I’ve read many of Jackie Lau’s contemporary romances but this is the first time she’s steered from her usual formula to introduce a time paradox, reminiscent of the movie Groundhog Day. This story also involves a little magic, courtesy of some Chinese dumplings, and it’s an enjoyable and interesting take on finding your special someone – over and over again.

Noelle Tom is stuck in a rut. Her engineering colleagues expect her to take on their duties, her relationships haven’t worked out and her family has its issues. Tired and hungry after working late one Friday night, she finds her way to a night market with all of its sights and smells, including a little booth with an elderly woman working alone making dumplings. There is no line and only one kind of dumpling for sale, but the price is right, and the old woman says her dumplings will “give you what you need most”. Noelle is in luck – they turn out to be the best dumplings she’s ever eaten. After trying some other food and drinks, she makes her way home and settles in for the night with the list of her plans for Saturday running through her head and falls asleep – only to wake up to her alarm beeping. Believing she’d forgotten to turn if off (not needing it for Saturday morning) she picks up her phone to do the Wordle puzzle and funnily enough, it’s the same word as yesterday. Then the calendar on her phone says its Friday June twentieth. And when she checks her laptop, the proposal she stayed late to finish is still in its draft form.

At first Noelle thinks she must have dreamt Friday, that it didn’t actually happen and that she’s woken up to the real Friday. But when she goes to the night market, the dumpling stall isn’t there. And the next morning, she wakes up and it’s Friday again. And again. And again.

The one bright spot to reliving the same day over again is Noelle meeting a good looking bar owner named Cam, whom she meets in multiple locations over the course of reliving the same day. She also meets a young woman, Avery, who is in the same boat as her – she ate the dumplings and she is also reliving the same day. When they examine their lives and try to find a reason for what is happening to them, all they can come up with is that it must have to do with finding a good relationship, as Avery is living with a boyfriend with whom she wants to break up. Noelle comes to realize that Cam is going to be the key for her to break out of the cycle, but how?

I really enjoyed how this story unfolds. It’s actually divided into two parts – girl meets boy, and then boy meets girl, and while Noelle is reliving her one day and meeting Cam over and over again, Cam is not stuck on that same day and so the months are passing by for him. We get to learn about Cam’s business and his family, and the story alternates chapters between Noelle and Cam’s perspectives. Noelle and Cam develop a relationship and have some intimate scenes but I don’t want to spoil how that comes about. What’s important is that both Noelle and Cam undergo character development as the story progresses, in different ways and for different reasons. But watching that evolution is part of what makes this story interesting. There is a happy ending and it’s a satisfying romance even if it comes about in a unusual way. Time Loops & Meet Cutes is refreshingly different and well worth checking out if you enjoy this author’s work.