some books you read about a character’s journey, other books take you on a journey. this is a story built on loving and leaving, guilt and grief, memories that transcend time and a madness that creates worlds. it shows us that the impossible is just at our fingertips, maybe even smaller than our thumb, for a time.

this book is also, admittedly, confusing. time is not linear, and neither is this book. rather than a typical novel, i feel this book reads, to me, like i am slowly uncovering the secrets of creation or lost artifacts from another universe through different perspectives, diaries, scholarly articles, and memory fragments, bit by bit to piece together the truth. this is a story that begs you to view the universe in another light. it makes you ponder reality. are we all in a whale?

how far are you willing to go and what are you willing to risk for love?? well liana is willing to travel through time and change history itself to get her man back!! and i adore her for that! i loved her strong character. our other character melia went through some struggles and challenges, but i did enjoy how her character developed by the end as well. i love a dual POV and love it even MORE when it is two female POVs!! (also some flowers for amron 💐 what a wonderful man i can see why would liana risk it all for him!!) i felt like this was the perfect balance of genuine plot and romance. i was obsessed with the yearning and the love that transcends timelines!! 🫶🏼

an aspiring musician (who is only tortured by himself) unexpectedly spends the summer alone in a giant lake house with a childhood family friend (basically cousin the way the families get together) who just went through a break up… what could go wrong…?

oh i’ll tell ya. a lot can go wrong. i really enjoyed the OG off campus series, i enjoyed the stories for what they were (even if they were a little tropey and cheesy) but this book was such a disservice to the characters in this universe. these two horndogs are soooo lustful it’s annoying to read about constantly and while later in the book they finally give reasons for liking each other besides just the sex, it was way too little too late for me. i was relieved actually when the rest of the families came to the lake house because they couldn’t do it 24/7 like rabbits (plus the dynamics between the families was fun to read). i’m giving stars for the OG dads and the group chats, those did make me laugh a little. also no spoilers here but the last 10% had a lot of cringe moments and tropes that the story could’ve done so much better without.

also: the author realllly should’ve put some large family tree or you know, little family trees for each family because YEESHHH that’s a lot of people to keep track of, especially trying to remember each of their original stories 🤦‍♀️