I so cared about Anna and Nick and desperately wanted them to find their way together. I agonised with them over the raw pain of past events which affected them so strongly, the inability of Nick to express his feelings, the pressure Anna felt being torn between the beliefs instilled in her from her upbringing and finding her own way. The tragedy of Sal bearing the scars of a terrible but innocent event in his past. A stunning and memorable read.

A thoughtful love story with an intriguing timeline, which follows the story of Nick and Anna, and the obstacles to their romance.

The book tells the story of Nick and Anna over four decades. They spent a passionate summer together while working at a local cinema. It all came to an end when Anna decided to return to the fold of the world she had grown up in, a religious community she just cannot break free from. Years later a tragedy brings them together once more.
This book broke me and infuriated me at the same time. A beautifully written story of love, loss and joy. The story is told by Nick and the timeline jumps all over the place. It is quite confusing at first but becomes easier as you settle into the rhythm of the book and by the end it all becomes clear.
I loved the writing and the way the author gradually revealed the key moments in Nick’s family life that made him like he is, particularly his apparent emotional shutdown and cool nature but I just could not take to the two central characters which is why its 4 star and not 5.
One Day by David Nicholls is one of my favourite books ever and I couldn’t help drawing the comparison with a book in which I was so heavily invested in the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

A wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time. I loved how the book moved between different time periods and brought the characters of Nick and Anna to life. There were several unexpected plot twists which I gasped out loud at. This is a deeply moving novel about how deeply our past can impact on our future if we let it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for a review.

So many rave reviews for this that possibly I went into reading this with too high expectations and was left a little disappointed,
I found the main character Nick Mendoza so self-indulgent and happy to lead people on with his actions and inaction, I couldn't warm to him at all. I know the back story gave a lot of context as to why he had put such barriers up, but the results on other people's lives were huge and he frustrated me. I saw someone had compared it to Sally Rooney's books, and I had similar frustration with that - so possibly just me and what I took away from it,
As for the other main character Anna, I really felt the divide that she had in her life between family commitments and first love, it was interesting to hear at the end that it had come from personal experience from the author. Perhaps if the book had been more about Anna and less about Nick I would have warmed to it more?

So its a 4/5 from me, mainly because I think the issues I have with it are my reading of it, not what the author has done

Much more than a romantic love story. This is a book about love in all its wonderous forms.

Nick and Anna are just wonderful characters. Both of them are pained and searching for meaning in their world. But Anna is scared of the love she has for Nick and he is scared to tell her he loves her. At times I wanted to shout to Nick just tell her but then I understood why he felt he couldn't and It broke my heart. There is a reveal later about his mother that made me weep.

The story is narrated through three different timelines. And it is gorgeous and nostalgic. You can feel the heat of the long idyllic summers and wander with them through the streets of the town. I was swept away wanting to know what happened to his Mum but equally so I was entranced with their romance and why Sal was so damaged.

There are so many layers of relationships in this book, so many turns that are filled with raw emotions. The story of Nick and Sal as brothers is beautiful and very moving but then too is the relationship between his Dad and his Mum. It is funny how our memories aren't always as exact as we feel they are. How we can be such different people when we are with someone else. I wonder how much we miss about those around us?

An intelligent book about love, grief and loss. But hope is it's most powerful message.

‘𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕔. 𝕃𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤𝕟‘𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕪 𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤.‘

This story unfolds from Nick’s POV over the course of four decades. The story starts in 2018 and then travels back and forth in time from 1980 to 2020. The story starts with a tragedy and then travels back in time to a twenty two year old Nick who meets 19 year old Anna whilst working at his local cinema in Ashford. The two immediately strike up a connection and become joined at the hips over the summer. However their relationship has an expiry date from its beginning but their paths cross through the decades.

This is a novel of more than just an exploration of one relationship. It is an exploration of growing older, priorities, responsibilities, and families.

I found it difficult to get into the novel but the shift between timelines kept me wanting to read on. I became invested in Nick, Sal and Anna through Nick’s emotionally stunted commentary. This was a heavy read covering thought provoking topics and even including ‘deep’ conversations between the characters.

A thoughtful novel tackling love and grief and family and boundaries.

Another Life by Jodie Chapman "is not just a love story, but a story about love."

Arresting and hauntingly mesmeric. Imbued with bittersweet nostalgia and peppered with heart-rending twists. At times desolate with an underlying poetry and reminiscent of Sally Rooney. Hard to believe this is not a first hand account of a true story. I could not put this book down. Highly recommended.

Much more than your typical love story. This book really got to me, I was emotionally invested from the start due to the likeable but somewhat flawed characters. Far from predictable; I audibly gasped at one of the major twists in this story it was so unexpected to me. There are many different subjects raised in this book, all written beautifully from family dynamics, culture and religion, grief and of course love. It is unique, unexpected and undeniably addictive, this is a book people are going to talk about....lots!

