2 Book Lovers Reviews

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​I have read a few sliding-doors novels, and I find them utterly compelling. Paige Harbison took this concept, but still gave her story a unique, fresh approach.

Lana Lord has found success as an actress in Hollywood. It was her lifelong dream to become a famous actress, but despite her leading role on a soap opera-esque show, her A-list boyfriend, and her growing bank account, Lana is unsatisfied with her life. When she decides on a whim to take a one-week break and fly to Ireland, she believes that it is just the reset that she needs. However, when Lana arrives in Ireland, she is actually Meg Bryan again (her actual name). The people in Ireland know her, she isn’t the famous actress anymore, and her best friend is alive and well in the same town of Avalon, Ireland.

While there was a fair share of comedic moments in this novel, it also deals with the serious topic of grief. Meg was never able to fully get over the death of her best friend Aimee. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with loss, but for Meg, her solution was to run away from it, but we all know that you can’t run away from grief. It will follow you until you handle it head on.

I’m not going to lie; I much preferred the main character as she was in Ireland. Gone was the polished celebrity with the too-thin body and the smoothed out, altered face. In her place was the real Meg Bryan, who would eat carbs, drink wine, and not obsess over her appearance. She had close friends, an on-again, off-again boyfriend who was more than likely the love of her life, and she had an estranged friendship with Aimee. Why was their relationship on the outs? What had transpired to ever make them not as close as they once were when they were growing up in Florida? That’s what I wanted to find out.

While Meg didn’t know how she ended up in this parallel reality, she wanted to see what this life was like. She wanted to reconnect with Aimee again. As a reader, I could completely understand Meg’s frustration of not knowing how or why she was living in a parallel life or how she could get people to believe her farfetched story.

The Other Side of Now was an intriguing read. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Meg. I wanted her to find her peace with Aimee, to let herself heal, and to find what truly mattered to her in her own life. I was fully invested. I was in it with her.

The Other Side of Now had humor, heart, and plenty of emotions to go around.

 

*4 Stars