Végtelen sorsunk

by Laura Steven, Adrienn Neset (Translator)

A csuklójukat összekötő vörös szalag élő sebként fénylett.

Evelyn számtalan életet élt már. Mindegyikben megölték a tizennyolcadik születésnapja előtt.
De a mostani életében a kishúgának szüksége van rá az életben maradáshoz.
Ahhoz, hogy a húgát megmenthesse, és túlélje a születésnapját, Evelynnek a következőket kell tennie:
1. Meg kell találnia ősellenségét, aki minden életében vadászik rá.
2. Meg kell tudnia, miért vadásznak rá, hogy egyszer és mindenkorra megtörje az átkot.
És ami a legfontosabb: meg kell próbálnia nem beleszeretni az ellenségbe... megint.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Romantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy Romance

472 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2025

About the author

LAURA "L.K." STEVEN is a #1 New York Times, Indie & USA Today bestselling author from the northernmost town in England. She has published several books for young adults, such as the instant bestseller Our Infinite Fates, while the forthcoming Silvercloak trilogy, written as L.K. Steven, will mark her adult fantasy debut. When she’s not writing, you can find her trail running, reading chunky fantasy novels, baking cookies, playing old men at chess, or ignoring her husband and son to perfect her Stardew Valley farm. You can find her on Instagram (@laurasteven) and TikTok (@authorlaurasteven).

Reviews

[Sara Carrolli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was so extremely up my alley I for sure thought I was walking into a 5 ⭐️ read, but alas it wasn’t executed quite how I was expecting

2 fated lovers whose souls are intertwined in EVERY LIFETIME, but they’re also doomed to KILL EACH OTHER IN EVERY LIFETIME (literally sign me up right now)

There were some quotes that were beautifully written, it was a super unique read/concept & I really enjoyed seeing past chapters of all the previous lives they lived together (I do think these chapters were a bit too short to make me BELIEVE their love). I just wasn’t 100% sold on their story, and the ending felt so out of left field to me I didn’t love it.

I think I just wanted MORE! (If you have any recs similar in a romantic yet tragic way, please let me know 🫡)

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy! I think I’ve found my new obsession—the book I’ll be chanting “I love it! I love it! I love it!” at least a thousand times over!

The poetry, the lyrical and sensational prose, the way it wraps around you like the softest blanket—it’s a breathtakingly beautiful tale of endless love and reincarnation. This book doesn’t just tell a story; it takes you on a journey through time and space, redefining the very essence of soulmates, making you cry, filling your heart with joy, and shocking you with its mind-blowing twists. And let’s not forget the revelation—the reason why these two connected souls are doomed to kill each other to be reborn! That twist made me scream—it pulled the rug right out from under me. It was so clever and masterfully executed!

Suffice it to say, I don’t have the talent to write a love song or compose a poem grand enough to capture how deeply this book touched my soul. Words aren’t enough! It may be early to decide, but I’m certain this book has already secured its place as one of the top ten must-reads of the year. This isn’t a book to let get lost in your ever-growing TBR pile—it needs to be read!

The plot follows Evelyn, an immortal soul who has lived countless lifetimes in different bodies, only to be killed each time by Arden—her soulmate, her home, her true love... and also her executioner. They are bound together by fate, cursed to find each other in every reincarnation, with one always taking the other’s life before they turn 18. Now, Evelyn is living a peaceful life on a cozy Welsh farm, still grieving her father, cherishing her loving mother, and adoring her sarcastic, quirky sister—her person. But her sister is battling leukemia, and Evelyn’s spinal cord is her only hope for survival. The surgery must happen before her 18th birthday. The problem? Arden is out there, once again in a new body, and she has to find him before he kills her.

But who is Arden this time? The charming blond newcomer who just moved to town and asked her on a date? Or her quiet, bookish coworker—who just so happens to be reading a newly published novel, anonymously written by Arden himself, recounting their days in Siberia?

How can she stop him this time before he takes her life? Why does he keep doing it, even though it breaks him, too? Are they cursed? Did they make an irreversible deal with the devil? Is this all about revenge? Evelyn is determined to uncover the truth and convince Arden to break the cycle—so she doesn’t have to leave behind the people she loves yet again, including Arden, the only one she has ever loved, the only one she will ever love.

Final verdict? Ten billion stars! Five stars aren’t even close to enough! I loved this book with every fiber of my being! Read it! Read it! Read it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with a digital review copy of this fantastic book in exchange for my honest thoughts—I truly appreciate it!

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[Clace · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25!

“I love you, I have loved you, and I will love you.”

I honestly was not expecting it to be this good??? like, I was expecting it to be good, enjoyable but not to this extent because honestly I was so invested in the story, the very idea and the concept of the storyline was so unique and interesting and I truly thing the plot was the aspect of the book that kept me hooked throughout. While I loved the concept, the execution could have been a bit better. The pacing of this book was also very slow. Yeah, yeah, I finished it in 2 days but that's because I pushed through, otherwise the pacing was slow but I found it enjoyable. The writing style was very fun to read. It wasn't like Addie Larue, I would say but it did have a similar vibe which I enjoyed reading and yeah this was heartbreaking!

"I hope you never lose that bottomless love. I hope you hold onto what makes you human.”

So basically, Evelyn and Arden are cursed. This shit made me feel so claustrophobic because I felt like I was stuck and I wanted to escape but I couldn't so Arden has to kill Evelyn before the age of 18 and if she dies, he dies and they both get reincarnated in another era, in another life and this cycle keeps on going on and we're pretty much like Evelyn because we're not getting any answers and it was so frustrating to read because I wanted answers so bad!! I liked how it was divided into the present perspective and the past perspectives which took us through the journey of some of the eras they were reincarnated in and tbh the way it was written made it so interesting because it gave us glimpses of their relationship and it kind of took our mind of the questions we had and I liked it.

“The cruelest fate the gods and stars had ever written: the person I loved most in the world was the person that would ultimately destroy me.”

Evelyn, Our main character, and uff her story was so frustrating to read because she's the one who's killed in every lifetime by her lover and she's kept with these questions as to why all this is happening and Arden just tells her to trust her and that the outcome of letting her live over 18 would be worse and ahhh I had no idea how she was trusting him because if I was her I would have not but thank god I'm not in fantasy but I felt so bad for her because she was a very loving character and she fell in love with each of her family over the years and she was taken from there and placed into another family and it just hurt to read that. Arden, at first it was very hard to like his character because we didn't really know why he was doing all of the things he was doing but then slowly we learned and it made so much more sense, I loved the dialogues that he dropped, the swoon worthy moments but I also liked how heartbreaking all of this was for him as well. I just don't understand why he didn't tell Evelyn all of this.

"If a hero is someone who will give up love to save the world, then a villain is the reverse. Someone who will give up the world to save love."

