BLOG TOUR: REVIEW – THE NEXT TOGETHER by Lauren James

Posted September 3, 2015 by Emma in Blog / 6 Comments


Hi Everyone, today I am very excited to be part of my first tour with the Fantastic Flying Book Club, with The Next Together. It’s a corker I’ll tell you that. You will love it. So for my stop I’m reviewing the day after publication, *throws confetti to you Lauren*. Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to follow the rest of tour here and the enter the giveaway down the bottom. But first here is a little more about the novel!

The Next Together (The Next Together #1)
by Lauren James
Publisher – Walker UK
Release Date – September 3rd 2015
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

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 brings about two characters destined to be with each other through time and space, yet someone or something keeps stopping them, killing them. The next time they know each will be in a different era. 
1745 – Siege of Carlisle – Katherine is the lady in a waiting, after her grandmother died she was sent to live with her aunt, in a big house, in a place where she doesn’t feel she belongs. Until she starts chatting with a servant, a coachman by the name of Matthew. Katherine can be real with, can be honest, can even break away from her social standing and just be a normal girl. But when a war is travelling closer and closer to England, Katherine wanted to hep she didn’t want this village to suffer more than it already has too. 
1856, the Crimean War – Katherine now known as Kit is a servant boy, (but is actually a girl) wanted to get out of the orphanage and this was how she had to do it. But her master Lord, wanted her to spy on someone for him, a journalist and to make sure that he doesn’t report anything that goes against her master’s army and make him look bad. The journalist for The Times name is Matthew Galloway, fragile, intelligent and honest. But Kit/Kate, falls for his nature and his kindness straight away and she doesn’t feel so inclined to ruin that and more likely ruin the master she’s always demised.  
2039 – Now both of them are young adults, striving to achieve their best university, and they suddenly become each others lab partner. Coincidence I think not. Kate and Matt find that one of their family members was the Kate and Matt of 2019 and they were killed when trying to save the world. Instead they prosecuted for sabotaging government property. Now its their turn to try and prove that their family didn’t do such a thing. It’s going to be a dangerous mission but for some reason, they’ve done similar adventures before.
Out of all the reincarnation and time, 2039 version them a whole lot better as you could visualise them more and able to relate to them. 2015 isn’t a whole lot different that’s for sure. But within their story you glimpsed at them again when they are reading their grandparents stories, who were Katherine and Matthew once again. Each story has it’s own tale to tell, it’s own love story that is never complete. A piece of them from another realm, another time is taken with them when they start to realise just how much in sync they are. Glimpses are them set them free, but a little bit of themselves heightens there character profiles just that little bit more. 
I was very lucky to meet and get an early copy of novel a while back so it gave me the push to finally read it and what a novel it is. You know I love time travel novels especially ones that are done well and I have to say this is one of my favourites. Lauren came up with this idea through school and her PhD. I think as she grew so did her writing it became more fast paced and addictive, before I knew I had finished the more. Each story was formatted in away that you could really see in her font and style, (as you can see from my review) this for me really stood out. I wanted more, Katherine and Matthew. 
The next novel, The Last Beginning can’t come quick enough! There is so much more to tell you, but really I just want to urge you to read it. A new vision of Time Travel in YA has arrived, and her name is Lauren James. It’s unputtadownable and completely addictive. READ IT PEOPLE! 
Rating – 5

Lauren James is a scientist by day, writer by early hours of the morning. She graduated in 2014 with a first class Masters degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Nottingham, where she studied Chemistry and Physics.

She now lives in the village of Berkswell in the UK.
You can find her on Twitter at @Lauren_E_James, which she mainly uses to fancast actors as her characters and panic about all of the overly ambitious plans she has for her PhD, or her website at http://lauren-e-james.tumblr.com.

She likes strong, intelligent women, Dylan O’Brien, and things with plants on them. These are her favourite books: http://www.myindependentbookshop.co.uk/Laurenelizjames

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

For the giveaway click ‘read more’ and hope you enjoyed the stop. Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour.

Prize: Win (1) of (2) signed copies of THE NEXT TOGETHER by Lauren James (UK Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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6 responses to “BLOG TOUR: REVIEW – THE NEXT TOGETHER by Lauren James

  1. Interesting backdrop for this story, I admit I am intrigued. Wonder if I'll enjoy it as much as you did… Have a great weekend!

  2. Woah, this is such a unique novel and I really love the setting of it. I have a feeling this is going to be right up my alley so thanks for putting it on my radar, Emma! 🙂

  3. I always love when a book present a past and present like that mainly with such periods, it's quite intriguing. thanks for the discovery!