Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners | Wednesday Books

I do not even know where to start with this book. This was one of the most heart wrenching and beautiful stories that I have ever read. I was really worried about how it could possibly work, falling in love with the same person life after life, and always being doomed to have it ended by that same person. I have zero complains. This prose of this book has burrowed itself into my heard and will live there infinitely. I am not much of a crier in books but this book make me cry more times than I can count, and started within the first few chapters. I was so invested in this couple and their story, and I can not wait to read more from this author.

Our Infinite Fates A Novel written by Laura Steven and narrated by Sofia Oxenham was a heartbreaking tale of love and grief with a twist at the end that I did not see coming. I loved the format Laura Steven created with the mix of flashbacks to help build the history of the characters. I did a dual read and listen. Sofia Oxenham brought so much emotion into Evelyn. Her narration performance was impeccable. 5/5 on romance (not spice - true romance) and 5/5 on emotions stirred.

Let’s start with the positives because this was BEAUTIFULLY written and I had a wonderful time reading this! Laura Steven’s writing was like a warm cup of tea with a touch of honey - it was comforting, lovely and the sweetest love story.

This keeps being promoted as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I have not read (yet!!) so instead I’ll share what it did remind me of - it gave me Divine Rivals x The Unmaking of June Farrow vibes, mixed with A Study in Drowning.

I love the reincarnation trope for so many reasons and the way this was woven into the story, both from the time and place jumps to even switching up their genders, circumstances and relationships - a love that truly defies all boundaries.

But my main issue lied within the pacing. It felt a bit slow for my taste and long at times, while brushed to quickly over certain aspects I wish had more depth. I feel like we didn’t really get to understand the amount of love and instead were told, which did a disservice to the final (final!!) reveal at the very end. When I realized what had really happened, I wished I’d perhaps cared a bit more because the impact of the reveal would’ve had such an astounding effect where this book would’ve left a mark on my soul (pun intended).

The audiobook was an absolute delight. Sofia Oxenham’s voice matched the prose in the most delicious way and led the story with such ease and intentional care. I cannot wait to listen to her narrate more books.

Will I be reading more from Laura? Absolutely! Will I be recommending this one with as much enthusiasm I thought I would? Likely not, but I think it’ll find its audience!!

This book focuses on two souls whose fates are tied together, and when they die, they find each other through reincarnation. Evelyn and Arden are star crossed lovers who for a thousand years who will meet up and find each other and on their 18th birthday they must kill each other. Evelyn does not necessarily know what form Arden will come in, but they always seem to find each other.
This book chronicles the story of these two stars crossed lovers over the years up to the present day. In this present-day story Evelyn is enjoying her family, and she doesn't want to die on her 18th birthday, but she wants to find a way to break the curse. Evelyn wants to be able to assist her sister Gracie who needs Evelyn's help to survive. The curse of Evelyn and Arden never being able to live past their 18th birthday and enjoy life till they get old starts to really wear on Evelyn emotionally.
The ending was not what I expected in that the answer to why they were cursed to die and be reincarnated in every life was different. Overall, I did enjoy this book, and I am grateful for Net galley and Macmillian audio for the opportunity to review this book. I recommend for readers who like stories of star-crossed lovers who are tied by strings of fate to follow a tragic tell.

Macmillan Audio ALC
This is my kind of fantasy - rooted in the real world, but with a fantastical element. This time it's reincarnation and they both have to die by the time their eighteen. I liked how the current plot line added tension to keep me wanting to listen, while the past timelines slowly gave more insight into what Evelyn and Arden were dealing with. I was hooked from beginning to end, and I was just amazed by the storytelling here.
I loved the narration. Sofia Oxenham captured Evelyn's complicated life so well through her performance. I could feel the triumphs and heartbreaks.

Literally the best book I’ve read so far this year, and one of my all time favorites! The perfect mix of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Ninth House, and This Is How To Lose The Time War. Beautifully written, I cried at the end (…and in the middle), and pulls at all the heart strings.

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

Wow this was good. I was immediately drawn into the story and literally didn’t set the book down once until I reached the end. I was torn between reading slowly to appreciate the captivating writing and tearing through the pages to figure out the reason behind everything. My jaw dropped when the truth was revealed. And I loved these characters in all their iterations. I especially loved what the author did with gender. Truly incredible. I will definitely be recommending this one.

