Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Over and Over You

Over and Over You by Amy McAuley

As soon as I read about this book at Spookcyn, I knew I had to read it. Ever since A Knight In Shining Armor, I love a good reincarnated love story. And get this for a first line: "I've been in love with the same boy for a thousand years."

The Plot: Penny has her fortune told, and finds out she's been in love with the same guy for a thousand years. And she's going to meet him again, soon. Penny doesn't believe it. Then the strange dreams start, giving her glimpses of her past lives. And in each dream, her best friend dies. With Penny-in-the-past being responsible. And her best friend in her dreams looks exactly like her real best friend Diana. Even if Penny does believe, can she save Diana? It doesn't help that Penny is falling in love with Ryan; and it's Diana's boyfriend, Rick, who looks like Penny's dream guy.

The Good: It's a love story! With reincarnation! Of course it's good. The past lives include the famous and not so famous, with the history part being well researched. McAuley also gives a clever reason why the history stuff may not be a hundred percent correct (and why its always in English): "When you remember [the past lives], you're stuck seeing things through Penny's eyes, which includes her experiences and preconceived ideas."

I also love that while it's about Destiny and Fate, it's also about the ability to make choices and to not be trapped by the past.

The B-plot is about Penny reconciling with her divorced father, who has finally stopped drinking and gotten his life together. In a nice parallel to the main story, their relationship also is about not being trapped by past patterns and allowing people to change and grow.

More links: Cynsations Author Interview ; Debbi Michiko Florence interview (hey, Debbi also googled the history bits in the book!)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Liz-
an x-files quote that ties in with the theme of over and over you. it gets me every time i see it...

-Your eyes may have changed shade, but it cannot color the soul behind them. We have come together in this life, this time, only to meet in passing. It is so heartbreaking to wait. I miss you....
(Melissa Riedal-Ephesian to Mulder)

Anonymous said...

Liz! I was kind of down in the dumps today, until I read your very nice review of Over and Over You. Thank you so much. You've saved me from having to pull out my emergency stash of chocolate! ;-)

Glad you liked the book!
Amy

Camille said...

Thank you for the recommendation. I also think time travel romance stories are great fun! Can't wait to get this one.

Camille said...

Have you read Lady of Hay / by Barbara Erskine. Don't know if I would like it as much now as I did then but it kept me quite enthralled one weeked many years ago.

Liz B said...

Kelly, Now I want to dig up that episode and watch.

Camille, I'm putting Lady of Hay on hold at the library.

Amy, thank you so much for your kind words! And do you have any preference for emergency chocolate? I'm partial to mini 3 Musketeers.

Anonymous said...

Well, I was going to say peanut M&Ms, but then I remembered that my top stashable chocolate is definitely Hershey's Kisses, especially when they come out in seasonal/holiday colors. The only problem with Kisses is, when you have a big pile of shiny, brightly colored foil wrappers on your desk that's a dead giveaway to others that you've been gorging on chocolate again.

Oh, and I'm also partial to any mint/chocolate combination in patty form. mmmmm...

Liz B said...

At least with M&Ms, kisses and mini sized chocolate bars I can think, "Oh, I'm not being bad, I'm just having one little piece of chocolate, I'm not having that really big chocolate bar." But then I realize, hey, I've eaten so many small pieces it equals a regular.

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