I Loved You in Another Life — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: David Arnold
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: 352
Pages: Viking Books for Young Readers

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): New York Times bestseller David Arnold returns with a poignant love story about two teens whose souls come together time and again through the ages—for fans of Nina LaCour and Matt Haig.

Evan Taft has plans. Take a gap year in Alaska, make sure his little brother and single mother are taken care of, and continue therapy to process his father's departure. But after his mom’s unexpected diagnosis, as Evan’s plans begin to fade, he hears something: a song no one else can hear, the voice of a mysterious singer . . .

Shosh Bell has dreams. A high school theater legend, she’s headed to performing arts college in LA, a star on the rise. But when a drunk driver takes her sister’s life, that star fades to black. All that remains is a void—and a soft voice singing in her ear . . .

Over it all, transcending time and space, a celestial bird brings strangers together: from an escaped murderer in 19th century Paris, to a Norwegian kosmonaut in low-earth orbit, something is happening that began long ago, and will long outlast Evan and Shosh. With lyrical prose and original songs (written and recorded by the author), I LOVED YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE explores the history of love, and how some souls are meant for each other—yesterday, today, forever.

First Impressions

I read Arnold’s debut novel when it first came out and loved it. I then read two of his other following novels and enjoyed them but didn’t read anything after that. His stuff got a bit mystical for my tastes. This one came out and the cover was beautiful and caught my eye. I read the summary and it seemed on the right side of mystical for me so I got very excited when I was offered the opportunity to read this one for review.

What I thought

This book was very sad.

Shosh and Evan both hear a song that no one else hears. They follow it until it brings them together. This bird sings across time and connects others together. Evan and Shosh need to find out how they’re connected as well.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. The story is told in alternating perspectives from Evan and Shosh and is occasionally interjected with love stories from the past. The interesting part was that Evan’s chapters were tol din the first person whereas Shosh’s were told in the third person.

I’m a big fan of past lives so I loved the idea that people would be reconnected over time. I also believe that you will continue to connect with a soul until you complete what needs to be fulfilled, so I kind of expected this book to follow that same line of thought but it didn’t.

I really loved Evan. He is an amazing big brother and son and reading the chapters with his family were such a delight. He also has a therapist ad there are chapters with the therapist that I truly enjoyed. The way therapy is talked about and written I think is so important for a lot of people to read.

My heart broke for Shosh. She dealt with a lot of loss and grief and illness. I wanted nothing more for her than happiness. Now, the issue I had with this book was the ending. I got to the end and it made the whole book feel pointless to me. It was sad and I was upset and I just felt like, ok…? So, unfortunately, that kind of killed it more me. I was leaning a 3.5 but maybe closer to a 4 until the end where it feel more to a 3.