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    Maybe in Another Life: A Novel
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    Maybe in Another Life: A Novel
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    Maybe in Another Life: A Novel
    Ebook398 pages5 hours

    Maybe in Another Life: A Novel

    By Taylor Jenkins Reid

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

    A People Magazine Pick * US Weekly “Must” Pick * Named “Best Book of the Summer” by Glamour * Good Housekeeping * USA TODAY * Cosmopolitan * PopSugar * Working Mother * Bustle * Goodreads

    A breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

    At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

    Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

    In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

    Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWashington Square Press
    Release dateJul 7, 2015
    ISBN9781476776897
    Unavailable
    Maybe in Another Life: A Novel
    Author

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

    Taylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their daughter.

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    Reviews for Maybe in Another Life

    4/5

    492 ratings35 reviews

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    • 4/5
      What an interesting concept. When you are confronted with two choices, what would happen if you selected each of the choices. That is what we see in this wonderfully written story. Hannah has moved back to LA and at a welcome back gathering at a local bar, she can either go home with her friend Gabby and her husband Mark or go home with her former high school boyfriend Ethan. Each chapter goes between what would happen if Hannah had taken each of the choices. I found I liked both the outcomes of the choices. I liked her with Ethan and I liked who she was in the other life.

      I’ve read a few books that say we are really living in a four dimensional world instead of three and that we do have parallel lives happening and also some of our past lives co-exist at different points. It would be really interesting to think that we could possibly be living different experiences and not even know it. I didn’t want to put this down. It flowed very smoothly and makes the reader care for the characters. There are a few times you laugh, a few times you might tear up, a few times you cheer and a few times you want to smack the back of Hannah’s head. But all in all, worth the read.
    • 4/5
      Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Do you believe that one little choice can change the course of your life? In Maybe In Another Life, Taylor Jenkins Reid explores these questions. Twenty-nine year old Hannah Martin returns to her hometown of Los Angeles to try to figure out her life. She’s held a bunch of different jobs in a bunch of different cities and has never really felt at home. She moves in with her best friend, Gabby and her husband and makes a new plan for her adult life. Shortly after arriving in LA, she reconnects with her high school boyfriend, Ethan – the one that got away. A single decision changes the course of her life: should she go home with Ethan, or should she go home with Gabby? From that point on, the book is told in alternating chapters following both threads of her life after making that small decision. Is there only one true love out there for each of us or is it possible that there’s a happily ever after possible no matter what we choose?I think my favorite part about this book is how real it felt. These characters are all people that I might know or meet. There are no cliches or stereotypes. The dual plot-lines were both engaging and the romance was not overdone. One of the reasons I don’t read many romance novels is because everything is always so over the top. There’s always just a little too much drama and passion for it to seem real to me. Here, Hannah is just a real girl, dealing with real girl problems and trying to find her way in the world. She could be my friend, the girl next door, or the girl I stand in line with every day while I’m getting my coffee. Her man problems are the same problems many women of her age have. There’s no over-the-top drama, no ridiculous circumstances, just real life, and that made this book so refreshing to read. I felt like I could relate to Hannah and got much more invested in her life that I usually do in a fictional character.That’s not to say that there’s not any drama at all. There definitely is! Real life has plenty of drama and there’s enough here to keep the book interesting without taking it too far. I could not decide which version of Hannah’s life I liked better. After each chapter I’d say to myself, “this is definitely the life I’d want if I were her,” and then change my mind after the next one.I really loved the alternating timelines. I was concerned that I would feel confused or disconnected because of the alternating chapters but I’m happy to say that that was not the case. There were lots of little details that were the same in each and there were also topics and conversations that were repeated between the timelines, although with slightly different circumstances. There’s not enough repeated to make the book feel redundant or boring, just enough to show that Hannah’s personality is the same regardless of her choices and to make the book as a whole feel cohesive.Overall, I really enjoyed this. I love the way the author played with these rather philosophical questions. Maybe in Another Life is a fun read with some food for thought. The message I took away is that maybe we are as happy as we allow ourselves to be and that no matter what decisions we make, we have the ability to have a happily ever after – even if it’s not exactly the one you always thought it might be. This would be a great beach read and could easily be finished in one or two sittings once you get hooked. There are well-rounded characters with personality, an interesting plot and realistic romance. This is at the top of my list of recommended summer reads for this year.I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
    • 3/5
      Not unique, not new and not deep.
    • 4/5
      Hannah has to decide does she go home with Ethan or her friend Gabby. In parallel storylines, you learn the effect of each decision. Do individual decisions change our destiny or are we fated for the life we get no matter what decision we make? Great book, I just wanted MORE - the end seemed a bit rushed.
    • 3/5
      It's the movie Sliding Doors as a book. A woman returns home and we see the trajectory her life would have taken if she had made two different decisions at a party. It was a fun, quick read.
    • 5/5
      I am not sure what to say about this book. It would be easy to be a spoiler... times two, literally. This book is about second chances and what-if's. It's about things we think about from time to time.. What if I did this instead of this? What if I chose the opposite that one time? How would things have worked out? Would my life be better or worse? Would I still end up where I am now?

