Not You Again by Erin La Rosa

Not You Again by Erin La Rosa

Published by Canary Street Press ISBN 9781335916372

Trade paperback, $18.99, 320 pages

From the publisher:

Two 30-something singles stuck in a time loop are forced to relive the worst days of their lives, so they team up to find a way to break the cycle. For fans of Palm Springs and Oona Out of Order, NOT YOU AGAIN offers a fresh new take on the Groundhog Day story.

In Julian, California, every day is April 22. Most people have accepted the loop—after all, reliving the same day every day, there’s nothing to lose. Day drinking until you pass out? Yes. Partner swapping? Why not.

But Carly has woken up at her dad’s funeral exactly 238 times, and she wants out. She doesn’t want to waste her life away reliving the worst day ever in the small town she always hated visiting. Carly wants to go back to writing film scripts in LA; she’s determined to find a way to break the cycle.

She discovers an unexpected kindred spirit in Adam, the mortician she met at her dad’s funeral. April 22 was also one of the worst days of his life: his fiancée admitted to cheating on him with his best friend. Every day Adam wakes up on April 22 to his ex-fiancée's admission, starting each day with a breakup. April 22 was supposed to be his last day working for his parents at the funeral home, and the start of his new life as an astronomer. Adam is a man of science, and like Carly, he believes there must be a way out of the time loop.

Together, Carly and Adam team up to find out what’s causing the time loop. And in trying to find a way out, they also find their way to each other.

My Thoughts:

Palm Springs is an underrated movie starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti that dealt with two people traveling to a wedding who get stuck in a time loop. It's a great movie, and when I read Not You Again, it immediately put me in mind of this movie. (I was happy to see in the Acknowledgements section that it inspired author Erin La Rosa as well.)

While it took me awhile to get into this story, I'm glad I went along for the journey. Who would want to relive one of the worst days of their lives over and over again? Carly is dealing with the loss of her father, the man who raised her and gave her a love of movies. She's also dealing with her guilt over not visiting her father when he moved from Los Angeles to the small town of Julian to open a movie theater of his own.

Adam has family issues as well. Along with discovering his wife is having an affair with his best friend, he can't bring himself to tell his parents he doesn't want to run the family funeral home business anymore. He wants to be an astronomer, but he never could bring himself to take a chance and make that leap.

 And as Carly and Adam go from two people who meet on the worst day of their lives and don't like each other to banding together to try and discover a way out of the time loop, they realize maybe there are sparks there. The sparks turn into flames as La Rosa gives the reader some very steamy sex scenes.

I liked the family angle to the story, it gave it an added dimension to the characters for me. And if you love science and astonomy, this story will give you an extra bonus. I recommend Not You Again as a romance with an intriguing concept.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2025 Blog Tours.