Book review: Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey [blog tour]

Sometimes I'm in the mood for a straight-forward romance, at others I enjoy racking my brains over a good old-fashioned mystery. Meet Me In Another Life is all that and then some; love story, sci-fi, family drama, mystery, all wrapped into one stonkin' good read. 

Thora and Santi live dozens of different lives. They're friends, family, lovers, colleagues, and much more. Sometimes they are the same age, sometimes they are born decades apart. But they always meet in Cologne where the constellations feel slightly off and the clock at the top of the tower is frozen in time. 

During their first few lifetimes they live their lives in a linear line. But as their stories become intertwined over and over again, they start realising that something strange is happening to them. Have the stars always been in the same place in the sky? Have they been together before? As they start to remember glimpses of past lives they try to find out how it's possible that they've lived so many lives together and yet the world around them never seems to age.

When I started reading Meet Me In Another Life, I did not expect the rollercoaster of a ride I was in for. The first time we meet Thora and Santi, they also meet for the first time (or is it?). It felt like the start of an epic love story, but one which had an unexpectedly quick and shocking ending. And when I flipped the page, they met again. Same people, same city, different story. Almost as if they were different people. And yet there were enough shadows of their past selves to confirm that these are in fact the same Thora and Santi.

But what had happened? Had they time travelled? Did their subconscious journey to an alternate universe meeting different versions of themselves? Were they reincarnated? Whatever you may think as a reader when meeting these two characters time and time again, it remains intriguing until the very end. 

And each of the different versions, the meetings and the lives shared, were so well thought-out, regardless of how few pages some of the lives actually filled. The characters were incredibly well-rounded, their stories so unique, that I didn't want any of them to end. And when they did, I was wistfully hoping for glimpses of these past versions whenever we were meeting new renditions of the characters we'd come to know and love. 

Meet Me In Another Life is an incredibly unique and fascinating novel. While the premise is complex, each of the lives lived by Santi and Thora was so distinct and gripping, that as a reader you get swept away each time, almost forgetting there is a wider mystery lingering at the edges of the pages that is waiting to be resolved. I, for one, almost didn't want to know the answer, because it would mean my time with these wonderful characters would be over. 

But an answer we do get. This is not one of those books with an unsatisfying open ending, leaving readers gasping for more or setting up a major cliffhanger for a second instalment. It has a solid conclusion; albeit too soon for my liking as I didn't want to say goodbye to Santi and Thora's stories just yet. So what is pulling these characters together life after life? The clues have been there all along....

'Meet Me In Another Life' by Catriona Silvey is published by Harper Voyager, and you can order your copy now from your favourite book shop.

Blog tour stops for 'Meet Me In Another Life' by Catriona Silvey

This review for 'Meet Me In Another Life' is a part of the official blog tour for the launch of the book. Make sure you check out the other stops for some wonderful content!

Disclaimer: This book was gifted to me by the publisher, but this has not impacted this honest review.