Twice in a Lifetime

Starred review from October 24, 2022
Baron explores parallel realities in her heart-wrenching debut romance. After overworked Chicago graphic designer Isla Abbott has a breakdown following her mother’s death, she decides to relocate to a bungalow just outside of St. Louis, hoping for a fresh start. There she starts receiving mysterious texts from a man named Ewan Park, who claims to be her husband from the future reaching back in time to prevent her eventual death by suicide. Though at first skeptical, Isla comes to believe Ewan and hopes to avoid her original fate by changing the circumstances of her first meeting with Ewan in the present, thus setting them on a different trajectory. It works, and for a time, Isla and Ewan thrive—Ewan expertly supports Isla through her frequent panic attacks, and the pair quickly fall in love. But they can’t avoid the apparently fated accident that is the long-term decider, one way or another, of whether Isla and Ewan get their happily ever after. The aching regret of what might be shines through each alternate reality as this couple fights for each other, and a series of shocking twists at the end will steal readers’ breath one scene after another. The captivating characters, skillful plotting, and sensitive handling of mental illness make this a knockout.