Loved the concept of being stuck in a time loop and reliving the same day hundreds of times. It was really interesting how Noelle tried to break the loop and how it differed each time. It did get a little repetitive over time. But there enough changes to keep the plot interesting and keep me invested.

It was a fun read and the romance was cute. I’d definitely recommend for a quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

A cute romance with a fun twist on the time loop trope. The book felt a little bit long and the middle was a little slow but I still enjoyed myself

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

Noelle gets some dumplings one night after work and the next thing she knows she is living the same day over and over again. After a few repeats, she finds someone who is also in the same time loop. They become friends and try to find a way out of the mess they found themselves in.

She met Cam the very first time she did that particular day and decided to see if kissing him would change her situation. Then she began to enjoy practicing how to start a relationship with him. After a while she tells him what is going on and he believes her even though he doesn’t remember anything when she repeats the day again.

This story was really unique. I enjoyed it a lot. Watching Noelle and Cam start their love story over and over again was fun. Then, when she gets out of the loop and realizes that she missed several months of her life it made perfect sense that the author made it happen that way instead of her just waking up and it being the day after the one she had been repeating. It was as if she was an alternate version of herself. I was very glad she found Cam again. And I was glad that she and her friend got down to the bottom of what happened to them.

Time Loops and Meet Cutes is about a woman stuck in a time loop after eating magical dumplings. She meets a boy in the time loop but can never get past that first date and she can never make him remember her. This book was adorable. I loved all the choices she made to make the best of the time loop, I loved the lessons learned, I loved the sweet romance, all of it. Oh, and I loved that the wordle being the same every day was a thing. Just a frothy fun book.

Jackie Lau has hit the jackpot with her new magical realism romance! Fans of "The Seven Split" will feel right at home with the food worship (warning: start this book with a meal cos you'll be hungry) and the limits of time magic. I felt like this book had even more to offer and delivered where others faltered. The FMC Noelle felt immediately relatable. Girls in their 30s are gonna love it! I was very impressed by the pace because the story doesn't leap forward to the romance. Before you're whisked away in love, you have to embrace every bit of Noelle's desperation and her determination to escape the time-loop.

Like a standard "Groundhog Day" story, Noelle wakes up after eating magic dumplings to find herself repeating the same horrible Friday over and over again. But instead of running wild like some teenager, practical Noelle is extremely careful as she goes about testing the boundaries of the time loop (she doesn't want to spend her life savings only to wake up back in the real world under a pile of debt!)

That all changes when she notices another woman trapped in the time-loop with her! Avery encourage Noelle to try living without the fear of consequence. For example, flirting with the hot stranger she keeps running into. When he asks her on a date, she leans in and it's so romantic but heartbreaking. The time-loop erases Cam's memory of her, but the more time they spend together, the more he seems to recognize her. He's a brewery owner so I kept imagining the pub in "Platonic" but Cam makes me 10x more swoony than Seth Rogen. It feels like true love but she feels guilty that the time-loop gives her such an advantage over him.

If you read Jackie's earlier release "Love, Lies and Cherry Pies" then you will love how she switches POVs at the half-way point. I think it's becoming my favorite plot structure to read. We meet Cam OUTSIDE of the time-loop and get his first impression when he meets Noelle for real. I felt like I was the one yearning for him to remember me! It was gut wrenching.

This really had me reflecting on how nothing changes if you don't. It's so easy to let 6 months go by without pursuing any goals, or dreams or starting new hobbies. But to Noelle, time becomes so precious. She's desperate to make real changes that last, like reconciling with her sister and moving forward with Cam. This book left me feeling invigorated to pursue what I want now, instead of waiting for time to slip past.

This one was so boring. I DNF after 33% and 3 days of trying to motivate my self to read it. I understand the groundhog situation can be monotonous but I just couldn't believe nothing happened for 57+ days,. Then they kiss all of the sudden and there was zero chemistry. This was just not fun and could've had so much potential.

I LOVED Time Loops and Meet Cutes! Honestly I have kind of felt tired of the whole time loop trope in general but Jackie Lau made it fresh and entertaining. I loved the characters and the story and all the happenings on each version of the day. Absolutely would recommend!