The romance, was well written, I really enjoyed reading it, fated mates with slow burn and kind of enemies to lovers and with angst so that was very fun to read, the sad moments blend in here so well and the yearning was one of my favorite parts. I didn't really focus on the romance more because I was way more invested in the plot of the story and the romance as subplot felt good and shaped the story to be better but if romance is supposed to be the main plot than yeah I dont really think it was developed that well for me to be invested in it like that.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable read!
___
I just know that this has a pretty cover and is like The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and honestly say no more 🤭✋🏻

*Thank you to Wednesday books for an E-Arc of this book*

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 3 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

I'm so upset that I didn't love this one more. And, to be fair, I don't think the audio copy that I had did the book any justice. It wasn't that I thought the narrators did a poor job, because she ( Sofia Oxenham) did a great job, but the pacing of the story is really slow and it just made it hard to stay engaged with and focused on... if that makes sense?

₊⊹⁀➴ The book is told in alternating chapters of historical events between the characters and modern day. It's a love story strewn across time.

Evelyn and Arden are fated to be together no matter when in history they meet. But they are also fated to die together over and over again by their 18th birthdays. In modern times, Evelyn finds herself fighting to stay alive to ensure her sister can be saved from the cancer she is enduring by a bone marrow transplant.

Overall, the story was nice. I liked the background the author chose to give with the chapters that take us back to other times in history. It gave a good amount of background as to why the characters interact with each other the way they do. However, I did find the back and forth a bit choppy and it slowed the pacing for me a bit.

I also felt like we didn't spend enough time in those chapters to truly get a sense of the relationship between the two characters. I wanted to be immersed in this epic romance but I just didn't feel the chemistry between the two characters or invested in why their love story was important.

I think this is one I may go back and revisit once it releases and try reading the kindle version instead. Some books just don't work for me on audio and I'm not sure if that was the whole reason that this wasn't more enjoyable for me, or if it was just the pacing and the sometimes repetitiveness of the story that took some of the enjoyment out.

➽──────────────❥
'The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries. They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one.'

Anticipated Release Date - 03/04/25

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio (besties ily) for the complementary advanced audio copy, all thoughts are my own.

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

anything compared to addie larue has me sold!

while not quite on the same level, this still delivers a story filled with love, mystery, and heartache. both arden and evelyn are characters that are so easy to like, its nearly impossible not to root for them to break their curse. their past lives are immersive and do a great job at weaving together their history. the writing is also paced well and everything feels quite cohesive.

so, if theres so much going for this story, why am i not giving it 5 stars? its because theres just something missing to push it over that threshold. the characters are interesting, but could have had more depth. the plot is emotionally charged, but could have tugged on my heartstrings more. and the writing is nice, but could have been lovelier. everything is really good, but not quite great. its a book i really enjoyed reading, but not something i would reread.

regardless, this is a book i am happy to have picked up!

↠ 4 stars

[Emmy Rosam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️ A really beautiful standalone! I wish we got a bit more in each past life chapter

[lexie · Rating 1 out of 5]

you see that girl? 👇 such hope. such naivety. this has nothing going for it tbh. being marketed as the invisible life of addie larue x this is how you lose the time war but actually getting THIS is disappointing. being star-crossed lovers who kill each other is only worthwhile if i understand how they came to have this ~great love~ and i don’t! it is THE biggest plot hole! also, a book like this can get very repetitive and after a point the flashbacks were so useless.

i saw so many good things about the writing and how the prose was especially gorgeous but it felt like when i try to meet the word count for my essays 😔 without any depth, the lines were very extreme and throwaway for characters who seem to mean so little to each other??? yet their love story transcends anything we or THEY can comprehend?!

a very particular pet peeve of mine is the cover giving off fantasy vibes when this was honestly very modern day/historical fiction. like this is so magical realism to me?? i digress, but i didn’t have a grand time

🦋 pre review: inspired by exile???? ohhhh i am going to eat this up!!!! i need to start prioritizing my physical tbr and then get hit with arcs like this 😭😭

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc

[Samantha (ladybug.books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m afraid my inner hater has won this round

"They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one."

I was immediately intrigued by the tagline for Our Infinite Fates. The comparisons to This Is How You Lose The Time War and The Invisible Life of Addie Larue were even more promising. However, this book ended up being a huge disappointment. Though the premise showed potential, the story was frustratingly simple and the characters were one-dimensional and irritating.

Our Infinite Fates completely fails to live up to any of those comp titles. I don't understand how you can compare something to This Is How You Lose The Time War and have it be the most boring approach to a reincarnation story I have ever read. Our Infinite Fates is far too rooted in its present timeline to pull off the concept it is trying to execute. All we get from the reincarnation side of the story are repetitive flashback chapters that show the same moments over and over again. There is no time spent adding depth to the characters, establishing their unique nature as ancient, timeless beings, or even properly establishing the relationship. We are told repeatedly that these characters are supposed to be in love and yet the book never shows us this love. I don't believe that these two have ever been in love, in any lifetime.

I didn't like the characters or find them compelling. The flashback chapters do nothing to give them any depth or substance. Evelyn's entire character comes down to the fact that she's "too nice." That's it. That's her character. Her inner dialogue gave me major "not like other girls/old soul" vibes. I don't care if she is literally an "old soul," her reflections on society, time, technology etc. were cringe and shallow. Arden is... mysterious? An asshole? These characters are immature and childish. I don't care if they never get to live past 18, they have lived hundreds of 18-year lifetimes and should not be behaving the way that they do.

Another major component of the book is the mystery behind Evelyn and Arden's reincarnation and the fact that they can't live past 18 years old. I was expecting more of an "inescapable cycle of fate" storyline rather than a one-sided mystery where the person in the know can't possibly tell the truth (until it's plot-relevant). I think there is a way to do the "cat and mouse" dynamic with this story well. But we needed more time in the different lifetimes to establish them as their own plot points instead of substanceless flashback chapters. There is no tension to the mystery, no effort to slowly build to a reveal or to add suspense and foreshadowing for the reader. We just get the same argument between Evelyn and Arden that goes nowhere until the book decides to finally drop the big reveal at the end.

I pushed through until the end of this book because I was curious to see if the reveal behind the reincarnation would make up for the lackluster story. And it was not worth it. The reveal was honestly ridiculous. It was so disconnected from the story that it was impossible to take any of the end events seriously. It was anticlimactic and filled with plot holes and I just didn't like it as an ending. There is one single detail of the ending that I think was clever but that is the only good thing I can say about it.

Thank you St Martins Press for the eARC

Links to my TikTok | Instagram

[Bailee Latham · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Guys, guys, guys, IM OBSESSED. I expected this to be good, but to be THIS good??? I want to reread it RIGHT NOW. Omg.

Picture this: You and your soulmate are reincarnated over and over and over again. Sounds romantic right? Not when you are destined to kill each other in every single life.

