This review and others posted over at my blog.

The short version: I enjoyed the concept of K&M’s constant reincarnations and their connections across time. There’s a dash of sci-fi thrown in that had me intrigued, but ultimately wanting more. I think the details were lacking and the characters were so similarly boring that I didn’t care for any iteration of the couple. The ending was especially disappointing and if a sequel exists, I won’t read on.

If you’re still with me, buckle up for a bit of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff involving bland teenagers who are apparently destined to be each other’s true loves! This book gave me thoughts.

Let’s start with the basics. The story follows 3 main iterations of K&M and hints at the details of another set through found documents like hand-written notes and journal entries. That couple is the least developed because they are really only seen through the eyes of the most recent versions of K&M.

So we’ve got:
1745 Katherine and Matthew living in Carlisle, England. Katherine is rich and Matthew is her aunt’s coachman or something. Meh.
1854 Katy and Matt traveling from England to Crimea for the war. Katy is (easily) masquerading as a boy, Kit, and Matt is the first war correspondent.
2019 Katherine and Matthew living somewhere in England. They’re a pair of married scientists and they’re dead, so we only get to read the stupid notes they left each other.
2039 Kate and Matt (or maybe she goes by Katherine? Who cares?) who also live somewhere in England. They’re university students together, studying science. They also happen to be the niece and nephew, respectively, of the deceased K&M and they each look almost exactly like their aunt and uncle. Because that’s not freaky at all. Really, it’s hardly mentioned and no one finds it alarming.

These aren’t even all their iterations, just the ones we’re following in the story. Still with me?

I’ll give you another quick hit, in case you want to bail before I further dissect things. I didn’t find any of the couples endearing, charming, relatable or interesting. I think they were all pretty interchangeable – which you could argue makes sense because they’re the same people reincarnated, but even their settings had little impact on them so they felt too similar and I was bored. I did visually enjoy the graphic elements like the notes and emails, but the content was also boring. The ending was frustrating and vague and the sci-fi twist left me a bit confused. I don’t think the sci-fi elements or the character development were pushed far enough.

Let’s talk a little about the couple I liked the least, Kit and Matt in the 1854 timeline. Kit has been living as a boy in some general’s household for a few years or something. She gets caught reading a book when she’s supposed to be cleaning and the general decides to send her to be Matt’s assistant, because the higher-ups are worried his front-line correspondence will paint them in a bad light or give information that could be used against him. Her job is to spy on him and influence what he publishes.

What even?

If it was so critical that Matt’s correspondence is censored, why wouldn’t the military send a professional spy to act as his personal assistant? Why would General What’s-His-Face send a serving boy he really knows nothing about, just because the kid can read?!

On top of that, Kit has had zero issues passing for a boy for the entire time she’s done it. But, lest we forget she’s a pretty girl, we get this from her: “Katy knew that her features were quite feminine, but with cropped hair and male clothing she hoped she would easily pass for an undernourished fourteen-year-old boy, instead of a girl of sixteen years.”

So that’s good – she gets to be “quite feminine” but no one suspects that she’s not a boy. Right. Her secret is revealed to Matt, of course, but basically, because she tells him. This doesn’t matter though, because he essentially ignores her for a short time, then they’re good. In fact, they’re so good that once they reach camp, they fight over who will sleep on the one cot and who on the floor, so Kit suggests they share the cot. Wow. I know she’s supposed to be bold and all, but I feel like in the 1850s that would be shocking. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure it’s not wide enough for two.

She remains in boy gear while they’re corresponding and of course, quickly throws her spy agenda out the window so she can caress Matt’s hair and drink his coffee and generally canoodle him. I know they’ve got that magical bond because they’ve been reincarnated so long, but I expected a little more tension. Also, I don’t need a ton of detail, but I bet it would be a real pain in the ass to deal with your period when you’re living in a military camp masquerading as a boy. A comment on that might have made things feel a touch more believable.

Really, any struggle would have added some depth to their situation and surroundings. Aside from being cold and tired, the two suffered very few hardships in their time at the front. Kit magically has no problems getting food and taking care of Matt, her “delicate flower.” I guess that’s supposed to be a funny term of endearment she uses for him.

Periodically, I came across some awkward descriptions that pulled me out of the story because I was like, “what???”

For example:

“She could barely feel the extremities of her body from exhaustion and bitter cold.” Well yes, I’m not sure what other extremities she has…would they be someone else’s extremities that she could barely feel?

“She sighed into his mouth, shivering.” That just sounds awkward and sort of gross.

“She hadn’t had the butterflies in the stomach, the giddy absorption of falling in love.” Props for using a phrase I’ve never encountered before – giddy absorption of falling in love. It’s so unique that I really can’t comprehend it.

