I was very excited to read this book because of the premise, the kind of Groundhog Day-esque concept that I love since I'm a sucker for time travel books and all their adjacent genres. Parts of the book were hard to read as I waited for the protagonist to figure out what a jerk his friend was, but the author did a good job of showing that awakening gradually as it would really happen. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, and parts of the book were more forgettable than I thought they would be, but it kept me engaged and wanting to know what would happen next and if we'd ever figure out how he'd end the loop.

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart was absolutely addictive! I stayed up way too late to finish it because I had to know what happened to Spence. This is a great time loop story, but it's much more than that and covers deep, dark issues like death, assault, male toxicity and more. Spence is still reeling from the loss of his Mum, feeling alone and isolated from his dad who is also grieving and realizing that there's a limit to how long his friends are willing to listen to him talk about his Mum. My heart hurt for Spence - for the loss of his Mum but also because he had to dig down deep and be honest about his friends and his own actions to try to "fix" the time loop. As he pulls back more and more layers every time Friday resets, he's forced to face some hard truths about his best friend, their friends and his rugby teammates. I could feel his reluctance to come even get close to those layers of truth, because he never saw his best friend that way, never imagined the things his best friend was doing. At one point I felt like he would probably just give up trying to fix the time loop - it was taking so much out of him and nothing he tried worked - but he kept going and pushed through some really difficult truths.

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart doesn't end on a happy notes; there's no easy wrap up for Spence or Clara or Mia. But it ends on a hopeful note, hope that more young people will start standing up for what's right, even to their best friends, and stop the cycle of male toxicity.

I would give this all the stars if I could.