love me a good time travel romance story!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.

This is a beautiful book that's part love story, part personal growth, and part family dynamics. I love the timeloop factor, and with each loop, or "chance", we see the MC's progress. That is is a heartbreaking read, though also uplifting in that reminds you to be grateful and to live life to the fullest, while being true to yourself. I highly recommend this for fans of timeloop love stories with all the feels. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Sci-fi/magical realism is one of my favorite genres, so I was excited to be approved for this ARC! Especially since this particular premise dealt with time loops; which, if done correctly, can lead to some great storytelling. And so, with that said....... this was SO SAD. Beautiful, but absolutely heartbreaking. Like, I rarely get choked up (or even cry) at books and media, but this one almost got me. Did I have a good time reading it? For the most part, yes. Did it cause a fair amount of emotional damages? Most certainly. My favorite thing about this book though was how it emphasized self-growth & awareness, as well as what it means (and/or takes) to become a better, if not the best, version of ourselves.

What a nice find. This was the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The story was different from anything I've read recently and really captured my attention. It was so well written and the characters were fantastic.

I love a time loop in a story and this one was unique in that the MC realized she was in a time loop in both past and present and was able to actively try for different outcomes.

While I liked the concept, the book itself was filled with so much melancholia it was hard to enjoy and definitely dragged on at points. I was excited when I got to the final time loop, the fifth chance, but I felt that it was a lackluster and ultimately disappointing outcome in the end.

There are places this book really shines and the story is an enjoyable enough read, I was just hoping for more.

3 Stars

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NeGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

As a debut novel, Five First Chances by Sarah Jost is a big time hit in my mind. Five First Chances is an engaging and interesting tale of the various ways (five to be exact) ones’ life could go if even one choice we made was different. An intriguing thought, I must say. I have wondered “What if I had done “x” instead of “y” on more than one occasion. With this novel by Sarah Jost, the reader gets to experience these “what if’s”.

The first sentence of the book was so poignant…” Baby elephants can die of loneliness” … Took me a while to figure the significance of this statement. I think that is what caught my interest and made me continue reading. Why make this the first statement of the book? Each reader will come to their own conclusion by the time they finish the book!

While it did take me a bit to understand what was going on with each “chapter” being a new reiteration of Lou’s life, once I caught on, I was hooked. It also took Lou a moment or two to catch on as well. I loved the journey that Lou took with each “new life path” as she grew so much in her own personal development. The character, in my mind, became more likable and relatable in each chapter. Every do over had its own foibles and challenges.

What I found interesting is in the end, life happened the way it was supposed to and no matter how often a “do-over” occurred, Lou’s life in essence came to the same ending – at least as far as Nick was concerned. Though Lou’s feelings and emotions regarding the ending certainly evolved in each re-iteration (trying to NOT add too much because I want the next reader to embrace the story themselves). The overriding conclusion – family matters – in whatever form the family takes!

Five First Chances made me take stock and bring to the forefront of my thoughts on this life we have – make the most of each day that we have as life is precious and its length is not always given. Love your family for who they are, warts and all. And laugh! And… go see the baby elephants in the zoo.

I do say though, if you have a hard time with going back in time, over and over again, then skip on this read. Or maybe give it a try and give yourself the opportunity to change your mind about going back in time…

As a first novel, Sarah Jost has done an excellent job of catching this reader’s interest and attention throughout the whole story. I look forward to any future endeavours that Ms. Jost chooses to write.

Absolutely loved this book! I was worried about where all of these different endings were going to go, but I’m pleased with the way it ended and the growth that Lou made as a character.

This book tugged at my heart and was impeccably written.

I found this to read a bit boring. It just didn't fully hold my attention. Great premise though!

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Five First Chances" and all opinions expressed are my own. I found this a bit difficult to get into. It was an interesting story. I do like time loop stories but this one didn't flow well for me. It was an okay book.

Before you start this one, make sure to grab your tissues! Five First Chances starts off pretty light, and perhaps a little cliche, but very quickly the characters become nuanced and intriguing. After about a quarter of the way in I was hooked and did not put this book down. The story covers some heavy topics, and it is one of those stories that will both break and warm your heart. I absolutely loved this one!

4 stars!

