Review

Evelyn and Arden have loved each other in a myriad of different lifetimes, in different bodies (of varying genders and gender combos) and in different places, from ancient Greece to the Ottoman Court to the trenches of WW1. In each of these lifetimes, they’ve also killed each other before they turn eighteen… well, Arden kills Evelyn, and sometimes Evelyn gets in a preemptive strike, but they both end up dead. Until they reincarnate. They’re held together by an incredibly strong bond. Arden refuses to tell Evelyn why he’s doing it. But there is a reason, a good one. And it must be before they turn eighteen.

In this life, though, in contemporary Wales, Evelyn has to stay alive: her sister has cancer, and Evelyn is the only compatible bone marrow donor. She hasn’t spotted Arden yet, but she doesn’t always. And she’s days away from her eighteenth birthday. Evelyn likes this life. She isn’t ready to give it up. Can she find a way to talk Arden into not killing her this time? Into telling her the reason why he’s doing it? Can they call a halt to this seemingly infinite fate?

*

This was a good read: pretty easy and quick. The variety of different lives (told in backstory fragments) that they’ve lived creates interest, and it mostly avoids sentimental twaddle, keeping things relatively brisk and amusing, with good description of the various times and places. There is some sentimental twaddle, of course: hard to avoid in a book with this kind of premise and title. Thankfully, it is kept to a minimum. It takes a bit of a swerve (not a twist) towards the end which, honestly, felt a little contrived: like Hey! I have this cool premise… oh no, how am I going to resolve this. But it’s not fatal to my opinion of the book.

Interestingly, although this romance is mainly mlw, as Evelyn is mostly depicted as female and Ardern is mostly depicted as male, because they keep gender swapping, their love is also sometimes depicted as wlw or mlm, or as mlw but Evelyn is male and Ardern is female… you get the picture. They are ‘fated mates’ no matter in what body or combination. The author does a good job making this (mostly) not confusing.

I read a trade paperback version that was slightly on the chunky side (393 pages) — I find the extra height of the average trade paperback tends to make it look much bigger, especially to students. The cover is very pretty, but I have to say that I haven’t noticed students lining up to borrow it (zero loans at this point). On the other hand, now that I’ve read it, I can convincingly pitch it to my fantasy fans.

An enjoyable light read.

Age: 14+

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Some swearing; lots of violent deaths — not too graphic; in her most recent life, Evelyn’s dad died as a pedestrian in a drunk driving incident and her grandparents are recently dead due to a heart attack and a stroke; Evelyn’s sister Gracie has aggressive cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy: is in hospital with a bald head and feeling ill; a couple of fleeting mild allusions to sexually predatory older men and younger boys and to prostitution (both in a different era); mild & brief sexual encounter towards the end — not explicit. Main romance is mostly mlw but sometimes also mlm or wlw. Evelyn and Ardern sometimes have disabilities, e.g. deafness, or near blindness. Gracie is gay.

*

Steven, L. (2025). Our infinite fates. Penguin Books.

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