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Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron (audio)

Source: Borrowed
Hoopla, 9+ hrs.
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Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron, narrated by Megan Tusing, is a time-travel romance and my 3rd book for the 12 books 12 friends reading challenge.

***Those who have severe anxiety, a recent death in the family, or have suicidal thoughts should be warned about reading this book.***

Isla Abbott has severe anxiety and lost her mother, causing her to leave Chicago for just outside St. Louis. As a graphic designer, she starts again and works mostly remote, but soon she starts getting texts from a different timeline. Ewan Park enters her life in the most unusual way, but there is an undeniable connect, even as she remains awkward and anxiety-ridden.

Isla is tough to handle at times as a reader because you hear her inner thoughts, but that’s what’s so beautiful about Baron’s characterization. She understands anxiety and the incessant voice that puts you down, and she understands the overwhelming pressure that anxiety can be.

Ewan and Isla’s relationship is unconventional given the circumstances, but oh so lovely when they connect. Baron’s novel is tragic and emotional, a roller coaster. Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron is a tough book to review, but definitely one that touches on fate and love and will be hard to forget.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Melissa Baron is a copywriter and technical writer from Chicago. She holds a B.A. in English and is a Denver Publishing Institute graduate. She regularly contributes to Book Riot and works as a book staffer at the annual Heartland Fall Forum. In her spare time, she likes to travel with her fiancé and play with their two cats, Denali and Mango. Twice in a Lifetime is her first novel.

 

Mailbox Monday #726

Mailbox Monday has become a tradition in the blogging world, and many of us thank Marcia of The Printed Page for creating it.

It now has its own blog where book bloggers can link up their own mailbox posts and share which books they bought or which they received for review from publishers, authors, and more.

Emma, Martha, and I also will share our picks from everyone’s links in the new feature Books that Caught Our Eye. We hope you’ll join us.

Here’s what I received:

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron, borrowed from Hoopla, the library audio app.

Isla has fled the city for small-town Missouri in the wake of a painful and exhausting year. With her chronic anxiety at a fever pitch, the last thing she expects is to meet a genuine romantic prospect. And she doesn’t. But she does get a text from a man who seems to think he’s her husband. Obviously, a wrong number—except when she points this out, the mystery texter sends back a picture. Of them—on their wedding day.

Isla cautiously starts up a texting relationship with her maybe-hoax, maybe-husband Ewan, who claims to be reaching out from a few years into the future. Ewan knows Isla incredibly well, and seems to love her exactly as she is, which she can hardly fathom. But he’s also grieving, because in the future, he and Isla are no longer together.

Ewan is texting back through time to save her from a fate he is unwilling to share—and all she can do to prevent that fate is to learn to be happy, now, in the body she has, with the mind she has. The only trouble is the steps she takes in that direction might be steps away from a future with Ewan.

On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe, borrowed from Hoopla, the library audio app.

What did you receive?