Maybe in Another Life: A Novel

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of those authors that, when I see a new book of hers ready for pre-order, I instantly hit the button and then wait anxiously for it to arrive at my door. Her books are just that good! She has this way of making you really feel for her characters, she makes you internalize their pain and joy until you are just breathless watching their lives unfold on the page. For me, she also makes me look at relationships and their issues and successes in a different way than I necessarily did before. She mixes humor with heavy elements so that the stories are neither fluffy nor overly depressing and I always feel completely satisfied when I turn the last page. In other words, I'm a fan!In Maybe in Another Life, our main character Hannah has kind of drifted through life, never really putting down roots or committing to anything in particular. The more you get to know her you discover that her parents moved to London when she was a teenager while she stayed in L.A. and lived with her best friend's family and, since then, she has been trying to discover where and what "home" is for her. While I can't say I've experienced this same feeling or agree with all the choices she made by the time we meet her, she is charming and caring and a completely sympathetic character. She's the kind of girl I would want in my corner if I really needed someone to be there for me, good or bad, and tell me the truth when no one else would.The story really takes flight when Hannah and her friends go out to celebrate her return to L.A. and we begin to see how one tiny decision - whether to go home with her best friend Gabby or her ex-boyfriend Ethan - can spiral into two very different, yet in some respects very similar, life paths. I'm not about to give away how either story progresses because that would spoil too many surprises for anyone who wants to read it, but I will say that neither life is a smooth path and both are filled with the many ups and downs of any life. This seemingly small choice will have far-reaching consequences for not only Hannah but many other characters, and it was fascinating to see how the various characters experienced many of the same elements - infidelity, pregnancy, feeling alone, finding love - in both storylines even while they were presented or experienced in different ways. This brings up the whole fate versus choice debate and my mind was spinning back and forth as I tried to see which way the cards would fall for each of them.The end of the book presents a concept that I am completely in love with now and it is this: each choice we make fractures our life into alternative universes, and each of those alternate universes is another existence or life that we are living parallel to the one we are in now. With all the choices we make each and every day this gives us infinite, varied lives that we are living. There might be some similarities that remain across the universes but it would be impossible for them to be the same. I keep thinking about how, if I hadn't agreed to tag along with a friend one night in college, I might never have met my husband and might then never have had my son. However, it could be that we would have still met, just at a different time and under a different circumstance. Or, I could have met someone else and be living a whole different life. Who knows! I start getting emotional when I think about this too much as I don't really want to imagine my life any other way and I'm just glad I am living in this universe. What I end up coming away with each time is that, regardless of whether fate will have its way or not, we have to make the choices we think are right for us and let the world unravel the way it will.Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels are smart women's fiction, novels that make you really think about your life and how much you can relate to her character's experiences and feelings. I've read all three she's written so far and I've loved each one more than the last. I can't recommend her enough for those looking for an emotional, thought-provoking book that tests what you think about love and relationships and leaves you longing for more.

3 1/2 Stars!!Parallel universes? Yes, please! I have always been intrigued with stories about the path not taken. The blurb of MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE intrigued me and made me think of one of my favorite movies, Sliding Doors. While this book was not all that I had hoped for, it is nonetheless a well-written, thought-provoking story about the consequences of our actions, fate and destiny.Taylor Jenkins Reid brings a unique and fresh voice to the idea that our soul mates are out there, and that our choices lead us to our own realities. Both parallel stories in this book were engaging, REAL, and very original. The characters are all very relatable and some of their stories more poignant than others.“I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.”Our heroine Hannah takes two widely divergent paths, as does her best friend Gabby. I did feel an overriding sense of sadness while reading this book, which, happily, was replaced by joy by the end. MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE is a very thoughtful and interesting book, which will make you think about your choices in life, and whether fate ever really plays a part in our lives. Is everything all mapped out, occurring anyway no matter what our choices might be? There’s lots to chew on here and I will say that I was totally surprised by the ending of this book.I would have like a little more detail about some of the more meaningful events in this book. However, much of this story seems aimed at twenty-somethings who will very much enjoy Hannah's journey. I did feel that some important details were missing, but overall, both the writing and the story were very intriguing and fresh.I read this in one sitting and I will definitely grab the author’s other books now. Love, loss, family, friendship, loyalty — they are all covered here and I think this is the perfect summertime read.