After an extra stressful and long workweek, Noelle decides to go to the night food market and order some dumplings - the woman who sold them to her said they would give her exactly what she needs. Apparently what the woman felt Noelle needed was to repeat June 20th over and over again. During these loops Noelle meets Cam, and every day she continues to meet Cam because while she remembers him and all of their first dates, he only has a general sense that he has met her before. Noelle becomes increasingly frustrated that she has become so close to Cam (I mean they’ve been first dating for 6 or so months) and yet she has to introduce herself to him every time.

I did think this was a cute story but (and yes I know she has to keep repeating the same day over and over) the first part became a bit slow and repetitive (as do most time loop novels). But I really liked the concept and the characters (all of us type As could use a few no consequence days to get out of our minds). Noelle had a friend who was also experiencing the time loop with her and I thought their relationship was great. Personally I enjoyed the second half of the novel a bit more, but the first was fun most of the time. The audio was done very well and I listened to it coming home from a dinner all the way downtown.

Thank you to Atria books and NetGalley for the ARC to review

4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a cute fun read! 🩷
Will definitely be adding more of Jackie's books to my tbr!

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I genuinely love movies and books that are set in a Groundhog Day scenario. Needless to say, this book interested me, not just by cover, but also by the synopsis. Once I began to read, it was immediate where you fall into the repetitive days with the lead character, Noelle. It's fun in the beginning when she figures out she's stuck in a time loop and starts to change up her days. However, unfortunately it starts to flatline sort of quickly for me. I think it would've been really interesting to have the male lead, Cam, also stuck in the same time loop. And the dual POVs in this book between Noelle and Cam didn't really fit the story. Just having it all from Noelle's point of view would've been more ideal.

It's a fun idea for a story and unique from most other books on the market. If you love a good time-loop plot with short chapters, this one might be for you!

You know what, despite expecting to like this I was a bit nervous about the time loop element of this book. I mean, having a romance where only 1 person remembers the days developing it could have definitely gone very badly. However, I'm glad to report that this book actually did a good job at that, in my opinion at least.
Noelle was a great main character to follow, and I loved her growth throughout this book. Being able to do a whole lot of things without consequences basically really helped her figure things out, and overall grow. I also really liked that she wasn't in the time loop on her own. Not only because I really liked Avery as a character, but also because I ADORED their friendship. It was just nice seeing something real develop within this time loop with two people who can actually remember everything. It also kept this book from feeling very solitary and repetetive. I also quite liked that the time loop never gets fully explained. I feel like often times stories like this get ruined for me because they overexplain, and it just doesn't work out. However, in this book we do get some answers, it isn't a full mystery, but there are some questions we'll never know the answer to, and I really liked that aspect to it as well. So yeah, I did think the time loop was very well executed.
The romance was really adorable as well. I loved seeing all their different first dates. We also got some chapters from Cam's POV, and I really liked that element as well. I also liked how the author managed to actually develop the romance more. I won't say more on that because it does contain spoilers, but if you read this book just know I loved the change made for part 2. Yeah, I think that is vague enough. Anyway, I also really enjoyed that we didn't really get a real 3rd act conflict. It just worked better for this couple. The way things went down in this book just felt the most natural progression for them.
I do have to say that I wanted a bit more chemistry and sparks from the romance, and some more developement for Cam for this to be a full 5 star. However, I did still really enjoy this, and after not liking my last couple of reads this just felt like a nice reprieve as well. I do highly recommend this one!

If time loops and meet-cutes were the only things that mattered, then we’d have a pretty solid romance in our hands.
But it’s not, and we don’t.

Focusing on the romance first, I have a problem with the so-called chemistry. As in, I couldn’t care less for Noelle and Cam. At all.
She thinks he could be her soulmate because she keeps bumping into him, but then he's cute enough and nice enough so she develops feelings, and when she gets out she freaks out because she doesn't wanna lose him… but why? Where's the connection? Where's the spark?
And maybe my problem with Cam is his flat personality and the fact that all of his chapters are about the search for his soul mate, if maybe he’s missed her, if he might won’t ever meet her, yada yada yada.

Secondly, the time-loops plot.
Just… why? Why couldn't we have a reasonable answer after all that?

But the reason why I’ll unlikely read another of Jackie Lau’s book is the stiff writing, which made sense at first — Noelle needs to be like that, especially to underline the arc she’ll go through —, but then it kept getting redundant and kinda annoying.
Have I also mentioned that, even if this is a dual pov narration, it just feels like a long book with the same character over and over? No distinction whatsoever between Noelle's and Cam’s POVs.