The sci-fi tidbits and the overall idea were what propelled me through this book. The payoff wasn’t there for me though. I wish the characters and their settings had been more developed. There weren’t enough details to really build up each world, and maybe cutting out one of the couples could have left room for the further development of the others. Or maybe this is just YA, letting me down once again. I mean, the premise is based on two teens falling in love over and over, so I’m not sure what I was expecting. Alas. Not terribly written, despite some awkward details here and there, but just not a story that held my interest. ( )

I loved it. I really did. I got slightly confused by all the Matthews and all the Katherines, but I did love it. An intriguing take on timeslip fiction, or historical fiction, or time travel fiction - its all a mash up really.
The descriptions are beautiful. The author is highly talented. Please don't let my confusion put you off reading this book! It was quite different reading about the Crimean War instead of WWII or WWI. And a refreshingly different viewpoint on the Jacobite uprising.
So yes, I can easily recommend this book. ( )

I have to say, the words 'Time Travel" are the ones that made me purchase this book. Along with the fact that there were newspaper clippings, diary entries and just general notes in this book, a bit like Illuminae but with normal writing added as well. The fact that this book's main genre was "Romance" was something I was willing to overlook.

The Next Together tells the story of Matthew Galloway and Katherine Finchley, star-crossed lovers who are destined or doomed to fall in love over and over again, and lose each other over and over again. In 1745 we have Matthew (a coachman) and Katherine (a noble lady) whose city is about to get overrun by the Jacobites. Then in 1854 we have Matthew (a journalist) and Katy (his assistant) who travel to Crimea to write about the war with the Russians. In 2019 there are Matthew and Katherine (both junior scientists at CSL) who have just discovered something awful about the company they work for (their story is only being told by means of notes, emails and other information 2039 Matt and Kate find). And last but not least, Matt and Kate (biology students) in 2039 who find out that their ancestors were labeled terrorists by the government and killed.

Though each of these characters are the same two people over and over again, they all have some different personality traits. I have to admit, I liked the 2039 Matt and Kate the best, and the 1745 ones the least; mainly just because I don't like historical fiction and I just simply didn't enjoy reading their chapters. The ones inbetween were okay, but I still have to say that I prefered the futuristic versions the best.

I honestly just wasn't interested in their romance, even though that was one of the main subjects in this story. It was certainly why they kept on being reborn again. They had to fall in love with each other over and over again because of a reason. And that reason was a baby. They had to produce a child, and when that happened I thought to myself 'Really? That's it? That's the reason they kept on having to do this? REALLY?!' So yeah, I don't know.

They way the story was written was very nice in my opinion, I loved finding out more about each couple in pieces. On one side I wouldn't have minded for one story to be told first, then the next, and so forth, but this way it kind of stayed interesting. Though there were some tiny things, I guess I could call them spoilers, that I found annoying. In the two historical stories, a Matthew dies and a Katherine dies, and because that happens, Matt gets send back into the past to replace that Matthew. While there, he has enough time to tell Katherine exactly what happened to his Katy, which is something that hasn't actually happened in the book yet. Does it (what I've just said) make any sense? Anyway, I don't like it when things get spoiled by the book already. Foreshadowing, okay, but actually spoiling the ending for a character before it happens? No. (I am looking at you, The Book Thief).

Anyway, I thought it was a very interesting book, but I just think it wasn't great. There were some questions I still had at the end of this book, that I hope will be answered in the second. I also didn't like half of the couples, mainly because of the historical aspect. So yeah, maybe I'll read the next book, maybe I won't. I'll see when it comes out!

I recommend this book to lovers of historical and futuristic romance stories, if you're a fan of either and definitely if you're a fan of both!

My opinion on this book in one gif:

( )

If I ever write a book, I would like it to be written with the clarity this amazing writer, Lauren James has! The Next Together has been a refreshingly wonderful read. I read Time- Travel books very rarely because they seem so tricky to pull off all the confusion with regards to places and characters. This book has two main characters, Matthew and Katherine who keep appearing into different periods in history notably amongst the most well known era of the Jacobite Revolution and the Crimean War. The most exciting part of reading this story was the constant crisp conversations Matthew and Katy kept having in between the various history years. Time Travel can be sometimes boring when we can't relate to the past but here since Scottish history is one of my favourite subjects, I was attentive throughout the book narration when they travel during the Crimean War. To be honest, why wouldn't anyone like such easygoing historical references so beautifully woven with lead characters that are both funny, brave and extremely likeable since they seem to be everything what we are in the normal non-literary world?!

I have always had a very keen interest in the era from Eighteenth till twentieth century. This book very cleverly intermingles the history and present to create a time travel mystery about science. So basically this book has all my favourite genres- Science, History and Mystery. I immensely enjoyed Katy's humour and Matthew's sweet disposition towards life. This is by far one of the most refreshing books I've read in this year and I look forward to reading its sequel soon. ( )

LOVED this until the end :( So close to five stars! ( )