Initially, I was going to give this 3 Stars because it had a Hallmark vibe to it that I didn't care for, but the ending was a surprise and unexpectedly emotional. I liked that the book stayed true to its plot and remained about the power of friendship and loss and dealing with grief, and didn't get overpowered by a romance.

The ending did read like a prolonged therapy session and was quite heavy-handed in some spots, but I would absolutely recommend this for anyone struggling with the loss of a loved one; whether it be a friend or family member.

This was my first time reading anything by this author and I enjoyed it!

The Other Side of Now is a sliding doors story that showcases what life could have been if you took a different path. Meg is a famous actress on a hit TV show, but she goes back to her college decision and finds another realm where she has her best friend and the love of her life back. This book was so well done- it was sad, emotional, touching, and interesting without being trite, and the ending didn't make me roll my eyes.

Well this book was interesting… I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but it was… unique? At times it felt like to was a love store, a finding yourself story, and a grief story, but 8 felt like it didn’t pick a real lane and kept bouncing around a bit. Overall I enjoyed it but I just didnt buy into a lot of it. 3/5 stars for being scattered.

Meg Bryan, also known as Lana Lord should be happy. She has the career she has always wanted, but she misses her best friend, Aimee. There’s nothing she can do about it, because Aimee has passed away.
The book goes into Meg and Aimee’s childhood when they are inseparable. They even applied to the same college in Ireland. The deal was if they both get accepted, they both go. And if one doesn’t get accepted, neither go. They didn’t go.
But in this magical realism, Meg gets to journey to Ireland and gets to see what if would have happened if she did go. She loves her life there, especially because Aimee is alive. They get to talk and see how their lives are like, and work together on a play. What if her life is better in Ireland than it is in real life?
This was so different than what I normally read, and I really enjoyed the main character in Ireland more than her life in LA. There was a really sweet thing that happened in the end, and I know everyone that reads it will enjoy it as much as I did. It was a surprise.
Read if you like reading about “what if”. Meg goes through a lot of realization when it comes to Aimee’s death so it is also healthy for her in getting past her loss.

A second chance to see what life might look like with one different choice. Meg finds herself at a crossroads in life and then suddenly if thrust into the alternate life she may have had from one major branching choice. I really enjoyed this story and found myself rooting from Meg. A well written and paced story, especially given the interesting plot.

Very sweet story I loved the ending and the way it all wrapped up! The supporting characters could’ve used a little more dimension.

When I received an advanced copy of The Other Side of Now, I knew nothing about this book or the author but thought the plot sounded interesting enough to give it a shot, and I am SO glad that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved how it focused on themes of friendship and grief. This book is such a sweet reminder to not take the simple things in our lives for granted, and I’d highly recommend adding it to your TBR list. Plus, this book has a black lab in it, so that earns immediate bonus stars from me🫶🏼

A huge thank-you to @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for the gifted ARC and opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review! This book officially comes out June 2025, and I will definitely be buying a physical copy👏🏼

The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison is an outstanding story that blends magical realism, romance, and alternate reality. The main character, Lana Lord, also known as Meg Bryan, is a successful actress starring in a hit TV show and dating a hot Hollywood A-list actor. However, on her 30th birthday, she reflects on her life and impulsively decides to visit a quaint Irish village where she did not attend college.

Upon arriving in the village, Meg discovers she is in an alternate timeline where she did go to college in this quaint town. The story explores the concept of the road not taken. Meg is quickly immersed in this other life, where even her phone shows a different past, and she is deeply involved in the town's community.

I love how the author tackles the issue of alternate realities and the characters' reactions to it. The bewilderment is well handled, and the story is very hopeful and healing. I enjoyed watching Meg's growth throughout the novel. There are no over-the-top moments added just for drama; the story is compelling on its own. While the romance element is present, it feels secondary to the other action.

