Letters across time. Love across generations. Wait of a lifetime.
Everything about the postman is shrouded in mystery.
Alice only knows three things about him.
One, he knows her name before she even introduces herself. Two, deaths follow him everywhere he goes. Three, he is dangerous.
As the chance encounters between them grow, Alice learns more about him: from his time-defying pocket watch to the unimaginable repercussions of his every move.
Navigating their way through the twists of fate, they're faced with strange accidents like fires and traffic collisions. Will they discover the one behind all this? Or at least, find out there's someone else who is slipping through the cracks of time?
Join Alice in her quest for the truth behind the mysterious deaths!
This standalone time travel novel features the love story between a time traveller and a calligrapher across decades.
*Written in UK/British spelling because the author wants to retain the book title, "The Postman" (instead of "The Mailman")
Not a fan of mushy romance, Nicole C. W. writes happily never afters that feature heroines who make hard choices. Her love stories, layered with a dash of fantasy and paranormal, revolve around vampires, ghosts, time travel and more.
When Nicole isn't writing or working on publishing matters, she spends her time planning her next memorable trip with her family or catching up on the latest Korean dramas and relaxing in the cozy comfort of her home with her loved ones.
2.5 ⭐️ An interesting gothmantic-style time travel story. Imaginative, gruesome, sweet. I loved the plot, and the bittersweet feeling it leaves me with.
✍🏼 The writing style feels very green for a novel. The author still has lots of growth to do when it comes to editing for flow, clarification of critical details and reducing repetitive descriptive words, and bad habits (like thinking in a stutter). Too many confusing or interruptive things slow down the reading.
⏳ Although the cover image is beautiful and gives historical vibes, the constant timeline seems to be set in a more current time while the Postman is visiting/delivering letters from different years in the future (which basically means he is sometimes younger and sometimes older than his last visit). That all made sense to me, however I never could quite pinpoint what the “current” (constant) timeline was suppose to be set in. The futuristic timeline in comparison to their age and the calligraphy versus digital age part just didn’t add up IMO.
🥴 There were some other perplexing parts like Peter knowing to go to year 2079 (why the heck would he come up with that year??), the story switching to a non-major character’s inner thoughts/story a whole chapter, jumping ahead 20 years without warning in a single chapter and what about Hannah and Alice’s fight justified them to not talk for 2 decades.
⚠️ Chapter 17 is a very gruesome and difficult chapter to digest. I was so upset and angry, and questioned how necessary it was to move the story. It explains the mysteriously linked murders, so I understand what the author was trying to do here. I just never expected that to be in this book, and honestly, it seemed a bit early in the book to be revealing the big mystery of who was behind it all.
🌹 The “love” part of the book is an extremely slow sizzle. In fact, there really wasn’t much love to be said for the first 50%. But after that, the core of the book focused on their affection for one another, and it was sweet. Eventually, the MC continued aging, while Evan didn’t seem to change much, and that started causing some concerns for them as a couple, and the more extreme parts (Evan as a baby, Alice as an old woman) was a little confusing to process how to feel about those parts 🥴
“Remember this, Alice. Even if we’re two parallel lines, I believe that love transcends time just like it transcends age, gender, ethnicity and status.”
🕵🏻♀️ The mystery side of this book is very short, all occurring the first half of the book. Nothing about the book is hard to solve, so it’s not the type of book where you are working in overdrive to figure out what’s going on with the storyline itself, with one curve after another coming. The time hopping in itself was busy enough, so I appreciated that I could always tell what was going to happen even though the characters were in the dark.
Overall, I really enjoyed the creativity, smartness and gothic romantic side of the storyline. I could see this being a movie, and I know the author said it was originally a screenplay, which is really cool. But I really struggled with the delivery, which I do think could be greatly improved upon with the right editor. So yeah, mixed emotions but very glad I read it. The story will sit with me for a while 🥰
Thanks to BookSirens and Nicole C.W. for providing me with a complimentary ARC to review!