      In life, we always have a choice resulting from more than one option. We always chose what we either want more or what we think is best. Who are we to know that that particualr decision, no matter how insignificant it seems, is the right one? Does every decision we make set off a separate chain of events... sending our lives into a completely different path?

      This story is equally heartwarming and heartbreaking. You will find yourself so full of emotions, you won't know what is up and what is down. You may see up as down and down as up. The story is written with such great talent, you won't be able to decide which path was the correct path or incorrect path. Reid has such a talent for messing with your head and emotions, you will be equally mad and pleased with this book.

      I was equally pleased and displeased with this book... I didn't know which story was the better of the two. One minute I was begging for the pain to stop, then the next minute I was smiling with a full heart. This is not like any other book you have read. It is so well written, there is no way you can't fall in love with this story. You will need a box of tissues and a stiff drink to make it through this one. It is definitely a top read of the year book!
    • 5/5
      Hannah is ready to start over. After a bit of a toxic relationship, Hannah is heading back home to LA. On a fun night out, she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Ethan. At the end of the night, Hannah is faced with a choice-go home with Ethan or stay at the bar. In this intriguing book, we get to see the results of both choices. Staying or going. Both mean vastly different outcomes for Hannah, but which is better? Is happiness dependent on our choices or our outlook? I was so interested n this book, and it did not let me down. I was afraid it might be hard to follow two completely different storylines, but this wasn't the case. Each story switched off from chapter to chapter, but the author did an amazing job of make the book still flow very well. Everything made sense and was not too difficult to keep up with. That's a pretty fantastic feat in a story that is set up this way. I was curious if I would prefer one storyline to the other, and I kind of did. However, I was drawn to the questions asked in this book. Are we happy as a result of the choices we make, or do we make an active decision to be happy? Could we be happy with any number of people and results in our life? I won't tell you how either story ends, but I will say that I found the conclusions to be very satisfying. This book will both entertain and make you think at the same time, which is a hard balance sometimes. It was definitely a lot of fun to read though.Book provided for review.
    • 4/5
      "Maybe in Another Life" is a book with an intriguing twist akin to a choose your own adventure, but the main character chooses instead of the reader.

      Hannah is a habitual mover, having lived in multiple different cities since graduating, but now she's going to try moving back to her hometown -- LA. The beginning of the book starts off with the same story (Hannah arriving back in LA, going to a party with her old friends), but when Hannah is faced with the choice of going home to settle in, or staying out with her ex-boyfriend Ethan (who she still has feelings for), the story splits in two. There are consequences and benefits to both timelines -- both include life-altering events that Hannah will not be able to run away from, like she has always done in the past.

