Another Life” is a memorable debut, and I look forward to reading the author’s future works.

Review:

“If love was something we had to deserve, we would all be loveless. No, love is what the world owes us.”

It did take me a hit minute to kind of forget about the previous life. One time they’re lovers, another they’re adopted daughter and father. Clearly, science fiction/time traveling is hard for my brain to compute. Then, I realized it’s not about “love” love, but all the aspects of love. Unconditional love, the love a teacher has for their student to succeed, and yes, even love in a physical, emotional way. More importantly, the love of a friend.

This book did not wreck me the way I thought it would. Don’t get me wrong, I’m wrecked, but it’s a different kind. I thought I would cry for these star crossed (literally lovers of astronomy which was really cool) companions as they search for home and find out they’re in love and want to be together forever. But I cried just at the connection and how they would go through these different lives as different people trying to figure out what the meaning is, only knowing one constant: each other.

I was trying to explain the plot to my husband and he said, “Oh, like Cloud Atlas” and I agree with that in a sense. There is a revelation of time and how they come back as different ages and different phases of life with their supporting characters still supporting is parallel.

Overall, I loved this one. It was different. It wrecked me. It made me go look up at the stars like I was a kid again. It took me a while to read because I wanted to really savor each life. Thank you William Morrow & NetGalley for the gifted copy. Meet Me in Another Life comes out April 27th and I’m just *sigh* in another world.

This genre-defying book starts out as “kindred spirits meet in parallel universes” story but takes a gentle turn into a sci-fi adventure tale that grapples with philosophical topics such as fate and destiny. WHEW. That was a mouthful. Thora and Santi are interesting characters and watching them struggle to understand themselves and their choices was fascinating. The continual debate between them was engrossing and I loved seeing them evolve. Truly, this book is unique and I found it spell-binding. Judging by the cover alone, I though this was going to be a fluffy, rom com but it was much deeper and vastly more interesting than I expected. Loved it!

This ARC was provided by @netgalley and @@williammorrowbooks. The opinions are my own.

I loved this book so much, It starts out as something, but you quickly realize that it's so much more than that. It's hard to say much without spoiling the beautiful surprise ending, but I'll try. I've never read such a unique book.

Thora and Santi are two strangers who meet and start a friendship, but when one of them dies, that friendship is not allowed to thrive.....until the meet in another life.

Over and over again, Thora and Santi find each other in different universes, always set in the same locations, with the same supporting characters in their lives, but as completely different people to each other. Parents, lovers, teachers, students, and on and on. Once they realize what is happening, they're compelled to figure out why, and how this occurs.

It's a truly beautiful book that has a lot of existential questions, but never in a heavy way. I absolutely loved the way it ended, and I recommend that people read this book and find out why!

Wow this book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. You truly have to go in blind to fully appreciate it. However, I will warn you that I went in thinking it would be a time travel soulmate based romance... and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, it’s a unique story with brilliant writing strengthened by the details the author provides. If you love multiple genres and a story you cannot predict, this book is for you! I really can see this book turning into a TikTok star. Also I could not stop crying at the end.

The first half of this book is vignettes of the main characters, Thora and Santi, living different lives, each time at differing ages but connecting with each other in each timeline. The premise was intriguing to me although I spent a good bit of the book confused. The twist at the end was unexpected and made this a delightfully, quirky story that was right up my alley.

this one is hard to review without giving away spoilers! I will say the explanation/twist/ending is what nudges the book closer to a 4 than a 3 for me. This is one of those “two people keep encountering each other across multiple lives” stories, which usually end up with the two people being soulmates and that’s it, that’s the explanation. My one spoiler, which I will give because it may help readers decide whether they’re interested, is that this is NOT a soulmate book. It also leans more sci-fi than spiritual, which is sort of how it feels in the beginning (it put me off a bit at first). The story as a whole is pretty original and interesting. The two main characters, Thora and Santi, are pretty cool. They have a sort of foil relationship that doesn’t rely on tropes or good vs bad or right vs wrong, which keeps their interactions fun to read.

However, my major complaint with the book is that the writing feels generally too laidback for the story. It’s fairly slow paced in the beginning, and even when the action technically picks up, the writing still never really feels intense or compelling. It’s a nice, somewhat intellectual, relaxing read, just not very thrilling even when it seems like it should be.

