3.5 Stars

I'm torn on my thoughts on this book. It ended closer to a 4, but took most of the book to get there. I definitely felt The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue vibes, but comparing it to This is How You Lose the Time War is a stretch.

I enjoyed the alternating timelines following the past lives of Evelyn and Arden. I loved the diverse range of their reincarnated souls! Evelyn's commitment to her sister and saving her life is admirable and I felt it. I also really enjoyed the revelation of the fated connection between Evelyn and Arden.

What missed the mark for me was I found it difficult to fully believe that it would take Evelyn 1,000 years to uncover the reason behind her and Arden's fate of always dying before her 18th birthday. The lack of substantial communication between Evelyn and Arden for such a significant thing made it hard for me to feel an emotional connection with them until near the end of the book. I wish the reveal had come sooner. Once I got there, it was easy to go back in my head and understand Arden a little more.

Overall, I'd recommend Our Infinite Fates if you're looking for a YA version of Addie LaRue.

Thank you, NetGalley and Wednesday Books, for an early copy in exchange for this honest review.

🌎 ARC REVIEW 🌎

OUR INFINITE FATES by Laura Steven
5/5 🌟
Pub date 🇺🇸: Mar 4th

Where do I even start with this one? I am so grateful to be able to read such a creative, well-written story. Discovering books and authors like these are what got me into this hobby, and continue to give me great joy. I'm looking forward to see what Laura puts out next.

The books follows a couple, reincarnated again and again through the centuries. They are fates to meet, fall in love and die each cycle. The catch is that he always murders her, and she doesn't know why.

Please read if you like the following:

✨️ A unique lense in which to view queer love
✨️ Historical backdrops to romantic tales
✨️ The love and suffering of living forever
✨️ Mind-blowing twists that make everything make sense

Thank you, Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, amd Wednesday books for the amazing review copy.

"I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you."
Our Infinite Fates is the story of an enduring love, one that has endured centuries of lives and lived beyond each violent death. Arden and Evelyn are more than soulmates, they are tied to each other and destined to fall in love in each of their reincarnations...and fated to murder each other, as well.

This is definitely a slow burn of a story. It has a back and forth time line, hopping from the present to other lives in the past, and many times the characters switch gender for previous lives which was a little confusing. For about 2/3 of the novel, I was frustrated with the dilemma and did not empathize with the characters; I did not get the pull to each other, at all. When everything started to gel, and the curse began to be explained, I not only got it, but truly loved the beautiful, tragic love story. The twist and explanation brought everything together, and made the journey worth it.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Our Infinite Fates, also to Goodreads giveaways for the print copy, as well. The opinions in this review are my own.

The poor communication trope might just be the death of me but ya know the teens eat that shit up so I simply cannot decide if that's a negative or a positive in this situation. I really enjoyed the story for about half of the book, but I quickly found myself frustrated by how obvious it became that one simple conversation could resolve the entire conflict. I know, I know "that's how stories work" I just think if I was alive for centuries I'd learn how to communicate properly okay!!

All of that complaining aside, I actually really enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting, and while I don't think it's the most creative thing in the world the pacing was great and I found it easy to fall into the story and get swept away. I can see booktok eating this bad boy up, and of all the books for them to love I'm not mad about this one. I'd give it 3.5 stars, but I'll round down to 3 because my enjoyment really couldn't get past that irritation for the silly plot devices.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC of this book.

Our Infinite Fates was a highly anticipated read for this year for me and luckily it did not disappoint. While at first, I was finding it a bit difficult to fully connect with the characters, by about 30%, I knew that I would love this book. The idea of soulmates who can never really love each other because they need to kill each other is such a unique concept.

Laura Stevens delivers impeccable prose and allows for the build-up to captivate readers. The ending was unexpected but also expected to an extent. Meaning I had theories but I was not fully correct in my predictions.

Overall, I had a wonderful reading experience and would love to read more about these characters or other characters in this universe!

2.5/5 stars
0.5/5 spice

I am very sad to say that this book ended up falling flat for me. I had heard nothing but wonderful praise for it and was so excited to jump in. Unfortunately, It didn't quite work for me. I think the premise was very engaging and was giving me modern-day 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate but the execution was a bit lacking. I also found myself incredibly frustrated with the fact that Arden wouldn't explain why he had to keep killing Evelyn. Then when we got the big reveal, I was entirely unimpressed and still confused and frustrated with why he wouldn't just explain to her what was going on. You claim to love her but you certainly don't act like it.

When we got to the climax of the book, I was excited for it to "finally get interesting", but I really did not enjoy the conclusion. It felt strange and out of place and just didn't work for me.

I thought there were many beautiful moments throughout the book and enjoyed hearing about the many lives of Evelyn and Arden. I also loved that they were never confined to just one gender or body. But those things were not enough to redeem the book for me. It was by no means a bad book, but it was not one that I enjoyed as much as I had hoped.