Thank you to @macmillan.audio for providing me a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

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

I am such a sucker for books like this! Total 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘙𝘶𝘦 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘵 vibes, and I was here for it!

Evelyn and Arden have been fated to meet each other over and over again through centuries; reincarnating all over the world, but with the same fate of being pulled together, only to end up killing one another in each reincarnation, always before their 18th birthdays.

I loved the slow unraveling of their history together, starting with the “present” time of 2022, reaching back through the centuries of them meeting and ending each other.

I guessed and guessed as to what could have started this cycling fate, but I definitely gasped when it was finally revealed...

I was engrossed from the start with this eternal love story, and by the time I reached the end, I had the biggest smile on my face. 🥰

Audiobook notes: The narrator had a very nice voice to listen to, which made for great audiobook listening. (Honestly: I did at times question why there wasn’t a difference in voice/accent while we traversed time and place, but in retrospect, I do see how that would have been overly complicated and also possibly very cringy, so I think they did right with having a singular voice for it all.)

What this book is giving:
✅ YA Historical (+Contemporary) Fantasy Romance
✅ Reincarnation
✅ Centuries
✅ The World
✅ Addie LaRue Vibes
✅ Mystery

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5
🌶️½ / 5

I really don't know how to start with this book. I was really excited to read it, and I was so lucky to get my hands on both the eARC and the audiobook, which made it easier for me to get into this story (I'm a huge fan of mixing audiobook and ebook, because I don't have to stop when I have things to physically do...). And I really enjoyed the narration, it really helped me get back into the book when I had to stop, or when I was taken out of the story by the time jumps.
I think I'm struggling because I was so excited for this book, and it sadly didn't live up to what I had created in my mind. And I think the main issue for me was that the timeline was not linear, and we jump back and forth between the present and the past lives. And while I think it is a really intriguing and beautiful story, I found myself struggling with staying into the story. It is a me thing, I personally prefer to get lost into a story and the back and forth in the timeline makes it harder to get lost in the flow.
Other than that, I think it was still a lovely story, I did wish we saw more of the love between Evelyn and Arden, because it felt like we were more told than show their love story throughout their many lives. I do think that many readers will love this book, especially if you don't struggle like me with non-chronological books. And I will definitely

OUR INFINITE FATES by Lauren Steven was honestly a beautiful unique story.

For the moment I present play on the audiobook i was completely hooked from the first chapter.

A story about two souls, Evelyn and Arden who reincarnate over and over again; life after life, finding one another each time. Not only do they find each other, fall in love but their lives together always ends with them ending each other’s life. What a beautiful tragedy.

I love who the author constructed the story, where the chapters alternate between present and the past lives of the characters. It made the the story more intriguing and fun. I enjoyed learning who the characters were in a deep lived through their past and present lives. Asia each life they lived shaped their lives and actions in the next. Despite how they meet their end you can’t deny that Evelyn and Arden shared a profound, unbreakable bond. Their story was raw, vulnerable, romantic, and mesmerizing. Truly something I yearn.

Overall, Laura Steven has crafted a beautiful and heartbreaking love story that defies time and death. I can’t wait to read more from Lauren, such an incredible writer and storyteller.

Thank you again Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Our Infinite Fates, it was a beautiful experience.

Infinite Fates by Laura Steven Book Review

I received the ASC Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven via Netgalley and the story completely entranced me. FMC Evelyn who is reincarnated over different time periods has one constant; in each life she falls in love with MMC Arden and he murders her every year before her 18th birthday. Arden and Evelyn have a very toxic yet beautiful relationship. Evelyn has to investigate who Arden is in every life and try to find him and kill him before he kills her, but the catch is she would rather fall in love with him and die together then not expierence their love at all. Will She stay alive long enough this time to preform her sisters bone marrow transplant?
This story was unique with the compelling plot, lyrical writing style, and character development.
Laura Steven weaves two soul mates through out time repeatedly finding each other to only kill each other is so dark and beautiful and emotionally charged plot.
Her intricately woven metaphors and poetry had me feel as if I was reading a literary masterpiece causing the reading to hang on to every word as if it was a song.

My good reads link was not working below so I pasted it here: Check out my profile on Goodreads!