I was drawn to this book from the comparison to Sally Rooney (an author I have my issues with but whose work I find magnetic, un-putdownable.) The opening is very sad and as the story goes on, grief feels ever present. The avoidance of naming Anna’s religion was... frustrating but overall I found the characters endearing and enjoyed the story.

I wasn’t keen on the cover- I feel like in a store this would be overlooked, it doesn’t really tell you much about the actual storyline.

Blurb

She could be the girl dancing on tables one night, and the next she’d be hiding in the shadows.

Just when I thought I understood her, she would melt away and become a completely new person, and I’d have to start all over again.

That’s how it was with Anna.
_______

Nick and Anna work the same summer job at their local cinema. Anna is mysterious, beautiful, and from a very different world to Nick.

She’s grown up preparing for the End of Days, in a tightly-controlled existence where Christmas, getting drunk and sex before marriage are all off-limits.

So when Nick comes into her life, Anna falls passionately in love. Their shared world burns with poetry and music, cigarettes and conversation – hints of the people they hope to become.

But Anna, on the cusp of adulthood, is afraid to give up everything she’s ever believed in, and everyone she’s ever loved. She walks away, and Nick doesn’t stop her.

Years later, a tragedy draws Anna back into Nick’s life.

But rekindling their relationship leaves Anna and Nick facing a terrible choice between a love that’s endured decades, and the promises they’ve made to others along the way.

My Thoughts

As seems to be customary with me, I judged this one based on the cover and – like they always say – you shouldn’t. I assumed this one would be a lighthearted love story with just a dash of tragedy mixed in. It was a love story of course but oh my god I was not expecting this one.

The story takes the reader from the 1980s right through to the present, as Nick Mendoza meets Anna at his job at his local cinema. This is so much more than a typical boy-meets-girl story as Chapman explores a relationship that transcends physical attraction but can’t go further due to Anna’s strict religious beliefs. I’m not particularly religious myself and, due to my Catholic school education, my knowledge of other religions is pretty lacking, so it was interesting to read about different religious practices and customs – which Chapman is well informed in having been brought up in a similar way.

I’m so used to reading fluffy romances that this one threw me off, I found myself at times thinking surely now they can be together?! Chapman creates two characters you can’t help but feel for, and root for, and the fact that there are so many hardships for these two just tugs on the heartstrings. I read this when I craved a light read, not knowing what this book was about in full, and this wasn’t it. It was moving, heart-shattering and difficult at times.

I think Nick was hard to warm to at first. I automatically gravitated to Anna first, as I found her narrative more interesting, however – as I read on and discovered more – I realised there was so much more to Nick than I thought.

Though the big thing of this book is the relationship between Nick and Anna, I think the relationship between Nick and his younger brother, Sal, moved me more. The relationship was written so beautifully, and there were so many tender moments amongst the truly gut-punching, I couldn’t help but feel captivated. I think Chapman is brilliant at showcasing human relationships, in a way that is raw, tender and full of nuance – I feel as though people reaching for this book on release will find themselves comparing this one to Sally Rooney’s books, and I can see why!

I think the time jump can be a little confusing at times, and I did find myself having to take a moment to digest or to re-read bits I didn’t take in fully, but I will always enjoy reading books that weave through time and Chapman does this brilliantly – showing how family and romance shape Anna and Nick’s life over time.

Another Life was not the sweet, lighthearted read I anticipated. It was hard, heavy and sometimes it hurt but I think that’s a great feat for a debut author – to move a reader so much with a book. It might not be a book for everyone, but it’s definitely a book that’ll be on your mind for a long time.

Another Life is a love story with a difference. Nick and Anna meet at their local cinema where they both work.
They fall in love, however their relationship isn't that easy. Anna is from a very religious background and struggles to reconcile her faith with her relationship with "worldly" Nick-forbidden in her religion. They spend all their time together but knowing that it can't last makes their relationship even more intense.
A beautiful novel with some unexpected tragic events. Life affirming and hopeful in the end.
Thank you to #netgalley and #michaeljbooks for allowing me to review this ARC

I really enjoyed this. I love the way it’s written, I honestly thought I was ready a true story. I loved getting t to know the characters and feel emotionally attached to them. I felt so sad for them and their different stories and situations.

Pure beauty!

I have loved following Nick and Anna's love story and it has made me go through all kinds of emotions... heartbreak, happiness, excitement! Jodie's writing is beautiful and transports you with the characters into their lives. With their joys, mistakes, tragedies, they're so well rounded and so endearing. A true success!

