“Time Loops & Meet Cutes” by Jackie Lau follows Noelle Tom after she eats a magic dumpling that forces her to repeat the same day over and over again. As Noelle brainstorms how to break the loop, she meets Cam. Over and over again. Is he the key to breaking the loop?
This book was absolute fun. I loved Noelle, I loved the plot, honestly, I loved everything about this one. It wasn’t a new idea, but something about it felt fresh and made it more fun to read.
Noelle and Cam’s love story is so so good. Every time they meet you almost want to scream because Cam won’t remember and tomorrow they’ll start fresh, but of course you keep reading because every encounter is fun. The banter alone made this book great.
In the end, I gave this book 4 stars. I loved it, but the ending and explanation actually made me laugh out loud. It felt so unlikely. But at the same time, I enjoyed this book so much.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC! This book publishes May 6th!

This was a cute one!! I really enjoyed the time loop story line, along with the overall pacing of the storyline. I think it's easy for a story like this to feel redundant or repetitive but I think Lau navigates the story well to avoid this. I do feel that the story overall stayed a bit surface level when there were opportunities to dive deeper into certain things, especially the family and interpersonal dynamics. I think this could have added a bit more depth to the story overall. I really enjoyed the conclusion of the story, but again wish that there was more depth to the explanation of things. All in all, I did enjoy this book and story, I just wish that there was a bit more depth to it overall.

This was so fun! I've never read a rom-com quite like this. It's been a long time since I've read any magical realism or contemporary with fantastical elements and I had such a good time! Such a fun way to look at how all our choices effect everything that happened to us and all of the choices we don't make as well. I'll definitely be picking up more books from Jackie in the future

When Noelle eats magic dumplings at the night market, she finds herself stuck in a time loop of relieving the same day over and over again. As she sets out to break the loop, she finders herself growing more and more interested in a cute bartender. Convinced that he is somehow connected to her way out of the time loop, she sets out to woo him. This romance includes a bit of spice.

This book will appeal to those who enjoy Gorundhog's Day time loops stories. The story is a cute romcom that explores a workaholic opening back up to romance and love. I'll admit I found the way she escaped the time loop unsatisfying, but otherwise it's a cute romcom. I appreciated that the book also focused on fixing family relationships and not just the romantic ones with some exploration of how tough mental health can be to deal with.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC of Time Loops and Meet Cutes! Wow I freaking loved this book! It was so different from anything I have read before and I was hooked from the very first chapter! I literally finished it in 24 hours, that’s how good it was! Jackie Lau did an amazing job with combing elements of Groundhog Day/ Freaky Friday vibes! I adored all of the characters and couldn’t get enough of Cam & Noelle! I can’t wait to read more of her work!

This book was very cute! Time loops are very intriguing, and I found myself relating to a lot of the things that Noelle did during her time loop experience. I liked that the characters' ethnicities are East Asian because, as someone of East Asian descent myself, it was really fun to recognize the various references to food, vocabulary, and culture. I loved reading each of Noelle's and Cam's June 20ths together because even though it was the same day, they did so many different things. The story covered a lot of time, so it felt really fast paced and a bit surface-level at times, but I still enjoyed the book!

3.5 stars

Super cute and I did enjoy it. It’s just that the middle lagged and something about the prose itself annoyed me. I would still recommend it if you want a romcom version of Groundhog Day!

Thanks to Atria through NetGalley for the ARC!

This book is cute and has a unique concept. Noelle is leading an unfulfilled life. She doesn’t like her job, her family relationships are stilted, and she has been unlucky in love. At a night market, she eats dumplings made by a mysterious woman who says they will give her what she needs. The next morning, she wakes up and the day repeats. She’s stuck in a time loop and hilarity and life lessons ensue. I wanted to love this book, but it falters about 60% of the way through. The time loop and love plot lines resolve more vaguely than I would like, and the ending drags on a bit. It’s good, and I would recommend as a cute romcom with some heft to it.

4.5 ⭐️
ARC // Releases May 6, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy.

———— All thoughts are my own.

Before reading, make sure you get your snacks ready because this Groundhog’s Day romance is going to make you hungry with all it's delicious food descriptions.

After another long work day, Noelle finds herself at a bustling night market where she will later find out that the magical dumplings she ate will make her relive the same day over and over again. You can feel Noelle’s wonder and then frustration of reliving the same day. But don’t worry, Noelle is not alone in this wacky adventure; she meets Avery, who also ate the magical dumplings, and I hope we can get a story about her and what after the loop looks like for her. Noelle also happens to run into the same man, Cam, throughout this relived day, who helps her bring the romance back to her life.