I can’t tell you if most of what I disliked was done on purpose by the author — for example, Noelle and Cam being basically the same person to show how much they fit together —, but it just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

REVIEW: Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

Noelle is a mechanical engineer and a workaholic who doesn't do much for herself. One evening, she visits the night market for food and discovers a small stand run by an older woman selling dumplings. The woman tells Noelle these dumplings will help her find what she needs most. Unbeknownst to Noelle, eating the dumplings traps her in a time loop, forcing her to relive June 20 repeatedly.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes is a delightful rom-com-style magical realism book divided into two parts: before/during and after the time loop. In the book's first section, we primarily experience Noelle's point of view, but as the story progresses, we also gain insights from Cam. The time loop and other magical elements are utilized uniquely and entertainingly. Though Cam and Noelle's relationship and chemistry take some time to develop because she has to remeet him each day, a strong spark always exists between them. I appreciated all the relationships and connections throughout the story, especially between Cam and Noelle, which brought everything together.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes starts slowly, making it a little challenging to get into. I also wish we had received more chapters from Cam's perspective during the time loop, as I would have loved to learn more about him earlier in the book.

Overall, I enjoyed Time Loops & Meet Cutes for its charming story and unique magical realism.

Thank you, Netgalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

#bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #books #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookish #bookaddict #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bookaholic #booklove #bookcommunity #igreads #readingbooks #bookishpost #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #reading #alwaysreading #romancereader

This book hooked me from the first chapter! Its refreshing premise added a little “something special” to a classic time travel/time loop trope and I absolutely adored it. The pacing is fantastic, just when you think it’s starting to get repetitive (she is living the same day over and over again) it sends you in a loop! (Haha). The romance is great but the real star of the show in my opinion is Noelle’s relationship with the other woman stuck in a time loop, Avery. I couldn’t put this book down and I highly recommend it to anyone! It’s so good! Top 3 of the year for sure! (Warning: you WILL crave dumplings, even if you might be nervous to eat them after reading this)

I enjoyed this! I wasn’t always sure where it was going which kept me interested. I appreciated the different scenarios and thought the story was well developed. I also appreciated the ending a lot. A nice into to Jackie Lau!

The pacing of this book was confusing and strange. The premise was interesting, but the timing messed me up. There was no rhyme or reason to the time looping section, and right when I settled into the never ending days, we jumped 7 months in the future. The Cam perspective chapters also made things more confusing as the story progressed. I found myself frustrated with the way the story was laid out and by the pacing. I unfortunately wouldn’t recommend this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for this ARC!

I'm a big fan of all of Lau's works. This novel is a cute meet cute with a Groundhog Day like twist. A fast, sometimes steamy, read.

What a cute story. It was fun to watch Noele live her own version of a time loop. As she lives the same day over and over, she has the opportunity to reevaluate everything about herself. Like all good time loops. As she runs into Cam repeatedly, she wonders can she go for what she wants and is Cam perhaps the solution to get her out of the loop? She gets to try things out. What if I did it this way? Or that?

She finds the work she's spent too much of her life doing is not only not fulfilling but it doesn't take too many days until she quits going at all. Why bother? Especially when she's doing all kinds of extra work to cover for a underling who's not pulling his weight yet gets positive attention.,

To help a little with the loneliness, she meets another woman stuck on the same day. They work together to find the solution they need to move on with life and become great friends.

The story was fun and the characters easily likable. It was an enjoyable read.

Thank you so much to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Jackie Lau for the digital ARC and the physical copy! I felt so lucky to get early access!!

As soon as I read the summary I thought of 50 First Dates and I was in.Everything starts with some mysterious dumplings and all of a sudden she's stuck reliving the same Friday over and over. I thought that the wordle thing was hilarious! And I can relate to the burn out of feeling like you are literally living the same day at work all the time haha

I lovedddd Cam! I loved the romance but also seeing her growth though the book. It have me major romcommy vibes (which I appreciate!) and it was so easy to read and have fun with the book! Thanks again for the opportunity of sharing my honest review!

This was my first book by Jackei Lau and it was awesome! I read this on vacation and it was a sweet and clever beach read. I loved how the main character Noelle grew and learned through each loop. Her interactions with Cam were different each time and the ending was well done and very much earned. Also Noelle's new best friend was a fun addition to what could have been a very lonely experience. I look forward to reading more from Jackie Lau.