Review: Time Loops & Meet Cutes

Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“You want dumplings? They give you what you need most.” 

Time Loops & Meet Cutes was a scifi story that delved into what could be possible if people took the time to stop and look beyond their narrowed focus and didn't let fear guide them. Noelle swore off love six years ago after getting dumped by her boyfriend and going through a depressive episode. She's a mechanical engineer who gives it all to her job and has found herself distanced not only from friends but family. When a random stop at a night market has her eating dumplings that seem to be the cause of her repeating Friday June 20th, she looks for the reason to get herself out of her time loop. A cute guy named Cam keeps appearing randomly through her day and she's starting to wonder if he could be the key. 

He doesn’t remember our encounter at the market, but he seems to have a vague memory of me. 

I thought this was a really cool concept, in the Groundhog Day movie family but some twists to make it feel fresh. Noelle does find someone who is stuck in the loop with her, so while it was interesting to have that buddy for her, the character of Avery never really seemed to fit in the story for me, I kept waiting for her to be connected somehow (possible sequel?). Told in Noelle's point-of-view as she relives the numerous same Fridays, we also get Cam's pov's. Reader's that catch while in the first half Noelle's povs are all from Friday June 20th, Cam's always starts in a different month, this lead into a second half that has Noelle breaking out of the time loop but jumping straight into the present day, not starting on June 21st. This was kind of wild, our character of Noelle missed seven months but in the alternate reality, a Noelle was there. So, the second half becomes what Noelle learned from letting fear go in some aspects in the different ways she lived her numerous Fridays and trying to figure out how the alternate reality Noelle acted. 

It’s amazing how many possibilities there are in a single day. 

The story may sound a little out there but it's all done in that fun scifi out there way; it creates a different vehicle to relay some of the common messaging of don't be afraid to try new things, isolating yourself from pain also isolates yourself from joy, and figuring out what's really important to you. There was a little bit of dragging as Noelle couldn't figure out how to get out of the time loop and she seemed to give up herself until, without fanfare, it just happened. I was a little disappointed in this but the ending gives an explanation that just might make your eyes water a little after the emotions behind it all are revealed, so it makes up for it. The secondary characters were a little harder to know, this being all from Noelle's pov, but there was enough to add some to Noelle's character definitions. 

You changed me, but you don’t remember. 

I'm not sure the romance was the strongest for me, harder in such a stop and start format setup here, but I could go along with Noelle and Cam's initial sparks, if not totally feeling their lasting longevity emotional depth. Some twists on a known concept, personal, family, and romantic relationship discussion, open door scenes, and scific goodness to get you to remember that life's not always all about eyes ahead and the to the finish line, there's a lot of joy to be found on the sidelines.

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