The Next Together Review

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.