After her husband’s death, historian Lia Carrer returns to France to grieve and hopefully, to heal. Instead, she’s whisked off her feet by the enigmatic Raoul, a man she falls headlong in love with. Raoul has a a story to tell Lia, a story about a long ago murder and a past that she can’t possibly have been a part of. So, then why does she feel as if she was a part of it? Everything she thought she know about her husband, about love, life and death is challenged. Does she believe Raoul? Is the past really much closer than any of us know? This is a beautiful and time bending story of love for readers of Barbara Erskine and Susanna Kearsley

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. It is much appreciated.
This lovely read is a mix of time travelling and reincarnation even though Julie Christine Johnson's view of reincarnation is a bit different from mine. We meet three men from the 1208 that also appear in current day, while reading you are constantly trying to find out what the purpose of the three men are and how they connect to Lia. It is only at the end of the story that you will be able to connect the dots. This debut novel is truly a must read. I look forward to reading more of Julie Christine Johnson's books. I would recommend this book to all Woman fiction and romance lovers.

This very book took my breathe away from page one. I love a good book that has an haunted feeling, but are about second chances. Every word was beautiful to me, it's all so very vivid, like I'm right there with the characters.

You don't have to believe in reincarnation or time travel to enjoy the possibilities that this debut novel offers. Just go with it and let the author take you to present day Languedoc, in the south of France , enjoy the wine and the country life and before you realize it , she's taken you back to the Languedoc of 1208. A grieving woman, man's face in a window , an eagle and his hand on the window and voila - I'm sent from present to past , and I was immediately intrigued - wondering how they would connect . Then in subsequent chapters the past and present are seamlessly meshed with the same characters in both time periods. Sound confusing? It's not ! It's pretty gripping actually, as the past sheds light on what is happening in the present time and vice versa.

Lia Carrer , grieving the death of her husband, returns to Languedoc, her mother's birthplace and the place where her husband died , a place she considers home. Trying to pull her life together, and finish her dissertation on "the role of incarnation and the afterlife in Cathar theology" , her life is upended by a past that will affect her in ways she never imagined. The historical focus of the story depicts "the bloody Cathar Crusade" events I knew close to nothing about . (So of course , off I went to find out a little more . This website gives further background information http://www.cathar.info . )

It is through the characters and their stories that this historical event , the time and the place come to life and for me at its core this is a love story . Lia and Gabriel, Raoul and Paloma - I was taken by their stories and I needed to know what was going to happen to them. This is so different than some of the many current novels using the mechanism of a past story connected to a present one . This doesn't feel like different narratives but one story even though about different times . It was overall a story that engaged me with appealing characters, a view of a historical time that I knew nothing about , a debut that will keep me looking to see what's next Julie Christine Johnson.

Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this .

If you love historical fiction, multiple story lines and a little bit of time travel, you must pick up In Another Life. Plus the cover is to DIE FOR!

An intriguing tale about love and loss, life and afterlife. The richness of the language and strorytelling draws you into these characters and their lives, both past and present. A terrific debut from Ms. Johnson.

**Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley in exchange of an honest review.**

This is Julie Christine Johnson’s debut novel, but you’d never know it. She handles her subject matter – Cathar history, Languedoc setting – with confidence and has put together a compelling story of love, history and mystery.
Lisa Carrer returns to France, to the place where her husband was killed in a cycling accident, drawn by the comfort of the place and the proximity of her best friend. She is looking to start anew and finish her research into Cathar history. But a strange experience on her first night in her new house is the first of a trail of events which entwine her own life in the present with people from the past, from the actual time in history she is researching.
The story moves along quickly and kept me turning the pages, told in two strands – present day, and 1208. Originally inspired by a holiday in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, Johnson explains in her ‘Author’s Note’ at the end of the book, that she has draped “layers of fantasy over a scaffolding of fact”. This worked for me, I have a shallow understanding of the historical period and trusted her storytelling.
It is a love story which involves reincarnation, it is not about time travel. Comparisons to Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ and Audrey Niffeneger’s ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, are misleading. ‘In Another Life’ reminded me in style of Kate Mosse’s Languedoc trilogy, though the stories are completely different. Both authors clearly love Languedoc and know their Cathar history.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

I am not one to read books that involve time travel. I am a finicky reader of historical fiction, usually shying away from any book that takes place before the 19th century and certainly books set in the Middle Ages. But Julie Johnson has been a Goodreads friend for some time now, and her reviews are always so thoughtful and beautifully written that I had no doubt I wanted to read In Another Life. And I'm glad I did. The writing is reason enough to read this book -- the prose is beautifully descriptive and evocative without being pretentious. And the setting in the French region of Languedoc-Roussillon is again another reason on its own to read In Another Life -- full of history, food, wine and characters who understand good living. And despite the fact that this isn't my usual kind of fiction, the characters and the story definitely drew me in. Once I securely suspended disbelief, I was pulled into the intrigue of how these characters were connected to each other in contemporary France and again in the 13th century. Kudos to Julie. It's a beautifully crafted book. I look forward to the next one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read a copy.

“And yet, eight hundred years after his precious Paloma, Bertran, and Aicelina had burned alive in a church in Gruissan, eight hundred years after a fever had burned him alive in a cave not far from where he now stood, Raoul had returned. If only he could understand why.”
You are not alone, Raoul! I also wondered. I wondered a lot of things as I read this book. A very slow, leisurely book. A book that can and should be read next to a crackling fire as you sip tea. This wasn’t a fast read for me, it took me a bit to get into it and I found it rather difficult. Here is why.