I received a copy from Hidden Gems and I'm willingly leaving a review. The book is a back-and-forth time travel, written in the past, present, and future but never in order, which is really confusing at times, which is why by chapter 7, I went back to read the prologue again. There's mystery, puzzles, romance, friendship, and day-to-day life. By page 70, you know at least one of the villains. Then, at 40% through 60%, there are gory and horrific details of blood baths, torture to people and animals, pedophilia, PTSD. Even after hearing the teenager's story, Alice is dumb enough to liberate the parents, putting her life and the life of others at stake. At 65%, I'm asking myself "what is the goal of this book?". Hannah and Katrina are more alike than Hannah would like to know. She's a bully and dropped her friend when she needed her most, for something that was none of her business. Then the horrific details are relived from another POV from 88% until the end. I loved the book until 40%. It is wrongly categorized as a romance; it should be horror or that type of things. Beware too that the author relishes "happily never afters"; I didn't know that beforehand.
This is the first time I've read a book that includes a time travel love story. The premise is intriguing, and the writing style draws you in, so you just want to keep reading. It's just a little over 200 pages, so I finished it in one day. But even if it were over 400 pages, I would have devoured it!!!
Did Alice intercept Evan while he was doing his job, or was it Evan that interrupted Alice's life and changed her course? Each appearance of Evan throughout Alice's life coincides with a letter he has to deliver to someone dying.
Through one of their encounters, Evan loses his pocket watch, which is his portal to travel. He stays with Alice while he searches for it and hides when Alice's friends visit. Shocked at seeing Alice's friends, he hurries up the stairs so as not to be seen.
Later, after her friends have left, Evan reveals that her best friend, Hannah, is his grandmother in another era.
Their love affair was brief at each interval. They could only see each other when Evan was delivering letters to the time where she was. Yet, however brief their time together was at each interval, the affair spanned decades.
It was at her 35th birthday when Evan took a picture of them together that she realized that while time continued to go on for her, for him, it had stopped.
As the years go by, Alice becomes more embarrassed by their age gap and more concerned about how people regard their relationship.
Evan is the absolute perfect boyfriend. His love for Alice transcends time. I chose a few quotes that I loved from the book:
" Remember this, Alice. Even if we're two parallel lines, I believe that love transcends time just like it transcends age, gender, ethnicity, and status."
"Love has no boundaries or rules. The key is we love each other. That's all that matters."
Well...where to start. This book is put forward as a 'Time travel romance', with a sweet looking cover, and an innocuous blurb and sample. Why this is VIOLENTLY misleading, I'll address later. Pros: This author gives good descriptions, and the outline of the story--a time travel romance--is overall, sweet. There is a good mystery going on, and the ending is satisfying.
Cons: The descriptions are sometimes excessive and too detailed, doing nothing to move the story forward. You'll learn more about calligraphy than you ever wanted to know, with those infodump overloads also doing nothing to move the story forward. This author has a crying need for an editor, or at least beta readers who could help her over the rough spots. I imagine that English is a second language for the author, because the constant awkward phrasing is so pervasive it jolts you from the story on every single page, forcing you to stop and try to puzzle out what the heck she meant. Other bits are just cringey eye-rollers. Examples (and yes, these are verbatim): 'This was one of her favorite furniture in the house.' '...her legs torn between going up to him or heading to the post office.' His legs blurred into a wheel and carried him further and faster.' I have only seen this last one in cartoons.
Readers who have read 'The Time Travelers Wife' will recognize the plot. Possibly this book is a tribute, or the author failed to recognize just how much of the plot of TTTW she used. The male MC does time travel as part of his job, popping in and out of the female MC's life over the years. The two characters sometimes recognize each other, sometimes not. Unfortunately, most of the time jumps are muddled and confusing, with no reference for the reader. Except for the very end of the book, the reason for them failing to know each other is not explained, it's like in the middle the author just gave up maintaining the time line and having any of it make any sense.
Now for the big thing that shocked and repulsed me, and something readers need to know BEFORE they read this book.
BookSirens has a trigger warning for this book of 'Death and Abuse'. This is WOEFULLY inadequate. One entire chapter (17) suddenly leaps up with GRAPHIC AND DETAILED descriptions of the following: torture & the tools used. By parents: child abuse, child molestation, child porn/torture trafficking, child murder. Failure of an authority to stop child abuse, attempted strangulation of a child, severe mental health issues, and several episodes of animal torture/death with cats being strangled/shot. None of these scenes are short. They are long, drawn-out, fetishized violence porn, with the events and the blood spilled gleefully described.