Our Infinite Fates
By Laura Steven

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I saw the blurb for this while scrolling in NetGalley and was so excited when I was approved to read this ARC. The description sounded like nothing I’ve ever read and I was so intrigued; I couldn’t wait to see how this story would unfold.

I could not put this one down! I loved every minute of reading this story. The little poems throughout were my favorite and the way the timelines were written was so smart and made for such a cool read. Also, I did not see the why of it all coming and I love when I can’t figure it out. And what a perfect ending! This will definitely be a book I recommend to everyone😍

I was very interested by the premise of this book. It filled the void the hole that invisible life of Addie Larue left in my heart. The writing was gorgeous and I could not put it down because I wanted to know the why of it all and also really wanted a happy ending for Arden and Evelyn. I loved the poetry and the love story that literally spanned the dawn of time. It was the most beautiful love story and I really liked that it kept me on my toes as to whether they were going to find each other without remembering anything and also how the whole deal with devil started as their love for each other.

First and foremost I want to thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This story was so beautiful and very captivating! It hit me in all my feels and than some! So much magical enchanting realism presented within this book! I absolutely loved this love story between Evelyn and Arden. For anyone who is into love stories, fantasy Romantasy this is the book for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5

I wanted to love this book but I couldn’t get into the story line. I’ve heard great things about this book but it wasn’t for me which made me very sad. But I’m so thankful to get to read this book. I just felt like the story just kept going on and on but I do want to try another book by this author.

This was an absolutely heart wrenching and beautifully written book. It's so emotionally charged and the story line was so soul crushing. But I loved every second. The characters were so real and I felt their emotions shining through the pages.

Such a unique story that I absolutely adored. I have never read anything like this and found myself hooked from the very first page.

So I originally applied for this arc because the publishing date is my birthday. "What a fun little coincidence," I thought. "It must be fate!" I then proceeded to have my heart ripped out of my chest, shredded, and dragged across all 352 pages of this book.

Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven really just had that effect on me. I am at a loss for words after reading it, and it's really quite hard to write a review when you have no way to describe how you feel. I *do* know that this is now one of my favourite books, though.

This book was compared to Addie LaRue and This Is How You Lose the Time War, so let's start there. There's been a hole in my chest since reading Addie LaRue... something about "heartbroken and utterly lonely heroine that feels loss so profoundly" really gets me, I guess. I've been waiting for something to come along that hits me in the same way, and this book does just that. Everything that I loved from Addie is featured in this book, but with a fresh viewpoint. Now, TIHYLTTW (unfortunately) fell flat for me because the relationship between the two MCs just seemed rushed. I think the inclusion of chapters on past lives in Our Infinite Fates jumped that hurdle for me and, as a result, the relationship between the two MCs, as devastating as it was, felt much more fleshed out. And heartbreaking. Did I mention that this book ripped me apart?

There is so much that I love about this book, and I am so glad I picked it up. Evelyn is just... so *human* and so unashamed of the depth of her feelings that I can't help but connect to her. And Arden? Boy oh boy, don't get me started on the anguish and suffering they bring to the pages.

Overall, this book is a story of profound, time-spanning, unbreakable love and the sacrifices that must be made to protect it. It's about having to kill your soulmate before your 18th birthday, life after life, the toll that takes, and why it's ultimately worth it.

Our Infinite Fates is a love letter from Laura Steven. It's the type of love letter many of us wish we could receive. It speaks of heartbreak and enduring love, wounding and healing, bitterness and forgiveness. Steven's writing in this book is accessible and, yet, profound. The writing mirrors the complexity and simplicity of love itself.

Evelyn and Arden have been reborn, loved each other, and killed each other for over a millennium. And while Arden can remember most of their lives, Evelyn only remembers bits and pieces. Most importantly of all, Evelyn can't remember why they are stuck in this cycle. The author withholds the reason for most of the book as the book is written in Evelyn's POV. While this did frustrate me at first, I soon fell under the spell of the beautiful and rhythmic writing, and I simply began to enjoy reading and seeing glimpses of their love span over the hundreds of years they have been alive.

There's not much character growth in this book as it's mainly about how our main characters' truest parts of themselves have endured throughout the thousand years they have lived. We see a lot of Evelyn's character and her family, which the author did an excellent job characterizing. However, we don't get to see much of present Arden's character nor do we see their love in this present life. What I would have liked to happen in this book is for the present Evelyn and Arden to fall in love, deeply. Additionally, there are a few scenes and an incident involving a blond character that I feel was completely unnecessary. I understand that it was to induce suspense, but I think those pages in the book could have been used to further establish and cement Evelyn's and Arden's current love for each other.

