I’m really not a fan of the “grown adult character behaving immaturely” storyline. I found Lou to be difficult to take and I didn’t care about what would happen to her. The formatting also made it a bit hard to read. It got very wordy at times and I found myself skimming large portions of paragraphs. Overall this just wasn’t the book for me, but it could be for someone else.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

Her best friends birthday party. A text from an ex. While Lou thought she made the right decision, now she wonders if changing how she reacted that night could change everything? When she suddenly wakes up back at that night, she has a chance to change things. Will she make the right choices the second time though? Or the third? Fourth?

I always love a time loop story, and this one was so fantastic. We watched Lou become a better version of herself with each restart, and I loved seeing her grow. The beginning of the book moved a little bit slower than I prefer, but by the time I hit around 40% I could not put it down. Overall, this was such a lovely story that left me in tears.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of those very very slow settings g the scene books where you put the book down a lot before you pick it up and recommit. It is a good book but I wish it established faster.

Welp. Have your tissues handy for this one. I expected a light hearted romcom style book, and what I got was a anxiety fueled, self sabotaging main character, with some decent friends, a messy family situation and some douchy men mixed in. Her journey to finding herself and her end guy were worth all the other crap, so don’t get stuck on her early antics. Again - tissues required.

If I could only say a few words about this book, I'd have to shout them from the rooftops. Read it! This is the most brilliant, life-affirming, heartbreaking, heartwarming story! Oh my gosh can Sarah Jost write!

I'm not normally a fan of time travel, magical realism, books about chances to live life over, rewriting the future, groundhog day stories.... they all feel a little "same" to me, like I've read them all before. But not this one. From the first page it pulls you in and it does not let go. This author did an outstanding job of storytelling. The love story is mesmerizing and I sobbed at the end. I am in awe of Sarah Jost's talent. I am going to shout it out on social media and tell everyone I know to rush to buy it. May this book fly high and be on every bestseller list going!

Thank you @bookmarked @netgalley for a copy of this book.
This was a mix of groundhog day and sliding doors. This story is about Lou, a Swiss living in London and reliving the same time frame over 5x. Each time she makes a different decision and how it impacts the outcome of each loop. I love the story between Nick and Lou and their connection. This is a story about relationships with family as well as someone you love. Have tissues ready, I cried so many times.

This book was hard to follow. Obviously the storyline was there but a lot of the in conversations felt jilted and unfinished. Like Louisa was tuning out parts of them and so we were missing out. I don't understand Yuki's and Louisa's friendship at all or really Louisa's relationship with anyone as she puts no effort into them at all. This book made my head feel fuzzy and I honestly just had a hard time overall trying to follow Louisa's train of thought.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoyed the premise of this one. I tend to gravitate towards stories with a time loop. The writing was good and the characters were well written.

Overall I found this story to be fairly sad, which I wasn’t prepared for. Regardless I recommend reading this book if you enjoy time loops and books that give you some important life lessons.

This book was so good but it totally pulled at my heartstrings. This was written so beautifully. This is a book I will keep on my shelves.
I just reviewed Five First Chances by Sarah Jost. #NetGalley
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* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

This book started out a little slow, but I think that could have been just because I wasn’t a fan of the first couple chances. You’re definitely not supposed to be so it makes sense in the end! There were a couple spots throughout the story that I was in tears. I wanted so badly for everything to end perfectly for Louise and Nick but that just wasn’t this book. This book has a good ending for the story, but not a HEA so just a heads up if that’s what you’re looking for.

Would recommend!

This was a little slower for me. I almost put it down to DNF but I decided I really needed to keep going and I'm glad I did. It really pulls on your heartstrings. It's definitely a deep emotional book. I don't read a lot of very emotional book but I loved how this one was done. I would recommend this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read this ARC in advanced for my honest opinion.

When the love of Lou’s life gets engaged, she realizes she’s unhappy with the journey her life has taken. She’s living in a foreign city, missing her family and watching everyone else around her thrive. Finding herself consumed by “what-ifs,” she falls back in time to 2 years ago where one small choice changed the trajectory of her life. Now, she’s given a chance to fix her mistakes- but finds herself stuck in a time loop, crossing paths with Nick, who might just help her change her life.

I debated DNFing this a few times. This time loop did not work for me, personally. Lou goes back 2 years and we witness the same few months from each year, but this happens 5 separate times. I found myself losing track of what was going on and had to keep going back pages to figure out it. It also took a VERY long time for Lou to figure out she was in a time loop, so that became a bit tedious. The love story was cute and the ending wrecked me. But overall, not my favorite read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

⭐️⭐️💫 stars rounded to 3

I was not going to rate this one but what the heck. Doing it anyways. I have no clue what happened. I kept reading hoping to get there but I'm over the forcing myself to deal with it.