I thought this was such a good read. It was cozy with a little spice. I wish we would have gotten more answers from who was behind the magical dumplings, because I feel like that would have been a more satisfying conclusion. But that's just me, you guys read it and see if you feel the same.

Just a heads up, there are some sensitive topics mentioned, so be sure to check your trigger warnings.

I absolutely loved this book! While the love story between Noelle and Cam was fulfilling and all you could want from a rom-com romance I really loved the overall message of this book. Seeing Noelle's character development as a result of the time-loop was a beautiful reminder that sometimes taking risks pays off in unexpected ways! I can't wait to buy this book when it comes out!

Content warning: Brief suicidal ideation discussed (not the FMC)

3.75! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! This one follows our FMC, Noelle as she relives June 20th over and over again thanks to some magical dumplings.

With no consequences of the future, she’s able to live more free now than she ever allowed herself to. However, reliving the same day gets old. She befriends another girl who’s stuck in the same time loop and they try different ways to try and escape the time loop. Nothing’s really working but somehow every time she meets our MMC, Cam, he starts to unconsciously remember little things about Noelle.

At first I thought Cam’s chapters were kind of pointless in the beginning but I guess it was meant to be that way because his chapters don’t really get interesting until he “remembers”. I enjoyed Noelle’s character development from being an anxious, introverted workaholic to someone who’s trying to be more carefree and actually trying to living life. I was NOT prepared for the spice that came with this book but it definitely helped with Noelle and Cam’s chemistry! The writing didn’t pull me in the beginning but after the plot gets to where I wanted it to go, the story got so much better. I loved the food references in this book especially since I read a lot of Filipino dishes mentioned but I also learned a little about beer!

(Actual: 3.5⭐, rounded up) Super cute & fun read, with a nice balance between romance and family ! I'm such a sucker for timey-wimey shenanigans/love stories and, to be quite honest, I think it's with this novel that Lau has really started to find her stride. While I've enjoyed her books well enough, I admittedly would find myself always noting down how I felt like there were some pacing issues (in one way or another, however big or small).... but! I'm happy to report that that isn't as much of a problem here with TL&MC! Here, the plot definitely felt tighter and more evenly paced in comparison to her previous works, and I found the story to be both grounded in terms of its plot/character arcs and very clever in its execution of the time loop aspect. I can easily see this novel being people's "gateway" to Lau as a promising romance/contemporary fiction author and would def recommend it out to all my fellow romcom lovers & SFF/magical realism fans out there!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
The blurb from this book sounds so adorable! Noelle Tom eats some dumplings at a night market and suddenly finds herself reliving the same day over and over again and she can't figure out how to escape her own personal Ground Hog's Day. To make matters worse, she meets Cam, who she thinks can help her escape her loop but finds herself falling for him at the same time. She's determined to figure out how to help him remember her as her life resets every day but she's also determined to get herself out of the loop and move on with her life.
I was excited for the concept of this book. Given the positive reviews I was seeing, I had high hopes I would enjoy the story. I loved the thought of a meet cute that happens over and over again, each time with the FMC tweaking things to try and make them more perfect in the hopes she'll wake up the next day and have moved on. A bit of magical realism amongst a romance story. I really couldn't wait to see how the author built the plot and made the story move forward. Unfortunately, this book ended up not hitting the mark for me at all.
I'll start with the characters. The pros were their diversity. I loved how Lau wove in the different cultures. Though I myself even found a mistake with one of the things she wove in and that bothered me a bit. And I enjoyed the friendship Noelle built with her new friend Avery. But other than these two things, I wasn't a fan of either main character. They were so flat. Noelle does not strike me as a woman who is close to 30. As a matter of fact, she acted more like a college aged girl. She's whiny, annoying, and unlikable. She claims she is being challenged by the time loop but I didn't see any growth from the challenges she purported to be going through. Cam was harder to understand as we don't get a lot of him during the book. The author chose to use dual POV but not only did we have limited chapters from Cam's POV, those chapters were super short. It was truly hard to get to know him and I'm not sure why his chapters were included at all.
The first 50% of the book focuses on the time loop and literally nothing happens. It's just Noelle living those days over and over again. Yes, I know this is the point of the book, but each day should have brought some growth and it just wasn't there. There is some growth with her friendship with Avery. However, the chemistry the author tried to build between Noelle and Cam seemed forced and I didn't feel their connection at all. And the sex scenes were cringe for me. When the time loop is finally resolved, I had no idea why or how. I thought perhaps I would see that why in the second half of the book but, alas, that didn't really happen. I struggled to push myself through the book in the hopes the relationships would grow and change and we would finally have the conclusion as to why the time loop happened but it never came to fruition.
I contemplated DNFing this book multiple times during my read especially in the first 50%. I was very bored with the 170+ days of reliving the same exact scenario. Even the second half was slow and didn't build the tension I was expecting.
Finally, there was so much telling in this book. And it was like the main characters were just narrating every aspect of what they were doing. Everything just glazed over the surface rather than delving into what could have been some interesting information for the reader to help understand the characters and their struggles.
The best part of the book was the plot twist that happens at the end, like in the last 10%. But getting there was definitely a struggle.
I've not read any other books by this author so I don't have anything to compare this one to but just having read this I'm not really interested in finding out. There was nothing drawing me back to this book when I would put it down. I had to force myself to finish it. The concept was there but the execution fell completely flat and missed the mark of what could have been a fun and entertaining read. I read a lot of romance and have read quite a few with magical realism but this one was just not for me. Not every book is for everyone and given the high ratings, I'm sure I am in the minority and others will enjoy this one much more than I did.

