I'm going to pause this and pick up a physical copy. It's not that I dont like the narrator, the audio is just confusing going back and forth between times. I feel like I was dropped into the middle of something I know nothing about and I can't seem to get a handle on what's going on. I'm hoping seeing it in print will help. 🤞 I do appreciate being sent the audio though as that's my main form of reading.

Only rating because I have to

Laura Steven’s take on conscious reincarnation was breath of refreshing air in the popular romantasy genre. I enjoyed the little tidbits of history throughout the characters’ centuries of reincarnation. The addition of detailed & accurate historical references could have elevated this book to four stars.

Although overall I enjoyed this book, the amount of words it took to figure out why Arden was repeatedly killing Evelyn was painstaking. You have to read/listen to EIGHTY percent of the book until you get any idea as to why any of this is happening. Light clues sprinkled throughout would have helped with my frustration.

As an American, I found the narrator’s English accent and lilt pleasant & soothing. Tone changes for male characters were smooth & not awkward sounding as some female narrators are when using a masculine tones.

Thank you Netgalley and Saint Martin press!

It took me 2 days to read this gripping ya fantasy! Evelyn is just a girl who has lived 1000s years only till the age of 18…. You might ask how does that work? Thats not mathematically possible? Well she just reincarnates every time she is killed by her ex lover. Arden.

Oh my god every time we went backwards into one of her reincarnated lives i just wanted her to get away sooo badly!! Thats what made me finish it in 2 days i just wanted to understand and really like how historical it also was and it just left you wanting more with each chapter

The ending was not what i suspected kind of disappointing in some ways. I wanted it to be an answer I understood more but i didnt so thats why i gave it 4 stars ✨

I do recommend this to anyone who like a dystopian ya book with a touch of fantasy!

This book was so gorgeous! Top tier angst, yearning, and character growth. The romance was so deep and heartfelt and the conversations concerning grief, family, and belonging was very well executed. I also found the diversity to be incredibly refreshing. The narrator did a great job!

Why this book?

1. The book comparisons alone. It’s The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue x This is How You Lose a Time War. I’d also add The City of Glass. All of these books I adored, so it’s no surprise I loved this one. I think my biggest criticism in these big century hopping concepts is it’s hard to land the plane. That being said, sometimes the adventure vs. the destination.
2. My goodness, tension 🤝 pacing. Just perfection. This book was hard to put down. Often I found my breath caught in my throat.
3. “I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.” The love quotes in this book made it an awesome February/Valentine month read. 👩‍🍳💋

I want to thank @Netgalley for both the audiobook and kindle ARC’s on this. With this level of devilish yearning, the gluttony of having two mediums to consume this was awesome.

4.5/5

2.75⭐️ spice: barely any
very conflicted with this one because although the authors prose was giving me five star feelings, the story itself really fell flat for me. At first I was really enjoying it but the fact that the characters die before we get to know them and they change bodies, genders, centuries, families etc it really took away from me being able to root for them since they were constantly changing, and the direction the book went at the end caught me off guard. There were so many beautiful quotes in this but the story went from amazing to slightly disappointing which made me bummed. But I am interested to read other books by this author since her writing was beautiful!
The narrorator was great but I preferred reading this one physically.

For once, the marketing comparisons are accurate - if you liked Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, you'll probably feel similar about this. And if you didn't, this has a lot of the same issues, improved maybe slightly.

The concept is one I love - combining constant fated soul reincarnation with having to kill your fated partner in every life. it's the sort of thing I eat up with a spoon. The problem for me is once you've got that concept, the scope of the execution of it and the reasoning behind why they're stuck in a reincarnation and death loop is just as important to me as however lyrical and painful each life is. The other problem is the more you try to explain it, the more work you have to do to make that explanation work both at the start and all the way through the resolution. Sometimes less is way more. And here, for me, the explanation just isn't at all satisfying compared with both Evelyn and Arden's actions throughout the years.

There's also the issue of trying to balance a global, no-borders sort of reincarnation and not being completely out of your depth when writing those lives. It becomes increasingly obvious that Steven is British in the lives that aren't set in the western world (and even then there are only like...two) and Evelyn and Arden are always on the "right" side of history (from a 21st century perspective, and while both are happy to spout off lines about humanity and ethics with a distinctly modern ring to them, we never examine things like the fact that they've both been in wars and lived so many culturally different lives but were still more than willing to lie about their ages to enlist for WWI). That's not even getting into some flat-out incorrect historical facts (the Song life is rife with them and I can only express my thanks that the "crossbow at Mt. Fuji" life isn't ever actualized), including my favorite that tomatoes weren't in Europe until the 14th century, if the reincarnation cycle started around 1000, they could never have had a life in Pompeii, etc. etc., things like that that are poetic lines, but make no sense if you stop and think for more than a second.

ANYWAY. I actually would have liked less of the other lives, as they don't add all that much (they could have, but they're mostly repetitive themes instead of adding context to their relationship really evolving and changing) and more of Evelyn and Arden talking in this life about what that tipping point in Siberia was, delving more into why Arden's happiness was just watching Evelyn get to live, things that they don't get a chance to talk about in previous lives because of the impending deadline. I did love the fact that as much as this is a book about death, each death is so wrapped up in love and the result of living.

