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.

I just wanted to start with the fact that Time Loops & Meet Cutes was my first book by Jackie Lau. I requested it off a seasonal mailing list because it looked interesting—I don’t read a lot of contemporary rom-coms, save for a few repeat authors, but I do love all things sci-fi adjacent.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes doesn’t spend long in the exposition. We’re launched into the plot very quickly. This isn’t necessarily something I’m opposed to, but given that it’s written in first person present tense, I was a little jarred. Lau’s writing is a bit blunt, which also jilted me initially. This wasn’t a problem overall, just something that I want to note for others in case this deters you from continuing. The style makes sense for our FMC, Noelle Tom, who is a 32 year-old very “get sh!t done” type of woman. Except she’s also a bit of a pushover.

The flaws are the point. I promise you. While Time Loops & Meet Cutes had a rom-com element, I greatly appreciated that this book was actually about Noelle getting the opportunity to learn about her flaws and improve. This was a vastly better direction in my opinion, because it’s more interesting. I might not have enjoyed the book as much if this hadn’t been the case, because this made me care more about Noelle. It made her realer.

Of course, you have to suspend your disbelief for everything to make sense, but in the end, it does, so the ending was satisfying.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Atria for the eARC of Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau.

Huge thank you S&S for the advanced copy!


I’m not sure where to begin with this one. It was such a good read! Different from what I’ve been reading and it was kind of a breath of fresh air??

The whole concept of the magical dumplings causing a time loop to help Noelle “find what she needs most” was so fun and hooked me right away.

I loved also getting POV chapters from Cam (MMC)

Overall, I really enjoyed this story! It was sweet and funny and also had some heavy moments but it was just a really great read and I hope you take the time to read it!

This was a cute and quick read. I enjoyed the main characters, however, wasn't overly invested in the story. I obviously expected it to be repetitive with the time loop but it felt like the character just did the exact same thing every time or made very minute changes?

Part two once out of the time loop went by quicker and was more engaging. But overall it was just okay.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advance copy!

3.5 stars

I love time loop stories so much!

The story is cute - it follows Noelle, a thirty-something Asian Canadian woman (love the Toronto setting) who's kind of meandering through life. She's got her job (overworked, underpaid), her apartment, and her financial stability. But... that's it. She keeps herself isolated from friends and family. And then one day, boom - thanks to some magical dumplings, she gets stuck in a time loop, re-living June 20th again and again. But she keeps bumping into this cute guy.....

This was another solid entry in the 'time loops' category. Jackie Lau's writing is excellent - it immediately drew me into the story, and kept me hooked. I enjoyed Noelle's journey to figuring out what matters to her, her appreciation of her life as it it, and the grief she feels for missed moments. I also like that she admits her flaws to herself, and that she found a new understanding and empathy towards people struggling with mental health issues. And I liked Cam a lot! His worries about disappointing his family, and his love for his brewery made him loveable and relatable.

As for what I didn't love - the resolution of the time loop. It felt like there was no solid answer to why they got out of it, which makes it all seem like it was a bit haphazard and pointless? And I would have loved to see them meet Cam's grandma and have a chat with her.

All told, this was a fun, cute story with a lovely romance, and solid self-discovery.

Read if you like:
-magical dumplings (the food all sounded so good, I was starving the entire time I read this)
-Asian rep (she is Chinese/Canadian, he is Taiwanese)
-she's falling in love while he forgets her after every June 20... or does he?

I loveeee dumplings but after reading this book, I’m going to think twice about where I’m getting them from 😅

Noelle Tom visits the night market and she is starving ready to eat some dumplings. But the old lady at the stall said they would give her what she needed most, which Noelle was thinking was food. But when Noelle wakes up and realizes it’s the same day over and over, she realizes she’s in a time loop and has no idea how to get out of it. Then she meets good-looking Cam. Noelle is worried she will never escape the loop and Cam will never remember who she is.

I’m all for a good time travel/time loop book. I love that the author is Canadian, and the book takes place in Toronto. This is a cute read but it is very repetitive. I found the spicy scenes a bit random. Overall, I don’t think this one was for me.

Read this if you like time travel, meet cutes, and want something quick and fun.


Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for a DRC. Time Loops & Meet Cutes is available May 6.

This may be my favourite time-loop read ever.

Noelle is an engineer, so surely she can think her way out of a time-loop that some dumplings got her stuck in. Right? Right???

I loved Noelle's methodological thinking as she tries to get herself out of reliving June 20th over and over and over again. From attempting to eat all sorts of other dumplings to going to acupuncture to drinking kopi staying up late, Noelle does everything she can (short of dying) to get herself out of this Groundhog day. Try as she may though, she stays stuck.