The characters are wonderfully crafted, and the story is filled with warmth and wit. It is bittersweet, magical, and heartwarming, focusing on finding contentment in our lives and understanding the road not traveled. I found the book entirely charming and will definitely be reading more from Paige Harbison.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

The Other Side of Now is an emotional journey through Meg’s two different lives: One as a successful actress in LA and the other in a tight-knit community of Avalon, Ireland. Her path splits when she books a trip to Ireland on her 30th birthday and ends up in an alternate timeline where everyone seems to know her, and her best friend is still alive. How can she choose between

I don’t want to give away too much since I think this story is best to jump in head-first! So, I will just say Meg’s character growth blew me away and made me reflect on my own decisions and how there are so many ways to pursue happiness.

This book truly has everything: a beautiful Irish setting, cute dogs, impactful friendships, and every emotion felt.

PSA: have tissues ready while reading!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Meg Bryan is a famous actress know as Lana Lord. She's the star of a famous TV show, Brilliance, and lives with Grayson, one of the rising stars of the Marvels license. But as she celebrates her thirtiest birthday, she realizes that everything around her is fake (including herself, having her nose re-done...)
So, on a whim, she decides to buy tickets to Ireland, to visit Avalon, this one city she was supposed to go to study with her best friend.
And as soon as she sets foot on Avalon, she begins to live on a parallel life. A life where she is not famous, where she has friends and a lover, a life that sound more fulfilling.

This books is a lot about self-reflection, about the choices you make and how it affects your life, about how to be happy even with the smallest things. And above all, this book is about friendship and forgiveness. It is fun, and reflective, and a little bit sad too, but it is good !

Wow - this is a book I'll be thinking about for a long time, I can already tell. It earns a well deserved 5 stars and I'm adding it to my Favorites shelf...and it won't surprise me if it remains my favorite book of the year at the end of December. As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read it, and it was even better than I'd hoped.

What specifically did I love about it? So many things, but let me tell you a few (ok, several!): excellent writing, a beautiful setting that I could picture so clearly I felt like I was there, characters that felt like real people and whom I fell in love with, good dialogue, humor, tears, friendship, family, ups and downs, surprises, paths not taken, what ifs, alternate lives, choices, dogs, and so much more. I didn't want to put it down, truly, and even more so didn't want it to end. It would make such a good movie!

It's an understatement to say I loved The Other Side of Now, and if any of those themes I mentioned appeal to you, or if you just enjoy a good story, you must add it to your list. It's slated for release this June, and I highly recommend it. A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved. The characters are relatable and had me cracking up. There were also some heavy topics beautifully handled that I wasn’t expecting but loved

A really, really good book, but left me questioning so much. After visiting a Psychic with her best friend Aimee, Meg Bryan learns that she has two timelines. She brushes it off as nonsense, but is it? Years later, after a successful but soul sucking career in acting, Meg, now known as Lana Lord, decides she needs an escape. She heads to the town of Avalon...a town, she originally planned to visit to attend acting school. She never made it to acting school, but so many things about the town seem familiar and yet she's never been there, or has she? A lovely and reflective story about the life choices we make.

Wow! This book was amazing and I was so in love with this whole story and its characters ❤️ I’ve never read this author before but I will now be looking for their books in the future. An exceptional read!

This is a dual universe type book.We have our main girl Lana/Meg - Lana is a famous actress in Hollywood who has enough and she decides to spend a week after her 30th birthday. In Ireland she's always thought about wanting to go because she 4 went. I'm going to an acting college there. After graduating high school, so off she goes to get acquainted. Was Ireland and she ends up? In a world as Meg (her real name) who did go to Ireland right after high school to the acting college? And here we meet the people in her life, her best friends and her on and off again, love Cillian, in most of these tails, she finds out what could have been and would have been should have been and what she really wants and how she can get it and can she fix them? The wrongs they were made, leading to the decision not to go to Ireland it was a very good book, if you're into these alternate universe type books, definitely for you. But if you're new to them, this is a good one. Loved it