I'm a Stephen King fan, so I've read gruesome, dark writing. This book was just...disturbing for all the wrong reasons. I won't be seeking out anything else by this author. I'm giving this one two stars for the 'Pros' mentioned above, but that's being VERY generous.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
For me, this was a 3.5-star book. A lot of what I didn't like about the book won't bother some other readers. First of all, this was kind of an odd book. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, the combination didn't quite work for me. I don't want to ruin the story, so I'll just say that it's a time-travel love story with a bit of a mystery element mixed in. For me, the combination just felt like the author was trying to tell too many stories in a short space. I think if the book had been a bit longer, the mixture of genres may have worked better.
This book is told mostly in chronological order from Alice's viewpoint. Evan time travels from the future to Alice's time and back throughout the story. Maybe, I'm misreading his time travels, but it feels like they are also mostly chronological. It's like things are moving along chronologically, and then suddenly Alice encounters the Evan from a previous time again. For me, it would have made more sense if it were either completely chronological on his part or completely random when it came to his time travels.
As a warning to readers, there are several things that some readers may find difficult to read. There is some minor swearing, as in probably about five times. There is some minor sexualization of a child, which is presented negatively but may still be hard for some readers.
The big issue is the violence. This includes child abuse, animal abuse, murder, and abuse towards family members (both toward adults and minors). There are two scenes that come to mind that may be a bit graphic for some readers. The second one I ended up skimming parts of it.
I received an ARC from BookSirens, and I left a voluntary review.
I loved the concept of this book. It is good for lovers of books and movies like The Time Traveler's Wife, Somewhere in Time, and The Lake House. I even cried at the end, even though I already knew that the author intentionally writes romances that don't work out. Some of the reviews I have read had remarked that it is clear the author is fairly new to writing/ needs more experience. I say "so what?" Everyone learns from continued practice and experience. I think it is commendable that even with some minor plot holes, overused words, etc. the author can still provoke such feeling. I also appreciate the slow romance. Lots of people are taking issue with that, even claiming that the romance is not really there. I disagree. Romance can be simple gestures like delivering flowers, holding hands, or a few kisses. It doesn't need to go beyond that.
The greatest issue that I have with this book is that there needs to be a trigger warning. I'm not marking this for spoilers, because it needs to be said for people who read this book. Murder takes place in the book, and it is gruesome and gory. It happens because an abused individual seeks revenge on their abusers. While unfortunately this sometimes happens, and therefore makes the story appear more realistic, I feel that the explicit detail is unnecessary. It struck me as odd that a character who witnessed the murders experienced post traumatic stress disorder from the event, but advanced warning is not provided to the very real readers.
*I received this book as an ARC, and this is my honest review.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This book was heartwrenching. If you have enjoyed movies like The Time Traveller’s Wife, or even the tv series, Doctor Who, then this book may be for you. It is about Alice and Evan and their relationship with one another over time while experiencing different timelines. They face challenges, experience empathy, and learn and grow both together and apart.
I loved how this book was written, and how many different times the character’s lives intertwined. This book had me bawling at one point, which you could see coming right out of the first chapter. I love books that hit you like that. Where you are so attached to the characters that you get sucked right into how they must feel. The only part that I could have done without was Peter’s storyline. It was difficult to read and I didn’t feel that the explanations of anything around Peter required as much detail as what the book provided. Sometimes less is more. Otherwise, I loved the book.
This book just couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. For a big part of the book it was a time travel romance similar to The Time Traveler’s Wife (which I loved). Then it was a pretty good murder and torture story. Part of the problem for me is that I didn’t understand the time travel element. Unlike The Time Traveler’s Wife, this story didn’t follow any time travel rules set up by the author. The lack of rules would have been OK if there had been at least some idea of what was going on. If the author was trying to tell us time travel is confusing, she did a great job. I was confused throughout most of the book. I didn’t buy the relationship between the two lovers. The author says she likes “Happily Never After” stories. She met her goals here. I was certainly not happy with the book. Maybe others will enjoy the story, but this one just wasn’t for me.