This was SO beautifully written. I was fully immersed and it PAINED me to have to put it down to sleep and work. The love story, UGH, the love story was tragically beautiful and getting to see all the different versions of Arden and Evelyn throughout time was just... I have no words for it.
I'm a sucker for "I will love you in every lifetime" and this gave me exactly that, and more.

Perfect.

"In the last thousand years: empires have risen and fallen and I have loved you, plagues have leaped from rat to daughter and I have loved you, humanity has conquered sea and sky and I have loved you, kings have been slain and forests razed and witches burned and gold struck and maps redrawn and fortunes traded and volcanoes erupted and moons landed and cathedrals sculpted and rivers dirtied and masterpieces painted and battlefields bloodied and I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you."

[Cate · Rating 1 out of 5]

This could have been an email.

[Kezia Duah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I like this book? Yeah. Did it captivate my soul? No, honey😞. It was weirdly interesting and boring at the same time. I don’t have anything extremely negative to say. It was just one of those books that felt okay and failed to move me the way I could sense it intended to.

The premise is actually amazing: Two people—lovers, perhaps?—who are doomed to kill each other across multiple lifetimes. The moment I heard this, I knew I had to pick up the book when I got the chance. It promised intense emotions and angst, and at first, I really felt that potential. But after a while, I just wasn’t excited anymore. Not necessarily because it was repetitive (I mean, they keep killing each other DUHHH, that’s the whole point). I think the problem was that I struggled to fully connect with the characters or understand their motivations. And while we’re meant to be kept in the dark, even the big reveals felt underwhelming. On top of that, I just wasn’t convinced by their romance.

That said, I still enjoyed the experience. It was heartbreaking to see how hard it was for them to leave their lives behind in each lifetime, so I appreciated that I did feel something. I also really loved the historical settings. It was fascinating to see different time periods and parts of the world come to life. So, it’s not a bad book at all! I just think it was missing that extra something to make it truly unforgettable.

[liz ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

➸ 5 stars

“They’ve loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.”

𓍢⊹ ࣪ thank you to netgalley and wednesday books for the advanced readers copy!

𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆 - 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒚
𝒖𝒑 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕: 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒍𝒆 - 𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕, 𝒃𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓

✨ reincarnated enemies to lovers
🩷 doomed to kill each other in every life
⏳ lush, epic settings spanning 1000 years
✨ soulmates/fated mates
🩷 pain and yearning
⏳ “i love you, im sorry” as the knife sinks in

“The cruelest fate the gods and stars had ever written: the person I loved most in the world was the person who would ultimately destroy me.”

saudade - a kind of longing, a nostalgia, a sense of incompleteness, not just romantic but existential, rooted in the very fabric of our people.

“the whole world a backdrop for our doomed love, for our infinite fates.”

this book. THIS. BOOK. oh gosh this review is gonna be a long one; i loved every second of this book. it was so beautifully heart wrenching and those type of books always find a place in my heart.

before i read this, i’d see the authors posts every now and then and would think, ‘wow this sounds like it’s gonna hurt!’ and oh did it hurt in such a beautiful way. the plot of this is so utterly gripping and impossible to put down.

we follow our main character, evelyn, who pretty much knows and much as we do! finding things out as we read along gives that feeling of want to keep turning the pages and i loved every second of it! the questions, the theories; having a book pull these thoughts out of my head is one of my favorite things about being a reader!! i was so utterly immersed in this story and couldn’t wait to reach the end while at the same time, i didn’t want it to end!!! it was such a lovely reading experience <3

“There’s, like . . . a tether, or something. It thrums between us. Draws me to you, like a magnet. And until it finds you . . . it’s like always being hungry. It gnaws at me. You don’t feel it too?”
“I do, but it doesn’t point me to you like a compass. It’s more like a deep yearning. Only, it doesn’t ease when we’re together. It intensifies.”

there is a dual timeline(s) of sorts in this book. we have alternating chapters between the present time and past lives and oh were the past lives chapters soul crushing. imagine each life when they turn 18, they have to kill each other and be wrenched apart for another 18 years ARE YOU KIDDING?! intense yearning and pain is what it is!! on top of that, the banter was banteringgg!!!

“You piss me off, you know that?”
“I love you too.”

“Until we meet again, my love.”

“Oh, my love.”
“I hate you,”
“I know.”

𓍢⊹ ࣪

“A girl who wanted to let herself love, and be loved in return. A girl who wanted to live. The most human things of all.”

evelyn has so much love in them, and so much love to give. they love and love and love, despite it all. despite losing everyone in every life, that hope to live a beautiful and ordinary life never went away. they are compassionate, empathetic, full of love and hope.

“My love for you could fill an ocean, Evelyn.”

arden was so intriguing to me. there was so much mystery to them and i just wanted it all to unravel! they are a poet at heart and AHHHHH i was actually screaming internally every time they said something!

“We had loved each other for so long, through the darkest times in history, through impossible circumstances, through terrible fates and insurmountable grief. The joy and pain we shared had knotted the very fabric of us together.”

“Nobody knew me better. Nobody else understood what this was like. There was a kinship between us, our shared secret a fortress that could never be breached from the outside. Without Arden, I felt utterly alone in the world.”

“You see me to my very core. I know that to be true. Nobody has ever known me, or will ever know me, like you do. That’s such an intimate thing. You can’t help but be drawn to someone who understands your every word, your every step, your every heartbeat.”

one of my favorite things in books is when the romance is more than just romance; an intimate type of love. a love so beautiful with so many layers and this book had just that and even more than i could’ve ever thought. a soul only they can truly know, a language only they can speak. the three quotes above heavily show what i’m trying to say so i’ll let those do all the talking!!!!

“It was a yearning so complex that it defied all reason.”

the YEARNING in this book????! THIS BOOK IS LITERALLY THE DEFINITION OF YEARNING. having to be ripped apart by each other’s hands life after life and to go on years before finding each other again? YEARNINGGGGGGG!!!!!!!

“Though, without you, there would be no poetry. I would have only the harsh lens of my own worldview. I wouldn’t be able to see the beauty of life, because I only see it through your eyes. Muse is too simple a word for what you are to me.”

Arden wrote a thousand years’ worth of love poems about Evelyn. A THOUSAND YEARS’ WORTH OF LOVE POEMS. a old journal of an unknown author of poems was found and a book was published under with the poems arden wrote for evelyn called ‘ten hundred years of you’ AHHHHHHHH!!!! not only that but:

“Littered all over the world—scattered through history like confetti—were notebooks full of Arden’s love for me. How many more had been discovered? Discarded, published, tucked away in dimly lit museums?”

yeah. i’m deceased.


if people are songs
written in the major or the minor key
then you, my dear, are major.  

a climb, a crescendo, a thousand trumpets,
a clashing of cymbals, joy and awe,
rousing, reaching, always to the stars.  
and I am but a dirge, a requiem, a lamentation,
a melancholic harp in D minor,
forever wondering why you chose me.

