In For All Time, Tamar is facing a tough decision, thinking her life is pretty much over. Fayard, her boyfriend is always optimistic, believing they’re fated to be together and that even her illness can’t stop their love. But strange visions haunt both of them—-visions of other lives, in other times. As the visions become more frequent, they must delve into both their past and future to find out why, and the deeper they go, the more questions they uncover.
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The story overall was really gripping! Whenever I read it, I was rarely bored or wanting to put it down or “take a break.” As a white ablebodied woman, I can’t comment on the quality of representation, but both of the main characters are Black, Fay is disabled (chronic injury to his leg in every reincarnation), and Tamar has a chronic illness that could turn terminal. There were some really well developed elements, and others that were really lacking, even if they were important to the story. For example, the present day storyline with Fayard and Tamar was well developed, with fully realized characters you understand and want to root for. One of the other timelines, in the future/space, takes the stage a lot in the later half of the book, so we get to know those reincarnations of Fay and Tamar well, but the other versions, not so much. However, the skips between timelines were smooth and made sense. There were sci fi, ancient archeology, and religious aspects that ended up playing a central role in the story, but they were rushed and sometimes confusing. I’m still not 100% sure if I understand how/why Fayard and Tamar have all these different realities. I wish it had delved a little more into the family dynamics , too. However, For All Time is a promising book, a tender, heartfelt story of young love, and it was what I needed at the time that I read it.
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CW: pandemic (implied to be Covid-19, or a similar disease affecting the respiratory system), chronic/potentially terminal illness, mentions of pregnancy, racism, colonization, suicide, mention of a terrorist attack

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. "For All Time" was better in theory than in execution. A love story across all time. The threads got lost in the other timelines and I was much more invested in the current timeline than in any of the other ones.

Well, this was quite disappointing. Not because it was bad, but just because i don't feel a single emotion towards it. The whole thing was boring. The romance was bland, the plot was nonsensical. None of the elements worked together at all. This took me almost a month to read, which is longer than I've spent on a book in months. Not a good read

There were a lot of timelines going on, A lot of things but finally a love story and time travel . Far into the future... Far into the past... the present. It was amazing. Black star crossed lovers. Swoon!

I felt a lot of things while reading For All Time. I felt sad, angry, helpless, distressed along with the two characters Tamar and Fay. So beautiful and spell-binding is the writing.
I felt angry at Tamar for not expressing her true feelings on time. Again I feel sorry for her for the games fate played with her.
Fay was full of himself but that’s just what we see men do. But he too suffered a lot. You can’t stop but feel sorry for him too.
The story is not just about love. It’s about slavery, racism, sexism, patriarchy, and how love blossoms among adversities. Love has no age, no expiry date.
I have one complaint. I couldn’t quite connect with the future Tamar and Fay– the outer space–different dimension love story. I thought it wasn’t required. It just added to my confusion. The other phases were beautifully portrayed.
I’m in love with Shanna Miles’ writing.

I brought this to work and I remember annotating it with the words “It’s finally starting to get good!” I was getting worried as I was getting close to the end and I was still trying to figure out the significance between the time jumps.

The introductions to multiple Tamars and Fayards was something I easily got used to. They each have characteristics that got carried over through the different time periods, making their relationship evident, and simply inevitable. Also, in every life we get a glimpse of the push and pull between the two of them: one clearly being all in, and the other constantly hesitant. I also appreciated the little moments of recognition, because at some point it was the one thing I was waiting for.

My favourite parts were the few chapters that, in my opinion, made up the ending. The synopsis mentioned that our two main characters were able to figure out what needed to be done to break the cycle, and I think Miles did a good job of showing us just what that cycle looks like.

I would recommend it if you enjoy contemporary, romance, and fantasy as this ticks all three boxes.

Thank you to Turn The Page Tours for letting me be a part of this tour. And also, thank you to Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Black people time traveling you say? Here’s all my money!!

Tamar and Fayard were made for each other. They have always found each other, no matter where they are: in present-day South Carolina, in 1325 Mali, in 1924 Pennsylvania, or in futuristic space. Unfortunately, their love affair is always tragic, doomed to repeat itself till the next cycle begins. They must hurry to figure out how to change their destiny once they discover this.

This book was, admittedly, a little confusing at times. The timelines that flowed throughout the novel were sometimes seamlessly integrated together…and sometimes not so effortlessly. It was a beautiful getaway and an enjoyable read overall.

This is a love story with a twist. The plot appeared to be flowing in one way, smoothly transitioning from section to section until the true state of their history was exposed. Shanna Miles did a fantastic job of carefully moving the plot along certain that you knew what was going to happen as you got closer to the end.

The book became increasingly convoluted and perplexing toward the end, but the conclusion is inevitably gratifying. I like the story’s dual POV structure, as well as Shanna Miles’ willingness to examine darker themes such as racism, class, social ills, and even death.

This book is absolutely amazing. I had a great time reading about Fay and Tamar’s multiple lives. They are such enthralling individuals, who remain consistent while also changing through time.