While not exactly a love story for the ages, this is indeed a love story across time.
While I think it is mostly an enjoyable tale, and I would like to say that the author handles the temporal paradox affair in a capable manner, unfortunately I often found myself groping to understand what was happening. Too much jumping around in time during the span of one lifetime can do that, I would think. Toward the end it seemed to me that there was a distinct failure where two accounts of the same happening were different. Or was it just that they were looked at from different times? As you see, I became confused.
But not withstanding this, I still found pleasure in reading Alice and Evan's story, although I would have to say I didn't feel totally involved in either character.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Nicole C.W. (Blood Hunter Series) will introduce us in 2024 with a different approach. The Postman is a single novel that sets it apart from her previous trilogy novels. Written from a third-person point of view, the narrator tells me a story about a lifetime stolen from the main characters. It begins with a caption His Beginning, Her Ending. To arouse curiosity, this novel entails a story of friendship, love, and hope that will indeed leave us devastated as this story's beauty unfolds. A postman is more than a person who delivers and reads letters. A postman can also mend the destroyed bond because of pride and hate. It is highly recommended for readers who appreciate the art of vintage, camaraderie, romance, and handwritten letters.
(I received a complimentary review copy of this novel from the author via BookSirens)
I would rate this novel 3.5/5. I enjoy time travel stories and this book did capture my attention from the start, and reminded me a lot of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger with more mystery. However I found some moments in the story a lot darker than I was expecting which took away from my overall enjoyment of this book, and I would have liked more character development for Alice especially in the book's later chapters. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half, but I did appreciate the story's epilogue for the extra context and information it provided for me as a reader.
A very interesting book! A very intriguing start filling you with confusion and wanting to know more. Then the genre changes and it is like reading a completely different book!
There were a few paragraphs that I deliberately scanned/skipped about the cats. Didn’t want that picture in my head. ( See it as a compliment- very descriptive! )
I didn’t agree with the description of Alice at certain ages. She seemed very old for her age. (I am 46 and look and feel better than she did at 35/40!)
Overall a very interesting book that keeps you on your toes, trying to figure out the timeline!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I was really excited to read this book as it reminded me of the Time Traveler's Wife and The Lake House. Both of these stories were about true love transcending different time periods. However I was really let down. I feel like this was a story that didn't have a proper ending and it had two different storylines. If one of the storylines was chosen and ran with it would have made for a better story and ending. I do have to say that you must read the epilogue or you will miss out on understanding the ending of the story. Fills in some major holes and questions but that should have been answered within the story itself.
'The Postman' tested a long distance relationship that was not meant to be. A timetraveler interrupted on the job by a lovely lady. Or was it the lovely lady whose life that got interrupted by a time traveler? How could love survive in the expanse of time? What would happen should someone discover the Postman's secret? One action packed romance you won't want to miss. I shocked myself by reading the entire book in one day. An edge of your seat page turner to see what might happen next. If you enjoy romance and crave excitement, 'The Postman' 💯% recommended.
This was not I expected - I thought it was along the lines of the Time Travellers Wife when I started reading, but it wasn’t anything like that. However, I really enjoyed reading the book, which is thought provoking, with a cast of well drawn characters. There is some violence, but it is appropriate to the storyline. I also cried at the ending, but I’m not saying why, as I don’t want to give away spoilers.
I received an advance review copy for free, and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.
4.5🌟 (Received an arc in exchange for an honest review.) I absolutely loved it. The plot. The writing. The relationship. It was all fantastic. Some of the best quotes, according to me, were: "It’s only one day. Coffee is life"
Rest might be considered spoiler.
"Remember this, Alice. Even if we’re two parallel lines, I believe that love transcends time just like it transcends age, gender, ethnicity and status." "Their threads of fate had entwined together since the very beginning. Just like chess pieces on a board, they had played into the hands of fate. Irreversible and unchangeable."
The first part of the story is really interesting. Strange occurrences happens every time the main character spots a very young attractive Postman.
The middle is a bit muddle like forcefully trying to jump in time. I was a little confused.
