I really enjoyed the different time periods that we got to jump in between, they really had some great aspects to add to this reincarnation story. Although in a way, we also were getting kind of a time travel story. Not to mentions with the future part of the story we got maybe some alien/science fiction aspects as well! But it’s hard to explain why it was both in a way without necessarily giving something away, so I will try my best not to do that!

Fayad and Tamar’s different lives were all very fascinating. While we really only got to experience two past lives, present day, and a future life, we also got some little details about other lives we didn’t get to spend time with. In a way, how they affected each other, who seemed more into it, was a little different for each story. But over and over they were star-crossed lovers, like Romeo and Juliet, their love destined to doom, one or both of them losing the other before they could have a chance to live a long and happy life together. At least that’s the story we got through the different lives we spent time with.

I really was enjoying all the historical lives, and the present day one was a little bit boring for me at first. Then, we jumped to the future life, and I got a little bit confused at first. In a way, it was almost a little bit of sci-fi that maybe wasn’t needed? However, what the two characters learn and experience in that time period relates back to the present day story. The end of the story kind of wraps up with what you could call a race against time, with lots of strange things happening, but I have to say the ending totally had me enthralled, racing through the last 50 or so pages to see just how they could get things to finally work out for the happily ever after they really seemed to be missing.

This was such an original story, and one I can’t wait to share with my students in the high school library where I work. What kept it from being a full 5 stars for me was that the beginning was a little slow for me, and then as I mentioned, some of the future storyline seeming like maybe it was a little bit too much? Even though it did all kind of wrap up, in a way as I think back, it still seems a little too extra at times. But I ended the story really enjoying it, so I still really liked it!

Review first published on Lisa Loves Literature.