Review: In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson

Title: In Another Life
Author: Julie Christine Johnson
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publish Date: February 2, 2016
Source: PR

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Historian Lia Carrer has finally returned to southern France, determined to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. But instead of finding solace in the region's quiet hills and medieval ruins, she falls in love with Raoul, a man whose very existence challenges everything she knows about life--and about her husband's death. As Raoul reveals the story of his past to Lia, she becomes entangled in the echoes of an ancient murder, resulting in a haunting and suspenseful journey that reminds Lia that the dead may not be as far from us as we think. "

My Two Cents:

"In Another Life" is the story of Lia, a woman who goes to the south of France, Languedoc to be exact, to try to put her life back together again. She is researching the theological beliefs of the Cathars, something that I was not familiar with at all (I love when books can teach me something new). The Cathars believed in reincarnation and Lia is fascinated by it. Little does she know how personally the beliefs are going to play into her own life.

This book has elements of historical fiction with a lot of rich detail about who the Cathars were and what they believed in. There is also the element of time travel, which I thought was great and definitely kept me interested in the book. Knowing very little about the Cathars, I was especially interested in reading the parts of the book that took place in the 13th century. It's clear that the author did a lot of research to bring those parts to life.

This book has a strong romantic element to it. I don't want to get too far into it because it may give away some of the big twists in the book. When Lia meets Raoul, she falls for him but there is something strange about him that she can't figure out at first. The author does a good job of giving a little detail at a time to keep the reader going. There are a few slow parts in the book where detail bogs down the narrative but overall, this is an interesting story for historical fiction lovers who like a bit of the fantastic!