The synopsis caught my eye and I could not wait to read this book. I am a big fan of The Time Traveler's Wife and I knew this would be great. Let me tell you, I loved this story so much! Great cast of characters with so much heart and hope. Isla is suffering from depression and anxiety from work, relationships and stress. I love her growth throughout this story. Great read!

I'm a big fan of stories where characters communicate with one another across time, and Twice in a Lifetime didn't disappoint. I thought the characters were well-drawn, and I the depiction of someone struggling with depression and anxiety was realistic. Best of all, I didn't anticipate the solution/ending but thought it worked well. I'll definitely be recommending this one - and watching for Melissa Baron's next offering!

A lot of interest is being paid in books, movies, and television because the idea of time travel is and has been appealing to many people. The question has been: “Can I avoid my current troubles by traveling back in time and change something I did in the past?” That is what this novel asks and answers. . Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron tells the story of Isla and her husband Ewan. I liked the story about their love, loss, and reuniting . Ms. Baron did a good job of describing them so that the reader can feel a part of their lives. The moment that Isla and Ewan meet, how their love develops, and when they suffer loss that consumes them and makes them want to undo what happened. My initial thought was that it was like The Time Traveler’s Wife and several other similar novels. This novel is somewhat different than those books. That change is what makes it appealing. However, the reader needs to suspend reality, especially when the lives of their friends and family remain constant during the two attempts to change the past, in order to embrace the novel. That element makes it different than other similar books.
I did like reading Twice in a Lifetime. It is a good escape from reality. Sometimes people need a little escape today, so I will recommend it to people I know.

A great time travel romance that was cleverly executed.

Both Isla amd Ewan had strong voices and were multi layered. I enjoyed their romance as much as I looked forward to reading how it would all work it.

The prose is really well written and it was great to see diverse characters portrayed in a positive way.

Wow, this one is a winner! I am sure this will be one of my favourite books of the year. Fans of The Midnight Library, Outlander and The Time Traveler’s Wife will probably enjoy this magical romantic tale. I think the cover gives the impression it’s just fluffy chick-lit, and there are moments of sweetness and humour, but the story also gets pretty heavy and emotional. I appreciated that the story normalizes going to therapy and talking about mental illness. This book would be perfect to be turned into a movie! Also I must add: I am impressed that this is the author’s debut!

CW: discussions of suicide.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an advanced copy of this wonderful book.

Interesting premise, but not sure the characters acted believably. Loved the dialogue and the way the heroine overcame her fears and managed her disabilities.

Thanks to NetGalley, I went on a rollercoaster ride with Melissa Barron! I loved every page and plan to recommend this story to everyone! Get ready to stay up all night and read this book!

Part The Lake House, part The Midnight Library, and part butterfly effect, this book has a cross-genre aspect to it that makes it a time-crossed love story as well as an achingly raw life story that's populated with heavy themes and emotions. Tackling things like chronic depression and anxiety, it gives pulse to real struggles. It gives delicate depiction to the gains and setbacks that people who suffer from these conditions experience on a daily basis.

For that reason, it can be intense and despairing to read at times. Overwhelming. As a reader, you feel everything. You suffer everything the characters suffer. However, it's also hopeful in the way that it champions love, compassion, empathy, and finding one's support unit in the unlikeliest of people and places.

After moving from Chicago to a small cottage in a St. Louis suburb, in need of a fresh start after her mother dies from cancer, Isla starts receiving text messages from a man who claims to be her future husband. She's pretty resistant at first. Disbelieving, too. (Who wouldn't be? It sounds impossible.) But he changes her mind by sending her a photo of them on their wedding day and revealing details about her that nobody else knows.

After that, she relents and they cautiously start a texting relationship. She learns that Ewan is sweet, patient, funny, and good-looking. She can talk to him. He also seems to love her for who she is, which is something she has a hard time wrapping her mind around thanks to an anxiety disorder that keeps her self-worth toddled to LOW and her mind buzzing with subjectively perceived failures.

In part, that is why Ewan is reaching out. He is texting through time in order to try and save her from a dark fate he won't discuss but will result in them no longer being together.

So the question becomes: what can Isla do to prevent that fate from occurring? How can she learn to be happy in the present? Grow? Accept herself and overcome her bad mental health days? And if she does manage to veers paths, what will happen? Will she be able to meet and fall in love with Ewan twice in the same lifetime?

I liked that this wasn't simply a lighthearted love story. I appreciated the representation of mental health struggles, feeling keenly for Isla as she attempted to get a handle on her intrusive thoughts - sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. That felt realistic to me. It was lovely that Ewan was so kind and patient with her, too. I think it's important to see compassion represented because we could all learn how to be more supportive and understanding, especially when it comes to health conditions people are suffering from that are invisible.

The timeline structure and pacing could have been better, though. Isla and Ewan stumbled from texting strangers into "I love you" exchangers rather quickly and I would have preferred for there to have been a slower, more progressive build-up. There was also a narrative switch about halfway through that was jarring. Though I wasn't sorry to get some of Ewan's perspective, it felt like it came out of nowhere. Like a bolt of lightning that strikes when the sun is still shining. Perhaps it wouldn't have been as noticeable had the book been separated into two parts, but who's to say?

