This started off ok but at 20% I was bored and decided to 'DNF'. Nothing was gripping me with the storyline or the characters and I felt the alternate timeline was annoying/pointless.

Jodie is both a lovely person and a talented writer. Every one of her stories I have been obsessed with and Another Life was no different. Beautifully written, characters with depth that felt real, interesting and well thought out plot. Superb! Really enjoyed reading it.

Written from the prospective of Nick, this is a delightful, beautifully written story that i found myself immersed in instanty.
The character development throughout was wonderful to follow, and the storyline in itself was well paced and kept you engrossed throughout.

*Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Another life is a beautifully written novel told from the POV of Nick.

The timeline jumps back and forth where much sadness is uncovered in his life; the loss of his mother and the harrowing account of the loss of his brother, Sal.

Throughout Anna is a constant, always there in his thoughts, his memories and his present.

This is more than a love story, it’s a life story of love and how some of us may never find it whilst for others it’s there for us all along

Oh this book ….. I had to wait for weeks after finishing it to write this review as I just cannot put into words how I feel about it. It left me bereft and exhausted but with a glimpse of hope too and it’s just beautiful but haunting at the same time.
It’s an ugly crying in the bath kind of book!
The way Anna and Nick meet and their early relationships is so beautifully written. Full of teen angst and the colliding of two very different worlds, it’s raw and passionate and all consuming and this really comes through in the writing. It’s that first love feel but when it develops into something so much more.
I equally adore and hate how their journey goes and where they have come from. I hate how much the characters go through and I just wanted to wrap my arms around them and make everything better, especially Nick – his childhood broke my heart when it was revealed and I had to leave the book for a few days to process. It completely highlighted how split-second decisions, actions and accidents can change so much, including the paths we take in life. What I adored was that these were included. This is no fluffy love story (I love them too). Another Life is a warts and all look about how things don’t always go the way we would like or expect in life and that happy ending we seek isn’t always easy to come by, or there at all. It’s real and poignant.
The characters are beautifully developed and I loved seeing them through the eyes of each other – exquisite and perfect. But they aren’t perfect, sometimes they’re way less than but they are real. As a reader, I became so entwined with each of them (Anna, Sal and Nick) and felt as though I had such intimate and personal insights into their lives, loves and thoughts – almost like I shouldn’t have been there.
I cannot describe the mess of emotions this book made me feel but it’s so perfectly written that it’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel. I cannot wait to see what else Jodie Chapman hits us with in the future because Another Life is simply intricate and stunning.

Well, I think this book pretty much broke my heart, and I was quite happy for it to do just that. Beautifully written, it tells the story of Anna and Nick. They meet at their summer job at the local cinema and fall fast and hard for one another. But Anna is a Jehovahs Witness and her life is mapped out: marriage, babies and wait for the judgement.

But Anna can’t seem to give Nick up, and they have a summer of poetry, music and love, before Anna realises that she will have to give up this life in order to live the life expected of her. She can’t imagine losing her family.

Nick never forgets her, and everything feels like second best. Then something awful happens and Anna and Nick meet again years later.

I loved this book and would most definitely recommend it. It’s just wonderful! ❤️

***ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.co.uk in return for an honest review***

Nick and Anna have a summer. A summer of intense love that will shape their lives long after that single summer is over.

An incredible, beautifully written novel about love and loss and the impact that these things have for a lifetime.

This novel is one of those rare stories that I will read again and again. The story will resonate with the reader, delving deep into what makes us who we are. It is a story about nothing and everything. Seemingly ordinary lives that exist with one hand stretched into the past, afraid of how it will affect the future.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this book at all - I found the small narrative window where Nick was looking after Salvatore to be by far the most interesting bit. I didn't understand the appeal of Anna at all and found her to be leaning towards the manic pixie dream girl trope, one I am not a fan of. While I normally enjoy domestic novels, the quotidian nature of Nick's life was not amplified in any way by Chapman's writing.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Michael Joseph for approving me for an ARC of this book.

This story is told from the POV of Nick and flips back and forth between different parts of his life. This might sound confusing but the chapters are clearly marked for which year you are in so it is easy to follow.

