100 Books in 2018

37/ the next together by lauren james

read: 12.05.18 - 15.05.18

book: The Next Together

author: Lauren James

blurb: 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...

review: I have the 2015 proof version of this book because I managed to pick it up from a second hand shop, so I'm not sure how much was changed in the final version of the book, but I'm sure it wasn't radical changes.

I thought I would really like this book. I love history, I loved the concept and thought it was going to be so cool, and yet I was left very disappointed. This book just left me feeling like... Meh. A lot of people love this book on Goodreads, and maybe I found the romance aspect of it too overpowering but I thought this book would be a lot cooler.

So I had three main problems with this book:

1) Historical inaccuracies. I understand that some things had to be changed due to the very nature of the plot (such as the events of war etc) but come on! If you're going to write part of the book set in 1785 you can't have your servant character and your genteel lady making out and all that. That just didn't happen at all. People didn't do that. Stay true to the period, it makes it better.

2) The confusing plot line. I love a good plot which has like three separate plots in it. I really do. But this was very confusing because all of the different plots set in different time periods kept merging into one at the end and that left me very confused. Also it kept mentioning things which I hadn't been told before in the novel, so that was confusing.

3) The whole romance storyline. Argh, it was so cheesy. They all fell in love so perfectly and with no obstacles in their relationship except war or some rebels. Their relationship was perfect, and their arguments were always funny and cutesy. It was just so unrealistic and cheapened the whole story if I'm honest.

rating: 5/10