I did also really appreciate that each of them has lives in all sorts of bodies, that their love is of the soul and there is an abundance of queer love (once again there is a...very modern western view on queerness, but if you're here for nuance, uhhh....). There are also so many different explorations of love, familial, friendship, so much found family.

I think this will be a huge hit with its intended audience, and those outside of that will depend on their threshold for teenage characters (despite being immortal souls, both Arden and Evelyn - Evelyn in particular since she only remembers so many lives - are and act like teenagers), since for arbitrary (western) reasons, we've picked 18 as the threshold age (I would have been more forgiving if the number had something more to do with the original starting life, but no, it's just "oh at 18 you're adults" ONLY IN CERTAIN CULTURES??? Anyway.). I did enjoy reading this and it made me want to read so many parts in so many different orders.

As an audiobook, I really appreciated that although there weren't specifically different voices for each character, the cadence and tone was shifted enough to change life to life and character to character so that you never get confused (and there are a LOT of characters when you add up all the lives) Oxenham's voice complements the more lyrical moments of Steven's writing really well.

*update* I get not tagging authors in a negative review and I won't tag authors if it was a 3star or less. That said this book IS a 4 star read for me. I can't put my fingers onto why it isn't a 5 star read. IDK. My review is more positive then it is criticism and even then the "criticism" is more my personal opinion. I didn't say that she was a horrible writer or that the story was bad. The story is amazing, I LOVED the premise and she has an amazing way with words. I just *personally* wish it wasn't YA! I made the mistake of sharing one of her post along with sharing this review. I got a response of "why would you tag me in a review that is almost entirely criticism?" *shrugs emoji* I didn't read her reply to my reply of " wait what? I loved the book?" I made a coworker go in and delete the message because I could not be bothered. That said, it left a negative taste in my mouth and while I will not be petty and lower my rating, I canceled my preorder.

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

I'm giving this a 4 star.

Laura Steven is undeniable a very good writer. I loved the writing, I just genuinely wish this wasn't YA. I get it because of the plot, but ugh ... the POSSIBILITIES. That said if I was 16-18 years old and reading this I would probably give it a 5 star. I'm also wondering if I would have rated it differently if I read it versus listening to it. I did still order a UK special edition though.

I love the premise of this book. I also loved the multiple timelines but I do wish we got to spend more time with the two main characters. We know they're in love and they love one another deeply, but I wish there was more "show don't tell". I personally wasn't expecting the "twist" as to why they're trapped in this loop so I was like wait what? That said the resolution was just a bit toooo tidy. but eh it's YA. I also love. LOVE. that every reincarnation it isn't necessarily male/female. Sometimes it's male/male and sometimes it's female/female and I LOVE it. They love one another regardless.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, i loved the writing, but I wish there was juuuuust a bit more.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

It’s unfair that I will never get to read or listen to this book for the first time again. Wow, I loved it.

This is a stunningly gorgeous, magical book following Evelyn and Arden through various lifetimes over 1000 years where they are fated to fall in love and kill one another before their 18th birthday in each lifetime. Their lives take them all over the world and put them in all sorts of cultures and different genders each time. Each life they find eachother and live out their cursed fate.

But now it is 2022 and Evelyn is living in a life where her younger sister needs her bone marrow for a cancer treatment and she must figure out who Arden is and try to find a way to stay alive long enough to make sure her beloved sister gets the treatment she needs.

I was captivated from the first page. This is one that I’ll be purchasing and reading again and again.

Audiobook narrator was Sofia Oxenfam and she’s fabulous. I’ve found a new favorite narrator!

Kudos to the author, Laura Steven, for this brilliant book based on my favorite Taylor Swift song (ft. Bon Iver), Exile.

This is a story about love after death… again and again and again.

Ahhhhh I LOVED this book. This book perfectly captured the experience of yearning while somehow also interweaving it with the promise of death over and over. Love sick assassins?! I want everything I read this year to feel like this.

Thank you so much @macmillan.audio & @wednesdaybooks for the Arcs of my most anticipated book!

I think anyone who wanted to love Addie LaRue but found it to be lacking in plot, will love this book!
This book was everything I wanted out of Addie LaRue. It was interesting and I loved that we got many other lives as the story untold.
Overall the story was told very well, the one thing I feel was missing was the love story seemed lacking in a way, mainy in the end when the story was unfolding.
But a solid 4.5 star read for me and I can definitely see myself rereading this in the future.
The audiobook narration was done well and kept me hooked.

Oh, I loved this one. It was lyrical and sweeping, reminding me of ADDIE LARUE or TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. I really enjoyed all of the glimpses of other times in history and liked the grouchy mmc. I did not expect the twist towards the end. Highly recommended. Really enjoyed this one and will be recommending it to friends--perhaps a top read for 2025.

