#AmReading - Library Loans

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The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
Published by Berkley on June 27, 2023
Age/Genres: Adult, Romance, Time travel/Enchanted realism

Goodreads

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

I cannot properly express my affection for this book, but I will try. I have tears in my eyes as I type this review because I was so touched by this story.

When I met Clementine, her life was her job, but once upon a time, she went on adventures with her aunt. She traveled to foreign lands and danced in the rain, but all that ended with her aunt's death. Clementine was now in protection mode as she was tired of everyone in her life leaving her, but it seemed as though her magical apartment has different plans for her.

All these books with touches of magic have been finding their way to me lately, and I have been LOVING them. Here, we had a magical apartment that seemed to know when one was at a crossroads in their life. It would then bring the person back seven years in time to meet someone of importance to them. In the case of Clementine, it was Iwan who a was young chef moving to New York to embark on his dream.

Her interactions with Iwan were very meaningful, and not only did her time with him help Clementine process her grief, but it also reignited her lust for adventure. It meant so much to me that Clementine was able to "chase the moon" after her world was shattered.

The romance was wonderful, the magic was well utilized, there were amazing supporting characters. I simply adored every second of this book and cannot wait for the next Poston book. 

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Published by Viking on September 29, 2020
Age/Genres: Adult, Sci-Fi

Goodreads

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? A novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

When I started this book, I joked that 1.4 million readers could not be wrong, and you know what? They were so right. This book was something special. It captivated me from the very first page and by the end, it had embedded itself in my heart.

I have struggled my whole life with mental health issues, so a story like this could go either way. Glad to report, it went in the right direction for me. It was a beautiful reminder that we have choices and second chances, and regrets are only regrets if we see them that way. I have seen many reader mention It's a Wonderful Life, and I can see the shades of that in later parts of the book. That was definitely something I enjoyed because I think everyone wants to matter in some way, and many times, we forgot to let people know they matter to us. This combination of how each choice shapes our lives, and also, how we can impact other lives in ways we may never know had such a huge impact on me.

I was enthralled by Haig's storytelling and commend him on being able to make a book about rather weighty things seem light and even whimsical. I have an engineering degree, so obviously I enjoyed all the multiverse talk, but I oddly found all the nods to philosophers interesting as well.

Overall, I am so happy I took a chance on this book which is a bit different from my norm. The Midnight Library was thoughtful and thought provoking while also evoking so much joy. This is definitely a story that will stir my emotions for a long time.

Do you have a favorite time-travel book?
Let us know in the comments!