Additionally, the last 10-15% of the book was a bit of a letdown for me, and while I don't think I was disappointed, I felt like too much new information (setting, character, plot point, etc) was introduced when there should have been a denouement. However, I loved the last two chapters and I think they tied up the story neatly with a bow. Despite this critique of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed this book hence the 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC to review.

You know how sometimes you read a book and there is just something about it - some unspeakable quality that clings to you and imbues the story within your brain? Our Infinite Fates is the type of book that should do that. Everything is there - a fascinating plot concept, a Faustian bargain, two star-crossed soulmate main characters.... but even with all of that going for it, something about it fell flat for me. And I'm so bummed because I had really high hopes!

Our Infinite Fates is about our two main characters, Evelyn and Arden, who are destined to love each other in every life, and to kill each other in every one, right before their eighteenth birthdays. It's a gripping premise, and I really loved the way that it gave us so many snapshots of their many lives, spanning across the world in so many centuries. But what this really needed was more ROMANCE. Why do Evelyn and Arden love each other so much? Why do their souls yearn after one another? I felt like I was just being constantly told instead of shown that they were soulmates; their actual love story felt so lacking and lifeless, which is a problem when that's what the whole book hinges on. I was desperate to know more about Arden and how he felt about their fates from his perspective; a dual point of view would have served this book so well to give us more insight into both of their motivations & longings.

For all the gripes I have with the book, I did find myself constantly wanting to pick it back up and keep reading. I loved the flashbacks of previous lives and thought the conclusion was really beautiful. For me, that wasn't enough to make it a stand-out read, but I know there will be lots of people who absolutely love it!

Thank you to NetGalley & St Martin's Press for the ARC!

4.5 ⭐️ "I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you"

Imaging being immortal, loving someone a thousand years, but he has to kill you before you turn 18 in every life time. This book's depth was astonishing. I cried and dreamt the book. I loved every story Evelyn was born into, the family, the loss, the love. The reincarnation aspect was so crazy I just had to keep reading to find out what happened to these two.
As an empath I felt her every lifetime and I felt for Arden so much.

If you were a fan of The Invisible life of Addie LaRue, you will love this book.

What you'll find:
📖 Dark Deals + Star crossed-lovers
📖 Reincarnation
📖 They find (and unalive) each other in every timeline
📖 Queer representation

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Macmillan publishing for gifting me this eARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an earc. All opinions are my own.

This book was so beautifully tragic. I hung onto every word. This was my first book by Laura Steven and I adore her writing so it will not be my last. Evelyn and Arden are two souls trapped in a never ending loop. He must kill her before she turns 18 and then they are reborn, their new life leading towards this same fate.

I really enjoyed the theme of this book of loving and knowing the soul of the person regardless of time and what body you are born into. I loved Arden and Evelyn because even though they knew what tragic event awaited them, they both yearned for each other because in every life they are the only ones who know and understand each other underneath.

This book was so sad, because even though their love transcends lifetimes, it’s not enough to get them out of this endless cycle, it’s not enough to stop them from losing loved ones in every life. This book while set in the present for the most part, took snapshots of their past lives and showed the happiness, the pain, the love, the loss, etc. While I really enjoyed these snapshots, it also hurt so much.

While I didn’t mind the repetitive nature of this story, I can see why others would get bored with it. The ending was also not what I expected. I am appreciative, however I almost wish it was longer so I could have gotten more out of it. This was a beautiful story and while I wish I fell in love with it, something was missing for me, maybe it was too high of expectations, I can’t be sure. Either way I think this is work picking up and I am excited to read more books from Laura Stevens

“I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.”

A beautiful story of two soulmates forced to live a thousand lives and kill each other in everyone.

This was a beautifully written tale of two soulmates who find each other in every life and for some unknown reason have to die before they turn 18. I found myself loving the love between Evelyn & Arden and how they always found each other no matter how they looked, they just knew. However the plot twist threw me for a loop! She’s the devil?! Or her mom’s the devil?? I’m so confused and was hoping for them to defeat her & have a true happily ever after.

In all ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 because it was a heartfelt story & I felt the real love between the couple but didn’t blow my socks off like I hoped. Maybe I’ll revisit it once there’s an audiobook.


Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the chance to read this ARC & give my thoughts.

I found this book to be achingly beautiful—the emotions glide off the page effortlessly. The writing truly spoke to me, and I’ll definitely be keeping up with this author. Evelyn was my favorite character, especially because of how powerfully she felt; her emotions were raw and compelling. However, I do wish there had been more dialogue between the characters to build tension and deepen their relationships. My biggest disappointment was the ending—it had the potential for a much more intense buildup. Overall, though, this was a moving and beautifully written read.

The premise of this one was very intriguing and I couldn't wait to read. I loved that the connection between the leads didn't depend on their gender and they always found each other. The pacing was a little slow at times and the flashbacks distracted from the plot in the current timeline