As a result, Noelle starts taking chances - asking for a raise, flirting with the cute guy she keeps running into, taking trips knowing that the charges will disappear from her card the next day. I liked seeing her come out of her shell and seeing how certain actions made waves in her life, even during the 24 hours she has.

I found the end interesting, too - I don't think we got the full resolution we deserved, thus four instead of five stars, but I did like how everything shakes out and the impact the loop had on her relationship with her friends, family, and the love interest.

A unique take on an age old idea, and I enjoyed it immensely. Super readable, with likeable characters, Time Loops and Meet Cutes was such a great read!

TW: suicidal ideation, alcohol consumption, burnout, grief, sexual content; mentions toxic relationship

Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5

eARC gifted via NetGalley by Atria/Emily Bestler Books via Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

Wow what a lovely book. I’m borderline speechless. Jackie Lau’s Time Loops and Meet Cutes follows Noelle, a young Toronto woman and engineer who decides one night to treat herself after work with food from a night market nearby. She sees this small vendor selling dumplings and decides to give them a try, only she finds out they were not any ordinary dumplings, but dumplings that caused her to get stuck in a time loop. In this time loop she meets Cam, a young easy going guy, who can’t seem remember any of their interactions in the time loop, besides sometimes the sense of deja vu, and she thinks he might be the key to getting out of the time loop. This story was told beautifully and I felt invested the whole time. It’s a beautiful story of friendship, and love. I loved the magical realism in this story and I felt like I was watching a movie. Additionally, the ending had me in tears. It tied a beautiful bow around Noelle and Cams experience throughout the book. Noelle and Cam are for sure meant for each other. As a Vietnamese woman who grew up with my grandma, whose love language is food, this felt like a big hug. I love great Asian representation and it was overall just the perfect book if you’re looking for a light hearted, feel-good story with a little bit of magic! I will definitely be getting all of my book friends to read it. Thank you to Jackie Lau and team, Simon and Schuster Canada, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! This book comes out May 6th so get excited!

Who doesn’t love a good time loop?

Time Loops and Meet Cutes is a story about taking control of your life and connecting to the people closest to you. I thought the characters were all cute and the story was fast paced and easy to read.

I just thought there was nothing that really gripped me or made me want to keep reading, the repeated days got a little tedious because for a while there was no attempt to fix it or figure out what was going on. That, and the humour was a little awkward and didn’t hit home.

I loved this story. This book hooked me very quickly, which was surprising as that hasn’t happened in a while. A Toronto engineer in her early thirties who is a workaholic gets stuck in a time loop - what’s not to love? As an Asian-Canadian myself with many female friends in the male-dominated field of engineering, I felt a personal connection with Noelle and her experiences. It's lovely to be able to see yourself and your friends reflected in the things you read.

I appreciated that they got right into the time loop business with minimal fuss about the metaphysics of it all. The Toronto-based setting and food culture made me feel like when I watched Turning Red for the first time. The food descriptions were so good that I was constantly hungry while reading!

The biggest surprise was that the time loop was broken earlier than I expected, but I enjoyed reading about how Noelle’s life perspectives changed after experiencing the same day multiple times. This was also a cute love story - Cam is charming and very loveable. Reading this book warmed my heart like drinking a cup of blueberry tea. It’s been a while since I’ve read a 5 star romance book, but I’m happy to be breaking that streak! I will be highly recommending this book to friends and picking this one up when it comes out next month!

This was SUCH a cute rom-com with a hint of magic and whimsy. I tore through it in an evening and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it 😍 Noelle and Cam were so cute and I loved the twist. I loved seeing the growth that happened both consciously and also subconsciously and the ending ties everything together so well. And no third act break up, which works for me because I hate those. Highly recommend!!

Thank you to Netgalley, Arita Books, and Simon&Schuster CA for the opportunity to read this as an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

4⭐️ Such a cute, fast paced, and easy read! A great palette cleanser sort of book! 💙🥟🍜🥮✨🏙️

This was a great take on a time-loop plot! The chapters were short and sweet, which made it super easy to fly through, and I loved the occasional POV of Cam (the MMC) sprinkled in every once in a while (the main POV is of Noelle the FMC)! This was my first read by Jackie Lau and I had a great time! The writing was witty and funny, and also deep and reflective at other times. The self-discovery and reflection that Noelle (the FMC) went through was great. Plus the amount of spice in this book was perfect in my opinion - It was there, but nothing overly excessive! I loved how to plot progressed and how things connected, though in full transparency, it seemed a little rushed at the end in my opinion.

