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

* “The cruelest fate the gods and stars had ever written: the person I loved most in the world was the person that would ultimately destroy me.”

I loved this book so damn much.

It was like the Addie Larue meets Divine Rivals, all blended together.
Which if you know anything about me, that's high praise.
It was a slow paced character heavy book, and it did take me a minute to get into it.
But switching to audio helped me, and I didn't regret a second of it.
Now, I want to reread, and annotate it!

O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D

Evelyn remembers all her past lives and each one of them she gets murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a boy who hunts her through every single life. He is the person she loves the most, but ultimately destroys her in every single life. She has not been able to figure out why.

In her current life, she has a sister who's sick and needs saving but in order to do so she needs to break the curse and get to the bottom of why she's destined to be killed by Arden in each life time.

Infinite Fates takes the reader on a journey through time. Evelyn and Arden change -- face, bodies, gender -- but to each other they are always just THEM. I loved this message of two souls calling to each other and destined to be together in every single lifetime regardless of gender, but to me this was also the weakest part of the book as the time jumps and different characters (albeit same souls) took me out of the story on more than one occassion.

Let me finish by saying though that I think Laura Steven is an incredible talent and her writing is absolutely gorgeous -- I was taken by the poetic prose and I look forward to her next book! I wouldn't be surprised if Our Infinite Fates becomes the next Divine Rivals.

Thank you @netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.




They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one.

The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life before they find her first, figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse, and try not to fall in love . . . again.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

This was a highly anticipated read for me. However, when you comp something to Addie LaRue…the expectations are HIGH and I’m slightly bummed that it didn’t measure up.

BUT! I still really enjoyed the read, and here’s why:
- a beautifully tragic premise: two people are reincarnated over and over again, and fated to kill each other in every life (and fall in love in most of them)
- the mystery of WHY this has to keep happening that kept me reading, and I did not see the answer/twist coming
- poetry and unique words from many different languages were interspersed throughout the book and as a word nerd I really enjoyed that
- in each life, the two souls are reincarnated as different genders each time (and still find and love each other) and I’m always here for queer/LBGTQ+/non-binary representation

My only qualm with the book is that in every flashback to prior lives, the focus is on the time before imminent death. I really wanted more of their blossoming love in each life in order to be fully invested in their love story and fates.

Overall, though, this is a great book that explores the ideas of fate, souls, language, and the enduring power of love in a death-filled world. Releases March 4th!

I have written and rewritten this post a dozen times since I finished this well over a week ago.

To start, I’m pretty sure this just appeared on my NetGalley shelf so I take that to mean that the universe wanted me to read this book.

As soon as I heard the premise, I was sold. The idea of fate or destiny being what drives our life has always been something I’ve pondered. Some small chances seem so unlikely in this big world that it’s hard to not believe in destiny.

The stories of Evelyn and Arden’s past lives and deaths are woven in seamlessly throughout their current life and offer constantly changing worldviews for each of them. Despite changes to everything about their life, location, gender, socioeconomic class, and more, they are still recognizable as their “true” self. Some lives you see them know each other deeply and some lives they are barely acquaintances, yet the draw between Evelyn and Arden is always there.

The more I got to know Evelyn, the more my heart would break. But, just as with Evelyn, as a reader we don’t get the full story of why this is her fate.

I can’t wait for this to be out in the world as it’s just a beautiful story of love and hope and how destiny can be changed and not be changed at the same time.

ARC review: 𝒪𝓊𝓇 𝐼𝓃𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝐹𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓈
𝐵𝓎: 𝐿𝒶𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Where to even begin? This story was beautifully written, so beautiful that it had me crying in the middle of the night.

Evelyn and Arden are connected, tethered, fated. They’ve lived many lives and always find each other, it’s beautiful, BUT in every life Evelyn has died at the hands of Arden before their 18th birthday.