      Interestingly enough, though the two timelines are night-and-day different, some things must always be meant to happen in life. It's an interesting ride, to see what happens to Hannah and her friends around her as these alternate universes play out, chapter by chapter. "Maybe in Another Life" definitely belongs on your beach/summer reading list. Best read while eating a cinnamon roll.

      Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Do you believe in fate? Chance? Do the decisions you make change the path of your future or is that path set so that no matter which choices you make or free will you exhibit you'll get to the same place because you were always destined to be there? And what about multiple universes? If you believe that your decisions drive your future, can there be alternate realities where you chose differently and ended up living a different life? Taylor Jenkins Reid's newest novel, Maybe in Another Life, asks just these questions. Hannah is 29 years old and after a lifetime of moving around and feeling rootless, she is moving back to LA. She'll live near her best friend Gabby again and maybe even reconnect with Ethan, the high school ex-boyfriend she's always thought might one day turn out to be "the one." On her first night back, she goes out to see a bunch of friends, including Ethan. When Gabby and her husband are ready to go home, Hannah must decide whether she's going to go with them or if she wants to stay out a little longer and pursue what she suspects could in fact happen with Ethan. And in the pivotal moment of making a decision, the universe splits and her life spirals outward from both options, radically changing the trajectory of her life in unexpected ways. Oddly, both choices are the right one and lead to vastly different outcomes in her life. Both choices also include aspects that must have been fated as well because they happen regardless of her chance decision at the bar. But as the narrative flips back and forth between the two realities that she is living concurrently, her decisions have altered almost everything. The flipping back and forth between the different lives is a little bit confusing and difficult in the beginning but adjusting to the back and forth becomes easier as the novel progresses. And the chapters start to end just when the reader wants them to continue, just when a situation needs resolving or Hannah is on the verge of making another decision, giving the narrative pacing a breathless and anticipatory sort of feel all the way through. There are echoes from one life to another, especially in the dual endings, that ask us to question whether we could be happy in more than one reality. Is your soul mate the only person out there for you? Is your profession the only one that can be fulfilling? Reid seems to argue that we make our own lives and our own happiness and that we can construct it differently, but no less contentedly, based on chance and our choices. The novel is a fun and quick read with an interesting and quirky concept. Hannah's choices, in both of her lives, will resonate with readers who have probably wondered "what if?" more than once in their own lives. This novel makes is delicious to contemplate those endless possibilities for ourselves.
    • 5/5
      Read from July 17 to 20, 2015Fantastic book!In this novel we look at one night when Hannah makes a choice. Who will she go home with? In one she leaves with her high school boyfriend, in the other she leaves with her best friend, in both she grows and becomes a better version of herself. I was worried I would get a little confused between the two Hannahs, but each story is uniquely its own. Quantum mechanics is not for your average bear -- it's confusing with all of its complex theories. But this book manages to take one theory and turn it into an enjoyable, entertaining novel. What if every time we made a choice another version of ourselves lives out that choice? That means there could be millions of versions of us living out different variations of our lives. I’m probably not explaining it well, but it’s an interesting theory and you should check out the Wikipedia entry.
    • 4/5
      Hannah is 29 years old when she returns to Los Angeles after a breakup with a married man. Over the years, Hannah had lived in many places but none had ever felt like home. After moving in with her best friend Gabby, Hannah runs into one of her first loves, Ethan, at a party. Hannah and Ethan had broken up when they went to college and the timing of living in the same city and being single had never worked out for them. On the night that she sees him at the party, Hannah makes a decision to either stay at the party and go home with Ethan or to leave and go home with Gabby. Her choice sets off two corresponding storylines based upon this one decision. How does Hannah's life move from that point on if she stays with Ethan or leaves? This story explores how even the most basic choices determine our future. Which plays a bigger part in our lives, Fate or Choice? I thought this novel was a clever approach to the magical "go back in time" storyline, allowing the reader to think about their own life and the choices we take. It would be great for a book club to discuss the role of fate or destiny versus how choices impact the future. While not particularly deep or well-written, I found this novel to be a fast and fun read. I liked thinking about how I might be living in an alternate reality right now, based on choices I could have made in the past.
    • 2/5
      Very poorly done. A nice concept with poor execution. Very light and easy, quick read. No substance.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book! It went so fast though! A good read.
    • 5/5
      This book almost seamed to portray my life in one of the universes. Loved it!
    • 4/5
      Favorite part was where Jesse gave the speech about how he met Gabby and said something about different universes. I just hope we are the best version of ourselves in whatever universe. Good book it is!
    • 5/5
      So sweet. I love how this book made me think about fate, the power of choice, right and wrong, the concept of soulmates.