Thank you, net galley, for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Avery compelling story of when a What If becomes a reality for a tired of Hollywood actress. Meg is tired of the lifestyle and grueling days. She books a trip to Ireland a
where she was supposed to go for acting. An alternate reality becomes very real. The depth of the story is found in her failing to grieve her best friend’s death by creating a life as a star. She denies her friend’s very existence. Very moving story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 stars rounded up! I loved this book so much—I couldn't wait to see how it all ended, but at the same time, I just wanted to savor every page. THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW follows Meg Bryan (yep, that's her name), who's better known as the famous actress Lana Lord. As Lana, Meg has everything she could ever want, but she still feels like something isn't quite right. As a thirtieth-birthday present to herself, Meg books a spontaneous trip to Ireland; particularly, the charming little village where she and her childhood best friend Aimee dreamed of moving to attend acting school—a dream that was destroyed after a car accident took Aimee's life a decade ago. Only when Meg arrives, she looks exactly like her old self (before her Hollywood makeover, complete with cosmetic procedures, weight loss, and hair and makeup changes), everyone starts treating her like they already know her, from her bubbly best friend and her adorable dog to the cute bartender and...Aimee, who is alive and well, but wants nothing to do with Meg. Has Meg stepped into an alternate universe? Can she adjust to her brand-new life...and finally make things right?

THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW is a fabulous adult debut from Paige Harbison! I realized that I read her YA novels years ago (and really enjoyed them), so I was extra excited to read this one. The story is a perfect blend of fiction, magical realism, and romance, and I was hooked from start to finish, despite not usually being a huge magical realism fan. I loved the friendships, the love story, the dogs (of course!), the commentary on fame and celebrity culture, and, most of all, the bittersweet yet heartfelt exploration of the ups and downs of nostalgia, what it means to run away from your past, and how to know if you're on the "right" path in life. The story tackles some heavier themes, like coping with loss and healing from a painful past, but the tone is still lighthearted overall, and the characters add plenty of humor and fun to the seriousness of the narrative. I also enjoyed how vivid and well-developed the settings are, from Meg's Florida hometown to L.A. to Ireland. Even though this isn't strictly a romance, I would have loved to see a little more of the relationship between Meg and Cillian, but that's really the only "complaint" I can think of. Needless to say, I'd highly recommend this one, and I can't wait to see what Paige Harbison writes next! She's definitely an auto-read author for me now. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

4.5 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Paige Harbison for the opportunity to read this ARC!

In her adult debut, Paige Harbison writes The Other Side of Now from the POV of Meg, a TV actor that goes by the name “Lana Lord”. Meg needs a break from Hollywood life and ends up booking a trip to Ireland, a place she’s been wanting to go to for over a decade because of a dream she had to move there with her best friend Aimee, who tragically died in a car accident. When she arrives in Avalon and checks into her Airbnb, she ends up going to a pub where people are treating her as more than a stranger, like they know her. She figures out she is living in an alternate reality, one where she moved to Ireland for college and one where Aimee is still alive! She has a best friend, Kiera, and an (ex?) boyfriend, Cillian. As she works to wrap her head around this alternate reality, she finds out that Aimee and Meg are no longer best friends, and Aimee wants nothing to do with her.

This book focuses on mending relationships of all kinds, healing yourself, and how there may be more than one path in your life. Harbison takes you on a journey throughout this book as Meg navigates her alternate reality in Avalon. I wanted to rush so I could see how it ended, but I also wanted to take my time and savor it because I loved the story. This book was beautifully written, and I really enjoyed reading it!

The Other Side of Now will be released on June 3rd, and I highly recommend that you add it to your TBR list! ✨

Meg Bryan is a B-list soap star who is treading water to stay afloat in the cut-throat Hollywood lifestyle. She finds herself alone at her own birthday party, questioning everything about who she is and her life. She books a trip to Ireland and a cottage and decides to take off and escape her life. However, she escapes far more than she planned when she finds herself in an alternate reality. This reality forces her to confront the grief she has tried to run from her entire life.

This book was pure magic. If you loved the Seven Year Slip, this book will be right up your alley. The story deals with heavy themes surrounding guilt, grief, and how to manage the death of a friend and the death of your childhood. The writing style is lyrical and poetic without feeling too heady and out of touch. The plot is page-turning with twists and turns that I didn't expect. I absolutely devoured it and loved every moment of reading it!

I really enjoyed this story and the sliding door concept. The beginning started off really strong and then the middle felt a little repetitive just with the talk of guilt so much in regards to her friend. I absolutely adored the ending and it made me tear up. Beautiful story! Thank you so much!