Wow! What a beautiful, unique story! I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this before. The love story in this book spans many lifetimes, yet each one still packs an emotional punch. My personal favorite chapters are the Wales ones. I don’t want to say too much to spoil anything, but be prepared for a beautiful, heartbreaking, thrilling story about two people finding each other in every lifetime. Also, the audio was fantastic.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the opportunity to listen to this advance audio copy.

A thousand lives lived, countless memories shared, and endless “I love you’s” whispered between two immortal souls tethered together through time. This is such a uniquely written story with many beautiful elements. The main characters are deeply complex and the different time eras and cultures are richly described throughout the book. The narrator did a wonderful job capturing what I imagined the main character’s voice and emotions to be.
I really wanted to love this book more than I did… I was totally thrown off by the last 30% of the book where it takes on a bizarre twist that just didn’t feel like it belonged to the same storyline anymore and the ending fell a little flat from there.

I would give the story 3⭐️ and the narration 4⭐️

. I loved this book. It definitely has feels of The Invisible Life of Addie la Rue in it, but different. Evelyn and Arden are tied together throughout time. They love each other in every lifetime. But they also kill each other in every single lifetime. Evelyn can remember every lifetime and this time, she wants to live. She wants to save her sister. How can she stay away from Arden before he finds her this time around? This book jumps from the current timeline of 2022 where Evelyn is living and trying to save her sister and other lifetimes where she lived and met Arden and they fell in love and then died. This is a beautiful story of what a person would do for love, all different kinds of kinds of love.

I absolutely devoured this audiobook. The narrator was *chefs kiss* perfect. An absolute 5 star read.

I was attracted to this story based on the cover alone. The description pulled me in further. A heartbreaking love story that will take weeks to get over.

Synopsis: Imagine knowing you are set to die at the hands of your soul mate no matter what life you’re living.

I ✨100%✨ recommend this book!

What is the meaning of life when you know it is so fleeting? Is it worth it to love when you know it will always end? What would you do, to save yourself? To live?

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

Evelyn (Eve-lynn) has never lived past the age of eighteen, though she's lived hundreds of lifetimes. Always on or before her birthday, her ethereal rival, Arden, finds her and kills her, ending both of their current lifetimes. Moments later, they reincarnate in other bodies, in another part of the world. It happens again and again and it hurts every time. With only fuzzy memories of her many pasts, Evelyn wants, finally, to understand why Arden is so determined to kill her in every lifetime so she can finally put an end to it and just once, grow up.

Arden has gotten very good at disguising themselves, so Evelyn studies every face, every glance, every person near her age she can in hopes to find them before it's too late. And this time? She's determined to beg at least a few more days. Her beloved sister is dying - she needs a bone marrow transplant from Evelyn, who is her only match. She may have lived a thousand lifetimes, but she's loved her family in every one, and she won't let her die. She's the only one who can save her.

This story is layered in complexity and meaning and has such a compelling premise. A tagline this good makes you want to find out more, and its design keeps you turning pages. We get to experience the few memories Evelyn has of her past lives, the pieces she's sorting through to find clues as to Arden's motivations to kill her, no matter what. Even in lifetimes they've been desperately in love, Arden will not let her live past their birthday. The contrast between the intrinsic love and the violence of murder is fascinating. As far as they know, Evelyn and Arden are the only ones in such a situation, reincarnating and remembering their past lives. It is just the two of them, in all their infinite fates.

Our Infinite Fates has been compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab, one of my favorites, and I would agree. Both novels have the mercurial factor of an outside, unknown force just beyond their understanding pulling invisible strings. They're both written by very skilled authors. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to weave a tale this intricate and vast. And both have endings that are just *chef's kiss*

Absolutely five stars from me. Though I was gifted the audiobook (the narrator was amazing), I've preordered the hardcover as well because I'll be reading this again, no question!

I actually have already read this book in print, but selfishly wanted to try the audiobook as I’m trying to get more into audio for fiction and I knew I loved this book. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, with the most perfect ending. I know I will read/listen to this many many times over the years, it’s one that pulls on your heartstrings even when you know the outcome. Audio specific, this narrator’s voice is so soothing, it was really lovely to listen to.

I’m so sad I didn’t connect with this one the way I wanted to. The book isn’t confusing but the overlap in timelines and them killing each other in every single lifetime got over 1000 years without us knowing why until the very end left me just so bored. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat waiting to find out why they have to kill each other. I was rolling my eyes at the end of each chapter because I was confused why we weren’t being told why and then once we were told why I was left feeling 🤨. The reasoning was strange for me and out of left field lol. Which is what the author probably wanted but it really did nothing for me.

HOWEVER, maybe if you’re a fan of stories like Addie La Rue (not my usual genre) you might really enjoy this one! I think sadly I thought it was for me when it actually wasn’t.

4.5 stars ⭐️
“I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.”
A unique story with “Addie Larue” vibes that asks the question how can the one fated to kill you be the ones that makes you feel so alive? Beautiful writing. Perfectly executed switches in timeline throughout. Ah was such an enjoyable one!!
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook!