The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her.
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.
Then she meets good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While the brewery owner seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle can’t figure out how, even when she steps outside of her comfort zone and lives a little. As she grows attached to him, she becomes more worried that she’ll never escape the loop and he’ll never recall her name. And if she does ever get out, can they be together in the “real” world?
Review:
Absolutely loved! I told multiple people about this one while I was reading it (and not just those actually in the room while I read who had to put up with me laughing, snickering, and gasping out loud as I did) so you know I must have really liked it 🙂
The first half had me LOLing so much, the ending made me tear up more than once, and in between I was SO DARN HUNGRY–must be a Jackie Lau book! (V. glad I don’t actually drink much alcohol–or any beer at all–because I’m sure I would have been craving that too 😉 )
Time Loops and Meet Cutes was a fun take on time loop stories, and it constantly kept me guessing about what was going on. The random chapters from Cam’s POV in between Noelle’s many, many, MANY iterations of June 20 especially gave me so. Many. Questions. Ms Lau did a nice job of bringing everything together at the end, giving the characters (and the readers) just enough ah ha! moments to fill in the blanks without hitting us over the head with explanations. (view spoiler)
The ending was like a warm hug, and had me smiling through my tears. Here’s hoping Ms Lau gives us more magical realism in the future–I’m here for it!
On a side note: while I *love* that Noelle taught herself to crochet along the way, the idea that all her work on her projects went away every night that she was in the loop was almost more than I could take…brutal, Ms Lau, just brutal.
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.