Skip to main content

Life on Repeat

What's It About?

What would you do if you discovered you had lived past lives? How would you deal with that knowledge? What effect would it have on the way you live today?

Author Amy Larson Marble explores these questions and more in a haunting YA novel titled Life on Repeat, the first book in a series known as the Sarah Sagas, published by Hildebrand Books

As the story opens, we are introduced to 14-year-old Sarah McKenzie, a ninth grade student in Mount Washington, New Hampshire, who has experienced what she calls a “moment” — that of recalling a past life. The memories begin with a random series of names; soon she recalls faces connected to those names and pieces together another life. Anxious to talk about the experience with someone, Sarah makes the mistake of confiding in her mother. She ends up being committed to a psychiatric ward where she dies at age 16. Throughout the first half of the story, Sarah recalls more past lives and discovers a disturbing pattern — she never lives past her twenties.

Although the theme of past lives has been tackled before in movies and books (such as Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron), Marble challenges the romantic notion by revealing the dark underside of the experience. In Sarah’s case, her many past lives create a prison where she feels isolated, misunderstood and disconnected from daily life. The growing knowledge that her life will always end too soon prevents her from establishing meaningful relationships, resulting in deep loneliness.

As hopelessness begins to overwhelm her, Sarah meets Luke who becomes the one love of her life. Inevitably, she will lose him, mourning that loss through several more lives, before she meets him again in an unlikely circumstance.

The character of Sarah develops slowly as she becomes aware of her life history. There are benefits to having lived such a history, acquiring abilities along the way that appear unexpectedly and serve her well. Sarah shows strength in adapting to her strange life, which she has to keep secret for her own protection. The journals she writes, linking together those experiences, gives her a much-needed outlet — a haven where she can reflect and gain wisdom. That wisdom will reveal itself in the latter half of the story.

Although Life on Repeat took a while to gain momentum, my patience was rewarded. I found myself reading faster in order to find out what would happen. Because it is the first book of the Sarah Sagas series, the story ended with a cliffhanger. Now vested in this young woman of many lives, I am anxious to find out what happens next!

Learn more about Amy Larson Marble on her BookTrib author page.

Life on Repeat by
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Idun
ISBN: 9781950385800
Susan Bailey

Susan Bailey is the author of two books, River of Grace: Creative Passages Through Difficult Times (Ave Maria Press) and Louisa May Alcott: Illuminated by The Message (ACTA Publications). She is a contributor to The Forgotten Alcott Essays on the Artistic Legacy and Literary Life of May Alcott Nieriker (Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group), Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy (Pink Umbrella Books) and The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion: A Book of Daily Reflections (Ave Maria Press). She is the founder and curator of the Louisa May Alcott Is My Passion website at louisamayalcottismypassion.com. Susan is currently working on a biography of Elizabeth Sewall Alcott ("Beth March").

Leave a Reply