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A review by headbangerhijabi
Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Okay so it's been a few days since I finished this book; I think I've finally collected my thoughts. I gotta say, it was a roller coaster of a book.
FIRST OF ALL IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE HEADSPACE TO READ ABOUT SUICIDE/SUICIDE IDEATION, NEGATIVE SELF TALKING, ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is a really great story, but if you are not in a good place mentally to handle that it can be a lot. I haven't had a book make me cry in less than 50 pages in a long time but this one did.
I'm going to put the rest of the review below the spoiler
So my thoughts.
1) i saw a lot of other reviewers complaining that Isla's anxiety almost seemed like a whole character. Like it was the villain waiting in the wings. And here's the thing, Anxiety irl presents like that a lot of the time. I have a little voice in my head that tells me a lot of the same shit that Isla was thinking to herself. I've gotten better but that whole "second character who's job is to belittle you" is very accurate to how my anxiety can present itself. One of the tricks I use to keep her at bay is to treat her like a Starbucks Karen. Isla's anxiety is a lot more severe than mine is but this story is about her learning to stand up to her own mental Karen, Ewan helps a lot but at the end of the day Isla is the one who needs to stand up to Karen.
2) I love Isla and Ewan's relationship. He's great at pulling her out of her shell, and she's someone that Ewan feels like he can be himself around. I get the feeling that Ewan feels judged by a lot of people in his life, and as a second gen kid in an immigrant community that feels so accurate. Being able to follow along with a conversation but not being able to contribute is definitely something that resonated in my personal life. Also, the way their little nerdy banter plays off one another was ADORABLE AF
3) I love the entire premise of the story and the writing was great! my ONLY complaint is that it wrapped up way too quickly. Maybe it's because this is a debut author, and she's still finding her stride, but to have the resolution to Isla's second attempt at resetting the timeline be sequestered to the Epilogue made it feel a bit rushed. I like that the overarching story was that Isla needed to learn to accept herself even when bad things happen, but at the same time we had to sit through the bad timeline where Ewan was gone and we got almost nothing from the good timeline where everything works itself out.
4) I LOVED EWAN. I even wrote in the margins when he first got the call from Future!Isla that if he was the one who dies I would riot. AND I FUCKING DID. the first 89% of the book I flew through in like a day and a half. The like 10 pages from the Accident to when Isla realized she could call him again took literally FOUR HOURS of me pacing and crying and screaming and cussing to get through 😅
5) I love that Future!Ewan was able to get Isla to a place where she was able to step out of her comfort enough to meet him in a different way than they had originally. I love that she was able to learn how to accept the issues that would come, and that Current!Ewan was quick to learn how to work with her quirks. Their relationship felt real. Ewan made mistakes, so did Isla, but they worked through them in a way that didn't feel too "Hollywood we've got five minutes to wrap it up" which I think is why the ending felt so jarring. like I didn't want to have to read the hospital scene again, cuz ooff, but if there was a few more scenes, like maybe their wedding or them moving in together after the accident would have been nice. (OR even an announcement that "the accident was x amount of years ago"). I do love that Isla did get to have her moment with the gallery, but I wanted a bit more......
6) I do wish we got more of Ewan's POV chapters. Like I would love to have a Future!Ewan chapter where he realizes what's happening with the messages. Or even just a bit more of Current!Ewan's thoughts. I also REALLY want to know if Isla ever actually tells Current!Ewan about Future!Ewan and Future!Isla...... like what was that conversation even like?!?!?!
Overall solid story, the rushed ending was my only real gripe.
FIRST OF ALL IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE HEADSPACE TO READ ABOUT SUICIDE/SUICIDE IDEATION, NEGATIVE SELF TALKING, ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is a really great story, but if you are not in a good place mentally to handle that it can be a lot. I haven't had a book make me cry in less than 50 pages in a long time but this one did.
I'm going to put the rest of the review below the spoiler
So my thoughts.
1) i saw a lot of other reviewers complaining that Isla's anxiety almost seemed like a whole character. Like it was the villain waiting in the wings. And here's the thing, Anxiety irl presents like that a lot of the time. I have a little voice in my head that tells me a lot of the same shit that Isla was thinking to herself. I've gotten better but that whole "second character who's job is to belittle you" is very accurate to how my anxiety can present itself. One of the tricks I use to keep her at bay is to treat her like a Starbucks Karen. Isla's anxiety is a lot more severe than mine is but this story is about her learning to stand up to her own mental Karen, Ewan helps a lot but at the end of the day Isla is the one who needs to stand up to Karen.
2) I love Isla and Ewan's relationship. He's great at pulling her out of her shell, and she's someone that Ewan feels like he can be himself around. I get the feeling that Ewan feels judged by a lot of people in his life, and as a second gen kid in an immigrant community that feels so accurate. Being able to follow along with a conversation but not being able to contribute is definitely something that resonated in my personal life. Also, the way their little nerdy banter plays off one another was ADORABLE AF
3) I love the entire premise of the story and the writing was great! my ONLY complaint is that it wrapped up way too quickly. Maybe it's because this is a debut author, and she's still finding her stride, but to have the resolution to Isla's second attempt at resetting the timeline be sequestered to the Epilogue made it feel a bit rushed. I like that the overarching story was that Isla needed to learn to accept herself even when bad things happen, but at the same time we had to sit through the bad timeline where Ewan was gone and we got almost nothing from the good timeline where everything works itself out.
4) I LOVED EWAN. I even wrote in the margins when he first got the call from Future!Isla that if he was the one who dies I would riot. AND I FUCKING DID. the first 89% of the book I flew through in like a day and a half. The like 10 pages from the Accident to when Isla realized she could call him again took literally FOUR HOURS of me pacing and crying and screaming and cussing to get through 😅
5) I love that Future!Ewan was able to get Isla to a place where she was able to step out of her comfort enough to meet him in a different way than they had originally. I love that she was able to learn how to accept the issues that would come, and that Current!Ewan was quick to learn how to work with her quirks. Their relationship felt real. Ewan made mistakes, so did Isla, but they worked through them in a way that didn't feel too "Hollywood we've got five minutes to wrap it up" which I think is why the ending felt so jarring. like I didn't want to have to read the hospital scene again, cuz ooff, but if there was a few more scenes, like maybe their wedding or them moving in together after the accident would have been nice. (OR even an announcement that "the accident was x amount of years ago"). I do love that Isla did get to have her moment with the gallery, but I wanted a bit more......
6) I do wish we got more of Ewan's POV chapters. Like I would love to have a Future!Ewan chapter where he realizes what's happening with the messages. Or even just a bit more of Current!Ewan's thoughts. I also REALLY want to know if Isla ever actually tells Current!Ewan about Future!Ewan and Future!Isla...... like what was that conversation even like?!?!?!
Overall solid story, the rushed ending was my only real gripe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Injury/Injury detail