I rated this book a 6.5 out of 10.

I enjoyed the idea of book having two parallel realities experienced simultaneously. I found myself wanting to like one version more than the other. I enjoyed reading the book, but it didn't really grab me.

I love parallel timelines and alternate universe stories. I find them so fun and fascinating. I enjoyed reading the overlap of each reality, and finding the lines that were shared between the two. I wonder if the book had been too short? I feel there wasn't a whole lot of depth to the stories to bring me fully invested in the characters.

The character development fell flat for me. Each character had one defining trait about them. The fact our main character's defining trait is that she likes cinnamon rolls... not quite the selling point I was hoping for.

A simple choice faces Hannah; go home with a friend, or stay out and party with an ex-boyfriend. But what consequences await her? Does she make the 'right' decision? Watch her life unfold in both scenarios in a 'Sliding Doors'esque tale and consider the concepts of fate, soul mates and whether everything happens for a reason. 

I've never really been drawn to this author's works as they're just not my usual genre, but she was the latest pick for my work's book club. When I looked at the blurb for this book, it seemed like the most logical choice for me; the 'what if' scenario is one I do tend to enjoy and so I hoped that would make it a bit easier for me to get through. 

Generally speaking, this is a perfectly good book. Despite jumping between two alternative realities, the narrative is easy to follow, engaging and a little thought provoking. There are certainly darker moments within it, but overall it's also quite a light read. I did enjoy the examination and comparison of the two timelines and how the smallest decision can lead to far reaching consequences, while also being able to see the threads of life weaving their way through both realities. 

That being said, the pairing of certain moments in both realities meant that the story was ultimately very predictable. When taking the genre of the story into consideration, it became even more so - it feels like there should have been more surprises after the major difference at the outset, but there just aren't any. It therefore very quickly became a game of trying to work out where in the other narrative particular events would happen.

I loved the soulmate element, particularly the premise that your soulmate depends on what universe you're in (yay for the multi-verse theory!). It actually fits very well with my own outlook on life - I absolutely believe there is one perfect person out there for everyone. But the choices you make might just change who that person is. I thought this was a very clever spin on the subject and I have to applaud the writer for her beautiful explanation and illustration of the theory.

But, overall there is something missing from this book for me. For a story that does deal with some quite deep ideas and themes, it feels incredibly shallow - I can't say that I engaged with the characters or felt the world coming to life around me as I read. The introduction felt like a last minute addition to serve purely as an info-dump and was pretty much entirely unnecessary, and even those moments where you should have been deeply feeling the characters' feelings were tempered by a lack of anything below the surface.

It's not that there's anything inherently wrong or bad about the book... it just didn't speak to me in the way I hoped it would.

4.5 stars

I myself have always wondered, "what if I did this one thing differently, how would my life have turned out"?  That is the concept around the book  Maybe in Another Life, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am a huge TJR fan and have read almost everything she has published. Maybe in Another Life is a good book, just not my favorite one by her. You can't blame me when other books like "Daisy Jones and the Six", "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo", "Forever Interrupted", and "One True Loves", have had a lasting impact on me. Maybe in Another Life centers around Hannah, who in her mid twenties is unsettled and doesn't feel like she has ever had a place to call home, not to mention she is currently running from a disastrous relationship. Hannah runs back to her home town and back in the life of her bestfriend Gabby. Once home Hannah runs into her old high-school relationship Ethan. But what starts off hopefully catapults Hannah into two sperate scenarios one being what happens to her if she leaves the bar with Ethan and one where Hannah leaves the bar with her best friend Gabby. 
Taylor explores both lives through beautiful writing that stir all the feelings up in the reader. The only issues I had with Maybe in Another Life is how fast Taylor has wrapped up the story. It felt extremely rushed at the end, just trying to tie up both lives in a happy little bow. But it left me with questions. How did Hannah's life with Ethan look like, what about Henry her night nurse. I wanted those missing fast forward moments written out. I wasn't ready for the rush and in her other books there was never a feeling of it being rushed. I just needed more from Taylor. But it was still the classic Taylor Jenkins Reid book and I will continue to read whatever she publishes.