I picked up Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid (my first by her) because it sounded beachy and light. It was definitely both... but these types of books usually leave me wanting more, and this one was no exception.

Maybe in Another Life is about a 29-year-old, Hannah, who hasn’t felt at home in a city in years and moves around a lot. It has an interesting premise - what if one decision can change the outcome of your life? The book has two parallel storylines that happen at the same time. In one, Hannah leaves the bar her first night back in LA with her ex-boyfriend/high school sweetheart. In the second, she leaves with her best friend Gabby.

The parallel storylines are the most interesting part of this book. To me, the characters felt very surface level. Hannah wears her hair in a high bun and loves cinnamon rolls - we hear about these little adorable quirks over and over and over. Like we get it! She has preferences! I also felt like the attempts to make the characters deeper with somewhat sad backstories fell flat for me. They all came off as kind of a little too perfect.

Both storylines of this book are basically love stories. The book sends the message that no matter what choice you make, things will work out. Despite some planted hardships for Hannah in the storylines, the characters really have charmed lives and everything always just somehow works out so well for them - in just a couple weeks! The storyline is very short (and in both storylines, seemingly perfect men fall in love with Hannah in just a couple of weeks). It all seems too easy and wasn’t realistic to me.

That being said, this was a super easy, light and fluffy beach read. If you’re looking for light and easily digestible with happy endings, this might be for you.