I’d recommend this book to you if you enjoy time travel, shifting storylines, unexpected twists and turns, witty characters and of course, love.

Thanks a million to TurnThePageTours for having me on this tour and to Simon and Schuster for sending a beautiful copy of this book my way!

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

For All Time was so good. I love the idea of living multiple lives and being connected to someone through it all (no surprise since one of my favorite musicals is Aida), so I was immediately interested in the premise. Not to mention the beautiful cover, I knew I had to read this. And I am so glad I did. It almost felt like a short story collection with the same recurring characters, but it was all weaved together so seamlessly and beautifully.

The beginning does have a slower start so it took me a few chapters to get into the story, but once we transported in time for the first time, I was hooked. The author went into so much detail that I really felt like I was in those places. I also enjoyed seeing the ways Fay and Tamar’s personalities stayed the same and changed throughout their different lives as they started learning more about their love story.

The breaking the cycle twist had me absolutely shook. It also got really Twilight Zone toward the end, and sometimes I wasn’t even entirely sure what was happening, but I was living for it. I was so invested in this love story, and I really loved the author’s messaging at the end.

Would definitely recommend this story if you like puzzling plots and the combination of a hilariously sweet protagonist and a logical, reluctant protagonist. For All Time is a mixture of contemporary, historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction, so there’s really something for everybody. This might not be your cup of tea if you don’t like slow beginnings or going with the flow and letting the mysterious plot unravel around you as it reveals its secrets. It was exactly my cup of tea though.

*Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Turn the Page Tours for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Time travel has always been an interesting aspect of science fiction stories for me so this immediately grabbed my attention when it first crossed my radar.

The first thing that pulled me into this read was the relationship between Tamar and Fayard. Everything about their bond from the banter to the care for the other was beautifully done and I loved them from the moment they're introduced. I almost wanted a little more into how they came to be where we find them at the beginning of the story, but I found little pieces weaved in through the different points in time so I didn't mind it as much in the end. I also really appreciated that certain aspects of their character followed them no matter what timeline the story changed to, which made their relationships even more believable.

The concept of reincarnations is also something I enjoyed with this. The jumps are a little jarring at first and it took a second for me to find my footing at times, but it definitely put me in the mind of the characters as they tried to figure out what these flashes of time meant and how it all factored in to their overall story. Once I got used to it, the imagery of the different worlds came to life off of the page and I felt pulled in as if looking through someone else's memories or dreams. The writing style helped a lot with that, and I loved how the last line of one timeline would often connect and lead in to the next, which I thought was really creative and played well into the plot.

All in all, this was a beautifully unique read and I really enjoyed following Tamar and Fayard's relationship grow and change across time.

I think this book tried to cover too many timelines, leading to a lack of a fleshed-out story. It was hard to invest in any timeline with the non-linear jumps and some timelines could have had a lot more details that I wanted to see resolution in. Others it was hard to connect with at all. I really liked both Tamar and Fayard as characters and loved to see the different relationships - it just needed more attention and details. I would have read a whole book based solely on their 1920s timeline happily.

I also feel a little led astray, as I don't think the comp of Outlander is really accurate. For All Time is definitely a reincarnation romance that is cool in its own right, but different than time-traveling. Tamar and Fayard's love story is epic on its own without needing to compare it to a book that has few similarities.

I also think this book could come with trigger warnings that weren't present (at least in the ARC copy) of the present-day timeline being based on our current times during the pandemic with negative outcomes for the character. Personally, I find it too soon to be reading a book with this theme as I have been personally negatively affected by COVID. I would have actively avoided this one altogether for the time being until I felt stronger to cope with the feelings this brought up. Others may not feel the same, which is okay, but I would have appreciated a note.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Teen for a digital ARC of For All Time.

I really liked the premise of this book - starcrossed lovers reincarnated to try to find their happy ending. Unfortunately, the execution just didn't do it for me. The time jumps left me feeling disjointed, trying to figure out when and where they were and what was going on around them. I would have liked to sit with the various iterations of their characters for longer. As it was, I liked the story but didn't feel invested in the book. Once I was a little over halfway through I just skipped to the end and muddled through my confusion. Maybe time travel books just aren't for me...

I FLEW through this book in a day! It is an incredibly unique story that I could not get enough of, even when it felt a bit surreal.

I'm in love with the ways one timeline would trigger another - be it a scent or a song or a phrase. The interwoven timelines were so intricate and fit together seamlessly, even when jumping hundreds of years into the future or past.

I categorize this book as so many different genres - I'm so impressed with Shanna Miles and how she wrote what is essentially a contemporary YA romance but also sci-fi and fantasy and historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Teen for the review copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I wanted to love this one so much as I adore a good time travel, star-crossed lovers type of vibe, but this one did not grab me. The character development was not there in the first few chapters, so I wasn't hooked, which then makes it hard to buy into the love stories in different eras. I also felt like some of the alternate stories, especially the one in the future, were just too out there for me.