Overall a decent debut. It'll resonate with fans of The Midnight Library, for sure, because of its mental health focus.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC!

I loved the concept of this story! The beginning is a little difficult to get into but Baron does a great job of putting us in the head of her main character's anxiety and social fears. The intrigue is there. Isla has a lot to work through! The out-of-time storyline lends itself to her status quo well.

A bit Sliding Doors, a bit Butterfly Effect, the story centers around Isla, and Ewan, who she hasn't yet met. Isla suffers from debilitating anxiety and panic attacks.

She's shocked to receive a text from a man who claims he is her husband in the future. This novel focuses on the age old question: Can our present actions change the course of our future? And are we prepared for the ways that change COULD change the future, for better, or possibly, for worse?

A bit slow at the beginning, I was quickly drawn in to the evolving love story of Isla and Ewan, and felt the pain of the characters. The characters were well developed, and I cared about their journey.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron
Pub Date: 06 Dec 2022

Well, this is not your normal “romance” book. It hurt to read at times. It started out sadly as you realized that future Isla had lost her battle with anxiety. You could only imagine the pain future Ewan was coping with. I enjoyed reading as Isla fought her fears and forced herself to keep connecting with the Ewan of her current timeline. Even though the story is at times sad, I encourage readers to stick with it. Isla’s growth and the story’s outcome are totally worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. #TwiceinaLifetime #NetGalley

Super sweet meet-cute meets meet-cute. Sometimes getting a second chance at love means heartbreak in a completely different way. I truly felt the emotion in this book and Isla and Ewan's love and hurt both hit this reader so much. Isla and Ewan's love story plays out in two different ways over the course of a repeat timeline and we as readers get to see what happens when history is changed.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Twice in a Lifetime releases on December 6

This debut novel is achingly raw and on the heavy side, so please consider being in the right headspace to take full advantage of this story. I promise you it is so worth it.

Twice in a Lifetime is a time travel romance story, that greatly touches upon mental health.
Told through dual pov, we get to know Isla Abbott and Ewan Park.

Isla is an artist - a painter and graphic designer. We see her grapple with the every day struggles of facing self doubt/self sabotage, as well as grief, crippling anxiety disorder, depression, panic attacks, and other chronic illnesses. The way Isla battled her mind on the daily, and faced mundane situations out of her comfort zone was so admirable. The growth and character arc payoff was immense.

Ewan is a second generation Korean-American, and a physical therapist by day. He is easily book boyfriend material. The way his pride shone not only for Tae, Jun-su, his patients, but also Isla, both in the future and present timelines. He was constantly there to talk Isla through panic attacks, or self doubt, and to give words of affirmations - reminding her to be kinder to herself and to take up the space that she rightfully should. There was no shortage of a support system.

I found myself relating to both of the main characters so deeply (I won’t bore you with every last detail since I would be here for days - just know that it was a lot).
Knowing that someone, or more specifically, Baron, could articulate every trait, like/dislike, and general feeling so well and translate that into fictional characters? It’s profound and cathartic. It made me feel seen and valid at a time when I didn’t even know I needed to hear it (or rather, read it).

This was such an impressive debut novel, and one that will no doubt stick with me for many years.
The plot twist and time travel repercussions put me through the wringer and I was a mess of tears, but somehow I loved the depths of how far this went and I wish more books took it to this extreme.

I would absolutely love to further dive into Jun-su’s mind and life experiences.


Content overview:
- mental health depictions
- chronic pain
- anxiety disorder, depression, panic attacks, anti-anxiety medication
- suicide and suicidal ideations
- car accident
- TBI (traumatic brain injury)
- normalization of therapy
- parent death
- self doubt / self sabotage
- time travel
- lgbt characters
- Asian-American rep + Korean culture
- steamy scenes


“The world was already so loud, and she knew how precious quiet could be.”

“How much pain could be inflicted on a single person before they broke completely?”

“It’s because I suffer in silence well.”


SPOILERS:
I had a few qualms. The first being that even though it was eluded that Isla might have died in the future timeline - the reaction to the text where Ewan finally verbally said that she died was almost non-existent to me. There was no pause or hesitation. No inner dialogue or freakout that would have lined up with her anxious traits. Instead, she replied for the first time with a term of endearment; “honey”, when I thought she was still in the stages of being skeptical of how this connection could truly be possible.
Secondly, the emotion during the first third of the novel was so raw. When the time periods merged, and time essentially rewrote itself, there was a brief moment when it got a bit muddled. I felt like as a reader I had to now restart and build up this character development all over again. While I loved how everything played out by the end, I couldn’t help thinking that because Isla knew she was married to Ewan, that she would now go out of her way to seek him out and that it would in a sense, be forced and lack the same genuine and vulnerable connection that would have resulted from the TBI injury. Obviously this wasn’t the case, but it was a possibility.
Thirdly, and this is just me being nitpicky. Ewan lived on the fourth floor of his apartment. In Asian culture, four can sound like the word for death. So even if Ewan was heavily Americanized and didn’t follow every superstition in Asian culture - it still stood out to me being mixed Chinese myself, and given all of the other Korean culture and folklore that was already included and well represented within the story.
While I personally had no issue deciphering the Isla/Isla communications, I can see where some readers could get confused.

