A Contemporary Mystical Romance What if I told you the greatest love stories ever told–Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Salim and Anarkali, Romeo and Juliet and so many more–are far greater tragedies than anyone has ever realized? What if I told you that you haven’t been reading a new story… just a new chapter in one epic saga? If I told you…all of those lovers…were actually the same two souls … actually the same two souls seeking their happily ever after over and over again, would you believe me?
Would you believe them?
Born again,
Love again,
Part again,
Was their curse.
In this modern era, will they find eternal love or will they be doomed to repeat the cycle forever?
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3.5 Stars
#1. Editing is important.
If I had read this as an ARC, I would’ve been more lenient. I also would’ve probably emailed the author asking if I had a pre-edit ARC, and I might’ve even sent her notes on the errors. I am a red pen reader, I can’t help it. Maybe a pre-edit copy was accidentally uploaded to Amazon, I don’t know. There were so many errors that it was pulling me out of the story. Punctuation, spelling, tense, etc.
It really is a shame, this easily could’ve been a 4.5 star read for me.
#2. Multi-faceted is two-fold.
This book has so many layers. I’ve been thinking on this review for a few days and I’m honestly not sure if I want to analyze all the elements of this story or if I just want to bask in the glow of the message and the ending.
#3. Kikuko and Kosuke
This was probably my favorite part. I have a hard-on for Japanese things, I can’t imagine why…
Their story, I wanted more of it. I loved them. Now, I understand why their story is there, I got it, at least I think I did. I just keep thinking there was something more that I didn’t see.
#4. Heartache on top of heartache on top of heartache, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into. I read the synopsis. I knew. But for whatever reason, I did not expect the individual tragic love stories to hit me the way they did. It hurt so good ya’ll!
#5. The End
Well, that was unexpected. And somehow makes this feel like NOT a tragic story. #HappyTears
I know my review is vague and that is on purpose. There is just so much to this and I feel like anything more specific would be spoilerish.
If you can see past the editing errors, absolutely give this a try.
But all you grammar nazis, you should probably stay back until the errors are fixed.
I wanted to like this book SO much more than I actually did. I loved the idea – two people who live a thousand lifetimes and fall in love in each one, inspiring some of the world-famous romance stories throughout time – and there were moments where J.J. McAvoy stunned me with her words and knowledge of history, and made me literally laugh out loud at some of the funny stuff Esther said and did. But there were also times where the writing was juvenile and disjointed and I found myself wondering if it was the same person writing it. I loved Esther’s goofiness, but I never really got any deep emotion from her, which made it hard to be invested in her storyline with Malachi. The Yamauchi backstory was really interesting, but it didn’t seem to really “go” with the rest of the book and I wondered why it got so much space. I think McAvoy herself summed it up really well in the words she wrote Malachi saying to Esther:
“You’re a terrible writer… (but) You’re a beautiful thinker. I can see what it is you want to say but you’re just making things complicated.”
*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.