One Year Ago in Spain

One of my most anticipated books this summer was One Year Ago in Spain by Evelyn Skye. If you’ve read my reviews before, you may know that I’ve lived in Spain, so it’s no wonder this novel caught my attention! It’s a bit paranormal romance, beautifully written, and definitely worth your read!

Special thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine | Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Review

Anytime I come across a book set in Spain, I instantly want to read it. That’s what first captured my interest in One Year Ago in Spain, but its premise was what sealed the deal. Claire is a Type-A lawyer in a new relationship with Matías, a chaotic but loving painter from Madrid. But after nearly a year together, Claire worries that they’re too different to last, and when she finds an engagement ring in his sock drawer, she panics. She bails on a trip to Spain with him, during which he planned to propose. But while he’s back home, he suffers a horrible accident and is in a coma, and Claire rushes to Madrid to be near him. That’s when she starts seeing his… ghost? Soul? Astral projection? And this version of him is from one year earlier, just prior to when he met Claire. Even so, his soul is connected to her. Somehow, it’s up to Claire to save Matías.

Unlike most romances, One Year Ago in Spain isn’t about a couple getting together for the first time, or even finding a second chance at love. Well, maybe it is a bit of a second chance, but with a twist: Claire was pulling away in the relationship, but when it’s life or death, she must find her way back to Matías in order to save him. She has to make him fall in love with her all over again, and in the process, maybe she’ll fall back in love with him, too. This book gets into a lot of Claire’s insecurities and why she wasn’t opening up to Matías in the first place. I loved watching this couple regain their love for each other despite—or because of—the suddenly fragile state of their relationship.

Claire is super particular about things and very ambitious in her career. Her many rules may rub some people the wrong way, and given how completely the opposite Matías is, it stands to reason that he might get tired of her. Claire can be a lot, but I admit that I agreed with many of her rules around cleanliness. (No shoes in the house! No suitcases on the bed!) Claire is also a workaholic and not giving all of herself to Matías. For his part, Matías is sometimes portrayed as almost too perfect. As messy and scatterbrained as he is, he seems to always be on board with whatever Claire says. And he’s so generous and romantic. Does he have any flaws? Yes, but surely nothing he and Claire can’t work out.

I really enjoyed watching Claire and Matías’s soul go on dates around Madrid. Despite him doing so much of the heavy lifting in their real relationship, this time around, Claire has to work to earn his love. It’s great to see her being more generous with herself and gaining new perspective on Matías and their relationship.

Throughout One Year Ago in Spain, we also get occasional glimpses into who Matías really is with chapters from his siblings and parents. They round out his character and give the book a more open feeling.

Another thing I liked in this book was Claire’s efforts to (finally) learn Spanish. There’s a good amount of Spanish words and phrases used throughout this book, always with the English translation immediately after. I understand Spanish very well (I lived in Spain for a year, and my husband is Peruvian), but no need to worry that you’ll miss something if you don’t speak the language! This book also offers some insight into Spanish culture, from their later meal times to their commitment to valuing life over work. All true, and some things that those of us in the United States could learn from.

Final Thoughts

One Year Ago in Spain is a fanciful and enchanting novel about finding what really matters in life, from falling back in love with your partner to making positive changes for yourself. I loved this novel and now I really want to go back to Spain! At the very least I need to read more books set there. I also look forward to reading more from Evelyn Skye, starting with The Hundred Loves of Juliet.

Get the Book

You can buy One Year Ago in Spain here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

One Year Ago in Spain by Evelyn Skye
Audience	Adult
Genre	Paranormal Romance; Women’s Fiction
Setting	Spain
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	July 30, 2024
Publisher	Del Rey

Official Summary

“An utterly romantic story about second chances and the power of love.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood

A woman must woo her lover’s soul back into his body to wake him from a coma—or risk losing him forever—in this moving novel from the author of The Hundred Loves of Juliet.

Claire Walker has always had her life in perfect order, including her high-powered job at one of Manhattan’s top corporate law firms. Yet the one thing she cannot seem to find is a perfect love to complete it, until fate pushes Matías de León into her path. Matías is a Spanish artist who is everything that Claire is not: free-spirited and creative, chaos to her order. She falls for him, hard—and he for her.

A year later, however, Claire begins to question everything about their relationship. How can they possibly work long-term when they’re so different? Might it be best to end it before they are both in too deep?

Then tragedy strikes while Matías is visiting family, leaving him gravely wounded in a Madrid hospital. And when Claire drops everything to race to his side, she finds she is the only one who can see and talk to Matías’s soul, detached from his comatose body. But that soul has no memories of his year in New York, of her, or of their relationship. Claire soon realizes that in order to lure Matías back to his body, she will have to convince him to fall in love with her all over again. But can lightning strike twice? Can the same magic that brought them together once do so again?