I went into this assuming that I would like it, and I finished it absolutely LOVING it. I think the premise is super fun and though it's not the most unique idea, the execution was so fresh and fun, I could not get enough of it. Each part of this was so captivating, it's hard for me to even begin dissecting it for a review. I will say, the twist regarding the time loop made me stare at a blank wall for at least five minutes, that is so not what I was expecting??????????? Overall I can safely say that this book will not be leaving my mind anytime soon, it was fantastic.

This was a cute book! I love a time loop and this one was fun albeit a bit long. I can understand the few chapters in the first half of the book from Cam's POV because it leads to more questions about the time loop but they didn't add much in my opinion because they were so short. I really liked Noelle and Avery figuring things out, trying new things to get out of the loop, I think in time loop books specifically it's almost needed to have another person in the loop just to break it up. The character development felt real and I liked following Noelle along with that development and I really liked the romance.

I enjoyed reading this so much! It had the perfect balance of everything you want in a romance book! I cannot wait to read more of Jackie Lau’s books!

This was a fun read. I liked how the author approached the time loop theme. There was a good balance of humour, romance, and drama.

Thank you @simonschusterca and @netgalley for this arc!
*
I was intrigued by the blurb and jumped right in! This was my first Jackie Lau book and it did not disappoint. The storyline was brilliant and carefully crafted. it's a definite page turner!
*
"It's amazing how many possibilities they are in a single day." Jackie Lau

A regular uneventful mundane day in Noelle's life turns out to be the last day on repeat for seven months.
Throughout this unique twist on Groundhog Day and Fifty First Dates we follow Noelle as she navigates being in a time loop and trying to figure out not only how to get out but the lessons and discoveries around friendship, love, life and work. What is most important to her is yet to be known but she is learning and figuring out just how many possibilities they are in one day!
*
To be stuck truly is a dilemma but can also be a place of much discovery. In following Noelle's experience Jackie is highlighting some key contemplative questions about life.
Jackie took us on a journey that had an unexpected twist that you have to experience!

happy Reading!

Something about this didn't work for me but I'm not entirely sure what? I've sat on it for a while because the concept is one that I find enjoyable and the writing was wonderful but the story itself fell flat.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! Thank you to NetGalley for facilitating the delivery of the e-ARC.

I want to state up front that I did not finish the book and it was DNF’d at 50%. I really enjoyed the premise, but the execution fell flat about 25% of the way through.

This book is about a woman who eats magic dumplings and ends up in a timeloop. The same Friday keeps repeating itself. When she meets a man in the timeloop, everything changes.

Read this if you like:
- Magical Realism
- Timeloops
- Contemporary romance

What I Liked:
The FMC felt relatable and I loved her humor! I was so intrigued by the fact she was living a life she didn’t love and thought the timeloop would give her a new perspective.

What I Didn’t Like:
This book started off strong and I love magical realism. Though as it went on, I felt the pacing of as off and it felt slow and repetitive. Even though the same day repeats, there was nothing keeping me intrigued past that point. The romance just didn’t seem overly believable or swoon worthy.

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide feedback!

[arc review]
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Time Loops & Meet Cutes releases May 6, 2025

1.5

<i>“Meet-cutes aren’t supposed to be engineered; they’re supposed to be spontaneous.”</I>

On a Friday night after a long day of work, Noelle heads to the night market and indulges in some dumplings… only, these aren’t regular dumplings, because ever since, she’s been stuck in a never-ending time loop of the same day: June 20th.

While in this time loop, Noelle discovers that another woman who ate from the same dumpling stall has been stuck in the same time loop as her.

I don’t usually gravitate towards time loop romance books because they tend to get repetitive quite quickly, and this was no exception.
While I thought the addition of Avery brought a fresh take to the trope by making it less isolating for the main protagonist, I would have appreciated a heads up about her suicidal ideation.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was in the fact that there wasn’t a clear reason as to why the time loop ended for Noelle and Avery. Sure, they experiment living a life with less consequences, but without anything definitive to tie their character arcs to, it makes the narrative journey seem rather meaningless, directionless, and not well-earned.

With Lau’s last release, I didn’t think the male’s pov added any value, and I felt the same way with <I>Time Loops & Meet Cutes</I>.

Noelle Tom is a workaholic engineer, she is married to her job and every other aspect of her life has fallen to the wayside, her love life, her family life, her friendships and more. Then one day after a late night at work she passes by a food night market, and eats a portion of the best dumplings she's ever had. The next morning she wakes up to realize she is reliving the same day as yesterday.