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron was a good read for me. It seemed slow at first, however it did get better along the way. I wish I could connect with the char better. Otherwise was an okay read for me!

Rating: 2.5 stars

Trigger Warnings: Death, Suicide

Review:
Unfortunately, this did not work for me. While the book was technically well-written, it did not resonate with me in either an emotional or romantic way.

HOWEVER, if you were a fan of Matt Haig's The Midnight Library, you will probably love this book!

What I liked about the book:
1. Our main character, Isla, provides a good representation of living with anxiety and depression, showing some of the little things that us people inflicted with these tend to do and think that would never cross others’ minds. I appreciated this.

I also appreciated the moments of growth we did see, though they were too far into the story for my taste. I’m basically a child. I need bits of payoff throughout, even if they’re really small, not just a payoff at the end after I’ve lost interest.

2. I enjoyed Ewan’s humor. It was sarcastic, but in a gentle way, if that makes sense. I also enjoyed his constant highlighting to Isla that she wouldn’t think the things she thinks about herself about a friend, so she needed to be kinder to herself. That hit home for me.

3. I enjoyed seeing a couple of random chapters from "current" Ewan's POV. I wish there were more of these.

What could have been better:
1. While I liked the representation of someone struggling with anxiety and depression, I felt like too much of the book, especially in the first half, was focused on this in an unsatisfactory way. Reading emotions and tough subject matter is not a problem for me, if the execution is there. Instead of feeling emotionally drained and like soul sisters with our MC, I unfortunately left feeling exhausted and unsatisfied, which only further adds to my own emotional baggage. That’s not what I’m looking for when I try to escape within a book.

2. The weak relationship on the pages couldn’t bring me out of the funk the book placed me in. While I enjoyed our MCs well enough, I didn’t really enjoy them together. I didn’t see how the love grew there, nor did I like what the author did to Ewan. The author seesawed with my patience and the book irrevocable crashed down for me.

3. I just felt something was missing throughout the whole book. I felt pivotal parts of what could have been a heart wrenching story were not traversed, and, as a result, left me wanting.

Ultimately, what caused me to rate a 2.5 versus a 3 was that the book was marked solely with the genre "romance", but there was a lack of romantic connection for me. I definitely did not see that as the main theme, nor did I feel it hit the points I would hope a romance would.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Melissa Baron for the opportunity to read this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book through NetGalley and I loved it! Watch out for spoilers here if you don’t want to know any details about the book.

I thought the timeline plot was great, I loved the idea that Isla knew she could be happy if only for a short time with Ewen and that she had to really start taking steps to actually live with her anxiety disorder and this idea that she could have it all. I also liked that she wasn’t magically cured by a man, in the end she still had anxiety and she still dealt with it with the help of her support network.

I loved Ewen and was pleased that we got a lot of the story from his point of view and how he was viewing her anxiety and how he viewed her in general after reading Isla’s description of herself while her inner bully was painting her in worse ways, I enjoyed seeing her through the eyes of someone gradually falling for her.

I started out reading this slow and around a quarter of the way through this book I just couldn’t put it down and had to know what happened next. Little spicy 🌶 which I enjoyed, 5 stars, I really loved this book.

This was such an intriguing, timey-wimey concept that had me hooked from the first chapter.

Be aware that this is a fairly emotionally heavy read. I thought I knew the direction it was headed when I first started reading and prepared myself for one emotional punch, but my initial prediction, though accurate, was only part of the picture- there were several very emotional moments throughout the story. This deals with themes of both mental health and loss, to give an indication of the type of emotional impact here. These are balanced by feelings of hope and positivity, so even though the book deals with some heavy topics, I'd ultimately consider it a happy story.

Overall, I couldn't put this down and would definitely recommend.

The gimmick got old quickly, the main character and the love interest just didn’t connect for me, I just wasn’t convinced that they were falling for each other. The first 6 chapters especially felt awkward because of the relationship. I love the concept but it just fell flat for me 2/5

I am an Oona fan. Like I loved that book enough to reread it again someday. This book, I can’t seem to connect with as much. It’s heavy and not exactly what I pictured. I’ll give it another go sometime. Four stars for deep emotional mental health balls and time travel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melissa Baron, and Alcove Press for providing this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was worried about the jumping between the future and past, but it was executed very well and was very easy to read and follow along. It was a very unique story that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this read for anyone who enjoys The Time Traveler's Wife.

This review will be posted to my Goodreads and Amazon accounts immediately and to my instagram account @ginganinja333 on December 6, 2022.