Title: Time Loops & Meet Cutes
Author: Jackie Lau         
Genre: Romance   
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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…

I wouldn’t say this was just a romance, because a large part of it was Noelle figuring out who she was—and who she wanted to be, and making changes to make that happen. The freedom she gets from knowing is she screws something up, the mistake will just reset gives her the courage to try new things, and that’s a lesson I think I could learn. The food in this book all sounded fantastic, too, and the night market was something I’d like to visit. Cam was pretty great, too, and I loved how he all tied into the time loop situation.

Jackie Lau lives in Canda. Time Loops & Meet Cutes is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 5/7).

I was kindly provided with the arc of this book by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange of and honest review, thank you ✨

4.5⭐️

Oh my, who would have guessed that dumplings will be so much fun and magic?

I was intrigued by this book the moment I read the blurb because time loops are a trope I really enjoy and this book delivered!!! I loved it! I really enjoy the travel of Noelle and Avery and I love their friendship, it was so beautiful to read how the both off them grew together as friends and as individuals and how they were always for each other, that’s what true friendship looks like ❤️

And Cam, I just love him so much, I love how he seems to feel to know Noelle every time he saw her even though he never actually remembered her, and after all what’s happened, how he managed still had that sense of knowing her and the feeling of being fated to her ✨

I also loved how the most important part of the story was time, but in the form of treasuring the moments and memories we get to experience with our loved ones and also to enjoy life, to take risks, to live our best lives and moments and never take any day for granted, it was definitely one of the most beautiful books I’ve read ✨

Noelle lives her life a certain way, never straying far from the normal. She works her job as an engineer 12 hours a day with no complaints about the extra work she gets. Then, one night, she goes to a night market after work on Friday, June 20th, and discovers a woman who tells her that she will find what she "needs most" after eating her dumplings. Noelle thinks it's funny, but the next morning, she wakes up, and it's the same day as it was yesterday. The next day is also June 20th. She's stuck in a time loop and doesn't know why and what to do about it.
This book was original, endearing, humorous 😅at times, as well as sad 😌at others. I was stuck with Noelle and really liked her. I loved how hopeful she was that her situation would change even though it didn't. I loved the way the author did this whole book. It was honestly perfect except a bit long, or it felt long in parts. I think some of the mundane days could have been summerized instead of written about. However, this book really got to me, and for that, it gets a 4.5 stars 🌟

I always love some magic realism in my contemporary romance (hey, Ashley Poston!). I think the time loop early on was such a good premise to start off Noelle and Cam’s relationship. I enjoyed reading Noelle’s growth as she started making changes to her life. It was a fun and easy read and perfect for when you want a fun and light-hearted story of love, friendships, and the meaning of life.

A big plus was all the food descriptions!

Book: 4
Spice: 2

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC! I always appreciate it!!

This was a very fun read and I enjoyed the "Time Loops" of it all. It was a very interesting story that didn't dwell on a single plot point for excessively long. I loved how it all wrapped up in the end! Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this and give my unbiased opinion.

This was such a fun, fresh take on a time loop and I can't wait to read this all over again when it comes out. The chemistry between Noelle and Cam was perfect for this kind of story. The unique friendship that she's able to form with Avery really sets this book apart from others and made this a five star read for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Atria for this eARC

Thank you to Atria books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. This was my first Jackie Lau book and it did not disappoint! I was intrigued by the Groundhog Day plot line but the banter, funny writing and characters kept my attention throughout the whole book. I enjoyed reading Noelle’s arc and Cam was the absolute sweetest! Total cinnamon roll! Add this to your TBR immediately for a quick, sweet romance! I can’t wait to read more from this author.