I don't often give five-star reviews, but I almost did here. Mostly, I avoid them because it's rare that I like something *that* much, and I often feel there's things that can be improved.

And sure, there are some things about Mismatched Words in a Lonely World that could be improved, but I think it would have been nearly impossible to do within the limits of the contest. This is a very, very solid contest entry.

Especially for the first third, this book really got to the core of the Love Transcends Boundaries prompt. On top of that, it drip-fed details about a wonderfully-built world at a good rate, and the prose remained high-quality from beginning to end. At more than 70,000 words written in just under three months, that's quite the accomplishment!

Also impressive, it keeps the story interesting the entire time with only two characters. In this regard, the book definitely knows what it's doing. It belongs to that special genre of anime and anime-related media where you, as the viewer, keep thinking to yourself, "If this were real life, they would have had sex by now. How many ways can they keep putting up barriers and making it awkward?" But those works usually tend to be sleazy harem stories. This is a very warm and fuzzy romance.

Again, I don't see how this could realistically have been improved upon during the short contest duration, but I do think it would have been nice to see more of this world. So many details are set up, but the story focuses on the main characters in such a small part of it. It makes sense, because this is primarily a romance story, not an adventure, but because it's set in such a cool world, it seemed a shame not to explore it more. It also wouldn't have worked within the word limit, but I would have liked to see the characters have to overcome more obstacles and grow closer together on a much longer quest that took them to various places around the world.

But if you're looking for a well-written romance set in a fantasy world with lots of sexy hijinks, this book's for you.