How many times can you read a book you love? Easy: an
infinite amount of times.
How many times can you lose the one
you love? Hard: Katherine and Matthew are about to find out.
The
Next Together is Lauren James’s debut about reincarnation and true love. The
story follows two characters, Katherine and Matthew, through four different
time periods, 2039, 2019, 1854 and 1745. In each time period, each version of
Katherine and Matthew are trying to save the world and change history while
they fall deeply in love each time. Before any version of Katherine or Matthew can
do anything with their love, they are tragically separated just to be reborn
again and forget each other.
This
book is extremely original because of its format. Firstly, one of my favorite
things about the book non-writing-wise, is how each time period is written in a
different font. 2039 Kate and Matt’s story is written a futuristic-looking
font, while 1754 Katherine and Matthew’s journey is transcribed in a
type-writer-looking font to match the time period. Secondly, I also enjoy the
small timeline bar that runs across the top of each page with a little arrow
pointing at where Katherine and Matthew are in history (or the future) at that
point in the book. Lastly, another treat are the newspaper clippings, text
messages, website pages, diary entries and refrigerator notes that each chapter
has an abundance of. Each one adds humor to the story and tells the reader
something about Katherine and Matthew. They are also really nice because they
can break heavy bits of text easily and keep the story interesting.
Another
interesting aspect of this book are all the time-landscape notes at the bottom
of each important document, important moment or progression. These short notes
make it seem like there’s another element to the story, as if there’s someone
watching Katherine and Matthew, which is definitely creepy but keeps readers on
their toes. These notes also make readers wonder if there is some sort of
technology behind the reincarnation.
Now
onto the actual book. I loved the pacing of it most of all, because I never
once mixed up any of the Katherines or Matthews. I personally got a bit
confused when the when the one intervention that was allowed happened, and then
all the description that followed (if you read the book, do you follow what I mean?)
but when I kept reading, everything worked itself out and it all made sense.
You just had to read through it. Also, I got confused on who was fighting who
over what during the siege of Carlisle in 1754, but that’s probably because I
never learned about that in any history class. Although, the nice file note
that explained the Crimean War under the map of the route on page 37 was
extremely helpful with what was going on in that time period and I can’t help
but wish there was something similar for the siege of Carlisle in 1754. My last
note on pacing is that even though part of me wishes there was an intervention
sooner, where it actually was matched the pacing very well. You could not get
mad at the perfect pacing of this book.
I also
loved the effortless way James weaved the time periods together. Readers start
to notice that each Katherine and Matthew are essentially the same people when
the Katherines of the future time periods start dreaming and imagining their
Matthews wearing the same clothes that the historical Matthews might wear.
Also, some aspects of other Matthews and Katherines stay connected even as they
keep being reincarnated, like how Matt wanted to be a journalist when he was
younger like Matthew was in time period 1854 (as explained on page 141). And of
course, the traces of witty humor and shy awkwardness stay completely attached
to each Katherine and Matthew readers learn to love just as deeply as they love
each other.
In
short, this book was amazing, witty, humorous, and a book I would definitely recommend.
The format of the book, including all the neat notes, pictures and documents, the
font types and the timeline bar added another element of creativity and
thoughtfulness. The pacing was wonderful and extremely easy to follow. I never
once felt lost and, after reading other reviews, I know other readers feel the
same way. The writing was amazing and, even if there were no bibliography, you
could tell James did her research on the historical time periods. Each
Katherine and Matthew were reminiscent of Katherines and Matthews of other time
periods.
The
whole story kept readers on their toes and was definitely worth it in the end. I
cannot wait to read the second book and hope to see much more of Lauren James in
the future.