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

As I mentioned above, our main characters have lived many lives, they’re reincarnated, reborn. In each life they’re different, different bodies, different people, different genders. Which is what makes it all more beautiful, because no matter what, they managed to feel that pull and fall in love or feel some sort of strong connection to each other.

I loved how the book was formatted with getting to see glimpses into their different past lives, I just wish there would’ve been more 🥹.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐦𝐞”

this was seriously a solid book. poetic, beautiful, tragic, and reflective.

I was absolutely not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I was not a fan of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but I wanted to give this book a try. I am so glad I did. I was sucked in from the very first chapter and did not want to stop until I had my answer of WHY? Why does this happen, and why can’t it stop? I kept trying to guess the reasoning throughout the entire book, and I was nowhere close to the correct answer. When a book can provoke strong emotions from me, then it’s definitely a five-star read. I was so invested in this centuries-long relationship of two reincarnated soulmates

I am now in a book hangover and have been ruined for my next books.

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

DNF- This might be a right book wrong time situation but I am struggling with the lyrical writing style and decided to set this one aside. I am sure this book will work for a lot of people but I am not one of them right now.

“You see me to my very core. I know that to be true. Nobody has ever known me, or will ever know me, like you do. That’s such an intimate thing. You can’t help but be drawn to someone who understands your every word, your every step, your every heartbeat. And I love the connection you have to nature. Your roots are buried so deep in the earth. When I see a gnarled tree root or a beautiful lake, I think of you. It makes it feel like you’re all around me, in every branch and leaf, in every butterfly and every bramble.”

This book made me weep. It was gorgeous, raw, and so heartbreaking. Possibly my favorite book I’ve read this year (and it’s February). Laura Steven did such a beautiful job with this book — it broke my heart and put it back together and broke it again. The love between Evelyn and Arden weirdly made me feel very seen — I saw myself in Evelyn, and I can imagine many readers see themselves in her too. Her capacity for love, her intense emotions as she loses Arden again and again in her many, many lives. It was gorgeous and heart wrenching and genuinely made me feel.

Our Infinite Fates follows the heartbreaking story of Evelyn and Arden, cursed to live to eighteen years old hundreds of times throughout the centuries. They have a gravitational pull forwards each other — they are the suns in each other’s orbit, the center of each others’ lives, despite being dated to kill each other over and over. Despite losing their families, their freedoms, and experiencing history in gut wrenching ways, they always find their ways back to each other. Arden, a tortured poet, and Evelyn, a girl who loves deeply and reverently, are deeply written and unfold across the pages beautifully. I loved how Evelyn loved in particular — not only Arden, but every family member and friend she had come across in her many lives.

“We were everything, we were everyone. We were love and want, pure and raw and perfect.”

I thought the twist of their relationship and the real reason for their fates made it even MORE tragic. I thought Steven fleshed out the story wonderfully and every small detail made it even more compelling. I also loved the snippets we got of some of the lives they got to experience. It added to the story and made their relationship real.

This was a gorgeous book and I’m so excited for you all to read it. It means so much to me already, and I can’t wait for it to come out!

***I apologize in advance, I cannot write this without some spoilers***

I have to say I respect the way this came together at the end. I was shook in such a good way. Now having read the whole thing, the choppiness and the melancholy is the entire point. I think there could've been a bit more chemistry between the characters as their love was soooo deep and for such a long time, I feel it could've been expressed more. Also, I thought it was a bit unrealistic to say they had never had sex. If you've loved someone for that long, it had to have happened at some point.

Enough yapping, overall this was a really good read. I loved traveling in time and to all the different locations and the poetry seriously is so beautiful. Read this book

I enjoyed the centuries of love between these characters, and the different genders/stories of each life were unique. However, the past snippets of their story were so short that I almost didn't care as much about their love as I wanted to. I know the whole concept was that they lived such short lives, but I just wanted more of the love? Maybe it's because their love story felt more like something written in a different time period because it lacked the banter and modern yearning that we've become accustomed to. It definitely makes it a unique story that sort of transcends our modern books and I appreciated what the book was doing there, I just wanted more of the falling in love part, I guess.
Anyway, overall I thought the book was beautiful and the twist was unexpected! I'd say a 4.5/5 stars. I really enjoyed how the soul's personality shone through no matter the time period or gender of each character.
Definitely written masterfully in that aspect.
Is this a book I will fan girl over? No, but I don't think that's its intended purpose and would sort of cheapen it. Do I recommend it? Absolutely!

