4.75 stars.

All the things I love wrapped up in a novella. Time travel, lyrical writing, weirdness, confusion, and a heavy emotional undercurrent. Ahh. I loved this read.

The time travel setup is a bit confusing if you start to think about it too much. That rabbit hole just leads to a big headache, so leave it alone and just enjoy the ride. The worlds are weird and at war and history is getting messed with all over the place. There are so many things that could have been done with this premise. But what was actually done with it was...magic.

The epistolary setup with a vague dual POV was admittedly risky. There are a lot of readers who are going to be turned off just because of that, but for me it was just... *chef's kiss*. It was something different and so well done and to have two different authors writing, each with one character...ah...it made for such brilliantly fleshed out characters. (Both of whom I loved, by the way.)

I loved the twisty, shadowy nature of the narrative, and how things just slowly emerged with each letter. I loved the creativeness of the world and the composition. It was just something that kept surprising me and making me love the book even more.

I'll tell you right now that from a pure emotional stand, this is a five-star read. But...with a bit more of a critical eye, I had to admit that it isn't the easiest of books to read. It can be convoluted and strange. It is a bit random and absolutely suspends logic in several places. (Shh...don't tell anybody, but this is a lot of why I loved it.) Because of these potential "accessibility" issues, I did have to take things down a smidge. (SWITCH TO QUARTER POINT RATINGS, GOODREADS!)

I absolutely need to reread this book. I just finished it and I already miss it. Such a beautiful love story. Argh. My heart.