This was such a slow read. I could not get into it and it dragged. Didn’t DNF but unfortunately probably should have. I think the premise has promise but this book was not for me.

Emotional and well written. I loved the premise. Following Shosh and Evan and their relationships throughout different timelines was beautifully done if not a bit slow.
I am not always the biggest fan of dual POVs or timehopping within a story but this does seem to accomplish this in a way that isn't frustrating.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited for this book because I love past life stories, but this one just wasn't for me. If I put my expectations aside, it's creative, for sure. I just felt like instead of focusing on the unique love stories of each life, it was very death-focused. So, if you're expecting more romance, this isn't it. It's more tragic and a bit depressing.

I loved the concept for this book and had hoped that more of it would take place in Alaska, this land of wonder and mystery. But it didn't. While the writing was at times lyrical and poignant, I felt some passages confusing and mysterious just for the sake of being mysterious. Connecting to the characters was also very difficult. Evan was very sweet and he was the character I cared about the most. The way he loved his family was so genuine and unselfish and relatable. Shosh was completely different. She felt like a manic pixie dream girl who was suffering through a tragedy, but all I felt was pity for her. The way Evan described her, how he interacted with her, was like he was interacting with a magical creature. But she didn't feel magical. She felt like a grieving teenager who made poor decisions. The snippets of the past lives didn't aid the story. Evan and Shosh didn't remember these moments so I didn't care when I came upon them. Everything felt coincidental instead of fated. This one wasn't for me.

Love the cover of this book! The book was just as beautiful. I love the build up to getting introduced to the characters. Shosh and Evan are both dealing with their own trauma and feelings and I love how they are brought together. Beautiful book.

Even and Shosh are two teens who are experiencing very hard situations. They have endured immense losses in their lives and are struggling on how to move forward. Both Evan and Shosh hear music and singing that no else seems to. When they meet, the world finally seems to click in place for them.

The idea of reincarnation is so fascinating to me. This book follows Evan and Shosh in the present but we also have glimpses of them in past lives where they have found each other as different people in different places. The topics in this book are very heavy such as death of a loved one, alcohol abuse, mental health. There is a lot of grief in this story but at the same time it's full of hope and beauty.

This book was absolutely stunning. I spent the entire book rooting for Shosh and Evan, watching them fall for each other time and again in different lifetimes. The prose was gorgeous and the story was romantic and hopeful. Highly recommend!

If you love moving stories about death, grief, soulmates, and what it means to live a life, you’d love this. This is one of the most moving stories I’ve ever read and I don’t think I’ll forget it anytime soon.
It’s a story of magical realism, with us as the readers being led through multiple stories across time, all of different people, but of only two souls. First, if you like history, you’d like this. The story gives glimpses of how the same souls live lives in different cultures and in different time periods.
Shosh and Evan were both super complicated and interesting characters. Shosh felt straight out of a John Hughes movie while Evan felt like the filmmaker behind the scenes. They mirrored each other in a lot of ways, starting the book out in complicated situations with alcohol, but having different motivations and outcomes. They did feel like two people separated over and over again throughout time, but their time together is somehow healing and full of happiness in spite of the world around them.
I also loved the complexities of their families. Both Shosh and Evan have complicated connections with their families and I found each other individual stories really interesting.
My only issue with the book is that it felt a little unfinished with having spent so much time on their families and the past lives and not much on Shosh and Evan themselves, but I also think that was intentional, as it kind of shows that their story won’t ever truly be finished because even when separated in time and space, they always manage to find each other, no matter how brief.

it was definitely an interesting read, but i think it might not have been for me

i liked the layout of the story - the dual povs of evan and shosh, but then also the little snippets of other love stories which were connected to evan and shosh's - that was really unique, and i enjoyed the literary, stylistic choice of having those in the book.

i also liked the character arcs of evan and shosh; seeing them deal with different hardships - shosh with her grief, evan with his need to protect his family - while being unknowingly connected through a mystical songwriter was really interesting, and i enjoyed how their stories came together and how they ended up helping each other.

however, i did find the story's pacing to be slow for my taste, and parts of it left me feeling confused.

this book was quite different from what i normally read, but i had a fun time trying something new!

