Oh yeah, I want to mention a few details that I forgot to include in my previous review, which had been written in a bit of a rush.

The reccuring themes in your stories, such as a dream world built over an ugly reality and monsters that wear the faces of men, are so well-developed and familiar that I feel like I'm being wrapped up in a fuzzy old blanket in front of a warm fire when I pick apart those themes you seem to hold a fascination for. That's why I enjoy rereading your tales so much. There's nothing wrong with a fuzzy old blanket, I agree with Alfred on that point. (Whoops, I'm referencing a different fic of yours. Oh, well. C;)

There does seem to be a gnawing emptiness, as another reviewer said, below this fic's veneer of still beauty, as if there is no substance to what seems to be a peaceful world. I have compared this mid-December Boston to a lavender glass window, and I will again, for that is what I perceive it to be. It's fragile, it's a fantasy, but it's truly a marvel for the eyes.

Gosh, what I would give for a frosty mid-December morning. DX The snow is melting where I am and the temperature is trapped at a point where it is too cold and too warm at the same time... Ack, early spring really stinks. Waking up to find that the world has frosted over overnight is almost surreal and so very tranquil. Right now, I'm waking up to gusty mornings and ugly, dirty ice at the side of the road. I guess that beauty never lasts, though.

Ooh, spreading the USUK around, amirite? :D Maybe I'll try something similar at some point. We could all use a little more OTP in our lives every now and then, lawl. (And then I'd - evilly - have one of my poor friends toil to find said piece of OTP goodness. Mwa ha ha ha.)

Yes, give us all the USUK pr0nz. You're really good at writing NSFW, even when you gloss over the hot, sweaty details of it. ;)

Anyways, that's all for now. Until the next message/review!

Wow, I wonder why I haven't read this before. Every moment of frost-tinged beauty and stillness resonates within my heart, pealing like the tolls of the bells.

Matthew seems suspciously keen on Arthur and Alfred's relationship. Heh.

I hope that Al and Art didn't end up on opposite sides of the war. Though, maybe they'd get the adventure they both crave so much in that case. Art does seem sort of indifferent to the world. Maybe he's too enclosed in his fabricated world of romantic ideals and fantasy to really care about trivial matters such as death and reality.

Gosh, the description... it's so darn vivid and absolutely so real and yet fragile. I felt like I was gazing at the world of colonial Boston through a lens of frosted lavender glass. I've visited Boston several times, so this story really strikes a special place in my heart.

Okay, so I really liked the way you described the world that Al and Art live together in. And I do wonder about their fate. Those are my thoughts about this enjoyable oneshot, rambles aside. XD

This one-shot has the feel of a classic war love story (or in this case, pre-war story). I love how you placed the Hetalia characters into those archetypes. You did a good job of adapting them to the archetypes while still keeping the core character the same. Great job with this!

Absolutely vivid narrative! This tale of Arthur and Alfred's "taboo" love in a dangerous time is so achingly poignant it makes one think how many nameless, star-crossed lovers have slipped silently though history. *sigh* Now, I'm just going to daydream a happy ending for them in homage to all those Romeos and Juliets (Romeos and Romeos?) who never got theirs. Many thanks for the beautiful story.

this combined with the music from Mumford and Sons made me cry for like, half an hour.

but it felt good.

so thank you.

This was amazing. The setting was perfect and the descriptions flawless. Loyalist!Alfred was a wonderful idea and I feel Arthur, on the other side, is closer to Burke. Maybe his Romantic ideas are showing? Anyway, delightful gush of fresh air in this kind of fics.

I missed this one, I don't know how...First off, lovely descriptions. This really built the world (the more I read historical Hetalia, the more the past becomes a place). And I completely agree with the person who compared Arthur to Oscar Wilde. The Loyalist thing makes sense.

And Hetalia makes everything better. I used to think EU politics boring to the point of torture. But last night I stayed up all night reading an Economist article asking (loosely) 'WILL BRITAIN DIVORCE THE EUROPEAN UNION?' With lines declaring "Germany doesn't want Britain to leave, because then Germany would be all alone with France! But Britain's walkout has driven Germany RIGHT INTO FRANCE'S ARMS!"

And commenters so cliche it's like they were all roleplaying: Mean Italian "Good! At last we can get things done!" Nice Italian "Please don't leave!" Frenchman "Oh yes, you can be with us or BE THE US 52ND STATE!" *followed by a long argument amongst all commenters as to who that meant the 51st state would be-most unusual guess was 'Sweden'* Brit "There goes our chances of ever winning Eurovision."

Wow, I love your writing style in this!

I think it was the perfect style for the setting of your story. It's like being brought to the past. Good job on this one! :D

Evoked from school memories or not, it's always great to see some more pr0n from you! And I know what you mean about history class nostalgia... and too think I would've appreciated it even more had I been a Hetalia fan at the time (but maybe it's for the best-I'd probably often have a hard time supressing giggles if that were the case). And winter days are indeed very pleasant, even though they're FREAKING COLD. Haha, although I shouldn't complain, because it isn't cold all winter where I live- it tends to alternate between a high of 29 and 70 degrees fahrenheit on a whim. (which is almost worse...)

