Book Review: The Next Together (The Next Together #1), Lauren James

Title: The Next Together
Series: The Next Together #1
Author: Lauren James
Published: 03/09/2015, Walker
Pages: 356
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5
How many times can you lose the person you love?

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? 

Maybe the next together will be different...

The Next Together is a wonderfully unique read that I just could not put down. There are just so many different aspects to this story - it's both historical and sci-fi with lots of adventure and romance woven through it. I found it quite a fun and easy read, though I was confused at times.

The Next Together is set over four different time periods where Katherine and Matthew meet and fall in love - Carlisle 1745 during the Jacobite rebellion, during the Crimean War in 1854, Nottingham in 2019, and Nottingham 2039. I thought each of these time periods were great at showing how Katherine and Matthew's relationship evolves each time they are reincarnated. Especially, when the little things they do carry through time.

As character's I thought Katherine and Matthew were brilliant. Their banter just bounces off one another perfectly and it's so obvious they are meant to be. They are just adorable! I just wish there was a little bit more depth to them as individual characters.

The Next Together is told in the third-person following Katherine during three of the time periods. 2019 is told via a series of notes, emails and Facebook posts between Katherine and Matthew. I actually didn't find the story too predictable at all, other than I knew there would be tragedy in all of the time periods. The plot did confuse me slightly and I'm still not 100% sure of the reasons behind why Katherine and Matthew are re-incarnated over and over again, There are still plenty of unanswered questions (but I'm definitely going to read the sequel to find these out), however, I found the ending very climatic and I just had to keep turning the pages.

I found The Next Together such a clever and unique story. I would definitely recommend it to those who like a nice, easy read with some romance and sci-fi mixed in. I can't wait to read The Last Beginning and just need to get my hands on it!

Title: Another Together
Series: The Next Together #1.5
Author: Lauren James
Published: 02/06/2016, Walker
Pages: 59
Source: Bought - Amazon freebie
Format: Ebook
Rating: 4/5
Winter, 1940: there is a murderer on the loose at Bletchley Park, the headquarters of Britain's most daring codebreaking operation against the Nazis. Can two young codebreakers Kitty and Matthew catch the killer?

This standalone short story can be enjoyed by new readers and existing fans of Lauren James' The Next Together series.

As soon as I finished The Next Together, I knew I needed to know more about Katherine and Matthew. Lucky for me, I noticed that the companion novella, Another Together is an Amazon freebie at the moment. So, of course, I read it straight away.

I thought Another Together was a great little insight into another re-incarnation of Katherine and Matthew. It was quite a short murder mystery surrounding the code breakers at Bletchley Park in 1940. I thought it was a nice little backstory behind the occasional comment made by Katherine and Matthew in The Next Together and definitely shows how well they work as a team.

I also found these books are a great wee history lesson and I'm so tempted to look up the Jacobites, the Crimean War and Bletchley Park to find out more.

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