The book leaves some questions unanswered, and the closing chapters feel a bit rushed. But this is an inventive, romantic, highly pleasurable ride through time that will appeal to older teens as well as adults.
—The Washington Post

Primarily known for her young adult Traveling Pants series, Brashares offers her second adult novel (The Last Summer (Of You and Me), 2007), about a man who remembers his past lives and the woman he's loved through them all. In 2004, Virginia high-school student Lucy develops an obsessive crush on a mysterious new classmate, Daniel. They finally share a kiss at the Senior Ball, but then Daniel calls her Sophia and insists that they have loved each other for centuries. A frightened Lucy runs away, leaving Daniel bereft. He has spent most of his many lives trying to find Sophia, ever since their disastrous first meeting during his first remembered life. As a soldier in North Africa in the sixth century he mistakenly burned down a house (think civilian casualties in Afghanistan), causing a little girl version of Sophia to die-his "original sin." Two hundred years later in Asia Minor, Daniel helped the woman her soul then inhabited escape from her abusive husband, Daniel's older brother Joaquim, who then killed him. Throughout the centuries when Daniel and Sophia have met, their ages or circumstances usually kept them apart. However, during World War I Sophia/Constance was his nurse and sweetheart at a British military hospital where she hid a letter of explanation about Daniel to her future self. Fast forward to 2006. Attending college, Lucy has lost track of Daniel. Then a psychic shocks her by bringing up Daniel by name. Now driven to find the truth through hypnosis and the Internet, Lucy finds the WWI letter and accepts her pasts. But she can't find Daniel. Unfortunately, menacing Joaquim is on Daniel's trail too. Plenty of grown up "Pants" fans will swoon for this hokey but undeniablyeffective romance, and an ambiguous ending leaves the door ajar for a sequel.

A romance that stretches across centuries and past lives constitutes the core of Brashares's varied second adult novel, the first in a planned trilogy. The story is primarily that of Daniel, as, in the present, he pursues Lucy (whom he knows as Sophia in a previous life) and attempts to persuade her of their history and destiny, but his passion initially and understandably scares her off. He disappears, presumed dead, but Lucy, unable to forget him, investigates his claims of their history until she discovers the truth. Meanwhile, Daniel takes readers on a tour of romantic near-misses, from sixth-century Africa through eighth-century Turkey to WWI. The story moves slowly and predictably, though when a plot finally materializes, Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) manages some satisfying momentum, even if the story begins to feel like it's borrowed from a James Patterson novel. Brashares's insights into human nature, meanwhile, should appeal to readers who enjoyed The Time-Traveler's Wife, but can appreciate a Nicholas Sparks-esque sensibility. (June)

We all like to believe in the constancy of love. And then along comes Ann Brashares to take the concept to a whole new level.

Her latest novel, "My Name Is Memory," is about a young man who is probably the most constant lover in all of literature.

Most of us recycle everyday without giving it much thought. But what if we were recyclable? Daniel, who thinks of himself as a recycled soul, is different from everyone else—he remembers all his past lives. For over 1000 years, he's been learning how actions in one life affect the next and discovering that not everyone who returns has good intentions. But most of all, he remembers Sophia, despite her changing name and form, and while Sophia can't quite remember him, she's inexplicably drawn to get as close to him as she can. Although circumstances keep them apart time and time again, Daniel has mastered patience and has boundless faith that one day they will live a lifetime together. VERDICT Brashares's second adult novel (after The Last Summer [of You and Me]; author of the YA "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series) is reminiscent of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, and Daniel and Sophia's near misses and chance encounters captivate and entrance us. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/10; national tour.]—Jennifer Anderson, Texas A&M Univ.-Corpus Christi Lib.