Time Loops & Meet Cutes
Author: Jackie Lau
Reviewer: Jen
Rating: A-/B+
What I’m Talking About:
After eating some delicious dumplings at the night market, Noelle finds herself waking up to her alarm on June 20th, day after day. There is only one other person, Avery, who also ate the dumplings from the mysterious vendor, who recalls each version of June 20th when everyone else thinks it’s just June 20th. Think Bill Murray in 1993’s Groundhog Day. And after running into the same cute man, Cam, in multiple places in her versions of June 20th, Noelle wonders if he is the clue to her escape.
Time Loops and Meet Cutes is a darling contemporary romance with a bit of magic realism/science fiction. It’s about learning how to open up to another and how to be vulnerable despite the risks. It’s about allowing people into your life after being hurt. Putting two people in the loop together makes sure that the characters aren’t alone and can work together to find a way out, but it doesn’t mean they still can’t feel lonely.
I love that being stuck in the time loop doesn’t alter who Noelle is at her core; she remains cautious and observant. She doesn’t go dark or evil, doesn’t try anything too extravagant – she didn’t even fly first class to Vancouver. She does learn to take risks, but nothing drastic. She learns to value life and how to open up to another. And when she gets free of the loop, she’s still the same person, but she recognizes she has the ability to make changes, understands the value of friendship, and knows that it’s okay to splurge once and awhile.
Lau does a great job portraying the fear, excitement, and ultimately the frustration of living the same day over and over. Noelle hasn’t dated in years due to a bad breakup. She find Cam charming and handsome, and dating him is risk-free, or so Noelle thinks. The author also does a great job with Noelle once she escapes the time loop, portraying the uncertainty of life. Noelle is scared because everything is real now and she doesn’t want to mess it up. I also love that we finally we get Cam’s POV and reactions to Noelle.
Overall, Time Loops and Meet Cutes is an entertaining and engrossing story. I loved meeting Noelle, Avery, and Cam, while watching each figure out how to live their best lives.
My Rating: A-/B+
Jen
About the Book:
Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.
Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.
Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.
But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Magic Realism
Format(s): paperback (352 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: NetGalley