The Next Together (The Next Together #1) by Lauren James
3/5 stars
Premise- (4/5) Katherine and Matthew reappear throughout history again and again, finding each other, falling in love, and losing each other. Then they return to start the whole process over again. But why? I really like time-travel concepts, and the idea of continued soulmate-esque reincarnation was fascinating for me. Admittedly, the particular eras covered in this book, the Crimean War and the Siege of Carlisle, are things I know nothing about. BUT I thought it was a super cool concept and was quite excited.
Characters- (4/5) I went back and forth on Katherine and Matthew a bit, but by the end of the book I liked them a lot. I liked Katherine’s sense of humor, which she maintained fairly consistently throughout the various timelines. Matthew was sweet. I feel like he could’ve used a little more personality, he felt a bit generic at times, but I liked him. There weren’t a ton of relevant side characters, mostly because James had to cover four different sets of Katherine and Matthew. But I liked Tom and Kate’s grandmothers.
Plot- (2.5/5) Okay, I struggled with some of the plot. The 2019/2039 plots kept my interest. Can’t say I completely followed all the science/pseudo-science that was going on with the deadly bacteria, but I’m always in for a good government conspiracy. But the older time period plotlines didn’t keep me nearly as interested. I should’ve known from the premise it was going to be pretty romance-heavy, but there was more focus on the romance, particularly in the earlier time periods, than I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance, it just got a little repetitive and much after a while. Also, I was not prepared for the ending and am not sure I loved it. Though I like how it sets up the sequel.
World- (3/5) I liked the 2019 and 2039 worlds a lot, which is a little surprising for me. Usually, I tend to like the historical periods more than the futuristic periods because I get really skeptical about any and all predictions of the future. But in The Next Together, I actually liked the futuristic worlds better. I think it was because I didn’t know much about the historical periods James chose and wasn’t especially interested in them. Plus the historical periods felt a bit repetitive. But I thought there was decent attention to historical detail, which I appreciated. Things like the theory of humours in eighteenth century medicine, knowledge about dinosaurs, the little things like that.
Writing- (3.5/5) I liked the multimedia format of this book. With emails, notes, journal entries, and more incorporated into the narrative, it was fun to read a variety of formats in one book. I was a little over the romance by the end of the book, but I thought it was fairly well written for the most part.
Overall- (3.4/5) I loved the premise of The Next Together, and I liked Katherine and Matthew. Though I liked some of the time periods more than others, the plot was engaging overall. One thing I didn’t love was that there were definitely a few moments that love, specifically romantic love, was the single most important thing in life. The book was a little romance-heavy for my taste in general, but I should’ve expected that from the premise. Still, I enjoyed the characters, the overall plot kept my interest, and the writing was easy to read. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the sequel!