Well, to my great surprise and disappointment, reading this book was a deeply depressing experience. It's supposed to be a romance with happily ever after, but it reads like a tragedy with a cop-out ending. A very unhappy book with two unhappy leads, and their unhappy history. Despite the good writing, it totally failed to meet my expectations. I flat out didn't like it and hope to get rid of the bad feeling it left me with. So if you want to feel miserable this is the book for you.

What a unique read. It was easy to care about Eva Caldwell because she wanted so much to be part of a family and loved. I rode the rollercoaster of pain, loss, and disappointment right along with her. Casey McClellan is her safe harbor as are her parents. Through Casey's parents, the reader is able to comprehend how Casey dealt with the unexpected separation from Eva. I also liked Casey's roommate Lizzy, direct and to the point and as Eva stated, a bit scary. The time travel was not as prevalent as I thought it would be and the ending was convoluted and left me shaking my head and going what the heck!

This is a dark story. About innocent love, lost innocence, and darkness that comes with it. When I got to a page with The End at the bottom I started to panic because I really needed more from the story. I was afraid that was it, but there was the epilogue and it made it perfect!

I enjoyed romantic references to a teenage love. Are the feelings mutual? Is what I feel normal? It’s always drama, but in Eva’s case she is in love with her best friend who is the only one great thing in her tough life full of bulling and abuse. Another stage of the story that I was touched by was the reunion of the girls. When we are not with the people we miss they stay the same to us; however, people change. Eva and Casey relationship after reunion is based on illusions.

Time Will Tell is at it’s core, a romance. A friends to lovers sort with a little speculative fiction. The book starts with detailing the relationship between Eva and Casey when they were teenagers. When it jumps to them as adults and seeing each other for the first time in six years, this backstory makes it understandable why they would still be in love with each other. Even at a point in the beginning when Eva is receiving homomisic bullying Casey sticks up for her, even though it was a friend of hers making the comments. But the book also does nothing to be idealistic and pretend that six years apart means nothing, it really explored how years apart can and did affect their relationship.

Both of them were very complex characters. Eva losing her parents to murder and living with her abusive uncle was tough on her, the start of the novel discussing how it seeps into how she writes in her English class. Casey is also left burnt by her past with Eva and has trouble reconnecting with her when they see each other again.

I adored the romance in this. I got emotional at times and felt like they fit together very well. They really brought out the best in each other and they had a lot of chemistry. I really did care whether or not they were together in the end.

I will say the only issue with this book was the time travel. It actually doesn’t come into the story until 76% of the way through and it almost felt like a deus ex machina at that point. There was also the fact that at that point it felt very out of place in the novel. The addition of fabulism felt very out of place. It was an interesting part of the story but the story would’ve been fine without it, it just would’ve given a different ending and it wouldn’t have created the conflict it did, that being if Eva saves her parents even if that meant losing Casey, who she’s very much in love with.

Overall, I really did love this book. It was a very enjoyable read and deffinitely one I’d recommend.

This book is maybe half YA and half NA. We first meet Casey and Eva when they are 17 and 16 respectively. Eva's parents died when she was 12 and she has to live with her abusive, alcoholic, uncle Luke. Casey is her saviour and her refuge, both at school and in her darkest hours at home. But Casey is leaving for university and Eva doesn't think she will be able to survive without her. So she runs. What happens next is when you see the love of your life six years later. You're different people now. But the love is still there. Are they too different or is love enough?

I loved every single second of this book. It was brilliant. Eva and Casey. Their love for each other. It was so pure. So everlasting. One of those loves that in every life, every world, they are just meant to be together. One of the things I loved so much about their relationship, was their chemistry, and the way this incredibly talented, incredibly wonderful author, wrote the evolution of that chemistry. Their chemistry at 16 was very different than their chemistry at 24. You felt their chemistry, their passion and their yearning for each other when they were young and my god it just about killed you. And just when you thought it couldn't be any more agonizing, you realize grown up Eva and Casey are ten times hotter and more mature, but with the same passion and yearning and all encompassing love. It was brilliant to see that distinction and evolution. Something that made you feel the passage of time and not just be told that six years had passed. I guess I've read too many books lately that failed to show and just tell and this is why it stood out. But it really made me connect with the characters, their love and anguish over the years. Hands down brilliant. I'll say it again. I loved this story. Honestly, I think it's my favourite by M. Ullrich.