It was an okay read. Although the pacing was uneven, their relationship develop is quite rush and how it executed should have been better.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance review copy.

David Arnold sees humanity in a way no one else does, and it's beautiful. The writing is exquisite and the way all the stories seamlessly tie together is astonishing. I loved every moment of this. I loved watching the characters slowly heal over time. This was a story about loss, grief, and love, and those are my favorite stories. It's hard describing a book that has impacted you so much, but simply put, this is the story of my soul.

Oh this one was sad but in that heartstrings pulling kind of good way. Some heavy topics to cover. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

This book was everything. I was hooked from the first paragraph (Evan, I want to bottle you up), and it only got better from there. The vernacular was sparkling. This story and its words had me perpetually smiling from ear to ear, my heart swelling to a ridiculous size. It’s young adult, yes, but feels so grown up. It was smart, witty, and sharp. Existentially thoughtful and widely intelligent. Sweet innocence and pure joy. It focuses on the little moments, the quiet moments that breathe life into our souls. That make life better. All through the lens of grief and loss and life’s general hardships and unfairness. Every character is navigating their way through life in the aftermath of some kind of heartache. And then there's the love story that surpasses space and time.

This entire book resonated so much with me. It made me think and ponder and reread sections and look things up in the best kind of way. I sat staring at the last page for several minutes after finishing confused with how my life was supposed to just move on from this story. “And how!”

If I could dive into those Taft family moments and live there forever with Evan and Will, I would. If I could get a whole other book between the Glacier Bay and Lofoten Islands chapters, I would eat it up and tuck it away safely in my heart, forevermore. This book was so beautiful.

My only criticism is wanting more out of the ending. More time with Evan and Shosh. More time with Evan and Will. Just more of their story. More of their moments. More of their wit and banter and meaningfulness.

“My heart glows to you.”
“I will find you.”

Thank you Penguin Teen for the early copy!

Two souls, forever tied together by their love for each other, destined to meet time and time again. Shosh struggles through the tragedy of losing her best friend, her sister, and spends most of her days drinking the pain away. Evan is struggling to decide between going to Alaska for a once in a lifetime opportunity and facing his mother's mortality as she battles cancer. Despite the tragedies in their lives, Evan and Shosh are being pulled together by mysterious music only they can hear.

This book feels like poetry in a book form. Not written in any sort of poetry form, but with the same feelings behind it. I did have some trouble connecting to the characters at first due to this format, but it fits who the characters are and the overall meaning of the book. Evan and Ali have an amazing friendship, and Evan's relationship with his little brother is heartwarming. I enjoyed seeing Shosh get to become part of Evan's friend circle and realize she did not have to be alone and could, in fact, be alone together.

⭐⭐⭐

"I Loved You in Another Life" by David Arnold is a novel that blends elements of romance, science fiction, and philosophy, offering a unique narrative that attempts to explore the complexities of love and destiny. While the book has moments of brilliance, it falls short in certain areas, warranting a three-star rating.

One of the novel's strengths lies in its ambitious premise. Arnold tackles the concept of parallel universes and the idea of soulmates reconnecting across different lifetimes, providing readers with a thought-provoking exploration of love transcending time and space. The philosophical undertones add depth to the story, inviting readers to ponder existential questions.

However, the execution of this ambitious premise is where the novel stumbles. The narrative structure, which alternates between different timelines and perspectives, can be confusing and disrupts the flow of the story. While some readers may appreciate the challenge of piecing together the puzzle, others may find it distracting and difficult to fully immerse themselves in the narrative.

The characters, while intriguing, lack the depth needed to fully connect with them on an emotional level. The development of relationships feels rushed at times, and certain pivotal moments in the story lack the emotional resonance they could have had with more thorough character exploration.

The pacing of the novel is uneven, with moments of intense action followed by slower, more contemplative passages. While this variety can be effective in building tension, it occasionally feels disjointed, and the transitions between different tones and moods may leave readers feeling disconnected from the story.