The closing did a moderately good job of answering some of the questions brought up by this story. Learn the complexity of who Peter and Evan really are. I Recommend this book especially to people who enjoy flashbacks and time travel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I loved the premise of this story, I love time travel stories and the blurb definitely pulled me in. I must admit however, that I found this story pretty confusing, probably because nothing about this story is chronological. Nevertheless I found myself rooting for the Alice and Evan throughout the book. This is the first time I have read anything written by Nicole C. W. I will be reading another book from this author.
Very interesting story but not for me. There were a lot of mixed genre and going back and forth from the past to the future, kind of confusing. The book was well written and the plot was a good idea but the timeline was confusing. The author is not a fan of mushy endings which is evident in this book. I think this book will sit well with some readers just not me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
A postman and time traveller descending g through time and ages. A calligrapher who spends many hours on the beautiful work mean a gothic style romance that also shifts space and time.
Normally I like time travelling books but this was a tad mashed together and harder to keep with. The chapters did feel disjointed but otherwise ok.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I am an ARC reader and this is my honest opinion. This is quite a strange story, different to time travel books I've previously read. The storyline, for a lot of the book, has similarities to The Time Travellers Wife (the book, NOT the film) but with a couple of quite strange twists. I enjoyed it but I think you have to be a fan of the strange paranormal as well as time travel to enjoy it.
This is an interesting story premise, perhaps someone with more of an appreciation for sci-fi and time travel will enjoy this. I struggled with following the multiple timelines/people, and this is the reason for the low rating. Overall, I thought the story idea was good, and the writing was well done, but the total package fell flat for me.
This book was a rollercoaster. Its a time travel novel that isn’t very long, but I felt like it took me way longer to read than any other book thats around the same length.
The story was entertaining at most times, but at others it felt very dragged along. I liked the idea as a whole even though the age gap that continues in this book is a lil weird to me.
The postman is a time traveler who lost his travel devise. It is important that he gets that pocket watch back. Everything about the postman is shrouded in mystery. Alice only knows three things about him. One, he knows her name before she even introduces herself. Two, deaths follow him everywhere he goes. Three, he is dangerous.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This was a very interesting book. I felt like my brain hurt sometimes trying to keep track of the two main characters and their interactions overtime and which version of them was meeting the other version of the other. The twist I wasn’t expecting but it certainly added some drama. I enjoyed the story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Her postman seems to know who she is before she introduces herself which she cannot understand. Death also follows him where ever he goes. Who is he? What is going to happen? How will it all end? See what will go on I received an advance copy from hidden gems and I want to review
I was looking forward to reading this, but unfortunately, it did not quite meet my expectations. While I loved the love story between Alice and the postman, the murder mystery plotline felt out of place. It was as if I was reading two totally different books at the same time. Overall, it was promising, but it just didn't quite hit the mark
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The story is about a young lady, Alice who is a calligraphy teacher as well as selling her works. She did everything for her best friend Hannah's wedding.
The story is about a post man, Evan, who is able to time travel. He meets Alice and comes and goes through out the story. But, it becomes chance encounters over a lifetime. Yet, Alice and Evan fall in love. Alice tells no one. Her friend Hannah wants to help because she sees her friend is clearly going through something.
But, that's not the whole story. There are tragic deaths and some gruesome descriptions. It appears that Evan is around during these tragedies. The question is does Evan have anything to do with them or is it coincidence?
For me, I didn't get attached to the story. It was confusing at times and the descriptions over events were not for me.
Although significant differences exist, "The Postman" by Nicole C W could be compared to "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. Nicole C W's story skips from time to time, with one character sometimes not knowing the other yet.
"The Postman" is a very touching, tender story. I enjoyed it very much and had difficulty putting the book down. Alice, a calligrapher, is the main character. Evan is the person she meets at various points in her life when he travels to her time. Evan travels because he works for an unusual sort of postal service, delivering special letters to people at a particular time in their lives.
I liked Evan, Alice, and Alice's friends. I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy this heart-warming and sometimes heart-wrenching story. One trigger warning: one character in one chapter tortures cats.
Thank you to Hidden Gems for the Advance Reader's Copy.