She learns she is stuck in a time loop and she works to figure out out to get out of it, she tries so many different things, and over time she keeps running into the same cute man Cam, and is certain he is the key to getting out it. She gets to know him over time but he unfortunately forgets her everytime the day restarts.

The concept of this book was so much fun, I love a groundhog situation and this one was a fun time. I loved how much food played a part in this story, I also loved it taking place in my city of Toronto. I just felt the time loop went on for a bit too long and I got bored at point. It stopped feeling romantic and fun and got very depressy so it lost me a bit at that point. It was still a lovely read over all.

This book had such a strong start that I was hooked. The first 40% was clever, exciting, and full of promise. I was fully invested in Noelle’s daily adventures, and it had me seriously thinking: What would I do in a time loop with zero consequences? The premise was so fun and had the kind of “what if?” energy that made it shine.

But around the halfway mark, things started to lose momentum. The middle dragged with repetitive attempts to break the loop, and when the story finally moved forward again… it felt like all that build-up fizzled. The ending, unfortunately, didn’t deliver the satisfying punch I hoped for. It felt slightly rushed and underdeveloped, and some major reveals were met with oddly flat reactions from the characters.

I wanted to love this one, and I did love the premise. But in the end, it just didn’t quite stick the landing for me personally.

Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC!

This is a story about a woman who gets stuck reliving June 20 over and over. And over. And over.

Noelle is kind of stuck. Stuck in a job she is giving too much time to. Stuck in a rut of avoiding romance after a bad breakup. Stuck in a pattern of avoiding people. And then she decides to go to a market and buys some dumplings that change everything.

Cam is the MMC of this story. He is sweet, dorky and adorable. And he has no idea who Noelle is from looped day to looped day outside of a vague feeling of have we met before.

The emotions that the characters go through in this book are big and intense. And the hopelessness they feel at times will break your heart.

This is a well written story. The characters are likeable and I love that it is set in Toronto. If you enjoy stories with a bit of mystery (exactly how do dumplings affect time??), a slow pace and some romance, this is the story for you!

CW - There is talk of self harm and suicidal ideation.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes is a fun read with a take on the romance genre. It’s not often that you find romance with time travel at the core of it. But is it really time travel when the character is stuck living the same day over and over? I guess I’m trying to say this is very much like the Billy Murray movie Groundhog Day and Lynn Painter’s The Do-Over. The biggest difference is that Noelle finds she’s not the only person stuck in the time loop.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes is a quick read, with relatable characters. Most people can relate to Noelle, who doesn’t feel overworked and underappreciated at their job. Cam is kind of the opposite of that. While stressed about work, he still tries to find the fun in things. For both, family is important, even if they don’t understand everything about their families’ pasts.

There are some spicy bits in the book. However, Lau is good at not extending the scenes more than necessary. Sure, you know what’s happening, as it does not fade to black, but it’s not written excessively.

My two issues with the book are Noelle’s occasional whining and the resolution of the time loops. What triggers them to stop? Does she do something in particular to end them? There is an explanation later in the book, but it doesn’t feel satisfactory.

Overall, if you enjoy reading romance with meet-cutes, this is a great book. There are over twenty meet-cutes. If you want character growth, you should read Time Loops & Meet Cutes.

I knew based on the title that I was going to enjoy this one - and then I discovered it takes place in Toronto 😍

I see a lot of myself in Noelle - I don’t like change and don’t really take risks - so to see her experience the time loop and the subtle changes she goes through to get out of it was wonderful.

I love her relationship with Cam and her friendship with Avery and how determined Noelle was to get things right with both of them.

This was cute. I love reading books set in Canada, but I’m also biased. 🤭

The plot was fun and intriguing. I am always drawn to magical realism books, and anything with romance and time travel just hooks me right in!

This book had a lot of potential, but it felt like it was lacking depth in some aspects. The repeated “groundhog day” began to tire even myself, so I felt exactly what the character was feeling at certain points. That felt really genuine, but the characters’ voices all felt similar and the deeper topics were brought to light and then dropped quickly off. I kept waiting for a big Ah-ha moment in the book.

If you enjoyed This Spells Love or The Midnight Library, this one might be for you!

This novel comes out on May 6th! Thanks to NetGalley, Jackie, and Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good time loop story so I was hopeful about this ARC, and I really enjoyed it! 

