Amongst Taylor Jenkins Reid’s popular books, The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six there are other less-known books that are entirely worth the read.  

The 2015 book, Maybe in Another Lifetime, predates Reid’s more popular books and has its own kind of charm.  

Hannah is a 29-year-old woman who finds herself changing cities every few months in search of a place to fit into. 

Her whole family moved to London when she was in High school, leaving her behind in the United States with her best friend’s family.  

This experience in her life leads to Hannah’s search for a true home and contributes to her inability to settle on a career or a partner. 

But Hannah has had enough. She now wants to find a permanent place for herself, somewhere she can grow roots. 

The story starts as she moves back to Los Angeles, the city where she grew up and where her best friend Gabby still lives, now with her husband.  

This is where the alternate timelines come into play.  

Hannah goes out with Gabby on her first night in LA. At the end of the night, she is faced with a very simple decision: to go home with her best friend or to stay back with her ex-boyfriend, Ethan. 

Whichever choice she makes will change everything.  

This story is unlike other alternate timeline stories that readers may have read before.  

While some reviews online argue that the storyline is entirely too simplistic and focuses too much on personal quirks such as Hannah’s liking for cinnamon rolls, there is more to it.  

What is unique about this alternate timeline story, is its ending.  

Reid has not followed the very popular ‘what is meant to be, will be’ concept for Maybe in Another Life.  

Instead, she has focused on taking the character through a journey that she is meant to depending on what happens after either decision taken that night.  

The two Hannahs go on their own paths, faced with their own adversities and opportunities.  

As is predictable, Hannah lives completely different lives in each timeline, only tied together with a few similarities.  

The commonality here is that Gabby’s marriage is failing.  

With a rough end to what seemed like a perfect relationship, Gabby is angry and frustrated. 

Hannah is facing her own set of challenges which are almost as big as her best friend’s. 

The power and importance of female friendships is highlighted beautifully in this story as the two women are seen facing the same challenge in two different timelines and overcoming it in both.  

Who Hannah ends up with at the end is not of as much importance as is her relationship with Gabby.  

It may even seem that the purpose of Reid’s writing in this book is to show readers the power of female resilience and friendship, rather than build a romance that lasts through all odds.  

At the end, no matter who Hannah is dating or married to, she decides to live in LA for her best friend.  

She knows that LA is her home because her home is in her best friend. 

While very different from Reid’s other books, this story is still a testament to the author’s storytelling and messaging.  

It is quite refreshing to have a plot focused on all the various dimensions of a woman’s life, away from romance and love.  

Reid’s popular female protagonists are loved by many and Maybe in another life is proof that the author was always about telling the stories of women.