There are some very dark moments in this book and deep character flaws (Particularly in the first half of this book- physical, emotional and sexual abuse). But they were well written and emotional, and there was this perfect balance of dark and sweet that made the dark even more heart wrenching and the sweet even sweeter. I loved the evolution of the characters as well. It was natural and believable and only made me connect more with the characters. This was truly a brilliantly crafted book.

Honestly, the time travel aspect was a very small part of the book, and boy do I have a lot of questions about it. It was a tad rushed at the end. But it didn't take away form my enjoyment of the book at all.

I loved this book. I can't say it enough. I need to buy this in paperback for my collection. I can't wait to read it again soon.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let’s just say this book was such an amazing travel. No pun intended! What an emotional rollercoaster, to meeting your first love, losing your first love, changing the game and making a name for your life and dealing with pain and sorrow. Definitely highly recommend this book. Join the cry fest with me.

My greatest problem with this book is one of preconceived notions, of presumptions about what the book would be about. I thought it would be a time travel book - and while it, ultimately, became one, I expected it to become one much sooner - like 10 to 15% into the story. Especially with that prologue.

But that isn't even the real issue - no, it's that this is a tragic love story, a tragedy. And I had expected a romance, or, baring that, a time travel story. And got a tragedy.

It's one thing to enter a story like 'Romeo & Juliet' knowing that it is a tragic love story. It's quite another entering thinking you are reading a romance.

I've grown up with science fiction - the first 'things' I read were science fiction stories. I've seen many variations over time - variations on just what time travel means, and what is or isn't possible. I've also grown up with the concept of multiple universes, multiple time lines. And the only way this story works, is by using multiple time lines/universes. It's inherent in the story structure. Hence my seeing this as a tragic love story. I'm not blind to the epilogue. (Removed the spoiler section, which appears on Goodreads (using spoiler tag))

Remove the time travel aspect from the book description. Remove the time travel aspect from the book itself - and there would be a rather interesting book here. One filled with tragedy and abuse - and ultimately, one would hope in this altered book, redemption and happiness. Though, of course, it wouldn't have been 'perfect'.

I had trouble enjoying the book as much as I might have otherwise. First off I was zooming along, awaiting the appearance of time travel plot - and not paying as much attention to the actual plot as I should have. Second off the potential story about the second chance romance involving Eva and Casey . . . just didn't happen. Because of the events that occurred in the story, because of the intrusion of science fiction into a romance..

Rating: 3.33

November 6 2017

I have had a real up and down reader/author relationship, with Ullrich. I thought her debut book was okay, I loved Life in Death, and I just did not care for Fake It Till You Make It. I am happy to say we are going back up with Time Will Tell. This book is half YA, half adult, drama-romance with a little time traveling. When Ullrich writes drama-romances, I just seem to connect to them more.

When Eva’s parents are murdered, she is forced to move in with an abusive uncle. She finds solace in the safety of her neighbor and best friend Casey. When her uncle passes, Eva finds a time traveling device that belonged to him. Is she willing to risk changing her past if it means never meeting the love of her life?

This book deals with some tough subjects. There is bullying, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. The sexual abuse happens mostly off screen so to speak, but this book is still tough to read in parts.

This book really is divided into two parts, the YA part when Casey and Eva are teenagers, and the adult part when they are in their mid-twenties. Even though the trigger warnings took place in the YA part, I really liked that part of the book. I’m not the biggest YA fan, but I like YA books that make you feel, and this book did that. The budding young romance, “does she like me” is really sweet and well written. I was not as crazy about the second half of the book, but that is mostly because I did not care for the person Eva grew up to be, or her choices. But that is the whole point of the book, would you do things over if you could fix how you treated others.

I mentioned before how much I love loved Life in Death, I thought it was so well written. This book was well written in a way that mirrors that book. I thought Ullrich did a great job of showing the connection and chemistry the characters had together. This book is more drama-romance than it is time traveling. The time traveling aspects do not happen until close to the end. I don’t think the time traveling was handled the best that I have read before. I have a few unanswered questions and worries, but for the most part it was okay.

If you are an Ullrich fan, a drama-romance fan, or a YA fan, you will probably enjoy this. I’m happy to say this was so much better than her last book. I am now looking forward to what she writes next.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.