I Loved You in Another Life

Starred review from August 14, 2023
In this powerfully heartbreaking speculative love story by Arnold (The Electric Kingdom), two teens are inexplicably drawn to each other across all their previous lives. Following his father’s abandonment and his mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, high school senior Evan Taft is reluctant to apply for his dream gap-year experience in Alaska. Meanwhile, recent high school graduate Shosh Bell drinks to cope with her older sister Stevie’s death; the loss makes her desire to pursue acting at USC feel insignificant. Evan and Shosh are strangers living in the town of Iverton, Ill., when, one day, they both begin hearing a mysterious voice singing haunting lyrics that provide directions to an unknown event. Interstitial chapters depict the two teens as they are pulled together across historical eras and continents throughout their past lives; the songs only they can hear act as a consistent grounding thread. Arnold’s prose is both lyrical and devastating (“Love had run through this house like blood through a vein”), and the narrative’s focus on love and its apparent inevitability helps to lighten the intense tragedies the characters face. Shosh and Evan read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House.

Starred review from September 1, 2023
Two teens who are feeling stuck find in each other what they need to move on. Shosh Bell and her sister were best friends. Her sister's death turned Shosh's life upside down, putting her promising acting career on hold. Evan Taft has been avoiding finishing his application for the six-month wilderness education program in Alaska that he's been dreaming of for ages due to his fascination with northern climes. He's worried about leaving his mom, who's being treated for breast cancer, and even more so his E.T.-obsessed 7-year-old brother. An almost overwhelming adoration for their siblings isn't the only thing that Evan and Shosh have in common: They both can hear music that no one else can perceive, and it seems to be pulling the two of them together. When they do finally meet, they have an immediate connection and a feeling that they've known each other before. Their alternating points of view are interspersed with stories from the past and future--1832 Paris, 1953 Tokyo, 2109 Oslo--showing that maybe these two souls are destined to find each other across multiple lifetimes. Poignant prose and snappy dialogue help build the sympathetic characters, adding layers that make the fabulism work, but the overabundant pop-culture references in the contemporary storyline will quickly date the book. The main characters are white in the present-day timeline. Fully captures the intensity of first love. (Romance. 14-18)

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Starred review from December 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Connected by their high school but barely acquainted, Evan Taft and Shosh Bell have one very important thing in common: there's no one Evan loves as fiercely as his little brother, Will, and when Shosh's older sister, Stevie, died in a car accident last year, most of Shosh died with her. As Shosh, who graduated last year, ignores her acceptance to USC's performing arts program and slips slowly out of control, Evan pushes through his senior year, tossing his own plans for a gap year in Alaska to the side when his single mother falls ill. But there's something else Evan and Shosh have in common. They're both catching glimpses of a mysterious bird and hearing strange music that no one else can hear, music that connects them not just in this life but in every life they have ever--or will ever--live. Arnold's affecting story is not quite a romance and not exactly a fantasy, although it contains love and magic both. Given life by its achingly human characters, the narrative dances back and forth in time and space, giving readers glimpses of love and tragedy from Evan and Shosh's interconnected past lives. But despite its moments of sadness, the overall tone of the book is warm and reassuring: love, it claims, will outlive sorrow, and while it can't conquer all, real love is a steady, supportive force during the unconquerable.

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December 22, 2023

Gr 8 Up-Two Midwestern teens are adrift as they fail to make decisions about their future. Shosh has graduated from high school and was set to attend college in Los Angeles to become a performing artist. When her sister is killed in a car accident by a drunk driver, Shosh is devastated and freezes in place at home. Evan is a senior and dreams of taking a gap year in Alaska with the Headlands program, but he is so worried about his single mother and seven-year-old brother that he can't imagine what might befall them if he leaves. The two connect at a nearby park when they discover they, but no one else, are hearing the same mysterious songs from a singer they name Nightbird. As their relationship progresses, they learn to accept their pain and begin to heal and make future plans. Interwoven with their story are stories of other lost souls from the past and future, in places like Tokyo and Norway, who find a similar connection. The book is written from multiple characters' points of view. Readers will find Evan's brother's obsession with E.T. charming, and will wish they had a teacher who rooted for them like Shosh's Ms. Clark. Along with the love story, there are heavy themes affecting the characters including alcoholism, mental health issues, divorce, cancer, and death. VERDICT Teen readers will adore this quirky love story that weaves two contemporary souls with the past and the future.-Elizabeth Kahn

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