Also, USUK taking the library by storm! That's awesome. ;)

ANYway, sorry for that tangent. What I was actually meaning to say in this review was that this story was not what I expected (in a good way), and the sexytiems was absolutely delicious (as per usual). Though gun grease? That can't be hygienic! Lol. ;)

And this has just the right amount of bittersweetness and foreshadowing. I love the last line, it sounds almost foreboding. Plus, the mentioning of Matthew's quiet disapproval was a great touch.

Have I said before how much I love those asides you put in parenthises? Well, I love them. Also, I apologize for this messy ADHD review. Hehe.

Looking forward to more from you, as always!

(I should be preparing to go to school right now, but... Meh. It can wait.)

As always, an amazing story! :D Which makes me all the more excited for the USUK Christmas Project. I digress. But now that I think about it, this would have been a perfect addition to the project. Ah, well. Prompts take precedence. XD I digress a lot today...

I love the setting here. Cold mornings where there is just the right amount of light streaming through cloudy skies. The perfect backdrop for scenes like the ones in the story. (minus the lovemaking, but that is certainly a plus) And this AU's Arthur and Alfred? Fantastic. Now I'm wishing I could see just how freedom drove the lovely two, three hundred plus years of wedge between these lovers. (ah, but I guess that's not possible in this AU) Oh well. I could always read those angsty doujins and rewatch "America's Storage Cleaning."

Thank you for the lovely story. You made me like December again even though we have, like, a plate to rush. :)

(And now, I'm off to prepare for school, Alfred-the-Hero style.)

Aaw this one is really touching! I like this kind of AU, where Arthur acts like a privileged and odd (also has no friend) boy, and Alfred as a simple boy who always seems cheerful...and innocent 83

The line when they think they'll be on the opposite sides...I think it's kinda cliche, yet touching and I can imagine how painful it is when you have to against your lover (and at the same time you must fight for your country owO). Also, you make Arthur becomes...very gentleman. Seriously. I miss this kind of Arthur 8'))

Anyway, amazing description as usual, I can't stop complimenting about it X'D.

As always, beautifully written and quite realistic! Another great story!

I loved reading this! So bittersweet til the end, and all the background on Arthur and Alfred's characters filled this out well. :D The prose was silky and very lyrical, as were Arthur's words to Alfred. This really captures the spirit of the weather that inspired it and the feeling it gave to me seems similar to the nostalgia which inspired you. (It being quite cold in my house does help a bit.) Thanks for sharing this with all of us and I'm glad that your trek back to Birmingham was pleasant and overall wonderful. Best of luck with your other projects as well!

*Ahem* First of all, I would like to say I love you XD

But, to my real review; You are an amazing author and all the stories I've read by you are absolutely amazing! I love reading all Hetalia stories in a colonial America setting, AU or not. I loved the way you portrayed Alfred and Arthur though Loyalist!Alfred really shocked me ;A; But I still love it Can't wait for another story by you!

Another flawless gem from the wonderful RobinRocks. The intricate details were especially delicious, seeing as how I'm a sucker for such things (I only got bored a handful of times reading LOTR's massive page long descriptions of things). It's amazing to imagine this world you've formed, rather than leaving the readers to imagine it all from scratch and get the feeling wrong. And yet...and yet.

There's something nagging at the back of my head. The story was wonderful, the characters charming, the setting spectacular, and yet it feels...as if there is a carefully hidden emptiness inside. A dreamworld where no matter how vivid it looks, it doesn't actually exist.

This is by no means bad, and I feel it works beautifully considering. It just left me feeling unsatisfied at the end, as if I was waiting for something more that would never come. Truly there IS no ending to this story, because it's not supposed to end.

Your stories still follow this pattern of fulfilling a hunger, but not with anything substantial.

On a less serious note now...

Is it odd if I compared this Arthur to my headcannon Oscar Wilde? Without being overtly misogynist, of course.

It's refreshing to see an America that isn't "AMERICA IS THE BEST, F- YEAH!". A sizable enough chunk of Colonists at the time of the Revolution were Loyalists (some of whom later fled to Canada, including, possibly, a few of my ancestors), and even Patriots weren't all "America yay!" (considering it hadn't technically been invented yet, and wouldn't emerge properly as an identity until after the Civil War). Thouuuuuuuuugh, I did expect Alfred to have a more cliche answer like "I don't care about war, I just want to be with you", not because it would make for a mushier romance, but because he is young. I mean, he's fifteen! When I was fifteen, I was head-over-heels in love, and willing to give up my chances for post-secondary education for it, logic and reason be damned. And if my boyfriend left on a trip for that long, I would have moped until the cows came home, rather than be thinking about being loyal to the Empire or not. I don't want to say this makes Alfred less believable, it's simply not what I expected. Though, I suppose for the sake of avoiding cliches...

Yay, a blip of Matthew. :D

Oh, the details of setting...*drool*

Overall, I give it a 4.8 out of 5 stars, if only because of that nagging there-is-no-end feeling (but I'm the kind of person who's never happy with a story unless it ends with all loose pieces being tied up, so it might as well be 5/5).

Blaklite