Thanks to HarperCollins and Net Galley for this ARC.

Meet Me In Another Life started very strong for me. The ideas of time travel, multiple versions of yourself, and parallel universes have always fascinated me. Reading the first several times that Thora and Santi lived, met, and interacted with each other were interesting. The middle third of the book became a little tedious though and it felt and little flat, I found myself wondering if this was going anywhere and if we would find out any meaning about why this was happening. The plot picked up again towards the end and there was a twist that I did not see coming. The end of the book was mostly satisfying though it did leave me with a few questions. Overall enjoyable though I’m not sure of this would be a strong recommendation of mine to other readers.

Wow! Where to start? This was amazing! Not sure where I'd place this genre-wise: sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, thriller, love story? It's all of them rolled into one. Completely kept my guessing throughout, and I still would've never seen that ending! I usually get lost a little in these kind of stories but this was so well written, I followed along with no problem. Santi and Thora are both such great characters, it's impossible to tell who I liked better! They worked together and complimented each other so well, it was a joy to get to know them!! Bravo! I LOVED IT!

This book chronicles the (many) lives of Thora and Santi, both with secret aspirations to be astronauts, and with an obsession with the stars. Thora and Santi are thrown together, sometimes as parent/child, sometimes as friends, and sometimes as a married couple, depending on the life they are destined to lead that time around. They are reincarnated life after life, and live the life as they will, depending on their relationship during that life. When they meet again in a new life, they find each other so familiar, and like they already know the other person. Eventually, both of them begin to remember their past lives, and actively seek each other out after their "reincarnation".

At this point, they attempt to discover why they are being brought back to the same life, and the same town. Why they are being brought back to each other in each life after life. What they eventually figure out is unexpected, and definitely shocking! It was a twist that I was not expecting at all!

This book is definitely unusual, and written in a very different style than most books available now. Each of the beginning chapters is a new life for Santi and Thora-- it can be disjointed and odd, at first, but I quickly got used to it. I wondered "where is the story" here, but it all came together. Each chapter, in itself, was interesting. It just was odd, since most books continue, where this one just picked up with a new life that the two were leading. If you can read beyond the first few chapters, and get on board with the style, you are definitely in for a treat of a "different" style of book that you may not be expecting.

Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book reminded me a lot of the Time Travelers Wife, which was also a dnf for me. The beginning moved too slow for me and was kind of repetitive as Santi and Thora met each other over and over in different lives. Similar to the Time Traveler's wife, it's difficult for me to wrap my head around them meeting each other in different times at her different ages (amd a bit creepy).
I could see the book appealing to someone who is into the scifi aspects a bit more but it didn't work for me.

Do you believe in fate? This novel is a mysterious read, and would be a good fit for anyone wanting a book that is somewhat philosophical and thought-provoking (but not in a way that hurts your brain / feels like a textbook). It raises some big world questions and explores conversations on faith. Meanwhile, there is also an alternate reality sort of vibe going on. Overall, this book is really well-written but was just very much not for me.

Interesting Concept
This book has an interesting and unique concept, as the two main characters are connected through multiple different lifetimes essentially. Each chapter demonstrates different stories and examples of ways Thora and Santi know each other and connect (with different forms of relationships each time). You get glimpses into each version of their lives and it becomes extremely mysterious.

Pacing
I think one of the biggest downfalls of this book is the pacing. During part two of this book, things start to become interesting and I started to wonder what was happening. But part one felt like a LONG time of getting different examples of Santi and Thora knowing each other. It was a unique way to write the story, and I love starting to see these worlds collide as the story moves along, but it just took a really long time to get going and I struggled to stick with it. Maybe the style of the book just wasn’t for me, but I did think it was interesting enough the first couple times, but after I’d seen MANY stories and nothing else had happened yet, I was struggling with it.

DNF
Honestly, I had been trying this book for months now, and it just felt like I kept forcing myself to keep going, so I did not finish it. But I genuinely think it was a well-written book with an interesting idea, and if the synopsis calls to you, I do recommend it. It just didn’t fit for me. I may still finish it someday, because part of me is now wondering what happens, but I just think I need a break in this moment from it.