In summary, "I Loved You in Another Life" is a novel that ambitiously explores profound themes of love and destiny but struggles with execution. The intricate narrative structure, underdeveloped characters, and uneven pacing prevent the novel from reaching its full potential. While the concept is intriguing, readers may find themselves wrestling with the complexities of the story rather than fully immersing themselves in its emotional depth.

I Loved You in Another Life had a very sweet premise, but it didn't work for me. Both Shosh and Evan had compelling individual storylines that I enjoyed reading. The use of the songs to indicate they are soulmates seemed like a loophole to actually giving their relationship time to develop. In theory, sharing the past lives seems cute; however, it took me a while to make that connection and realize why those stories were even being shared.

I received an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book was a very sweet, young adult romance. I love the different timelines and how the romance was more a slow burn. This book was emotional in a lot of spots and dealt with grief and touched on mental health quite a bit. I enjoyed it.

I was a little iffy on this one since it was a weird timeline book but also my first book by David Arnold. I’ve heard he’s a great author but mostly writes like contemporary, literary fiction but for YA readers, and that’s just not my jam. But this one was actually good and I even got a little emotional at the end.

Plot wise I understood what this was trying to do, but I didn’t feel like the time line flowed very well. I guess I wanted to see more of them in their other lives for longer. It always felt like a weird insert when they had the flashed back to them and I wanted better for them. But I did think when they were Shosh and Evan it was fine. They should have made the other lives a little longer. It would have made the book longer, but I think it would have made it better.

If you don’t know, I’m a hella emotional reader. I will absolutely cry over a book no matter where I am. So basically, I wasn’t surprised at all when I started crying while listening to this. I was basically just randomly crying while doing the laundry because of this book. Idk, the ending, the way they kept finding each other, just all of it, it was so sweet. And I don’t know why, but it just got to me. After all they had been through and they still found each other? Ugh, I loved that. I asked a couple years ago for a book with reincarnation, and to say after YEARS I finally got one (and a good one at that!) I am happy.

The music also made this what it was. I saw that it was original music by the author and that’s just so fire to me. I really liked that. And the narration was also good. I LOVE a good full cast audio. And this one had one of my faves (Michael Crouch) in it, so I knew I was going to have a good time with this one. It was a great performance for all of them.

My only problem was it seemed a little slow in some places. And, like was this supposed to be a roamnce, or was this just supposed to be the story of them finding each other again? Because while that’s a good story, it just felt like it didn’t go anywhere. I wanted to see them together. To see them happy and doing things together. To finding out more about the other and doing things together. I wanted to see them happy together. And like, I know we do get a glimpse of Shosh and Evan being together, but I just wanted more. Like if that wasn’t the goal, what was the reason of the last scene?

This was a hella interesting book and I am so happy I was able to read it via audio. It was definitely an experience. I’m not sure I would have rated it as high if I had read it with my eyes. I would have missed the music and the amazing performance by some of my favorite narrators. Definitely made me go back and request all his other books as audio as well.

I was surprised by the fluidity of David Arnold's writing, I loved it so much. It was so simplistic yet perfect for this fantasy world. However, the book lacked something for me, something with more depth and no real connection to the characters. For me, I love characters, and while I certainly liked Shosh and Evan I never truly felt a connection to them. The storyline was good, but at times very slow and I found myself wanting to skip pages (which I didn't) to hurry the book along.

If you are looking for a poetic fun read this is the book for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Teen for letting me enjoy this title early in exchange for my honest review.

I Loved You in Another Life is said to be perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Matt Haig, two authors who write beautiful but depressing stories - and I think that’s the problem I had with this one, I was not in the mood for something depressing when I read it, so therefore it was really hard for me to finish it.
I enjoyed the writing, I thought it was written beautifully. Arnold’s account was poetic and haunting. That’s about all I liked though, because I found the plot a bit slow and boring and I was not sold on the characters POV’s that we read.
I will try David Arnold again in the future though, this one just wasn’t for me.