I’ve spent the last week or so rereading both AMOT and AMOC and I just gotta say - I think I’ve read the full journey 3 times now at vastly different stages of my life but every time it just amazes me. The love and care and TIME you put into this story can be felt in every single word of it. I personally haven’t touched Hetalia in 4 or so years but I was thinking back on my favourite fics of all time from all my fandoms and these stories popped into my head as one of the first. I knew I had to sit down and read it again now I’m older and god it still stands up as one of - if not THE best - fics I’ve ever read. You took everything I loved about Hetalia, the concept of personified nations and all they’ve lived through, the masks they put up and the heart in these characters; you created a beautiful female lead - Michelle is awesome, what a brilliant character. The journey of this story is amazing and even after I’ve “grown out” of the Hetalia fandom, I love this story with my whole heart - these characters through your lens and the world you’ve created.
Thank you. Thank you for these stories. Who knows, maybe I’ll be back in another few years to read again - I think that’s fairly probable.
Thank you for this beautiful journey and thank you for Michelle.
All the best,
Evakain (prev. DajieOotori)

Omg I think I finally figured it out, she lost the thing she treasures the most, her memories and knowledge! I love youu, you genius!

I'm trying to make an effort to post reviews for works that I've loved enough to go back and reread, so here I am! I know that I left you a couple of asks on tumblr, but I'm also determined to go around waxing poetic about your work everywhere I possibly can. I began reading A Matter of Time right when I had graduated high school in 2013. Hetalia was still probably my biggest fandom, and I was getting ready to enter university pursuing a history degree. Michelle was the perfect way to see the 'thrown into another world trope' attempted in a realistically. Right off the bat I could picture myself in the world you created. By the time you completed A Matter of Course, I was finishing my last semester of undergrad having completed the history BA that I set out to do in high school. Now I am writing this review at 24, the same age as Michelle at the beginning of AMOT, having finished my master's degree in public history last december. Reading this fic at multiple intervals of my life has had an obvious influence on my relationship to your characters. At times, I've felt like I had a sister in Michelle. At other times, I've felt like I am Michelle. We might not have the same opinions about the best course of action, but I see myself in her conviction and her love for others. Even now, Michelle feels more like adult than I could ever be. I don't often experience fictional characters that make feel this way, especially OCs in fanfic.

Also, since the last time that I reread AMOS, I've come out as bi and ace. During this reread I've come to fully appreciate the lack of an explicit romantic pairing for Michelle. Seeing her as ace has become of thing of comfort to me, especially with the strength of her other relationships reminding me of my strong familial and platonic relationships. The other characters rarely mention romance in your stories, and that is so valid. Thank you so much for that, even if it were unintended.

As I reached the middle of the epilogue once again, I started crying and haven't stopped. Your fic has had such an impact on me personally and I just want you to know that I can't thank you enough for it. As dramatic as it sounds, I literally could not fathom where I would be professionally and emotionally without having read and reread this fanfic. My love of this fic has outlasted terrible relationships and saw me complete the uphill battle of finishing my thesis (that I thought would finish me first at times). Just, thank you. Thank you so so much.

Krista

A second reading of this, a few years later, and it is just as good as I remember it. This series was such a hard hit emotionally that it shook me to the core in the months between chapters. I created a number of Fanfiction Handles over the years while reading this and each time this story was the first I followed, clinging to it and waiting for more because I HAD to know. I needed to know what happened. While you were writing and we were reading, I went through some of the hardest times of my life, constantly being uprooted and tossed in a whirlwind. A Matter of TimeA Matter of Course as well as several other fictions that were much lighter in context were what kept me afloat. Your series in particular was one I drew strength from. Pulling strength from fiction seems like a horrible idea to some, but I idolized your main character a bit. Her strength and her strength in weakness were admirable and I wanted to be as strong as her. She was older in the story than I was at the time, and two years ago when I started getting Grey hairs I snorted and muttered I'd beat Shelly dear to it, gaining touches of silver in my hair at 25 didn't surprise me, but made me remember Michelle plucking hers and decided I wouldn't. I haven't dyed my hair since either. We are history and I won't hide it's effects, not like I have a nation to hide it from anyways. I always craved more after this series ended, it's one of those you never want to finish.. This story, with or without it's so-called flaws, is art. Michelle is so real a person that I still miss her, and the nation's you wrote were monumental in the fandom. I remember the ruckus your stories made, everyone in the circles were talking about them back then and while the fandom has chilled out a lot over the years, people moving on to newer anime or transitioning to comic books and movies, a huge part of my heart resides tucked into this fandom right with this series. Friends come over and I often have Hetalia playing for background ambiance and I'm always questioned "You still watch Hetalia?" and I remember cheesecake, swing music, and life in the 40's with Johnny, or Italy being far more cunning than they would ever give him credit for, or Ivan hulking protectively over a shoulder... The smell of Pine and Smoke and the fierce love of a Nation... and I just laugh.

I've probably weirded you out by now, chucking my heart onto the table like this, but I wanted to let you know how much it lingers still yet.

Much Love

Hioni

Amazing. Thank you for keeping this up all these years

After that last chapter, I have a hard time reading this one- not that it's bad or anything, far from it. It's just, too painful. Once my eyes caught the word sand and Egypt I knew... I knew this was a flashback and that it would only twist the knife that was lodged into my heart even more. I don't just want to skip over it and read ahead in the chapter just to save pain, I need to read all of it but- I think first I'm going to have to gather myself first.

Beautiful. So well planned, with background puppet masters and everything intertwining and realism in the fact she accepts she'll never understand them

Holy fuck, those last few sentences gave me chills...

this has been a great read. I rarely read OC centric stories but this one has been an amasing trip for me. I first found it unfinished n Ao3 so I am happy to see the whole work here finished :)
Thank you for this amasing story

Nice ending to the chapter :D

great chapter :D I didn't suspect Romania at all!

oh no. More nations are gone now O.o

I just re-read this entire series again and it was as amazing as when I read it the first time. Thank you for taking the time to write this and sharing it with the world.

I will forever love this story

Great work on the story! It was a fantastic journey start to finish.