—author unknown


in the last thousand years:
empires have risen and fallen
and I have loved you,
plagues have leaped from rat to daughter and I have loved you,
humanity has conquered sea and sky
and I have loved you,
kings have been slain and forests razed and witches burned and gold struck and maps redrawn and fortunes traded and volcanoes erupted and moons landed and cathedrals sculpted and rivers dirtied and masterpieces painted and battlefields bloodied
and I love you,
and I have loved you,
and I will love you.

—author unknown


“If a hero is someone who will give up love to save the world, then a villain is the reverse. Someone who will give up the world to save love.”
“So you’re a villain. You admit it.”
“There’s no line I wouldn’t cross to keep a loved one safe.”
“By design, you don’t have any loved ones.”
“I have you.”

i cannot even begin to describe how much this book HURT!!!! i loved the suspense of not knowing ANYTHING and getting glimpses/hints as we read along!

“I do this to protect you. Do you understand that? That I would lay my body over yours, war after war after war, life after life after life?”

“I would do anything to protect you. And it will torture me forever to know that I can’t protect you from me.”

throughout this entire book my main question was just “why?” WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? i kept theorizing what it possibly could’ve been and this is the only time in a book where i actually had to idea!!! i was so far off and everything made so much sense at the end and tied together so beautifully. i only wish that it was longer! i could truly read this forever.

𓍢⊹ ࣪

“I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.”

[jagodasbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I have concepts of a plan" ahhh book

this was my most anticipated read so I'm gonna say everything i was thinking:

- my biggest issue is - everything was told and I couldn't feel it: I was told this book will be deep, but it felt very shallow to me, couldn't connect to it, be invested in their stories, the only thing that kept me reading was the big mystery of why they're reincarnating and why he has to kill her before 18

- another thing - I was told, that their love story was so great and powerful and all consuming and she feels that hunger and he feels that thread connecting to her, but I did not feel their love when they were together, I did not feel their yearning or need for each other or any chemistry whatsoever

*insert here Tywin Lannister from GoT saying "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king." and this is exactly how i feel abt this*

- the writing style was bad, I think it was mostly the reason why it was so hard for me to get into it, i think it was too rushed, too many things at once were literally thrown at me

- gonna be honest this was giving Marco Polo not in a good way (one blink and it's war, then mountain man and his assassins, then some descriptions of animals or travels and faraway places yk what I mean?) it was lowkey all over the place I !understand! that was the point, that they lived many lives, reincarnated as different people in diffrent places, but the longer i read i just found these boring and tiring

- overall it was supposed to be 2⭐️ BUT ENTER ENDING AND INSERT HERE CLOWN EMOJIS PLS I was reading only for the mystery and ofc the reveal was so dumb i can't

this was written in my notes after reading it all in 5h straight and it's almost midnight, so idk if any makes sense, hope somebody will understand🫶

[cherie ^_-★ (semi-ia + comment restriction) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars ⭐
⤷ spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

“I love you, I have loved you, and I will love you.”

🎶 now playing: Love wins all 🎶

“Dearest, darling, my universe
날 데려가 줄래?
나의 이 가난한 상상력으론
떠올릴 수 없는 곳으로”

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ my thoughts
this book was beautifully heartbreaking and completely captivating—i literally flew through it. as tragic as the story was, it didn’t make my heart physically ache as much as i was hoping it would, but it still got to me. i teared up a few times, and the emotional weight definitely hit harder towards the end.

“저기 멀리 from Earth to Mars
꼭 같이 가줄래?
그곳이 어디든
오랜 외로움, 그 반대말을 찾아서”

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ characters
♡.ᐟ evelyn
⤿ “The Evelyn I know … they love over and over and over again, even though it can only ever end in tragedy. Even though they’ve lost everyone they’ve ever loved, and they miss them in the next life, and the next, and the next. Never have they developed hard edges, like I have. Never have they tried to protect themselves from that pain. They love softly, and fiercely, and openly, and it’s the bravest thing I know. The most human thing I know. I’ve never met anyone as ruthful as you. I hope you never lose that bottomless capacity for love. I hope you hold on to what makes you human.”

“어떤 실수로
이토록 우리는 함께일까?”

evelyn was incredibly strong. the sheer amount of love they had to give, despite knowing their fate, absolutely wrecked me. just imagine knowing you won’t live past eighteen and that you’ll be forced to leave everybody you love in that lifetime, only to die at the hands of the person you love most—again and again and again—without understanding why 😭 even thinking about it made my heart hurt and my eyes well up. i’d genuinely lose my mind (even that feels like an understatement). and that plot twist? i seriously didn’t see it coming.

“세상에게서 도망쳐 run on
나와 저 끝까지 가줘 my lover
나쁜 결말일까?
길 잃은 우리 둘 mm”

♡.ᐟ arden
⤿ “Your words have always brought me solace, you know. It’s one of the things I love most about you. You have the soul of a poet. You’re darkly funny and fiercely bright. You believe yourself a villain, but still create pockets of goodness inside your life. And … I can’t explain it. It’s like you have a depth that other people lack. Maybe it’s who you are, or maybe it’s how long we’ve lived. There’s a … texture? A richness? To your heart. It fascinates me. I want to peel back the layers until I find your centre.”

“부서지도록 나를 꼭 안아
더 사랑히 내게 입 맞춰 lover
Love is all, love is all
Love, love, love, love”

dare i say arden might’ve suffered even more than evelyn 💔 they carried the weight of every past life and the truth behind the curse entirely on their own for thousands of years. they kept it from evelyn to protect them, all while being forced to kill the person they loved most over and over and over—not because they wanted to, but because they loved them 😭

“결국, 그럼에도
어째서 우리는 서로일까?”

♡.ᐟ evelyn + arden
⤿ “I want you to know that wherever we are next, my heart will be with you. It might not know it’s with you, but hearts have their ways. Every atrium, every ventricle, every vein and artery will beat for you. Even if my mind has lost you. Because you are in the very fabric of me, all right? You are me, and I am you. And our love is stronger than anything.”

“세상에게서 도망쳐 run on
나와 저 끝까지 가줘 my lover
나쁜 결말일까?
길 잃은 우리 둘 mm”

they’re the epitome of soulmates. the yearning, the angst—their love cut so deep 😫 no matter the lifetime, no matter the circumstances, they found each other and fell in love all over again. my poor babies really went through it 🥲 their relationship was so achingly beautiful and so heartbreakingly sad at the same time.

one thing i really appreciated was the queer representation. both evelyn and arden had gender-fluid identities that changed across different timelines through reincarnation, meaning they weren’t always born female and male; sometimes they were two males, two females, or one of each. despite these changes, they always found and fell in love with each other, and i loved how the book used this fluidity to highlight that love is a connection between souls—not something defined by gender or physical form.