This book was such an amazing read, with the beautiful love story along with the beautiful writing. I honestly don’t know what to say about this book besides how this relationship was an excellent example of what love can truly mean. On top of this devastatingly beautiful love story, the plot twists somehow kept hitting me left and right and I truly had no idea how the story was going to end until it did.

I loved seeing how the relationship between Evelyn and Arden transformed over time through each era, and how each life influenced their dynamics in the next one. Their love for each other was shown in the simplest but most meaningful of ways, and it is the literal definition of unconditional love. Evelyn’s outlook on the necessary coexistence of living and loving brought so much meaning to the story and the reasons for all of their choices.

The ending destroyed me, but it was perfect for the circumstances. I loved all of the messages the author sent with this story, and it truly hits home with the message that love can and does conquer all.

Thank you thank you thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced e-copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

The description for this book was spot on - it reads like Addie LaRue and I love it! The story was very captivating and the characters were intriguing. I've already recommended this book to many friends.

4.75 ⭐️ Wow, this was incredible. It’s still early in the year, but this is already a top contender for one of my favorite books of the year! Our Infinite Fates dives into soulmates, curses, reincarnation, and what it means to be human. If you liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, this might be your next favorite read.

I loved the way the story unfolded. Jumping between past and present added so much depth to the characters, and I almost wish we got even more of the past timelines to really feel the love between them.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Now off to read all of Laura Steven’s other books!

Well I’m still processing what I just read. On one hand it’s just utterly sad and romantic and on the other hand I didn’t like it as much as I thought. I felt kinda cheated at the end, I don’t want a spoiled it but Evelyn kept saying over and over something about Arden and I just think the epilogue just reaped everything away for me. Don’t get me wrong the writing is poetic, fantastic and deeply emotional but the plot and the reason WHY it’s just a bit lacking in my perspective. I’ don’t know maybe my expectations were so high that I just felt let down but I feel the book didn’t really end and I’m missing the REAL epilogue.

DNF (might revisit)
Yup I tapped out. I tapped out pretty fast. It’s not a good sign when I’m immediately thinking of examples of other stories that I liked better or skimming the words already in chapter one.
It did not capture me. The prologue had the potential, but then it quickly turned cringe and cliche. It could’ve worked if that final scene’s dialogue hadn’t been so overdone melodramatic. And maybe if it built up better. But I kept going. Cause prologues are always hit or miss but I don’t let them affect my opinion. Unfortunately chapter one did it no favors. It went from 3rd person omniscient to 1st person, but I had no idea who was narrating for way too long. I also couldn’t give two shits about the narrator. I was given no reason to care. Despite being 1st person, the lens was too far removed. On top of that the narration was still so cringe. It felt like the style of narration that might get away in a middle grade or very young young adult. But even then it would at still be cringe. All this was then compounded on the fact I found myself already skimming the pages, as though searching for something more interesting. I knew this was not for me at this moment in time. I would love to give it another chance in the future. But right now it’s a sad pass.
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

The structure, setting and concepts were all unique and singular. Quick and lovely prose! I’m excited to read this authors adult debut next.

Our Infinite Fates takes an incredibly difficult premise to execute -- they love each other in every life, and kill each other in every one -- and delivers beautifully.

Laura Steven is a masterful writer, capable of making me feel things for characters on a page that may only live for a chapter. She brilliantly weaves this story through many timelines, taking readers everywhere from Siberia to the Song dynasty.

"'My love for you could fill an ocean, Evelyn," There was an awful resignation to her tone. "But it can't stop the tide of time."'

