Time travel and reincarnation? Yes, please. This is the first book that I have ever read by Lauren James and I have to say… I’m quite impressed. Even though parts of the book felt very familiar, the overall style of writing and character development captured my attention and I ended up finishing this book in a couple of days.

How many times can you lose the person you love?

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?

Maybe the next together will be different…

Let’s get the moaning out of the way first shall we? Right, ok then. This book was Outlander and Fallen put together. Yes, that is a very odd combination, but that’s what it was.

When I was reading the parts of The Next Together that were set in 1745, I could just picture Outlander. It was so similar that it nearly put me off reading the rest of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Scottish history is finally getting some spotlight but to do the exact same time period as Outlander is set whilst there’s a massive Outlander hype going on? I don’t know…

My other moan is the ending. I know that this whole book is about time-jumping but the way this book ended wasn’t any good and it felt rushed.

That’s the moaning done then. See… There wasn’t much was there?

“‘It’s happening again,’ Katherine said, and immediately regretted it. Matthew didn’t reply, only squeezed her hand a little tighter. She knew what it meant. They were going to die.”

– Lauren James, The Next Together

Katy and Matthew are brilliant. I absolutely love them. I love every version of them. I love how they’re so similar in each life yet so different at the same time. Each version of them has these quirks that set them apart and make them both so fascinating. I absolutely loved the 2019 versions of the two characters; they were absolutely hilarious and I loved how they kept making fun of each other. It was ADORABLE!

I also loved how James used different ways of telling the story. There were notes, maps, letters, texts and online statuses. It made the book so much more fun to read and it made me feel more engrossed in the story and that I was looking at the evidence first hand.

Also… THE BANTER BETWEEN THESE TWO! I loved all of the witty remarks and the hilarious snide comments that they would make at each other. At one point, I laughed out loud on the train to university and a child looked at me funny. Oops.

This is a beautifully written story about love and how it transcends through space and time, how two souls repeatedly find each other amongst the chaos of their world and how those two people save the world.

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