It has all the classic time loop aspects you want:
•figuring out how you got in the loop and trying to find the person again (to no avail);
•trying different things to break the loop (kisses, staying up late, quitting your terrible job, repairing or ending strained relationships, etc.); and
•being different levels of wreckless once you know you're stuck and don't have consequences (multiple haircuts, trips from Toronto to New York and Vancouver, manufacturing a way to meet the cute guy you've run into more than once to initiative a meet cute and hopefully get a kiss to see if that breaks the loop and then doing that multiple times since he won't remember you embarassing yourself, etc.).

It was very well done, and I especially liked that she found someone else stuck in the loop and they had each other to lean on, especially in the moments it felt hopeless. The romance itself was very sweet (sometimes bittersweet) but also fun. I appreciated that Noelle was very cognizant of consent and fairness when it came to her budding relationship with Cam since he wouldn't remember her each new June 20th, even though he had some odd deja vu moments where he'd remember little things about her without realizing. There is some spice but it's only when he's fully aware of what's going on and after she's out of the loop.

Which brings me to another thing I enjoyed: the balance between time spent in the loop and after. Many time loop stories end once the person escapes the loop, but we get to see how she and her friend deal with what they come back to and how it affects them.  

I am definitely glad I randomly requested this ARC, so thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Atria for approving it. And bonus: it's set in Canada (Toronto) and by a Canadian author! I don't believe I've read anything by her before but will definitely look for her in future.

Amazing book full of hopes and second chance type of romance. A must for May!!

Thanks S&S for the amazing opportunity.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the eARC.

On a random Friday after work, Noelle finally decides to do something different from her usual routine. She goes to a Toronto night market where she buys some dumplings. The elderly woman tells her the dumplings will "give her what she needs." Stumped by this, Noelle eats them, goes about her night and walks up the next morning to find that she's repeating the day before again.

Noelle starts a quest to figure out how to stop the time loop and finds another woman at the market, Avery, who also had the dumplings and is stuck in the time loop. While she's trying to figure out how to escape, she keeps bumping into Cam. Noelle is sure that he could be the key to getting out of it, but every day she meets him again, he doesn't remember her.

This was an enjoyable book! Noelle goes through so much growth and life changes despite being stuck in a time loop. Honestly, I almost loved her new friendship with Avery more than her relationship with Cam.

The ending of this book is incredibly clever and I'm looking forward to reading more from the author's backlist.

The thing that I will say about this book, and it's due to the nature of the time loop situation, is that the first 50% felt slow to me. There was (obviously) a lot of Noelle reliving the same day, but I found her inner monologue to be the same at times. That said, I didn't mind the pacing by the end and enjoyed that I took my time reading this.

Fans of Ashley Posten, Rebecca Serle or Sarah Ready will enjoy this one!

Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, Time Loops & Meet Cutes caught my attention with it's super cute cover and the blurb. I wanted to love it, but it wasn't quite the right fit for me.
In the first half, I found the story to be extremely slow and repetitive, which made it really difficult for me to connect with it. The writing almost felt a little juvenile at times as well.
I enjoyed the second half of the story more as we moved forward and got more dual POVs, which I always enjoy. I liked finding out how relationships changed and characters grew.
While I may not be a big fan of time loop tropes, I believe that Time Loops and Meet Cutes could be very enjoyable for the right reader (as other reviews show!).
I'll be giving it 2.5/5, rounded to 3 stars.

I really enjoyed this book! Noelle gets some dumplings at a night market, where the woman running the stall said they’d give her “what she needed most”. She wakes up the next day to find that it’s June 20th once again and that she’s stuck in a time loop.

As Noelle continues to experience the same day repeatedly, she meets someone special, establishes a new friendship, reconsiders her job, and examines some of the important relationships in her life. Living in a time loop makes her bolder and more carefree - but going through a Groundhog Day type experience also has its downsides.

I enjoyed how Noelle grew through the time loop, and the friend she found in Avery. I’m a sucker for a book set in Toronto! The familiar locations brought me joy. I can see the versions of her meet cute play out like a movie - even the awkward ones. I liked that we got snippets of Cam’s experience through the dual POV. This was a really sweet story that I flew through.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau is a charming, feel-good romance with a clever time loop twist. It’s sweet, funny, and full of heart — the kind of book that makes you believe in fate, second chances, and the magic of a really good meet cute. The characters are instantly lovable, their chemistry is effortless, and the story manages to be both thoughtful and lighthearted.

Jackie Lau balances sci-fi elements with emotional depth and cozy vibes, all set against a vividly Toronto backdrop (with plenty of mouthwatering food mentions, of course). If you're into soft romances with a nerdy twist, this one’s a must-read. It's the book equivalent of a warm hug on a weird day.