I enjoyed this book and thanks to net galley & the publishers for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

Anna is a beautiful mix of contradictions - dancing in nightclubs, fiercely intelligent and well-read but forbidden to mix with others who are 'Wordly'. She is expected to marry a young man from her religion that does not permit sex before marriage and believes the End of Days is coming imminently. Nick is a quiet, thoughtful and desperately repressed young man so becomes completely captivated by her and falls head over heels in love during one hot summer in the late 90s but this is not a neat and tidy love story. This story is told from Nick's point of view, flipping between the narrative of what happens to his mother in the late 1980s (which affects all his relationships later in life), falling in love with Anna and attempting to work out how to make their relationship work in 2003, to the later 2000s, when Nick is in his early 40s but not necessarily any the wiser on matters of the heart. This is a story about different kinds of love - between Nick and his mother, his brother Sal and his father; Nick's relationship after Anna and that with his Aunt Stella, who helps to bring love and comfort to a tense and difficult home life.

The story drew me in quickly and I enjoyed reading about a love story from a male point of view, although there were several moments where I wished I could reach into the pages and give Nick a good shake! He was quite frustrating at times in the actions (or lack of them!) that he took, but I could really understand his motives and that made me feel sympathetic towards him overall, he is a good man trying to do his best but feels unable to say what he really thinks. Anna was a beautifully vibrant character and I really enjoyed reading the chapters that she featured in - she is bright and sparky, beautiful and real. She felt like someone that I might know, or have met once at University and I think Chapman captured her really well.

A heart breaking love story that's about romantic love as well as the love we have for others. A moving and heartwrenching novel.

Jodie Chapman’s all-consuming debut explores love, family and boundaries in an epic novel full of surprises that plays out over the course of four decades. Sensible twenty-two-year-old, Nick Mendoza, meets enigmatic nineteen-year-old Anna when he takes a job at his local cinema in Ashford and strikes up an immediate connection with his self-contained co-worker. Spending nearly all of their free time together for the month prior to the return of Anna’s on hold boyfriend, during the scorching summer of 2003, their romance has a depth that transcends pure physical attraction. The stumbling block to their burgeoning romance is Anna’s strictly religious family of Jehovah’s Witnesses and an upbringing that restricts her lifestyle choices. An unmarried relationship with a non-believer is certainly not on the cards and Nick does not stand in the way of Anna following her preordained path and accepts her decision without protest.

The story is told from the perspective of down to earth Nick and there is a lovely understatedness and absence of self-pity to his narrative even in the toughest of circumstances. There is no question that when they part after a heady summer together both Nick and Anna’s heartfelt feelings for one other are unchanged despite their acceptance of the status quo. The novel opens in 2018 and travels back and forth in time from late 1980s to 2020, providing snapshots of Nick’s life and Anna’s circumstances. Despite the back and forth narrative the novel is entirely coherent and intuitively reads well, possibly because the relationship at issue is the linchpin of the entire novel and focal point. Nick’s family life is also a big part of the novel with the tragic death of his mother in childhood paving the way for yet more tragedy to come with Nick also acting as a buffer between his uncompromising ex-army father and his sensitive younger brother, Sal.

Characterised by three incredibly well-drawn characters in Nick, Anna and Sal, I was invested in their lives right from the off primarily because of how realistically flawed and relatable they were. Nick’s failures to communicate and Anna’s prickly exterior both get in the way of their love and yet Chapman’s superb characterisation makes their behaviour understandable and fully conceivable. Not every moment of the story is high drama and this adds to the credibility of Nick and Anna’s winding paths and is part of what makes their individual journeys feel so real. Their coming-of-age has the emotional intensity that made Normal People so mesmerising but as Another Life unfolds, and the characters mature, it throws more adult complications into both Anna and Nick’s lives that change their family circumstances and priorities and give the novel a far more rounded feel.

A thoughtful novel with tremendous scope that tackles love and grief and a poignant story about the experiences that give each of us the courage to live life on our own terms.

This was such a lovely book. A story of 2 people from 2 completely different worlds and how their lives are destined to meet again. I found it hard at the start as the story flirted through different time lines, but it was an enjoyable read with an insight to religion and faith

This could so easily have been contrived and complicated with its constant switching of timelines but it’s anything but. It could also have been melodramatic and overly sentimental, pulling at heartstrings with its plot, but the author’s perfectly light touch and skilful insight into human nature, and knowledge of the religious issues it deals with, allows a truth and honesty to shine through instead. This light touch also handles some challenging issues, and their impacts on those facing them, with a deep empathy that allows the reader to face them head on too. But above all, this is an absolute page turner, with characters I utterly fell for, and I was so desperate to find out what happened next that I finished this far too quickly!