      I will miss the characters, but the ending was so perfect that I don’t wish the story had continued. The story ended exactly where it needed to and I actually think I will carry this in my heart for awhile… Maybe I was just in a particular place in life for this existential exploration LOL. I loved this book.
    • 4/5
      Taylor Jenkins Reid is a master storyteller. I wasn’t all that interested in the synopsis but since I really liked her other books that I’ve read, I decided to give it a try. Within the first few pages I was hooked.
    • 3/5
      This was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it, even if it does have my biggest pet peeve in casual contemporary fiction--none of the characters speak using contractions! This is an editing issue--editors should be laying down the law with their authors, to make their characters speak the way actual people do! But other than that, I found the book to be a quick read, very entertaining, centered around a wonderful relationship, which was not either of the two romances, but the one between the main character, Hannah, and her best friend Gabby. A few things I liked about this book: (1) Hannah and Gabby. Seriously, they were great. Exactly like girlfriends should be, having each other's backs despite every difficulty and misstep. (2) Hannah is obsessed with cinnamon rolls, and eats them throughout the book. The story never mentions her weight, any feelings of guilt about being able to inhale a cinnamon roll in one sitting, any excuses, etc. She just loves them. And starting about halfway through the book I started craving them, and a batch is going in the oven today :) (3) A lot of the dialogue is a little awkward, largely because of the aforementioned contraction problem, but every once in awhile one of the characters would just say the most perfect thing. Usually it was in response to a terrible or awkward situation, and the reader thinks to herself, there is no way someone would ever come up with that, but still, having a character say something that just makes everything right again is hugely enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      Cute, very Sliding Doors.
    • 4/5
      A brilliant book about the power of choices and how one choice could lead to a different life, which may not exactly be the same but has many similarities.
    • 3/5
      The premise of "Maybe in Another Life" is based on the multiverse theory (the notion of parallel universes). Hannah, the main character, unsatisfied with her life in New York, comes back to her hometown in L.A.. The night she comes back, her best friend Gabby throws her a welcome back party at a bar, where Ethan, Hannah's ex-boyfriend, also comes. At the end of the night, Hannah has to decide whether she stays with Ethan or goes back to Gabby's house. Then, we get two stories, that alternate in each chapter. In one, she stays with Ethan and in the other, she decides to leave. We see what happens in her life, based on the decision that she makes that night. This story is about the notions of fate, destiny and soulmates, and whether or not these truly exist. Do we have a soulmate? If so, do we only have one or many? Is the saying "everything happens for a reason" true or not? Are we in control of our lives or is everything destined? These are the questions that popped into my mind through this story and that the characters also ask themselves.

      I absolutely loved the premise of the story, because I love thought-provoking subjects. I was engrossed in the book at the beginning and really thought it had a lot of potentiel to be amazing. However, as the story progressed, it went downhill and I ended up being disappointed. There a lot of things that I didn't like in this book.

