Books About Alternate Realities or Parallel Lives You Will Love

In this delightful novel of second chances, Frankie McKenzie gets the opportunity to rewrite her story after a freak accident ends her life prematurely.

Like The Midnight Library, Frankie can revisit pivotal moments from her past and explore the endless possibilities of different choices.

From romantic escapades to career pursuits, she navigates the what-ifs of her life.

This feel-good romance novel is being marketed as The Good Place meets Sliding Doors, and early readers loved the witty banter and relatable characters in this story.

Release Date- 2 April 2024

Sadie Thatcher's life hits rock bottom, prompting her to wish for a do-over year from a fortune teller.

But when nothing changes, and she wakes up to relive the previous year, Sadie faces familiar challenges.

As she navigates old relationships and new opportunities, Sadie begins to question if her wish was truly a mistake.

For readers that like closed-door romance, this is a great PG-romance to add to your book stack.

In Timothy Janovsky's latest LGBTQ romance, Nolan dreams of making it big in stand-up comedy, but his aspirations aren't matching his reality.

Struggling to make ends meet and hiding his feelings for his best friend, Drew, Nolan's life takes a dramatic turn when he asks Drew to be his date for his sister's wedding.

However, when Drew makes a wish on magical crystals to skip to the good part of his life, he wakes up seven years later as a successful comedian who despises Nolan.

As Nolan grapples with the consequences of his actions and the true meaning of success, he must find a way to win back Drew's affection.

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In this charming debut, Gemma attempts to mend her broken heart by casting a spell to erase her ex from her past.

But when she wakes up in an alternate reality where she's lost more than she bargained for, she must navigate a world where her once-best friend, Dax, doesn't even recognize her.

She must convince Dax to kiss her to undo the spell, but as she spends time with him, she starts to question if he might be "The One" after all.

The story's intriguing concept of nine lives came from the timeline of nine months in a pregnancy.

Rose is an academic who loves her career, but her husband's one request is that she give that up to pursue having a child with him.

The opening sequence begins with a fight about prenatal vitamins, and in each variation, Rose approaches this life challenge with a different answer or outcome.

Her story unfolds in nine different ways as she navigates love, loss, betrayal, divorce, death, and her career through these different paths.

It was a treat to have the author participate in our book club discussion and share the motive behind her beautiful story.

This is perfect for book clubs that want page-turners on motherhood.

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I’ve been a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan since her first book and remember how satisfyingly sweet this story was.

This novel illustrates how one decision can entirely alter our lives in two different directions.

Hannah reunites with her best friend and unexpectedly encounters her high school sweetheart at a bar.

As midnight approaches, she faces a seemingly small decision that could unexpectedly alter her life and relationships.

Reid splits her novel into alternate realities, exploring the paths that unfold based on Hannah's decision to stay or go.

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Kate never thought she would find love again after the sudden death of her husband over a decade ago, but now she's preparing to walk down the aisle with a kind man.

However, she feels less than excited about the impending nuptials, initially attributing it to stress and lack of sleep.

When her past husband visits her in her dreams, she begins to fall into an alternate universe where the lines between reality and imagination are blurred.

Kate's journey takes her on a path of self-discovery as she balances the line between her reality and dreams.

This, ultimately, leads her to a sign language class and the New York City foster system, where she discovers unexpected rewards.

Fans of Sliding Doors books will be swept away in this novel that is as heartwarming as it is heart-wrenching.

Clare Mackintosh is best known for her thrillers like I Let You Go. But, the writer also wrote this heartstring-pulling contemporary book about a difficult decision she faced in her motherhood journey.

In this emotionally charged novel, the lives of Pip and Max Adams are forever altered when they find themselves in a courtroom, battling over the fate of their son, Dylan.

They are facing a difficult decision on whether to continue life support for their three-year-old child after he's suffered brain damage with no hope for improvement.

As the judge's verdict hangs in the balance, the narrative splits into two alternate realities, exploring the profound consequences of each possible outcome.

Mackintosh weaves in this heartbreaking motherhood story based on her experience going through this trial with one of her twins.

Related- Clare Mackintosh Interview (I Let You Go)

A library exists beyond the edge of the universe, where unlimited books recount the stories of alternate realities.

One describes your present life, while others narrate the paths you could have taken if you had made different choices.

As we often ponder what might have been, what if we could visit this library and see for ourselves?

This is the intriguing premise of this captivating, award-winning bestseller we read together for our book club.

With the option of pursuing a different career, undoing past heartbreaks, or even pursuing her dream of studying glaciers, Nora embarks on a journey through the Midnight Library to discover what truly brings fulfillment to her life.

She can also live out some of her biggest regrets that help her realize the consequences of those choices, for better or worse.

As many of us struggle with the mental health consequences of our busy world, the encouragement to go on and how we can unexpectedly impact others was a beautifully bittersweet reminder that life is tough, but so are we.

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Lydia and Freddie had been inseparable for over a decade, and Lydia believed their love was unbreakable.

However, when Freddie dies in a car accident on Lydia's twenty-eighth birthday, her world is shattered.

Emotionally devastated, Lydia's doctor prescribes sleeping pills to help her through this difficult time.

When sleeping, Lydia discovers that Freddie's life continues in her dreams.

In this sleeping world, she is still preparing for her wedding and savoring every continued moment with Freddie.

Lydia's life quickly begins to fracture into two lives- her awake life and her sleeping life.

Silver builds such a beautiful love story in the fissures of these cracks. After all, we do have the ability to immortalize people and erase faults when they pass away.

As Lydia heals, her time in her sleeping life begins to separate, and Lydia discovers that her waking life might be just as beautiful.

So, with the aid of Freddie's best friend Jonah and her sister Elle, Lydia begins to take tentative steps into a new world, prepared to embrace life, and perhaps even love once more.

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In Tom Barren's version of 2016, the future that people dreamed of in the 1950s has become a reality.

It's a dazzling, idealistic place with flying cars and moving sidewalks.

Hilariously, avocados never spoil, and punk rock never existed because it wasn't necessary!

Despite this utopian paradise, Tom struggles to find his place in the world, and things only get worse when a time travel mishap turns his life upside down.

Tom is stranded in OUR 2016, the real world that we know, which he sees as a dystopian wasteland.

As Tom adjusts to this new reality, he discovers unexpected versions of his family, career, and even a potential soulmate.

But he faces a difficult choice: should he try to fix the flow of history and restore his utopian world or embrace this messy and unpredictable reality as his new home?

To be transparent, this novel has polarizing reviews on GoodReads, but I loved its execution, and so did my husband.

Even if you don't initially think you'll love this one, stick around for the surprising twist in the second half that makes the time travel journey worth it.

All Our Wrong Todays TV series is coming to Peacock so read the book before you watch the show.

I can't do this book list without including this science fiction novel’s alternate reality concept that introduces a syndrome called “False Memory Syndrome," in which individuals experience false memories.

In these imagined worlds, they believe they have lived entirely different lives.

These false memories can be so convincing that they disrupt the individuals' sense of reality and identity, blurring the lines between real and imagined.

My husband and I highly rated all of Blake Crouch's novels, giving them five beautiful stars for their clever science fiction concepts. This book is no exception!