Waterstones The Last Beginning
112 ratings
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Price: £7.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: A mystery to be solved in the past. A love to be uncovered in the future. The thrilling follow-up to The Next Together. The epic conclusion to Lauren James' debut The Next Together about true love and reincarnation. Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives. But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove's investigation? For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future. Waterstones The Last Beginning - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9781406358063
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9781406358063
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Author: Ellen
Rating: 5
Review: It's so easy to go wrong with a time travel based novel, and although it can get a little confusing at times, Lauren James has crafted a wonderful story about love and destiny spanning two generations and multiple time periods. I loved that the same structure from the first book was used here again, giving us little snippets into the character's lives through notes and emails, and it's nice to get some answers to ongoing questions from the first book, with everything wrapped up by the end. Following on from "The Next Together", this book follows Clove, the daughter of Katherine and Mathew, as she tries to figure out what happened to her parents and save the love of her life, who she hasn't yet met. It's not easy trying to figure out why someone disappeared when they're scattered throughout history, recurring again and again, just like the mysterious girl that Clove keeps meeting at every turn. To quote the back cover: "For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future." It's a story that wins points with me for having a LGBT protagonist, especially one who isn't defined by her sexuality. The fact that Clove is gay is just one part of her multifaceted personality. She knows that she is, her parents and friends know, and it's basically no big deal. Like Katherine from "The Next Together", Clove as a protagonist is one of my favourites. She's in no way perfect, and she makes plenty of mistakes, but her heart is in the right place, and she's easy to root for. She's very much a teenager in the way that she overreacts at times, and she's basically the perfect mix of Mathew and Katherine while still being her own person. You don't need to have read "The Next Together" to read this book, but I won't deny that it would help. There is so much in this book based on what has come before, and it's so easy to slip back into the world that Lauren James has created. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, and all in all this is a great read, and a really wonderful time travel based story.
Author: Ashleigh @ A frolic through fiction
Rating: 3
Review: Originally posted on A Frolic Through Fiction Here’s how you can tell that this year, I’ve gotten harsher with my ratings: I enjoyed this book more than the first, and yet it has a slightly lower rating. Wut? Never fear though, I do mean only slightly. And for once – are you ready for this shocker – I know the exact reason why I liked it more. *The crowd gasps in surprise* I know right? It’s practically unheard of. Me, actually being able to explain what I like about a book? What is this sorcery? So here it is: The first book is about reincarnation and two people finding each other in each generation and falling hopelessly in love all over again. As someone who often cringes away from lovey-dovey scenarios, there were just some moments in that book where I shuddered with my shrivelled heart and longed for the drama to come back. HOWEVER. This one is time travel, and of course that changes everything. For one, there’s much less romance anyway (though still some, I’ll come back to that). And for two, there was none of that “we’re destined to be together! I was put on this earth to find you again!” drivel. Gosh, I don’t half sound morbid. I don’t actually mind romances most of the time – and even liked it in The Next Together. But as soon as it’s the main focus of a story – unless I specifically look for that, on the random days I want a cutesy summer type story to speed through – it’s just too much for me. So there’s less romance, but still some. And the “some” that there is, is great. Mainly because I adored the love interest. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’ll say no more than it’s a F/F relationship. But the love interest I just wanted to see more of. I loved her. Granted, I’m still a tad confused about how she came into the story, but I just want to see more of her confident elusiveness. Romances aside, this book is very sciencey. Sometimes I got a tad bored of all the explanations, but luckily they didn’t drag on too much. I honestly applaud Lauren James for being able to work a plot with time travel and so many different versions of people. Just hopping around time and space, no big deal. I did have a problem with the actual plot. I can’t say much, but the main “problem” stems from a mistake the main character made…which should totally NOT have happened. Even I know not to do that, Clove, and you live in the bloomin’ future and actually CARE about all the sciencey stuff, whereas I’m not bothered. Dammit Clove! *facepalms* While I did enjoy the book quite a lot, I wasn’t exactly blown away either. Mainly because all of the missing links and explanations seem to be revealed in one big chunk, so I just read through it all and thought “oh okayy that makes sense I guess” , instead of trying to move onto the next issue and figure it out. Still, I sped through this book. I’m pretty sure it only took me a couple of days to read. I loved how it took the first book and changed it into something completely new, but plausible. And it was a very satisfying end to the duology, I must say.
