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adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death
Moderate: Mental illness, War
Minor: Sexual content
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Murder
Advanced Reader Copy • Netgalley
When I lifted her urn
When I lifted her urn
Divinity says, "Destiny can't be earned or returned"
I feel when I question, my skin starts to burn
Why does my skin start to burn?
Ah-ah, capital loss
Love was the law and religion was taught, I'm not bought
Feel when we argue, our skin starts to rot
Our skin starts to rot
(Fable, Gigi Perez)
This was incredible, devastating, and beautifully written. I was a fan of all the characters, and the popping back into the past lives was incredible. I cried several times & adored the ending.
The only thing I wish was different was they should have done more with Cary!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Stalking, War
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful, tragic and addictive!
I really struggled to put this down! There’s so many questions you want answered as you read it and I loved being taken through the different times and slowly reaching the answers. It was incredibly immersive and addictive.
♥️🎀♥️🎀
The Premise:
Bran, soon to turn 18, can remember her past lives. And knows that in every life, before she turns 18, her soulmate / hunter, Arden, will kill her or she will kill them.
But in this life, she wants to live! And most importantly she needs to live long enough to donate bone marrow to her sister. So she sets out to stop the man she suspects is Arden, by any means.
All the while, we see glimpses of their former lives and how this all came to be!
♥️🎀♥️🎀
It’s all incredibly tragic. And like Bran, we have no idea why this keeps happening, but still find ourselves falling for Arden, despite their fate. I really loved Arden, he’s an incredibly tortured soul, but I adored his pretentious poet heart and the fact he was so angry about the translation of his words. Whilst his motives are confusing at times, the adoration he has for Bran is clear.
And I loved the flashbacks that slowly took us back to the origins of the curse. Most of them were heartbreaking, but there were some flickers of love and hope in each story. And their array of different times, places and cultures the book took us to, was fantastic!
And the love! There was a bittersweet nature to the story, given the amount of suffering, but I loved how they were always drawn to one another. And their love truly did not care for gender or sexuality. They were just two destined souls.
And the ending. I was worried how this would all be explained, but I really liked the direction it went in! There was a reveal that had me gasping! And whilst the ending was a tad heartbreaking, the final chapter leaves you with a sense of peace.
All in all, I loved it! And can’t wait to explore more of Lauren’s books!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Murder
Minor: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, War
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was good, but not really my thing. I think people who enjoy more literary/poetic prose and poetry will get more out of this than I did.
I think this book is aiming for something similar to what The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and This is How You Loose The Time War were trying to do, but does it better and actually pulls it off. I enjoyed how expansive the locations and time periods were, it truly gave the sense of how long these characters had been fatefully intertwined, but we are only in each setting very briefly and the majority of the book is spent following the present timeline.
I think the weakest aspects of the book were in the present timeline. The present never felt like it had as much weight as it should have because it was written in the same style as the fleeting glimpses of past lives. I also felt like the reveal of what had caused the entire premise was somewhat lackluster. I really didn't feel the romance, either. Despite all the poetic prose about the love between the main characters, it just felt like I was being told they loved each other and it seemed more like a trauma bond if anything.
Again, I think other people will enjoy this book more than I did. It's not bad, and I think the premise was done justice, I just prefer characters to feel a little more grounded and rounded.
I think this book is aiming for something similar to what The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and This is How You Loose The Time War were trying to do, but does it better and actually pulls it off. I enjoyed how expansive the locations and time periods were, it truly gave the sense of how long these characters had been fatefully intertwined, but we are only in each setting very briefly and the majority of the book is spent following the present timeline.
I think the weakest aspects of the book were in the present timeline. The present never felt like it had as much weight as it should have because it was written in the same style as the fleeting glimpses of past lives. I also felt like the reveal of what had caused the entire premise was somewhat lackluster. I really didn't feel the romance, either. Despite all the poetic prose about the love between the main characters, it just felt like I was being told they loved each other and it seemed more like a trauma bond if anything.
Again, I think other people will enjoy this book more than I did. It's not bad, and I think the premise was done justice, I just prefer characters to feel a little more grounded and rounded.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, War
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Sexual content, Car accident, Suicide attempt
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven is a fantasy and romance blend. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦.” I mean, if that doesn’t make you want to pick up the book, then I don’t know what will. And if the first chapter doesn’t leave you shaking your head and muttering “what the f—k”, then is it even worth reading?!
Right off the bat, it was giving me mad Addie LaRue vibes (from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, which is one of my all time faves.) Which, I already would’ve known this if I had read the actual blurb for the book and not just BOTM’s synopsis. Because it’s literally the very first thing the blurb says. But, alas, I will forever and always be terrible about reading blurbs of any book before diving into it, but what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be here.
I really enjoyed the writing. I found a lot of the lines to be very poignant and insightful about life and love and mortality. The time jumps were interesting to see not only Arden and Evelyn’s relationship in a different time period but also the little snippets of history throughout. Other than the whole murdering each other thing, I think it’s a beautiful idea for two people to keep coming back in each life and always finding each other again.
I love the idea of the little lost book of Arden being later turned into a published book of poetry in the aptly named “Ten Hundred Years of You”. I love the idea that a small piece of yourself, cast off and lost, could someday make it out into the world and you’d live on through your words in people’s hands and thoughts. (I guess that is *quite literally* what being an author is, but I like the idea of it unintentionally happening here.) The excerpts of the poetry from the book throughout really ties it all together and conveys the nature of Arden and Evelyn’s connection to each other. And, I love that Arden writes more poetry in each life, no matter where or who he is. That a fiber of your being is so strong that it reappears in every single life, no matter the circumstances.
I really felt the tension of the buildup to the explanation of the reason for their peculiar situation. But the final reveal fell pretty flat for me. It was good, but it wasn’t great for me. I also was confused when Arden was sometimes referred to as “they” instead of “he”, particularly when I’m already trying to grasp what is happening in the plot and when it was done so inconsistently.
Overall, I’m glad I read this one. It was one of my March BOTM picks. I’m sure that I would not have picked this up otherwise, and this book is exactly proof of why I keep my subscription going. It definitely expands the genres and authors that I read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Forced institutionalization
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Violence
Minor: Sexual content, Torture