C.J. Connolly - The Love of My Other Life
4⭐
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Chick Lit, Magical Realism.
Pages: 366
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Joffe Books
Date Published: 30th June 2022
Book Blurb:
Today is Josie’s 36th birthday.
Josie’s a single British woman living in a tiny walk-up in Brooklyn. She misses her family, but her radio show is starting to go places. And sure, she could be a dress size smaller, but no one cares what you look like on the radio. The guy she’s had a crush on for months, is finally going to break up with his girlfriend. She hopes.
She’s zipping through traffic on her way to meet friends for dinner at a SoHo restaurant. There’s a screech of brakes, Josie crashes her bike, and her world goes black.
Then something extraordinary happens.
She wakes up in hospital. The handsome stranger by her side, holding her hand and telling her he loves her, is Rob. Her husband of two years. They live in a chic Manhattan penthouse. She works in real estate. And she’s thirty pounds slimmer than when she got on her bike that morning.
Josie has no idea how she got here. This new life is everything she ever wanted. But there’s one thing missing . . .
And now she has to decide: should she go back to her old single life in Brooklyn or stay with the love of her nearly perfect new life?
What would you do?
This extraordinary and unforgettable love story is perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Audrey Niffenegger, Diana Gabaldon, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls, Colleen Hoover, Laura Barnett, and Rebecca Searle and Holly Miller.
My Review:
The premise of this book
intrigued me so much that I had to read it. That, and I was craving to read a
romance book that was good after a few 2-star romance books. I never actually
read a romance book that is set in a multiverse but this book was such a great
and easy read, with loads of heartwarming, funny and awkward moments, yet at the same time some
parts of this book were quite sad. I liked the balance between the happy and sad
in this book. Also, the romance itself was not over the top, as the book explored
other topics too, such as grief, marriage, and relationships.
The story follows Josie Cavendish,
a British woman in her thirties living in New York. She is happy with her cosy
life in a tiny flat, her job on the local radio and her choir classes. However,
she also misses her family that lives abroad and wants to finally find someone
to love. She has a crush on her choir friend Peter who is in a long-term
relationship and as he is just about to break up with his girlfriend and tell
Josie that he wants to be together, Josie has a bike crash. She wakes up in a
hospital surrounded by her family and her husband Rob. She then discovers that
she lives a luxurious life with Rob (who she doesn’t know or remember),
however, so many things from her previous life are missing in this rather
perfect timeline. Josie starts to miss her old life but at the same time, she
falls in love with Rob, not knowing that Josie from this timeline switched
places with her and now living her old life in New York. Both Josies are loving
their new lives but at the same time, they start missing people from their old
lives…but the question is whether both of them want to give up their past lives.
Josie’s character, in both
universes, is so relatable and real. I loved how both Josies personalities grew
when they woke up in each other’s universes. Also, how they realised that one
event in the past changed the way they both live their lives, and what people they
met and still have in their lives. Both Josies are also understanding of one
another, they have the same strong emotions and choices to make which are not
always as easy. Both of them also realise that some things in life matter more
than others. Such a likeable and honest character in both timelines.
I wish there was more from Rob’s
and Peter’s characters, as in this book they both seemed whiny about Josie’s
memories and attachments to her other life. They both assumed that it is the
same Josie and just went with that idea, instead of listening to what each
Josie was telling them from the day of the accident. I just felt that they
could have been more understanding and more supportive of this situation. At parts
both of them, Rob and Peter were acting like teenagers thinking about
themselves and having very little consideration for Josie.
Overall: Parts of this book were
slow and I wished that more was happening but like I mentioned before it still
is a very quick and easy romance book. This book also explored other topics,
such as grief, death, relationships and marriage, which was interesting to read,
especially from the viewpoints of the same person living in two parallel universes.
The premise of the book is really good and fresh, and I liked how quickly it
reads and uncomplicated the plotline was. Honestly, brilliant book if you are
in a reading slump, as it would definitely get you out of one. Oh, and the
ending is just cute!
About the Author:
CJ Connolly is a new author, based in Vancouver, Canada, and originally from London, England. She is the author of The Love of My Other Life, a commercial women’s novel with a magic realism premise, set in present-day New York City.
CJ has a background in brand communications and journalism, with two decades of editing, writing, and marketing experience in the Vancouver and London media and tech industries. She has also hosted a real estate-focused talk radio show and has experience reporting on TV and speaking on and moderating conference panels. In her free time – in addition to writing novels – she is a passionate singer, and a founding member of a vocal harmony group in Vancouver.
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