From fake dating in “Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie” to forbidden lovers in “The Unmatchmakers” and forced proximity in “Donut Fall in Love,” Jackie Lau is no stranger to conjuring up creative stories for all sorts of romantic comedy tropes. It seems she has exhausted every trope in the contemporary romance genre with her more than 20 romantic comedy publications. What more could she possibly come up with?
With her newest novel, “Time Loops & Meet Cutes,” Lau surprises us with something unpredictably refreshing, comedically witty and heartwarmingly romantic. This book contains the loveable hallmarks that define her novels — delicious descriptions of food, meddlesome yet endearing family members and quippy, reflective internal monologues from the main characters. However, this story also contains a sci-fi twist that distinguishes it from her previous works.
Written from a dual point of view, “Time Loops & Meet Cutes” introduces us to Noelle Tom, a workaholic mechanical engineer who takes no risks in life, and Cam Huang, a brewery co-founder who gave up his previous job working as a lab researcher. The two initially meet at a night market, where Noelle takes a magical dumpling that sends her into a time loop — one that takes her through seven months’ worth of Friday, June 20ths. The two then “meet” again several times on the different iterations of June 20th, but Noelle is the only one who remembers their previous dates. To make matters worse, Cam repeatedly recalls she “looks really familiar,” but can’t remember her name. What follows is a cleverly written story that blends the mystical Asian food element from “Freaky Friday,” the time manipulation element from “When the Coffee Gets Cold” and flourishing touches from Lau that create an all-around charismatic romance.
But this novel is more than two people getting together over meet cutes that are supernaturally engineered by a time loop. In fact, it is just as much about finding yourself when it seems your world has paused as it is about romantic love.
The time loop sends Noelle on a coming-of-age journey at the age of 33, a time when she believes her life should be figured out. Noelle is someone who is uptight about everything: work, finances and romance. Thus, being placed in a vacuum where there are no consequences (as in, every day resets as if it never happened) causes her to question her identity, actions and lifestyle. Noelle was always the type of person to take on extra work, stay frugal with her finances no matter how much she made and avoid romantic relationships because of a bad experience back in university.
But if anything she finishes at work has to be redone anyway, why doesn’t she try taking a break from it? If credit card transactions are erased the next day, why doesn’t she learn to indulge herself in a small luxury? If any haircut grows back the next morning, why doesn’t she try a new style? After reading about Noelle’s experience, I began to feel more emboldened to loosen up and treat myself better in my own life, because what if one day, tomorrow doesn’t come?
More important than experimenting with these new adventures, however, are the relationships she develops, especially her friendship with Avery and her chemistry with Cam. Noelle discovers Avery when she finds out she is trapped in the loop, too, and learns to commiserate with her as they build camaraderie over their unfortunate circumstances. When Noelle realizes she has a chance to catch up with her estranged family members given all the extra “days” the time loop affords, she connects with her siblings and parents in a way she wouldn’t have been able to in the “real world.” And as her relationship with Cam blossoms, Noelle starts to rethink the “no relationship” promise she made to herself after her first (and last) breakup. Throughout the pages of this book, Lau gives space for the reader to appreciate Noelle’s growth from a closed-off workaholic to someone who grows to appreciate the parts of herself outside her office: a caring friend, an empathetic sister and a loving partner.
Despite the high possibility of this time loop concept getting chaotic quickly, Lau organizes it with clarity and precision, ensuring readers do not get confused by messy plot holes, tying the ending of the story together neatly. It is always clear what the “rules” of this time loop are, like how everything resets at 3 A.M. every June 21st, the Wordle solution is “happy” every single time and everyone (except Avery) only remembers the version of her on the first June 20th iteration when she eventually does get out of the loop. Admittedly, I was skeptical of how a contemporary rom-com writer could pull off adding a metaphysical aspect to their novel, but I was pleasantly surprised by how concrete and down-to-earth Lau made it seem.
Another aspect of the novel I appreciated was the delicate balance between existentialism and humor. It’s easy to get philosophical about the passage of time (or lack thereof), but harder to talk about it casually or make jokes out of it. At the start of the time loop, Noelle tried to convince others she was stuck in a time loop, but mostly got the response that, in the working world, every day feels the same — a sentiment I am sure anyone who has worked a full-time internship or job can relate to. After her time in the loop, Noelle’s perception of the passage of time transforms. She used to believe she had no “free time” and that if she worked hard enough, she would be rewarded. Now, she values her work-life balance, picking up hobbies and finding loved ones to spend her evenings and weekends with.
Many people wish they could rewind time or relive the best days of their lives for their own satisfaction. But if there’s anything “Time Loops & Meet Cutes” has taught me, it’s to be grateful for memories for what they are. In an alternate reality, I may be the only one who remembers, and where’s the joy in reminiscing alone?
Daily Arts Writer Michelle Wu can be reached at michewu@umich.edu.
