My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a very fun and sweet romance with such and interesting twist. The characters were written so well though that even without the unique spin on the story it would have still be a great story to read. Each character had so much personality and really drove the story forward, especially in relation to the main character August’s growth. The romance between August and Jane developed in such an interesting way given the circumstances. I love that while the romance is a huge focus of the story, it’s really August’s development that feels like the true intention.
All My Thoughts
May contain spoilers.
I adored this book. It is a love story layered over a story of person growth and understanding of the community around the main character August. August strikes out on her own to get away from her home life and takes a large leap moving to the big city, New York. The author does such a great job showing just how impactful this with August’s struggles. At the same time her struggles are also shown in a very positive light. Here is where the found family aspect of the story comes in. August rents a room with an eclectic group of people that really help her break out of her shell. I loved these characters so much. They were all so unique and each person served a purpose in her growth and the progression of the story. This also applies to every additional secondary character we meet through the book.
Jane was also well written but in a different way. Because she has been stuck on a train for many many years due to an interesting sci-if twist, she developed in a much different way. I adored the moments we got to see of her interacting with other commuters on the train and the various ways she influenced their lives in both big and small ways. The time travel twist, with Jane not being able to leave the train for decades, was such a unique way to also introduce the reader to a bit more of the history of the LGBT+ community as seen through Jane’s own experiences. While I’m not ignorant, it felt informative and a lot like getting to know myself better right along with August.
The romance developing between them was sweet and it was interesting really seeing it from August’s perspective. It kept a lot of the mystery surrounding Jane just that, a mystery until we discovered it right along side her. The fact that Jane also can’t recall much about her life before being stuck on the train adds to this and makes the slow progression of gathering information feel very smooth and exciting. The story also has a bit of mystery that is layered throughout that is more than just how Jane got stuck in her time pocket on the train. The author did a really good job of slowly revealing the bigger mystery and how everything is connected as you are reading.
Even though this is a romance, and those pretty much always have a happy ending, I can genuinely say I actually thought they might not end up together by the end. I loved the not knowing. Since August and her friends really didn’t know if breaking Jane out of the time loop would send her back to her own time or not, there was a constant tension laced through the story. This was very palpable for the reader too. It was difficult to want August to tell Jane how she felt when it was really unclear if they would suffer or not for it. I actually enjoyed that for a brief amount of time the author lead us to believe this very thing did happen. It was brief enough not to make the reader feel cheat, but there just enough to make us feel heartbroken, then overjoyed when it is reviewed that the time paradox issues just caused them to land in a time that was only off by a could of weeks or so. I felt this was really well done.
Overall
A great romance with really engaging characters that pull you into the story. A nice balance of fun, sexy, and bizarre that will keep you guessing until the end.
Tome Reader Reviews 
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