“찬찬히 너를 두 눈에 담아
한 번 더 편안히 웃어주렴
유영하듯 떠오른
그날 그 밤처럼
나와 함께 겁 없이 저물어줄래?”

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ overall
i loved the premise of this book, and like i said, it was beautifully heartbreaking ❤️‍🩹

in the end, love truly wins all.

“in the last thousand years:
empires have risen and fallen
and I have loved you,
plagues have leaped from rat to daughter
and I have loved you,
humanity has conquered sea and sky
and I have loved you,
kings have been slain and forests razed and witches burned
and gold struck and maps redrawn and fortunes traded and
volcanoes erupted and moons landed and cathedrals sculpted and
rivers dirtied and masterpieces painted and battlefields bloodied
and I love you,
and I have loved you,
and I will love you.”

“산산히 나를 더 망쳐 ruiner
너와 슬퍼지고 싶어 my lover”

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ quotes
“What’s your secret, Evelyn? How does the candle of hope in your chest never burn down to the wick?”
“I think I understood a long time ago that big joy and small joy are the same. It sounds trite, but it’s true. Last year I won a major tennis tournament and brought home a huge cash prize for my family. I would’ve been on my way to the Championnat de France, if it weren’t for the war. Big joy. Really, really big joy. But that victory felt no different to curling up in an old armchair with a faded blanket and reading my little sister a bedtime story. It felt no different to a perfect pot of coffee, or a warm croissant fresh from the bakery. And so even when there’s no big joy — even when it feels like we’ll never leave this trench alive — there’s still the small joy. A sunset, a flask of tea. Your hand in mine.”

“필연에게서 도망쳐 run on
나와 저 끝까지 가줘 my lover
일부러 나란히 길 잃은 우리 두 사람”

“And hadn’t I always known this? That to be human was to love and love and love, knowing it could only end in tragedy? Every babe in arms was born to this terrible fate, every parent and child, every spouse, every friend and lover and sibling, every uncle and aunt and great-great-grandfather, every found family, all of us bound to the perpetual cycle, all of it so awful and wonderful and inescapable. To love was to live, and to live was to die.”

“부서지도록 나를 꼭 안아
더 사랑히 내게 입 맞춰 lover
Our love wins all, love wins all
Love, love, love, love”

────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────

pre-read
i’m so ready for this book to wreck me (it better!)

[Estefania · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never be the same again.

[monica ✨ romantasyreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise, set up, and cover of this book are flawless.

I just wish we had more of an understanding as to whyyyyy they loved each other. Felt like a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. It was chapter after chapter of insta love?

But the enemies part of this was really fun. I liked the conclusion and I was locked in all the way through. I just wish there was a bit more depth.

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I really enjoyed this. Whether it's because it was that good or because I'm just a sucker for this kind of trope and very into Romantasy again right now is anyone's guess.

Some things weren't as fleshed out as they could have been...The relationship in general. But they had great chemistry and that's always a win for me. I also thought the ending was lackluster. And I actually didn't care for...how things turned out?

But I really enjoyed this overall. The pacing was great. I was entertained for sure.

[Laura Jane ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

“I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.”

2.75 ⭐️ Such a beautiful concept and story, poetic writing and an intriguing mystery - that was sadly let down by poor execution.
I am really quite sad that I didn’t adore this book as it had the potential to hurt my heart in such a wonderful way. Two souls destined to meet in every life time - but also, to kill each other in every life time.

Arden and Evelyn are soul mates across centuries and I loved the representation across each life time, that no matter what gender or background they came from - they were pulled together. Their love was what mattered. The representation was woven throughout the story in a beautiful way.
However, I wanted to feel deep yearning, longing and heartache from this story but unfortunately I didn’t really feel much at all.
The biggest issue for me was that we were told that fell in love in every life time and it was sweet, but I wasn’t show this. We didn’t spend enough time in each period to feel their love or watch it develop. We actually never once saw them fall in love - which I think would have made a huge difference to the emotional impact of this book! Eventually it felt repetitive and void of emotions. We also never really got any real character background or development - the story relied on us understanding their love story from the beginning but we actually never got that.
The twist completely lost me - it just felt like it didn’t fit to the story - I will say I never would’ve guessed the turn it took but I honestly didn’t like it all that much. I was set on rating this 3 stars because it is a beautiful concept but I can’t move past the reveal being so random. So it’s a disappointing 2.75 stars from me - rounded down because I round based on how I feel not on maths. This doesn’t fit 3 stars for me. I’m really bummed about it because the writing was beautiful but I just couldn’t connect.

I’m not sure if I’d recommended this book or not - I can see the appeal but if you’re like me, and need to feel emotions from characters and be show development then I think this would also disappoint you. Having said that, everything is of course subjective and if you did connect emotionally that this book would be a great read.
I did really enjoy the very ending though - it definitely was a bittersweet love story.

_____________
pre-read: brought this one ages ago simply because the cover is so pretty, but also - “They loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.” 🫢💘

[summer⁎ ˚ ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

read this book if you have trouble sleeping because you'll be snoozing in no time!!!

this is supposed to be a YA book but the development was giving my first book draft in elementary school???? the characters are riddled with prose and flowery language like the author had a thesaurus next to her desk but it all still lacks substance. there's no reason for me TO CARE about them. they are one dimensional (and stupid) but triggered one of the best naps of my life, so yay!

this was truly horrible... i do not recommend. do not let all of these 5 star reviews fool you because I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT!!! this was SO bad i can't stress enough just how bad. i tried on multiple occasions to give this a shot and hated it all three times!!

this girl really broke into a man's house and then attempted murder on him, tied him up with rope and contemplated killing him for HER MISTAKE!!! meanwhile her "love" is helping her like PLEASE what is this

also every flashback chapter lacked development. is this a first draft???

whatever, i do not recommend.

[skylar ₊˚⊹♡ [hiatus] · Rating 3 out of 5]

༘˚⋆𐙚｡ 𝟑.𝟐𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ⋆𖦹.✧˚

ᝰ.ᐟ “I love you, I have loved you, and I will love you.”

let me just start off by saying: no, this isn't a generally bad book. it had good parts and the concept was really enticing. but i was sooo disappointed. for a book that said it was like this is how you lose the time war and the invisible life of addie larue combined, it wasn't. i really liked both of those books but this one was just alright. and i don't wanna insult it btw!! this review is sounding way too serious honestly but that's just what i thought. the ending was so weird and the big reveal was alright. it had a lot of repetition too. i think the best part of this was the writing, but it's not on the same level as the books it was compared to!! just as a warning xx

𐙚 evelyn. don't wanna spoil but that reveal about her was for sure..interesting. i liked her loving her family a lot but it felt like that was her only personality trait. like i get that it must've been hard throughout all those lives but we barely got anything else about her. she just felt bland and tbh really annoying because she KNEW that arden was killing her for a reason and that something bad would happen if he didn't but then on the same page she says that, she goes back to her plan to escape it. like idk i'd be curious too but it was so repetitive in that aspect.

