From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and Expiration Dates, a novel following a family of women with a singular gift: the opportunity to redo one moment in their lives.
Lauren has spent a lot of her life waiting. She spent her childhood on her surfboard, waiting to catch the perfect wave. She waited a long time for her husband Leo. Now she and Leo are together waiting for those two lines on a pregnancy test that will tell Lauren she’s finally pregnant.
But many women wait for those things. Lauren has also spent her life waiting to use the gift that only the women in her family have: the opportunity, just once, to turn back time and reverse a bad decision, or a moment of catastrophic luck. When Lauren was fifteen, her mother Marcella reversed the car crash that killed Lauren’s father, and ever since then, both Marcella and Lauren have been extra cautious around Dave, and perhaps extra brittle with each other. Even though Dave is alive and healthy, and out on the Malibu waves every day.
Lauren and Leo’s marriage has been rock-steady for the three years they’ve been married, but their fertility journey is starting to wear on both of them. When Leo takes a six-week job in New York, Lauren temporarily moves back to her childhood house. She’ll spend time with her dad, spend time on the water, and try not think about the relationship with her mother she wishes she had. What Lauren doesn’t expect is to run into the love of her youth: fellow surfer Stone, back home for the first time in ten years. Since he left and broke Lauren’s heart. Now Lauren’s thinking about all the choices that have brought her to this moment in her life—and wondering if one of them should be undone.
A wise and luminous novel about mothers and daughters, the complexity of marriage, and the choices we make that come to define our lives, Once and Again is Rebecca Serle at her finest.
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"Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Rebecca Serle for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was really surprised by the direction of this story. While I initially expected a romance, this is much more of a deep dive into family dynamics. Through the main character, Lauren, we see how the ""do-over silver ticket"" shaped each family member's life and personality. I did struggle a bit with the writing style. I often found myself lost and felt that the flow would have been improved if the chapters were clearly labeled with the current character’s POV, although the novel is generally written in the POV of the main character Lauren. Overall, if you enjoy stories centered on second chances and the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, this is a great pick!"
— Dgui (3/5)
Magical realism with an existential message
"This novel is about three generations of women in what can be termed an 'atypical' American family. Each of these three women have received, at birth, a silver ticket that enables them to do one, and only one, 'do-over'. Something most of us have fantasized about at one time or another. However, if you really think about it, would you actually want to? Would your one do-over be a selfish decision, or a selfless one? For instance, would you use your ticket to avert a plane crash, the death of a stranger's child, or something that affects you on a more personal level? A moral dilemma of epic proportions. A dilemma that can weigh you down with the enormity and probable guilt that might result of your using your ticket in an unwise way. . . Lauren, Marcella, and Sylvia are very interesting women, each it her own way. Sylvia is in her nineties, and lives with her daughter Sylvia and Sylvia's husband, Dave. Lauren is thirty-seven, married, and currently undergoing gruelling and costly fertility treatments - very unsuccessfully. Essentially, this novel had two predominant settings, Malibu, California, and New York City. Both settings were immersive and atmospheric. I have personally read several reviews of this novel, and have found them polarizing. Some love it unequivocally, while some readers dislike it. Some readers hate the ending, saying that it was 'unfaithful to the plot', yet I quite enjoyed it. It proved to me that Lauren had more depth of character and emotional strength than I had previously bestowed upon her. I thoroughly enjoyed how the daunting power to 'do-over' one thing in their lives, shapes the character's fears, relationships, and life choices - often in a questionable way. It gives us a glimpse at the ripple effects that result from the choices we make. If you lift the veil of fantasy/magical realism from this novel, you will discover that it has an inherent message of existentialism. Thus, it is a thought-provoking story that would be excellent for book clubs, as it would undoubtedly spur some interesting and varied discussions. In my opinion, this novel about destiny, fate, love, and intricately layered family secrets, will be appreciated by many."
— Fictionophile56 (4/5)
Okay
"First off just want to thank Netgalley for kindly sending me the ARC version of Once and Again by Rebecca Serle. This was my first novel by her, I have a few of her other books on my TBR and I can honestly say I'm not sure she's an author for me? I will try at least one other book before fully deciding that. The main plot is that each woman born into the family has a ticket that they can use to undo anything, they only get one though. . Around 40% I did consider DNFing as I felt kind of bored? I decided to see it through though out of curiosity for what Lauren (main character) used her ticket for and let's just say without spoiling it that I didn't approve of the choices she made. I think overall those choices lead to only a 3 star rating for me. I will say though that if you're a reader who does like more character journey than plot this is a good read for you!! I found most of the characters easy to like and really enjoyed the POVS from all the women in the family and felt it really lead to a better understanding of how certain characters came to be how they are and I feel that was necessary."
— Helloitsmirissa (3/5)
Good book but not as good as Serle's others
"This book probably sits closer to a 3. 5 star rating, but given that I have liked most of Serle's more recent books, I couldn't quite make myself bump it up to a 4 star because it is probably the most disappointing read by Serle I have had in a while. I guess it had to happen. The premise is fine. The way the story unfolds works, although it did take me a bit to get into the flow when we first jumped to Marcella and Sylvia's POVs/stories. I also didn't dislike the characters, but I will admit that I felt a bit distant from them and their story in a way that I have not experienced before with Serle. It's almost like she was deliberately keeping us at a distance the way the three ladies keep themselves distant from each other. Great as a literary technique but not so great at drawing the audience into their stories. In many ways, this book is about distance. The way that people close themselves off to each other both deliberately and inadvertently through the choices they make. Lauren chooses to keep her fertility struggles from her family; she chooses to pursue the IVF despite it breaking apart her relationship with Leo; her mother chooses to obsessively manage her husband; Sylvia chooses to keep secrets about her past . . . . The idea of being able to wind back the clock once in your life, to get a do over, a single one, is an interesting premise. And the way that the choices these three women make play out in the book is well done. I have to admit that I was very annoyed with Lauren for the choice she makes, and she does make a choice which then triggers her to consider a do over; and I am equally annoyed with her mother as well towards the end of the book. But this is a review that I am trying to write without spoilers, so leaving a lot of gaps. I don't think this is a bad book. I actually think, in quite a few ways, it's a brilliant story and presents some moral dilemmas. Just not as strong a Serle as I would have liked."
— Bubbles333 (3/5)
Pensive, compelling, and heartwarming!
"𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 is a captivating, moving tale that takes us into the life of Lauren Novak, a young woman who, after learning that the women in her family each receive a silver ticket that can be redeemed a single time for the power to turn back time, struggles when a family illness forces her to reconsider what she chose to use hers for and the ultimate weight of that decision. The prose is fluid and smooth. The characters are troubled, complex, and genuine. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, family, responsibility, guilt, grief, friendship, forgiveness, and romance, all delicately woven together with touches of magical realism. Overall, 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 is an immersive, thought-provoking, emotional novel by Serle that reminds us that while turning back time might erase the painful moments in our lives, it also erases the precious highs we would never want to lose. "
— Zoe C. (4/5)
Q&A
Published date: Mar 16, 2027
Language: English
No. of Pages: 256
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 9781668025925
Dimensions:
5.313" W x
0.64" L x
8.25" H
"Serle is the queen of big feelings and impossible dilemmas." —Bustle
Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of OnceandAgain, Expiration Dates, One Italian Summer, In Five Years, The Dinner List, and the young adult novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle also developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name.She is a graduate of USC and The New School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Find out more at RebeccaSerle.com.
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