I Loved You in Another Life

EVAN
a bird in a tree at night
My little brother prefers corners. He likes sitting quietly in them, and I just wish people understood that sitting quietly in a corner is not universal code for I am sad, I am lonely, please save me. All it means for sure is that the quiet kid in the corner would like to sit quietly in the corner, and can we not ascribe our own sets of values to quiet kids in corners the world over? It s not like it costs us anything. It s not like we were using that corner to begin with. And look, I m sure there are some quiet kids in some corners who are sad and lonely and need saving. All I m saying is, let s not assume they all are. Silence and sadness are not the same things. And I wish more people understood that, is all.
Okay, says Ali, and she holds back my hair so I don t get vomit in it, and even though I can t see her, I know she has that look in her eyes, the soft one, the one she saves for when she wants me to know I am seen. And so I ramble about quiet kids, and she knows I m talking about my brother, Will. She knows this because she sees me.
You won t love me after this, I say.
Eh.
There s no way you love me after this.
I mean, it s mostly you who loves me, anyway.
I laugh between heaves and feel the sudden urge to plant character flags. This doesn t mean anything, you know.
I know, says Ali.
I m a responsible adult, basically.
She says, Just breathe, Evan, and I wonder if she was in the basement back at the party when Heather said that thing about all the important stuff in life being easy. Like how our bodies breathe on their own, even when we sleep, and how our hearts keep beating no matter what, and that s when I had to leave the party. Were you there, Ali? Do you know why I had to leave the party? I left because the heart is a muscle. I left because of what happens to muscles that don t get used over long periods of time, and even though that basement was packed with people, all I could hear were mottled

David Arnold

Praise for I Loved You in Another Life

I LOVED YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE will have your soul soaring! With unmatched lyricism, David Arnold has written a timeless love saga for the ages about two teens whose love outlasts even death itself. I love this book so much. Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End
 
Can the power of love follow us from one life to the next? I LOVED YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE dares to say yes. The funniest, saddest, most romantic book on earth. Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
 
With every book, David Arnold s prodigious imagination expands the bounds of storytelling and how we relate to each other. I LOVED YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE is a stirring, lyrical, and breathtakingly ambitious ode to love that endures across ages. Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of The Serpent King

*"In this powerfully heartbreaking speculative love story by Arnold (The Electric Kingdom), two teens are inexplicably drawn to each other across all their previous lives . . . Arnold s prose is both lyrical and devastating ( Love had run through this house like blood through a vein ), and the narrative s focus on love and its apparent inevitability helps to lighten the intense tragedies the characters face. Publishers Weekly, starred review

*"Achingly human Despite its moments of sadness, the overall tone of the book is warm and reassuring: love, it claims, will outlive sorrow." Booklist, starred review

Poignant prose and snappy dialogue help build the sympathetic characters, adding layers that make the fabulism work . . . Fully captures the intensity of first love. Kirkus Reviews
 
"Readers will adore this quirky love story that weaves two contemporary souls with the past and the future." School Library Journal

Arnold s exquisitely crafted prose conveys raw, unfiltered emotions. BCCB