⊹ “to love was to live, and to live was to die.”

𐙚 arden. arden my king!! i liked him a lot more than evelyn because even though it wasn't from his perspective, he felt sooo much more layered. him putting up walls so he didn't have to be hurt again, always protecting her from their fate, writing POETRY about her?? that's gotta be the best part of the book. he's the type to always be reading or writing and ofc i love that about him! (duh. i'm on goodreads rn.) he seemed like he cared about her a lot and would've done anything for her (he did tbh) so idkkk!!

⊹ “if people are songs written in the major or the minor key, then you, my dear, are major. a climb, a crescendo, a thousand trumpets. a clashing of cymbals, joy and awe, rousing, reaching, always to the stars. and i am but a dirge, a requiem, a lamentation, a melancholic harp in d minor, forever wondering why you chose me.”

𐙚 evelynarden. don't have much to say about them other than they were cute! like ofc i see that they're in love but it's been said over and over again and they already were loving each other at the start so it's not really anything new? i have to say that the ending was pretty good for them and i love how their bond is so strong.

⤿ bottom line is that the concept was there but i feel like it could've been executed way better. it had lots of potential, especially with arden's poems, but it didn't really get there. but i can totally see why other people might like it more!

────୨ৎ────

🪐┆𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝
⤿ our infinite fates by laura steven

bro the slump is going soo hard rn 😭🙏 it’s a horrible combination of not having the motivation to read and just wanting to do so many other things. BUT i’m starting this so hopefully it’ll help!🤞

[Iqra · Rating 5 out of 5]

ೃ⁀➷ 4.5 stars *ੈ✩‧₊˚

I’m unwell. This book has usurped my every waking thought this past two days. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

Evelyn and Arden you will always be loved by me. This is what you call soulmatery supreme. My star crossed lovers destined for heartbreak 😭😭😭

The soul crushing yearning, the agonising devotion to each other, the complexity 😭😭 this book finished meeeeee

The lengths they would go to in order to save their loved ones 🤚
They love and adore but also hate and suffer- my gosh so much suffering it’s unbearable 🚶‍♀️🚂
No bc this man wrote a book of poems about her IN EVERY LIFETIME plssssss I’m choking on my tears rn someone sedate me ‼️‼️‼️

It’s one of the rare times I have loved past/present time jumps 😩🙏 it was done so incredibly well. The jumps were seamless, keeping me engaged, settings and times changing without taking me out of the story. The effect of each chapter was enduring and heartbreaking. I will never get over it. I’m never forgetting these two.

The writing was beautiful and absolutely devastating. The plot was amazing and the action was perfectly balanced. I’m genuinely so in love with this authors work I have no idea what to do now it’s over. It feels like I’m destitute. I just know I’ll never find a book like this again. I’ll never find again everything this book gave to me and did to me and evoked in me.

Their love was soft and tender while simultaneously sharp and jagged as a serrated knife. Both of their personalities are how I imagine stars to be, bright and evident, different but also complimentary. Guys I could write poems and songs and essays about them. I could fill up pages and pages but none of the words would be enough to describe how gone I am for them.

If you haven’t read this then you’ve not seen real yearning. DROP EVERYTHING AND READ THIS BOOK TRUST ME U WONT REGRET IT.

𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
I was totally not expecting the plot twist to be THAT like omg??? It took me for a spin and shattered me to a million pieces.


𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

‘I love you, and I have loved you, and I will love you.’

“Before I could finish my sentence, there was a knife at my throat.
I sighed a long-suffering sigh, letting my eyes flutter close. ‘For fuck’s sake, Arden.’ “

“our hearts stopped beating as one. Every fucking time”

“Ten Hundred Years of You.”

‘You piss me off, you know that?’
He chuckled bitterly. ‘I love you too.’
~STAB ME ALREADY

“He held me steady, thick arms around my waist as we climbed into the grave.”
~JUST SHOOT ME

‘Come here, habibi,’ Arden whispered.
~I think I just died and went to heaven

‘without you, there would be no poetry. I would have only the harsh lens of my own worldview. I wouldn’t be able to see the beauty of life, because I only see it through your eyes. Muse is too simple a word for what you are to me.’

“my skin sings for you, my bones ache for you,
but the ghosts stalking the hallways tell me
that we will not leave this place alive.”

“yuánfèn, from Mandarin–a tragic fate between two people.”

“Ya’aburnee was a favourite. It means “may you bury me”. It’s the idea that one person in a pairing longs to die before the other, because living without them would be too excruciating.”

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀:
The invisible life of Addie LaRue

[⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆ Kim ⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Update (3/4/2025): Happy publishing day to Our Infinite Fates!

"I hope you never lose that bottomless love. I hope you hold onto what makes you human.”

𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔
(Get ready for a rant review; I'm editing my review to add this message on because I didn't realize how long it was until after I posted it the first time lol)

I'm sure many of you saw my rating and then maybe looked at my comments under this review and thought to yourself, "Hm, she seems to be enjoying it, what went wrong?" Trust me, I feel bad about giving this 3 stars. Even for ARCs, I don't necessarily care if I give a book a bad review; my thoughts are my own and I'm not going to sugarcoat a rating just because it's a highly anticipated book or a ton of people loved it or whatnot. I usually don't mind being in the minority if it means I get to write about what I genuinely think about a book. However, I would say Our Infinite Fates is probably the first book I've read since The Inheritance Games where I've felt bad about giving a lower-than-expected review, and I read The Inheritance Games in 2021. That's probably one of the worst feelings to have as a reader: thinking you're going to love a book but you finish it and you're left disappointed knowing that you're in the minority and everyone will be like, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

I REALLY wanted to love Our Infinite Fates. I really did. So many people, bookstores, etc. were hyping this up to be one of the most anticipated 2025 YA reads, and how could I not read it when it was pitched as The Invisible Life of Addie Larue meets This is How You Lose the Time War? The extra cherry on top was the beautiful cover. Even looking at the high ratings of the book now on Goodreads 2 weeks before its release--it's currently sitting at a 4.19-star rating with 1,335 ratings at the time of me typing this out--I feel bad giving it the rating that I did. It sucks because I agree with the other reviews I've seen from Goodreads friends so far saying that BookTok, Bookstagram, etc. will more than likely hype up this book A LOT and it will blow up a lot more after it's officially published than it already is now with ARC readers like myself putting up their reviews. Like, the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition of the book sold out about a month before its publishing date, besides a super tiny restock that happened a few days ago. That's how highly anticipated this book is set to be.