I absolutely loved what this author did with this concept and thought the story and build up was amazing. It very much reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE. Schwab in the style it was written and how beautiful the story was.

This is written as YA and it does make sense because the characters are technically under 18 but the story feels more mature, much like the teenagers themselves who are actually hundreds and thousands of years old. The ending was a little bit of a let down but I knew that would happen because there was frankly nothing that could be as good as the beginning.

I appreciated the Steven went into past lives and the non-binary-ness of being reborn over and over again in different genders, bodies, cultures, and locations.

I listened to this on audio and while the narrator did a wonderful job, I think it suffered from not being a full cast. The Welsh lady voice of course makes perfect sense for our current time line but its jarring for all of the flashes we get. I think it would be much better and more meaningful had these voices been more represented of who they were at the time then who they happened to be now.

Overall, though I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I powered through this book in 2 days. It is such a beautiful story. I love the flashbacks to the past lives. I enjoyed the mystery of why Evelyn had to die before her 18th birthday. This story is one I will think of in the future and will be recommending it.

What a beautiful story… gosh I just finished and feel overcome with emotions. I pretty much loved every part of the story and all the time periods and mystery and build up. It was romantic, heart-wrenching, mysterious, tragic, unique, confusing, and bitter-sweet.

Don’t even know what else to say except read it 🥰.

And I absolutely LOVED the repeating quote of: “I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.”

Also I had the pleasure of listening to the audio and reading, so I switched back and forth and the audio was so well done. The narrators voice was interesting and haunting and fit the story perfectly for me. Since finishing I’ve had her voice saying the quote above stuck in my head. Really enjoyed!

This book had me screaming, crying and breaking in all the best ways. I want to read it again already.
It is unlike anything that i have ever read before. Thank you so much for the arc.

My god this book is beautiful. The story is beautiful. The characters are written beautifully. The story, the plot, all of it! The premise of this story of 2 individuals dying and repeatedly coming back to meet again and have to kill each other on their 18th birthday is incredibly unique. The twist of Evelyn being a devil?! WHAT?! I love how there is so much intrigue all the way up to the end of the book trying to figure out why Arden keeps the truth from Evelyn, and then to find out he made a deal with her as a devil?! Wow.

The story is lyrical and the narrator was perfect.

The story is lyrical and the narrator was perfect. That ENDING!!! "Excuse me, have we met before?"

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I will definitely be recommending it to anyone I can!

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC , pub date 3/4/25. In every one of Evelyn‘s past lives she’s murdered before her 18th birthday. Her sister Grace has leukemia and she’s the only match for a bone marrow transplant to save her. Evelyn is in a race against time to stay alive past her 18th birthday so she can save her sister. The same killer hunts her through every life and she will be killed on the day of the bone marrow harvest. If she wants to save her sister she must find the devil who hunts her to change the course of her life.

I was super excited for this book because the premise was so good! And while I think it did an OK job with the story, it at times felt redundant and I wasn’t in love with the reason why they were fated. I thought it kind of came out of nowhere and there could have been more hints to the reason as the story progressed. I also did not really even feel any chemistry between the characters, but we were repeatedly told me they were in love, but how? 3.5 stars.

This book is a thought provoking story of the power of love to transcend time. This book is told from a single point of view but also told through several characters over thousands of years.

I thought this story had a lot of potential but it tried to do too much in one book. I feel like the build up to what was going on took too long and the conclusion came too quickly. I definitely had more questions than answers by the end!

I listened to the audiobook and I feel like only having one female narrator hindered the full experience of this book! Since the main characters changes genders over their timelines and yet the narration remains female causing confusion.

Overall: 3.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Plotline: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Tropes: MF Romance; Fated Lovers; Forbidden; Multiple Lives; Demons

Themes: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Spice Factor: .5
Enjoyment Factor: 4/5

Audiobook: 4/5
Review: I love this concept of multiple lives and continually finding each other. With this book, I could tell that this was a debut, but I will be watching this author. I think they have an excellent POV and have good storytelling skills. I believe that the biggest issue with this is that both of the MCs should have been adults as they were almost too teenager-y for beings who have lived and died 1000 lives. I love the flashbacks, as they added a lot of depth to the story, and it was fun to travel to different times with the characters. I wish we got more from the present-day plot line, as the only thing pushing us forward wasn't different from the past lives.
I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.