Part of Nick’s story focuses on when he first met Anna and that one summer they spent together. Young and in love the desperately tried to cling on to each other but due to Anna belonging to a ‘cult’ theses star crossed lovers were doomed from the start.

When Nick and Anna part ways as a reader you hope that isn’t the end and it isn’t. Fate has a way of bringing these two together on more than one occasion but it always seems to be that the timing isn’t quite right. At points in the story we get emails and poems written by Anna to Nick that I thought beautifully translated her thoughts at that point.

Whilst I loved Anna and Nick’s journey and thought it was particularly refreshing to only get Nick’s POV I was more drawn to the rest of Nick’s story. His childhood was very traumatic and one incident in particular was very shocking but it was his complete and utter loyalty to his brother Sal that shone through the pages.

Another Life asks the age old question of ‘can you ever escape the one who got away?’ and depicts the life of a youth in a ‘cult’. Whilst the author never names the cult as Jehovah Witnesses we learn from the authors notes that is the intended group. Drawing from her own experiences, Jodie Chapman’s story is raw, honest and beautiful.

I really enjoyed reading about Nick and Anna’s lives and how their lives intertwined and came back to each other. It gave me strong Normal People vibes, but I enjoyed this one more than I have Sally Rooney’s as I feel there’s more emotional connection to the characters in this book. It touches on a few dark and emotional topics so watch out for that.

I found myself being shocked by the twists in the book and I really felt the grief here. I would recommend this book but with caution, there is a lot of hard-hitting topics discussed.

Sadly I really struggled with this book. It took me so much so longer than it normally does to read a book and because I kept picking it up and putting it back down, I ended up reading it disjointedly over months instead of days.
I just couldn't get on with this as I'd hoped that I would.
Because the story is told across several different timelines and switches every other page, it can get quite confusing to keep up with everything. There were also several characters who had rather similar names which didn't help either.
It does give you Sally Rooney/One Day vibes but because of the issues I had with this, I just wasn't as inclined to keep reading or as gripped as I should have been.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Could not get past the first few chapters, it wasn’t so much the heavy subject matter but just that the pacing and flow wasn’t great. Ultimately I dnf’d quite early on

A truly gorgeous book that will spend its life living in the shadow of Normal People and it deserves to exist independently.

Nick and Anna are such whole and compelling characters who’s motivations are at times frustration but always understandable and they are both so lovable in their awkwardness.

Just really really sad - like a David Nicholls book. Be ready to cry! The writing is very 'millennial fiction'; so if you like that you will like this.

Sorry I’m unable to provide a full review for this title and apologise for not fully looking into the book before requesting. Due to the subject matter in the opening chapters, I couldn’t read on as i find it incredibly difficult to read about suicide for personal reasons.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I was not drawn in and found the writing style a little confusing. Thank you for the opportunity to read.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this book, I struggled to pick it up. It just didn't stand out for me.

I absolutely loved this book. It will absolutely break your heart, you get so invested in the characters that you want to shout at them through the pages when they're in the wrong. This would make a wonderful tv series.
5 Stars

Fans of Salley Rooney will enjoy this sliding doors novel. The relationship between the two main characters is intense, I did feel like shouting just tell him/her how you really feel! But that would have ruined the delicate balance of the plot, both characters have millstones round their necks to deal with.
I will definitely recommend this novel

I had started the book with trepidation. It appeared to be about a suicide. I almost gave up because it sounded so depressing. I would have missed out on a book with much subtlety, complexity and beauty. The story moves back and forward in time, and its combination of tragic incidents and finding love. Despite a tragic childhood incident which impacts his whole family, he has built enough of a shell to wade through life, when he meets the love of his life - who due to her religious family, can only commit to a single summer. The summer is magical and has lasting effects on all involved.

The characters are so believable - flawed and human- and the love story handled with such expertise and delicacy. The story has so many shades, and evokes a varied spectrum of emotion from the reader - delight, charm, frustration, empathy, distress and hope. Once it had gathered momentum, I coudlnt put this down. Highly recommended - and a complete surprise!