While it took me sometime to get into the different timelines and stories that took place across time, the stories that were woven through were all beautiful. Though similar as they were the same persons, they were also different and the locations were all so unique. I really was caught up in wanting to know the why and was not disappointed.

I also loved the different social issues mixed throughout, showing more of how we still have a long way to go. I hope this book helps spark more discussion among people to initiate more change to be a better world

For All Time was a wonderful story of love and loss and finding oneself. I quite enjoyed this one, though one thing kind of hampered my enjoyment a bit. So let's get to it!

What I Liked:

►I always love a romp through time! Time travel is so cool, yeah? This isn't time travel in its most technical sense though, I suppose it is more like past lives being showcased? Either way, it is time travel for the reader, since we are catching it all at once, so I like that! We get to see time period from hundreds of years ago, up until the future, and all over the world at that.

►Adored the characters! Oh, how my heart broke for them, especially Tamar, in every time. I mean, obviously, history (and the modern era, frankly), has not treated either women or Black folks very well, and Tamar fits both categories. So to see her suffer is rough, and to see her heart break is too. Fayard is also great, and it is clear that he and Tamar love each other very much, in all the timelines. The characters' families and friends changed in each life, so we didn't get too attached to any of those guys.

►It is certainly an emotionally provocative story. Obviously, as I mentioned, there is a lot of hurt that these two characters go through in their lives. It can be quite heartbreaking at times, especially as they lose each other over and over again, all while facing all the other hardships life has to offer. But it is also quite heartwarming, in the sense that they keep finding each other, no matter when or where they are.

►I think the overall message is a strong one. I can't tell you what that is, for spoiler reasons, but I was here for it.

What I Didn't:

►I won't pretend I wasn't a little lost at times. Part of this may have had to do with the eARC formatting, which is unfortunate, but especially in the beginning, I felt quite confused by the time/place and POV switches that I got a little overwhelmed. And the ending kind of confused me a bit, too? Like it was a complete ending, in the sense that it answers your questions, but I wasn't quite able to wrap my head around the answers entirely.

Bottom Line: A really lovely story that left me feeling a ton of emotions, but also a little confused at times.

For All Time will be a love story for the ages.

It took me a while to settle into Tamar and Fayard’s story and figure out what was happening. Initially I wanted more nitty-gritty details about the characters in the here and now, but after finishing the book, I’m glad the author didn’t bog down the beginning with details that would have become obsolete later.

The beginning of the book I also felt like the timeline bounced around a little unexpectedly, but at the same time, this puts the reader into the same dream-state unsureness of the main characters.

The romance between Fayard and Tamar is what had me coming back to this book, even when I was frustrated and confused by it. I wanted to know what happened to these two, let’s call them “star-crossed lovers.”

I will say, Shanna Miles absolutely breaks my heart in this book, in the way only a good romance can. But, no worries, there is a happy (but ambiguous) ending.

Thank you to Turn the Page Tours, Shanna Miles, and Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers for the advanced review copy and including me on this tour!

I enjoyed reading For All Time for the most part - the relationship between Fayid and Tamar is almost too sickeningly cute, making me ship them from the start. Their banter, easy friendship, and desire in making sure the other is happy is the new bar that I shall raise all relationships to. Miles’ characterizations helped to save the story as a whole for me. In theory, the concept plot is amazing - two lovers across lifetimes keep remeeting and being torn apart by death. However, in practice, For All Time seems to have bitten off more than it could chew with the multiple timelines-plot. As much as I want it to have succeeded, I turned off my Kindle after finishing For All Time feeling confused, but contentedly so. If you were to ask me now, I cannot answer any questions about why the plot happened, just that I was glad it ended the way it did.

I would rate this four stars for the great representation, easy to read writing, and fantastic premise.

However, I wish there had been some warning, note, or sign in the description that one of the storylines centers around long term impacts of COVID (or a very similar pandemic). Personally, I was not ready to read that and it was very triggering. It also didn’t seem absolutely necessary to the concept, which added to my issue with the subject being featured so prominently.

What is going on here! That's been my reaction from the first to the last page.

For All Time is a timeless love story. It follows Tamar and Fayard across several lives, revealing their first encounters and what happens to them in each one. Only thing is, their end is never revealed, so we don't know if they have a happy ending or not — and that was one thing that I was trying to grasp.

This is a sweet love story with a twist. The plot appeared to be progressing in a straight line until it unveiled the actual nature of their existence. I enjoyed how Shanna Miles meticulously paced the tale such that as you got closer to the finish; you realized what was going to happen.

For All Time was a concept that I have never read before. I loved the different worlds that the author explored, but I did believe it was a bit confusing at times, especially in the beginning, when trying to determine what exactly was going on. I really enjoyed reading how Tamar and Fayard's love story played out in each lifetime! Each lifetime and story was very unique; the atmosphere that was created was able to completely immerse you within that time period and location. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but because of how confusing it was at times, it did hinder my enjoyment which is why I decided to give it a 3/5 stars. I highly recommend For All Time for anyone that thinks the synopsis sounds interesting because it was very enjoyable overall!