The Deja Glitch | ARC Review

To break out of a 24-hour time loop, all Jack needs is for Gemma to fall in love with him in a single day. All Gemma needs is to remember him first . . .

Gemma Peters is doing fine. She’s making a name for herself in the L.A. music biz as a radio producer. She’s got a ride-or-die best friend in Lila, and she gets to come home to Rex, her loving Labrador, every night. But ever since her rock star ex-boyfriend used her to get a record deal from her rock legend dad, she’s made a “no musicians” rule when it comes to dating that’s becoming more like a “no dating” rule, period.

So, when Gemma crashes (literally) into Jack one Thursday morning, at first she feels like fate might finally be doing her a favor. After all this guy is cute and, wait, is she imagining it, or is he staring a little too deeply into her eyes? And how does he know her name? Even harder to explain is the funny feeling of déjà vu she gets every time she looks at him. It’s not at all like Gemma to kiss a man and forget him completely, so then how can she explain the dreamlike memory of his lips on hers?

The truth is this is no ordinary Thursday. Not for them. In fact, they’ve lived this day over and over for months. And while Gemma has been totally oblivious to the time loop, Jack has been agonizingly aware of every single iteration. Luckily, Jack has a theory to bring his own personal Groundhog Day to an end. And it’s simple. Before the day is over, he just has to get Gemma to fall in love with him.

This time loop romance takes place in the span of a day and is a wild ride of emotions.

Jack was so sweet. This was a “he falls first” situation and it was adorable. I loved getting little snippets of him as Gemma learned and remembered things about him. I also loved the moments where he noted that he was telling her something for the first time, that he hadn’t told her in the loop of days.

I loved all the messages about moving forward and not being stuck. This was both a literal and symbolic message for Gemma and Jack. Jack had worked through a lot of his issues by the time we reached this day, but seeing Gemma work through everything was really nice. And how Jack and Gemma leaned on each other and realized they could handle life easier together was so sweet.

This plot was well woven together. There were lots of little things brought up throughout the book and the day to help Gemma move forward with her life. And it was well paced. I’m sure this was a hard romance to pace out since it all happens in a day, but I thought it was a good balance of not having insta love, but also giving the reader little crumbs of romance and conflict.

Also, as a random point, I loved that this took place in LA and we got some fun celebrity and celebrity-adjacent characters. I’m always a fan of that. Plus, it tied in well with Gemma’s problems that she was working on and the grand gesture.

I think I was missing a little bit of personality from Jack? Or maybe it was the fact that all of his cards were laid out on the table almost from the beginning. Something was missing from his end that brought this book down a star.

Overall, if you like time loop romances, you’ll enjoy this one! It was sweet, a fun adventure, and the right pace of romance in a day.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

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