It was lacking that je ne sais quois, that something special, that extra oomph would've pushed this to a 4 or even 5-star read for me. I kept reading because there were chapters that would end on cliffhangers so I would go, "DAMN IT!" and keep going. I also kept reading because I kept telling myself, "It's going to get better," but as much as the book sucked me into the story, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. I was told to expect a lot of emotion, thought, love, and to be in absolute tears when the story ended. I didn't feel a single thing. After thinking about it, I realize that lies in the relationship between Arden and Evelyn.

The story alternates between the past and the present, with the past being chapters featuring little snippets here and there of Arden and Evelyn together in their past lives over the course of a millennium. We see them in past lives all over the world, with different names, different backstories, and different personalities, yet no matter who they are or where they reincarnate, they will always find a way back to each other and kill each other before their eighteenth birthday. I don't mind a dual timeline; I think it's always cool to take a look into the past and see how things came to be in the present. I liked reading about them in their past lives and how they interacted with each other.

However, the issue I have with the story lies in that itself. There simply wasn't enough of that. We didn't spend enough time with them in their past lives for me to personally feel like there was this deep-rooted connection between the two of them, even throughout 1,000 years of history and backstory. There was no buildup, no backstory, nothing that made me feel like they truly loved each other. I know Laura Steven just picked specific points in their history together that marked major turning points in their relationships; I obviously don't expect her to write blurbs of EVERY past life Arden and Evelyn had together because that would take forever. No, seriously. I did the math, and if they've been reincarnating every 18 years for about 1,000 years, that would be about 56 different backstories and flashbacks that Laura Steven would have to write about Evelyn and Arden on top of the regular, present-day storyline. With that being said, I wish we were able to spend more time reading about the past lives that we were able to read about in the story. I would've liked to see multiple chapters from the different flashbacks/past lives that we were given in the story so there would be more depth to their backstory and relationship. Add onto that the fact that those "past" chapters were also randomly placed throughout the story in between the "present" chapters with no necessary rhyme or reason, and I felt it was super random at times and harshly interrupted the "present" storyline.

I think I liked the present timeline the most. I think it's super badass of Evelyn to donate her bone marrow to help her sister, Gracie, during her cancer treatment. Gracie, although she was a side character, had a funny, dry, sarcastic sense of humor and I loved her for that. I felt more love and connection between Evelyn and Gracie than I did with her and Arden, honestly. I was rooting for Evelyn to be able to help her sister and make it to her eighteenth birthday without getting killed by Arden.

The explanation as to why they keep reincarnating every 18 years makes logical sense once you read about it, but the reveal happened so close to the end of the book I almost thought I was reading an incomplete ARC. I think I would've been way more invested if that was revealed earlier in the story. A whirlwind of events happens after that revelation and I'm sure it was supposed to be this, big, crazy ending that makes you put the book down and stare into space questioning your existence, but for whatever reason I didn't feel that way? Like, the main story ended and I just went, "....uhhh, okay then." Maybe it's on me for having my expectations so high but I felt like it didn't stick the landing.

Overall, I'm just disappointed that this didn't work out for me like I thought. I'm hoping that other people will enjoy this way more than I did (and clearly, a lot of people are lol).

3 stars
𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔
Trigger/content warnings (big thanks to Trigger Warnings Database for providing these warnings!): Ableism, racism, sexism, classism, sexual assault, domestic abuse, attempted suicide/suicidal ideation, blood, injury depiction including body horror, forced institutionalization, death of a child, torture, kidnapping, fire, loss of a loved one, cancer, car accident

𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹: This is the ARC of the week! I've heard so many good things so far about Our Infinite Fates so I have high hopes. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the pretty cover art?!

[Aimee Tea Reads&#x1f4da; · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel confused and betrayed by the ending..
I loved the plot, their love story, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.. up until the explanation of how it all started..

It was the biggest disappointment ever.. it made no sense and it took me out of the story completely. I felt like I was instantly watching a really bad shit-post type movie.
Then the story was a bit redeemed through the second explanation which was kind of a plot twist to show that the whole perpetual reincarnation started before what we actually thought was the beginning.. anyway😂😂 I was really disappointed.

This started as the PERFECT romance.. their love story was tragic but so damn beautiful. This could have been one of my TOP GOD tier favorite books.. but the ending took all the sparkles away..😭😭

Still, I liked the rest of the story so much I couldn’t give it less than 4 stars.. but the initial reason and explanation of how it all started is stupid🤷🏻‍♀️

[Laura Greenhalgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

this has destroyed me. “I love you, I have loved you, and I will love you.” this was a painfully, tragically romantic love story that spans lifetimes. i fear i will never recover. i will be thinking about this story for a long time.

[Léa · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
respectfully, what the fuck

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 3⭐️
Setting: 4⭐️
Plot: 3⭐️
Themes: 4⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 3.75⭐️

I loved the premise of this book! I thought it was well-executed at times, but not consistently enough to land perfectly. The idea that two souls can be tethered through time—reincarnating every 18 years across history, and fall in love in each life, regardless of gender, class, ethnicity, or world event—it's poetry. The why of it all will keep readers hooked and make up for some repetitiveness that can slow pacing, but whether the answer will satisfy will depend on the reader.

I found the themes to be simple, beautiful, and powerful. I loved the focus on the soul of a person rather than their physical being or other aspects of their persona. I was totally invested in an exit strategy from this cycle, and hooked on the flashbacks.

The aspects that didn't work for me came down to repetitiveness in the thinking of the characters, dissatisfaction with the answer and ungroundedness of the twist, and that some of the characters' choices and behaviors were in service of saving the twist for the end. It really felt like any character, and definitely the readers, wouldn't take so long to get to the bottom of the thing. These parts felt a little gimmicky and lend themselves to the more young-adult audience this is written for. It comes down to sophistication for me. If this concept was written up for a more adult audience and the ending was refined, I think this could have been a top book of all time for me. As it is, I had a good time, and can definitely think of readers (like my sister Kristen) who will turn a blind eye to any and all flaws because the concept and characters will make up for everything else!

[christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why show us how they fall in love when you can just tell us that they are over and over for 350 pages, I guess.

This book is the overwrought, plodding love child of The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and Divine Rivals while somehow managing to be even more boring and meandering, which is truly a feat. I wish I got what the blurb promised because truly my time was wasted. This is not an enemies to lovers cat and mouse dynamic, it’s unsatisfying instalove. And there is nothing I hate more than being repeatedly told two people are desperately in love instead of seeing anything on page that would show me why I should believe this or care.

The blurb and the comps had me under the impression that we would see the two MCs chase each other through time and reincarnations—maybe there would be some tension and mystery over Arden’s identity in each cycle and the origin of the curse!—but this is not the case. The author doesn’t leave the reader guessing Arden’s identity in the present timeline for longer than three chapters and it is never in question in the flashbacks. We jump back and forth between the present timeline in Wales and flashbacks to Evelyn and Arden’s past lives, but the past life flashbacks are terminally dull. Gun to my head I would be hard pressed to recount any of the flashbacks at all, they add so little. There is no tension around the mystery behind Arden hunting Evelyn, no urgency to solving or understanding the curse.