When I began reading "Five First Chances" by Sarah Jost, I was not sold until about 20ish% in. It took a long time for the story and characters to click for me, but once they did, I really found myself enjoying this book. Don't go in expecting a fluffy, easygoing romance... it gets really dark and hard to read at times because of its subject matter. It can be bittersweet and heartbreaking, but it can also be miraculous, joyful, and restorative. As Lou, the female main character, relives a portion of her life over and over again, she learns how to be a better person, more open and honest, and someone who doesn't just live in the shadows of her life. She also connects with the main male character, Nick, more and more every go-around. She finds out that Nick is her destiny rather quickly. The question is: can she stop the inevitable from happening so she can get her life right? I liked the characters in this book, and I like how they learn from their mistakes and change over time. Lou starts out as selfish and kind of hard to root for, but her motivations and mannerisms are explored as the book continues. She learns to be strong, to be independent, to ask for what she wants, to trust herself, and to not take life for granted. Each of Lou's "chances" are *just* different enough to not be overly repetitive. Some might call me weird, but I actually love the way this book ends. I think it makes Lou's story and her struggles all that more impactful. I also liked Nick as a character, as well as many of the supporting players who also learn and grow as the story moves on. This is a slowly paced read, so I have a hunch many people will give up on it before it gets good... please don't do that! Take a chance on this book. You won't regret it. It will make you feel things you didn't know you were capable of feeling, and it will make you think about things you may not have considered in the past.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Jost, and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for the copy of this book!

Sad romances are absolutely my JAM, but I do sometimes struggle with time loops, so was interested to see what I'd think of this one. It took awhile for me to connect and it touched on a lot of heavy subjects, but I did enjoy the character growth in this novel.

I think this was just not a good fit for me. I couldn't get into the flow of the story. Doesn't mean it won't work for others.

I can't believe Five First Chances is a debut title! The writing is lyrical and flows so well. The many difficult themes were portrayed with sensitivity and grace. Time loops can be hard to do but Jost writes it with intelligence and makes it so interesting. This book will take over your entire life until you are done reading it.

Five First Chances by Sarah Jost
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First things first: don’t go into this book expecting a love story.

This is a story about second chances, I mean more than one chance at happiness in life. There was a bit of “Butterfly effect” to the story. Lou feels like she is not living a life she wanted so when she gets a do-over she changes something to try to make herself happier. Little does she realize that there are many things that make up a happy life.
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I liked this book for what it was, which was again not a love story. There was a message I picked up throughout this book that we need to be more aware of not just ourselves and what makes us happy, but WHO makes us happy and how they are thinking and feeling.
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Also this book is pretty incredibly sad. I didn’t sob my eyes out but there was a lot of sad emotions for a major plot part of the story.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you sourcebooks
Posted to @staciathebookworm 5/8/23

Time loops throw me for a loop (literally). The back and forth frustrates me but overall it was a decent read.

Five First Chances by Sarah Jost is a jump back in time. Louise finds herself in groundhog day as things keep replaying for her giving her new chances at things in her life. As she goes through each one she makes different choices. For example, her relationships are impacted with these decisions. You know a book is good when tears are shed and this definitely had them for me. I would recommend if you enjoy a second or in this case five chances.

I enjoyed the concept of this story, but didn't much care for the execution. I didn't like the prose very much, it seemed too wordy at times and I found myself wanting to skim over larger paragraphs to get to the point.
Louise was unlikeable as an MC to me. I got frustrated with her most of the time, she was a grown woman but behaved immaturely. At first I was interested to see what she would do differently the next go-around, but I became annoyed more than once.
The book was also a bit slow-going and took me longer to get into than I would have liked. It was almost a DNF for me, but I kept going because I was impatient for the fifth chance to happen.

I like stories about time loops and glitches, but in this case it just felt a bit messy. There was no explanation to the time loops, they just happen. Why are they happening? What is making them happen? The fact that the do-overs lasted a span of two years made it confusing, I found it difficult to keep track of the significant days. Also, there is bound to be some repetitiveness, but I think this book was too long and some of it could have been avoided.
The story just didn't come together very well in my opinion.

Five First Chances by Sarah Jost missed being a DIK for me only because I don’t think I could ever read it again. Part of this is because one of the joys of this story is how it reveals itself in carefully building layers (a one-time experience impossible to recreate after reading), and the other is because the ending is a tough one.