A majority of the first half and into the second part is all a historical info dump. It’s rather intriguing but it reads more like a well-written history of France and the Crusades than anything. If you’re into history reads then this book is definitely up your alley, as for me, I require a little more story than just history.

This is an eloquently written tale about how several lives during such a horrible point in time are twined together by fate, guilt, and setting right to wrongs. There is a love triangle of sorts that is rather interesting from an adult perspective, but there is nothing childish about it.

I wasn’t too keen on the characters or, at least, I would have been if the historical info drops didn’t interfere with my developing feelings for the characters. The switching to and fro, the bringing up of history made any and all relationships feels a little… off to me. At points, it felt rushed and not eased into.

The overall plot was touching, beautiful and the book itself is beautifully written. All of your questions you form as you’re reading are answered as the book goes on, and trust me there are a lot of them…

The ending left me feeling unfulfilled for my own selfish reasonings, but it was a beautiful book. So it is well deserving of 3.8 stars

I had been waiting for quite a while to read this novel by a new author, Julie Christine Johnson, whose blog I have been following for at least four years. In this blog, she discusses her writing, what inspires her, as well as the revision and publishing process. She writes the blog in a spirit of learning which enables her readers to learn with her.

In her debut novel In Another Life, she shares her love of the Southern French region of Languedoc with the same generosity, weaving historical details with romance and fantasy to create a rich story that I just could not put down.

The plot moves from current times back to the 13th century, at a time where Languedoc was inhabited by the Cathars, a Christian group that was considered heretical by the Catholic Church. They had a belief in reincarnation that the author uses to link the activities of present-day protagonistss to the Cathars. This is not about time travel, more like a kind of "time switching". One of the great mysteries of the book concerns how a man could emerge in the present day fully formed but with memories of ancient times. Thus reincarnation is not about rebirth.

We first meet Lia, the main character, when she is in deep mourning over the accidental death of her husband Gabriel. She returns to Languedoc where she has family roots. She eventually finds solace in reuniting a Cathar family even though it meant she had to renounce her budding love for the man whom she believed was a widower when he goes back to another life.

An interesting twist of history, fantasy and romance in this book. Lia Carter lost her husband and now her job and has decided to go back to her roots to finish her research and recenter her life.

This book centers around a religion that has real historical roots and the book is based on a historical fact - an assassination and the fall of this religion to Catholicism. As a religious studies major in college this book did it for me - I loved it. The part of religious studies that I loved was the study of how religion fits into history and how much history and religion go hand in hand, no matter the religion you practice you can enjoy reading how the rise of Catholicism affected this "heretical" religion from the past.

The fantasy was just right for me who doesn't love fantasy! It is a little time travel, but it actually fit in with the thread of the religion and the story. If you are hesitant about time travel, try this one, it is tame and easy to follow and even for a hesitant fantasy reader like me, enjoyable!

To be published on macaronsandpaperbacks.net on 3/2/16

Thoughts

Ahh this book made me miss living in France! I loved the description of French culture, architecture, and history. If you enjoy historical fiction, this is a great book to curl up with (France itself is just so full of history). I was also surprised at how suspenseful In Another Life is. There were several times I told myself, "One more chapter..." and ended up staying awake an extra hour because I had to know what happened next.

In Another Life is several different genres all tied together: historical fiction, romance, suspense, and fantasy (time travel!). For that reason I think Johnson has penned a book that can be enjoyed by a variety of different readers. There is also a heartbreaking tone to the novel that I really appreciated. I always feel more connected to books that have sad or bittersweet themes to them. I love feeling those deep emotions that don't go away after I've finished a novel.

Read This Book If...

...you enjoy historical fiction.
...you love France, or you love reading books where the setting's culture is very prominent.
...you're in the mood for a heartbreaking read.
...you're looking for a book that has a bit of everything.

Final Musings

I read In Another Life as part of a book tour for France Book Tours. I miss living in France and being immersed in French culture, so I was happy to pick up this book and imagine myself adventuring in Southeastern France (In Another Life takes place not far from Carcassonne. I haven't been there myself but my husband has and absolutely loved it. I can't wait to go one day).

After the death of her husband, Lia returns to France to start a new life. When she is working on her dissertation, she finds herself encountering three mysterious men Each of these men are not what they seem, for they are trapped in time. They seek Lia’s help to solve a murder mystery that occurred in 1208. As Lia learns their stories, she learns of her own connection and how it is linked to her husband’s death. Can Lia help save these men and at the same time heal from her loss?

Lia is a very sympathetic character. She is in grief. She is trying to cope with her loss and start a new life. When she encounters these men, she finds herself drawn to one of them, Raoul. She relates to him because he has experienced the loss of losing his loved ones too. By trying to solve what really happened in 1208, I felt that it has helped her cope. She is also very smart and curious. She is also very selfless. Lia knows she has to make hard choices, and she makes sacrifices to to help these men. Therefore, Lia is a very relatable character, and I found her to be a strong protagonist.

Overall, this book is about friendship, love, loss, sacrifices, and redemption. This book is about a woman’s quest to heal from the loss of a loved one. The message of the book is that there is always hope. This story alternates between the present and the medieval storylines. I found myself liking the present storyline better because I liked Lia’s character. The story is slow at the beginning, but halfway through it picks up. The story had a mystery, and it was fascinating to find out what had happened. The characters were complex and very human. They all had their flaws, which made them very realistic. I also thought this book to be very well-written, and I liked the descriptions of France. I recommend this book to anyone who not only likes to read about mysteries and time-travel, but also for anyone who is trying to heal after the loss of a loved one.