There are way too many of these flashbacks and we don’t spend more than a chapter with each set of reincarnations, so they all blend together. They give us no new information or insight into the mystery of why Arden murders Evelyn in every life, and we never ever see them fall in love once. I quickly realized they were all just variations on the same conversation over and over, and I found myself skimming them because the only semblance of plot is in the present day chapters. Every flashback is essentially:

Arden: Do you believe in fate? What is a soul? Is grief the price of love?
Evelyn: Please don’t kill me this time.
Arden: Sorry but I gotta.
Evelyn: Can you at least tell me why you have to kill me? You remember everything and I remember nothing so just give the reader a hint that something interesting might happen. We aren’t learning anything about the mysterious curse in the present timeline so it would be cool to learn something to move the plot forward in these flashback scenes.
Arden: I can’t tell you.
Evelyn: But why—
Arden: Because.
Evelyn: Because why?
Arden: Because we still have like 200 pages to fill. RIP babe.

The different historical settings are interesting at first (and clearly an attempt from the author to address critiques aimed at Addie La Rue) but they’re repetitive filler and the pacing suffers. I would have much rather seen the author pick a few past lives and flesh them out. Instead we get like twenty different past versions of Evelyn and Arden with zero depth or chemistry. And I know this is YA but oh my god it is so goofy that they’re both like a thousand years old. (I swear, every time these immortal 17 year olds started talking about their PTSD from The Great War I could not take it seriously.) Immortal characters in YA are a tough needle to thread, but choosing to make them that old means they feel very underdeveloped; Evelyn’s personality is “likes clothes” and Arden’s is “writes poetry.” They simultaneously don’t behave as timeless as I would expect while also behaving like OTT lovesick teens.

I’m settling on a generous two stars, despite disliking this so much I wanted to give it one. I think it’s a bad book and nothing happens in it, it needs editing to the point that it would barely be the same book anymore, but it’s not the worst YA fantasy I’ve ever read or even the worst one I read in 2024. (The Dagger and the Flame takes that crown, just barely.) The line level writing is fine, if a bit flowery, and the premise is great, but it’s incredible to me that anyone would take this idea and turn it into such an unforgivably boring book. I think it’s a failure on every possible level to not let us see them fall in love. I can see why people would like this, and I wanted to like this because I too am insufferable and enjoy flowery musings on reincarnation, fate, and existence. But when it comes to magical realism, lacking an interesting plot, I need snappy dialogue and interesting characters to be invested in a book—and this didn’t have any of that.

Would I re-read this? No

Who should read this: magical realism fans, instalove enjoyers, people who will read anything in the soulmate au tags on ao3

Similar books: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, Divine Rivals, This is How You Lose the Time War, A Thousand Pieces of You

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books/SMP for a copy of the eARC.

[Alexandra (Lexi) Roselyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is all so foolish, to love and be loved, knowing it will always end like this, and yet I yearned for it more than I yearned to breathe.”

“This was all some cruel mistake. I was just a girl. A girl who wanted to please her Mother. A girl who wanted to let herself love and be loved in return. A girl who wanted to live.”

“I would love Calliope until the sun devoured the earth; that much I knew.”

….I fear I will never recover from this book. 💔

[jasmine ☆₊⁺&#x1f9a2;&#x1fabd;₊⁺★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️
╰► 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱!!!

lıllılı.ıllı.ılılıılıı.lllııılı.
Now Playing:
[Iris - Goo Goo Dolls]
0:26 ———♡——— 4:50
◁◁▐▐ ▷▷

“𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.”

₊˚ʚ ➼➻❥𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨📋
╰┈➤ our infinite fates is a romantic fantasy about evelyn, a teen who remembers all her past lives—and in each one, she dies before turning 18, always at the hands of arden, her soulmate and nemesis. in her current life, with her sister's survival depending on her, evelyn must find arden, uncover the truth behind their cursed fate, and try to break the cycle before it’s too late.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨💭
╰┈➤first of all, let me just start off by saying that the cover is absolutely beautiful… like it’s actually so pretty. and secondly, i loved this book so much. from beginning to end, i was captivated by the whole plot. there were so many times where i was confused—not in a bad way, but because i was trying to find possible answers to the many questions i had as i read. THE PLOT TWIST?! HELLO?! that literally almost made me gasp in the middle of class.

₊˚ʚ ➼➻❥𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮𝙣🕯️
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒎𝒆.”
╰┈➤ evelyn evelyn evelyn…. oh what can i say about you? well, i honestly really liked evelyn as a character. i connected with her in a few aspects of the book, one of them being that she would do anything for the people she loved. Lowkey though, after reading that plot twist with her being the devil who created her and arden’s cursed fate, she was like an unreliable narrator tbh. i had so many theories, but that one never even crossed my mind. like i was over here thinking arden was the one at fault the whole time, BUT NO! one of the craziest plot twists i’ve honestly every read.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣♟️
“𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒆.”
╰┈➤ after finding out how much arden was actually suffering throughout the ten thousand years, i felt so so bad for him. he suffered so much from the memories he remembered but evelyn never did. AND THE FUCKING POETRY BOOK HE WROTE 😫 i literally got flashbacks from picking daises on sundays. there were times where he actually pissed me off, but that was before i knew this was all evelyn’s fault. actually scratch that, he pissed me off when he just kept refusing to tell evelyn the whole reason why they kept reincarnating and their cursed fates. anyways, i loved how he went from hating her, to loving her.

₊˚ʚ ➼➻❥𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣🔒
╰┈➤ this book is filled with so much yearning, it’s almost disgusting (yearning will never be disgusting), but it literally made me sad because arden spent every life loving and killing evelyn, just so they wouldn’t be dragged back down to her “mother” in the underworld. and when they had to choose between their love and their freedom, i almost cried. they chose their freedom and the fact that their love was so strong, it literally killed the devil… just beautiful. i enjoyed the ending of the book a lot, and the time skip to 2054 was kind of shocking to me, because they spent a long time without each other and they finally reunited in the coffee shop. "𝙀𝙭𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙚," 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨. "𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙢��𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚?" i would most definitely recommend this book!

⏝̅⏝̅⏝̅ ୨ ♱ ୧ ⏝̅⏝̅⏝̅
𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 🌀⏳
𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗿? 𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂

[mackenzie (hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

um. okay. i don't know how to feel about this one?

on one hand i loveddd the concept and the vibes and the whole idea of the book. like, i totally love what was going on in the author's brain and what they were trying to do.

HOWEVER there was zeroooooo character development imo and it drove me absolutely insane. it felt so two dimensional and boring and was such a snoozefest at some points. also just didn't love the writing style which is a me thing but still.

now give me this entire concept but written by someone else and i'll eat it up thank u xx.

pre-read:
heard some amazingggg things about this one 🤞🏼