      First, I couldn't grasp Hannah's personality. To be honest, it felt like she didn't have any. All I know for sure about her, is how much she loves cinnamon rolls, which is something that gets brought up every few pages and that started to annoy me. She isn't unlikable, she's just very inconsistent and makes very questionnable choices, all throughout. Second, I feel like some things get somewhat glorified or accepted in this book, which shouldn't happen. Third, I wish there was a warning or a heading that suggested that we were switching from story to the other, because it wasn't always clear. I don't know if that's the case only with the ebook or that's how it's supposed to be. Fourth, I didn't like the relationships in this book. I barely felt any butterflies, happiness, anger or sadness. In the contrary, I felt pretty unaffected, which is not a good sign. The focus was very much on Hannah, her life story, and no so much about the development of her relationships, which is a shame. Things just happen quite fast and suddenly; we don't get to really see the process to be able to care about those relationships. Fifth, there a lot of things that just don't make sense to me in this story. For exemple, her relationship with Gabby's parents is a bit weird. She lived with them the last two years of her high school by choice, when her parents moved to another country with her sister for her schooling. However, she doesn't really stay in contact with Gabby's parents after she leaves for college. When she moves back to L.A., which is about twelve years later, she visits them and they offer to pay for her car or whatever she needs, because they consider her to be like their child. I understand that they may share a bond, but paying a large amount of money, when she still has parents that are still in her life and who seem to be quite rich, seems a bit odd to me.

      All in all, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations.

      *This review has also been posted on goodreads
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this one. I think you every book TJK writes is flawless. I’m giving this 4.5/5 ⭐️
      -
      Follow me on my instagram: @imthecrazybooklady
    • 5/5
      Loved it so much!!! At some point, my heart was really hurting for what happened to both Hannah and Gabby.
    • 2/5
      I picked this book on Hoopla because I enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six, and knew the reading level of this book was likely to be something I could listen to (meaning relatively low LOL).And it was just fine to listen to, but this book is romance/chick-lit. Which I really don't much like. Oops.The hook for this novel (does Reid always have some sort of unusual hook?) is that there are two separate stories, based on one choice that Hannah makes on her first night back in LA--does she hang out with her best friend, or with her ex-boyfriend? The novel jumps back and forth between the two different stories. The best parts? The bits about LA--Urban Light at LACMA, the many donut shops of LA (though I wonder--is Primo's supposed to be Porto's, or is it Primo's on Sawtelle--I don't remember them having huge gooey cinnamon rolls, but maybe they do?).
    • 4/5
      I have pretty high expectations at this point when it comes to Taylor Jenkins Reid. I was hooked on this one from the beginning.I actually really enjoyed seeing the story from two different view points and how it shows how life can change with one simple decision. I also loved the friendship between Gabby and Hannah. It was a story of love and friendship. It will keep you guessing on how this was going to end.The ending really slowed down for me though. It just went into too much detail at times and I was ready for everything to wrap up. Overall, I really enjoyed this one though.
    • 5/5
      Loved it . Can’t wait to read the rest .
    • 5/5
      this is so good!! light but super interesting story, superbly written, definitely overqualified for my leisure time.
    • 4/5
      ,I was thoroughly confused at first but after. I figured it out I enjoyed the telling of both lives.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Maybe in Another Life: A Novel is a book about an alternate universe. But one does not realize the premise of the book until the very end of it. Consequently, the book is very difficult to understand or even like. The characters are flat and extremely self centered. The three uniting words for this book are me me me. The book received three stars in this review just to be nice. It is not one of Ms. Reid's better stories.
    • 4/5
      Total fluff of a novel, which tries to explore the influence of choices on our lives. I liked the parallel stories, and the way they switched back and forth at very crucial moments in the narrative.
      The love stories were cute, and for this reader who has only discovered heartbreaking love at middle age, they were uplifting. It is nice to believe that there are second chances even if life does not give you the one you cared about. Perhaps there are other soul mates out there?

      That said, I realize the exploration of choice here is not very deep. The choice we started with was trivial and the events that followed thereafter (at least in one of the parallel narratives) were more of the lightning strike of destiny than a consequence of choice. Still what the book is trying to say that even small choices can cumulatively lead to different outcomes.

      I enjoyed the book, and read it fairly quickly as it kept me interested in the outcome of both story-lines. There were parts that were boring though with repetitions of character traits, and almost identical scenes in both stories.