Louise - Lou - Saudan is devastated when she learns, while attending a funeral no less, that her ex-boyfriend has become engaged. Four years earlier, she had fled her native Switzerland after Romain broke her heart, hoping to find a new start as a French teacher in London. Things hadn’t worked out quite as she’d planned, though. The one good friend she’d made - her flatmate Suki - asked her to move out and they’d lost the closeness they once shared, and teaching a bunch of high schoolers proves to be a real challenge. She’s just so very lonely.

Worst of all, Lou is convinced that she and Romain could have made it work, if only she hadn’t blown off a text he’d sent her a couple of years back. She had been attending Suki’s birthday party at a local pub and hadn’t known how to respond to Romain’s message. “I was thinking of you. Will I have the pleasure of seeing you at my book launch?” Fearful of having her heart broken again, she never answered his text, and, she fears, has blown her chance at real happiness forever. Now, she would give anything to be back with Romain, to do things all over again.

Then something odd happens, and Lou finds herself sent back in time to the night of Suki’s birthday party. Not really knowing what’s happened to her beyond a strong sense of déjà vu, she’s fully aware, however, that she’s been given a second chance to do things right. This time, Lou replies to Romain that she misses him as well, and before long, she’s returned to Switzerland and is back with the man of her dreams. But things aren’t as perfect as she imagines they should be. Her mother is suffering from severe depression after the death of Lou’s grandmother, and her sister, Marion, is resentful that Lou left her behind to deal with things. Romain isn’t quite the charmer she remembers him to be. She’s dismayed to discover that this life is pretty awful and that if only she hadn’t returned to Romain, things might be better. Before she knows it, she finds herself transported back in time to two years prior and the night of Suki’s birthday party…

Over the course of the story, Lou is afforded more chances to go back to the same night to start over and make changes to try to build a happier outcome. With each new cycle, she learns things about herself and grows stronger and more confident in who she is and what she wants.

I can’t speak too much more about the plot without giving away major spoilers. This is truly the case of a story revealing itself slowly, like the layers of an onion peeling away. Each passage through the same two year time period allows Lou to interact with the people in her life in different ways, discovering where she’s made mistakes and how to do it better this time around. With each round the other characters also change as Lou reformulates her relationships with them. Five First Chances does contain a romance, but much of the focus is on Lou’s learning to be her best self and on her relationships with the people in her life.

The time travel element is handled in a unique way, accepted and never really questioned by Lou once she realizes what is happening. We don’t get any explanation for how or why it happens either, in general, or to Lou specifically. You just have to go with it. The first ‘chance’ sets up Lou’s life as it progresses based on her decision to ignore Romain’s text. Each subsequent one she receives covers roughly the same handful of dates and events that unspool in different ways based on the new choices Lou has made each time around. Jost does an amazing job of offering vastly differing scenarios of how things might play out, and I was hooked from the very beginning.

One thing I really loved is how some characters appear in each chance in a different capacity depending on Lou’s choices and what she’s learned over time (lawyer Ben), or how some events become central in one iteration but are only mentioned off-handedly in another. Jost weaves story elements in and out of each scenario organically like special threads in a cloth that you can spot if you look carefully.

A side note: I read this book as a combo audio/e-book (multitasking!), and I really enjoyed the narration by Amy Scanlon. She made the characters come alive, expertly expressing the wide range of emotions portrayed in the story.

As I stated in my opening paragraph, this book does contain a rough ending. If you need a traditional happily-ever-after or even a happy-for-now ending, you will be disappointed. But I cannot recommend this book highly enough as a unique take on time travel and great exploration of a woman’s personal growth. We should all be so lucky as to get the chance to do some things over again.

Lou feels like she’s stuck in a rut personally and professionally. She moves to England from Switzerland for a change and shortly after, her former partner announces his engagement to someone else. She suddenly feels herself slipping back in time to two years ago to try to change the trajectory of her life.

I love and am obsessed with time loop novels. However, this one didn’t really work for me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about it didn’t gel right.

Louise as a character was just ok. I really liked Nick though and the supporting characters like Yuki and Marion.

I got bored about halfway through, but kept going and was not disappointed by the end. I really did like the ending.

If you liked In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, you’ll probably like this book too.