From the first few chapters, I had a terrifying suspicion that this book would break my heart. And by the last few chapters, I was yearning for Arden and Eveyln to find the peace they deserved.

"I missed him before I was even gone; a kind of preemptive grief I'd grown so accustomed to over the last several centuries. In a futile attempt at self-preservation, my mind rehearsed loss before death closed its fingers, as though practicing it would lessen the blow."

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing March 4th!

Our Infinite Fates follows two sort-of-star-crossed lovers who are always reincarnated over time, drawn to each other in every lifetime, and must kill each other by their shared 18th birthday, for reasons left unclear until close to the end of the story. The book was certainly readable, considering when I got to around the 50% mark and was feeling over it I chewed through the rest in about 36 hours. In all honesty this was partially on me-I don't know why I requested a YA ARC about reincarnation and multiple lives when I generally don't like books about time travel, etc. I think it was the gorgeous cover, to be honest! Honestly (based on my personal feelings) the "This Is How You Lose The Time War" comp should have been enough to make me not even request this one to begin with (I see the comparison but although I felt similarly underwhelmed by that book, I honestly don't think the two books are THAT similar). I wavered between a 2.5 and 3 stars on this one, but since I went into it primed to not love it because of the genre, I rounded up to try and be fair.

My main complaint (which again, I probably should have seen coming) is that the storytelling of the past lives felt very repetitive-the chapters are short and while they cycled through different sexes of the two characters (which I appreciated!) and different cultural settings and time periods, it was pretty much the same every time and when you know each one will end the same way there isn't really any suspense. Because we only had short glimpses of the characters in their past lives, I also didn't really feel much in terms of chemistry between the two leads-we're told they have a great love story but we're just kind of asked to take it at face value since we don't see that connection really grow and develop over time. The big reveal near the end of the book also made me laugh; as it shook out it was fine, I guess (although it did kind of blow out the scope of the story in a way that felt kind of incongruous so close to the end of the book), but just the way it was written really hit as funny for me when I doubt it was intended to be so. I liked Evelyn but she also made some baffling choices in here and while she herself acknowledges readily in the text that they were stupid (lol) it's still like girl...but why.

I think if you're more into the genre than I am and feel drawn to the premise you'll probably like this more than I did-the characters are generally likable, it's a quick read, and other (maybe less cynical) people REALLY seemed to enjoy the romance-across-time-and-space aspect.

I am not enjoying the writing style of this one. Those who gravitate more towards lyrical/metaphorical writing styles may like it more. I find the writing is keeping me from getting into the story.

4.25 stars / 5, rounded to 4!

I was drawn into Our Infinite Fates from the very start, devouring the book in under 2 days, which is lightspeed for me at this point in my life! The characters are compelling, the plot interesting, the prose absolutely and heartrendingly beautiful! I cried and hoped and despaired and wondered why all this was happening to our main characters... and then at the 80% mark was the twist reveal.

The explanation behind everything didn't pay off for me, nor was it executed as well as it could've been. Pacing suddenly went from 0 to 100 and then the book was just over. The explanation could've worked well had it been fleshed out beyond the 53 pages we were given — that includes the backstory AND the resolution to the overarching plot, which itself is only a measly 31 pages of poorly done worldbuilding.

The first 80% of the book vastly outshines the last 20%, to the point where they feel like different books. I wish I could rate Our Infinite Fates in parts because:

0-80%: 5 stars across the board.
80-96%: 2, maybe 2.5 stars for generosity.
96-100%: 4.25 stars (minus the very last chapter, which on its own I would give 2 stars because it read as a lackluster afterthought).

I would have vastly prefered the reasoning behind everything be left a mystery.

Despite my intense dislike of the explanation and plot resolution, I really loved most of this book. So much resonated with me about love, and grief, and loss, and what makes someone who they are. I would still recommend reading it in general, especially for fans of star-crossed lovers and fated soulmates!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free digital ARC for my honest review!