Overall, had a really good time reading this one!

Side Note: It was also a plus that I am also of Asian heritage and happened to live where the plot of this book occurred haha! So I could connect to many of the things in this read as well! 🤭💙

—

Overall Ratings ↴
Star: 4⭐️/5
Spice: 1🌶️/5
Emotion: 1.5💧/5

Tropes ↴
💙 Time Loop
✨ Magical Realism
💙 Meant to Be
✨ Dual POV
💙 Dual Timeline
✨ (Lots of) Cute Meet-Cutes

this book started so fun, especially with the time loops and the whole idea. with first chapters i found writing style somehow interesting and i actually liked the main character.

however, as the book was going i became bored with reading about those time loops. what i mean is, the main character was experiencing june 20th for the 130 times and they became repetitive with 120. of course this was the goal of the books but omg i would k*ll myself if i had to relive the same day so many times.
(also wondering why characters thought about this only during day 110 or something)

what was fun is main male character was not in the time loop, so every day female character had to reintroduce herself to him and hope he remembers her. i enjoyed these moments so much!

to finish my review, i want to mention the resolution to the time loops. i was a little confused with them because i still can’t figure out the reason behind person doing it. 🤷‍♀️

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me the eArc for this book.

Noelle leaves her job for the weekend on Friday June 20, feelings overworked, underappreciated, and most of all, hungry. She stops at a pop up market on her way home, buys some delicious dumplings from an old lady with a mysterious vibe. The next day, she wakes up and its June 20 again. And again. And again.

I need to preface this with the disclaimer that I'm not generally a romcom reader - those who are may have a very different opinion.

Overall, this books was generally ok. It was cute and sweet, but a lot of the first half of the book felt very surface level to me. I would have liked a deeper dive into the characters and plot. For a girl that no longer really had any consequence in her time loop, there wasn't a lot of big leaps or introspection. Noelle also seemed a lot younger in tone than the 32 that she was supposed to be, especially in the first half of the book.

However, despite not being a romcom girlie, I am a fantasy/scifi one, and I've read a lot of time loop books, and this one had an interesting take to it that I'm pretty sure I haven't see before, and I really did like that. I also liked Cam - he seems like a sweet guy, and I also liked that while there was drama happening here, it wasn't sterotypical "third act miscommunication trope" drama. I also realized that I don't read a lot books that are set in Toronto, and while it was a little weird at first, I enjoyed a setting where I live (and as a Leaside resident - I want this brewery).

Thank you to @simonschusterca and @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The moment I saw the cover and synopsis, I knew I had to read this book. A time-loop romance? Sign me up. I love stories that play with time loops, especially in movies like The Edge of Tomorrow and Palm Springs. I wouldn’t call myself a Groundhog Day fan, but this book completely won me over with its fresh take on the trope.
One of my favorite things about this story is the setting. As a Canadian, I love seeing books set in my own country, and Toronto was the perfect backdrop for this romance. I wouldn’t have minded a Vancouver setting either, but I’ll take what I can get (I grew up in the Lower Mainland) Jackie Lau really brings the city to life, adding a richness and familiarity (even though I have never been there in real life) that made the story feel even more immersive.
Beyond the setting, I absolutely fell in love with the characters. The dual POV worked so well, giving me insight into both characters and making me even more invested in their journey. The way the book is split into two parts also adds an interesting layer to the structure, making the story feel fresh and engaging from start to finish.
@jackielaubooks has officially landed on my must-buy author list. Her writing is smart, funny, and filled with heart. This book had me hooked from page one, and I never wanted the loop to end. Five stars ⭐️ I highly recommend it to anyone who loves romance with a unique twist.

I am a sucker for a good time loop story but unfortunately this one felt a little tooo repetitive.

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old woman 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. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45, and the Wordle answer is always “happy.” Worst of all, any work she does at her job as an engineer? It’s erased when she wakes up. Monday might never come in this workaholic’s nightmare. Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” and a trip to the food stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

Noelle’s character came off as super awkward, and a little too out there at first but as the story progresses you begin to understand her and root for her. I loved seeing her personal growth as she battled with getting out of the time loop. The loop itself started in a cool and unique way but after that became pretty boring, drug out, and too similar to other stories. I didn’t understand nor enjoy the male’s point of view chapters since they weren’t consistent and didn’t feel like they added much to the story.

Overall it was a fun palate cleanser but nothing remarkable or memorable for me personally