3.5 stars rounded up!

I liked the story and the characters a lot! I think some of the pacing was a little off, and I feel like the ending was a little rushed, but the story still made my stomach jump and my heart flutter.

Grayson is such a sweetheart to Aria and I love them so much 🥹

Glad to have read this ARC!

DNF@32% - I have not left a rating on Goodreads as I DNF'ed it. But having reading 1/3rd of the book, I have left my comments.

Unfortunately, I simply didn't connect with the writing style and quality of storytelling. It didn't feel natural, it was moving quite quickly, and there was no real impact of moving through time into another century. I liked the begnning and thought it would be a quick fun time travel romance read.

But everyone was behaving very reactively and emotionally. I was getting mental whiplash with the back and forth in everyone's interactions or internal thoughts, from paragraph to paragraph. The dialogues didn't feel natural and there was no real distinction between how people were talking in the 1700's and 2024. It felt like there was a lack of organic character dynamics and plot progression on the whole. Personally, the way the dancing was woven in and described - it felt awkward for some reason.

I didn't like Aria as a character. I'm tired of women giving it back to men for the sake of it, especially when they try to help you or when you need to ask for it. There was no maturity or level headedness in their interactions with each other. There is something to be said for being practical in a given situation rather than just being that typical sassy independant female who is never agreeable because somehow that's cool and attractive. Because when you land up on the estate of the guy in question, in another century where you need to figure out how to get home and the guy has done nothing contrary, he seems agreeable, you even have a common passion and you seem to like him - it's just stupid!

Having said all that, I can see how someone could enjoy this as a quick popcorn read if you specifically like a historical time travel romance, but it just didn't click with me. It was my first book by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this story. I received it for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving my honest thoughts and opinions in this review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

A Touch for All Time by Paula Quinn is a third person dual-POV speculative historical romance. In 2024, ballet instructor Aria had her dancing career cut short by a car accident. In 1795, the future Marquess of Dartmouth, Gray, is an amazing ballet dancer who has struggled to maintain relationships due to his mother leaving him behind to go to the future. When Aria is given a key by Grayson’s grandmother that takes her to the past, Aria and Gray find someone who can understand them.

This review is not spoiler free
Aria and Gray’s romance is more on the sweet side. There is a depiction of a spicier scene, but it’s fairly short and is more focused on feelings rather than the actual mechanics. There’s also very little kissing as Aria and Gray’s relationship is mostly one built on admiration and attraction towards each other’s dancing abilities as well as their physical looks. Aria spends a lot of time noticing how clean Gray’s movements are when he dances and his natural gifts while Gray is fascinated by Aria’s more contemporary style.

Aria is recovering from multiple leg injuries due to the car accident and her brother also lost the use of his legs while her father became paraplegic. Aria understandably views this as a tragedy and every time it comes up, she has mostly accepted it but she is still upset. At the very end, Aria returns to her time, but she arrives before the accident, giving her and her family a chance to change the past. I know some readers prefer that kind of ending for characters with disabilities and others very strongly do not want it. I, personally, do not have a preference and more care that the internal logic is consistent and given Aria’s arc, I felt the ending matched what was subtly promised by the time travel aspects.

I would recommend this to fans of time travel romance and Regency romance and readers looking for a romance centered on two ballet dancers

I normally an not into time travel novels, but this blurb caught my eye and am very glad I picked it up. The author does an excellent job of writing scenes that are so visual you can see them as you read them. I have never taken up ballet, but the words printed brought forth visions of what it looked like, it was that good. Aria has such a sacrificial heart and Gray such a desolate one. Watching Gray bloom with Aria was fantastically beautiful. This story is full of twists and turns that make your head spin and I have to say that a part of me REALLY wanted to understand why Gray’s father was so cold to his only son. Would have loved to have had a scene explaining that. But the whole story was a delight to read and made me want to time travel! I applaud the author for no really crass language and the love scenes were so beautifully written, I felt their emotion instead of felling like a voyeur. A truly wonderful story!

I received this story for free and these are my own views.