I'm out.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

This book absolutely grows on you. My very first impression was that this would be your typical sappy book about a girl going back in time to get the guy that left her behind. And, at first, I would have been right. But then the book unfolds before you and it becomes so much more.

Jost has written a story about taking chances. She has written a story about how being safe and predictable doesn't mean you're going to get the life you want, or even the life you deserve. She's written a story that touches on depression and caring for family and caring for friends and friendships and how NOT to be self absorbed or selfish in what you put out into the world.

At first, Lou is that selfish character that, had this book taken a different direction, would have been insufferable and made this a very lackluster story. She is unsure of her life and her choices. She is in a country she isn't comfortable in because she's run away from a breakup. She's not entirely there for the friends she has made and when they move on with their lives she seems to cast herself as a victim. And when the inevitable first time slip happens, its so that she can get the guy back, the one that broke her heart, that caused her to run in the first place.

The first two slips or chances are hard because they're centered on the same idea: win back the ex boyfriend and EVERYTHING in life will be perfect. But its around the end of that second chance that the novel takes a turn and Lou begins to understand (as much as one can when you're reliving time) what is happening to her and she begins to try to make things happen in the way that she wants them to.

Its never perfect and she continues to make ... difficult choices. I hesitate to say wrong choices because she has lived this slice of time before and knows what will happen and who among us can say they WOULDN'T live every day trying to change that future? But she's still learning the rules of the game, so to speak. Its from this point on that Jost's story takes on a life of its own and the depth of the character and story truly is allowed to shine.

The choices Lou makes not only affect those around her, but they affect her in profound ways. She finds herself through these chances, in a way that she would never have been able to find herself if she had only lived one life. Is it because of this opportunity that she becomes stronger, understands what she wants and who she is? Absolutely. Is that cheating, in some way? Sure. But it allows for a study of the self that is unique in this story, because its also about living in the moment and letting go of the past.

I truly fell for this story and I think others will too.

Time loops storylines can really be hit or miss but this...this was a hit. It was so incredibly sad and heartbreaking but I loved it.

DNF @20% READ. Was not my thing. Did not feel connected to the characters at all and was kind of hard to follow the plot. I ended up just giving up on this book.

This is a groundhog day type of story, but instead of relieving the same day, or like The Christmas Wish, relieving the same weekend, here they relieve the same 2 years which is interesting but also kind of mindboggling. I disliked the female main character immensely- I was getting so annoyed by her and all her reactions and was thinking way before her fifth chance that I kind of did not want her to get more chances which is not what you want in a loop book- you should be rooting for them to figure it out.

The logistics of the time loop where a bit weird. Sometimes she knew clearly she was going back sometimes she didn’t it was a bit confusing and could have been flushed out better. The ending was my favorite part. It was both beautiful and brutal, a multiple Kleenex situation.

Side note, my favorite line of the book was then they said " my heart thumps in my chest a kukong, kukong a la Patrick Swayze". As a total Dirty Dancing fan, I loved how perfect and accurate that description is - i was completely taken to that scene.

3/5 stars! I was really excited to read this second-chance romance. It also had time loop elements which are always fun. I have conflicting feelings the storyline it self was good and I enjoyed the ending. But Louise was pretty unlikable and her understanding of the time loops and reaction felt really off. It was an okay book.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
I love time travel and time loop stories as much as the next person but this was completely confusing. I almost DNF'd this several times (not sure why I didn't). When did Louise realize it for herself? It sure made it seem like she wasn't aware until pretty far into the book. The book did pick up and get more interesting about halfway through but by that time it had lost me as a reader. I didn't particularly like any of the characters and I skipped through everything to do with Lou's mother and family. It didn't interest me enough to pay attention. Can't even say it was a satisfying ending.

Big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Lou was in an happy spot. She relocated from Switzerland to the UK after a bad breakup and really hadn’t found any close friends. After she found out at a funeral that her ex bf was engaged, she started to think about what would have happened if she has actually responded to her ex’s text a few years ago inviting her to his book launch and that he missed her. That's what started the time loop and she kept having another chance at finding at happiness and she soon quickly realizes its not her ex that will make her happy.

I really enjoyed this book! I flew through it and read it in two days. I'm a fan of time loop books and this did not disappoint. I also felt like there was a unique twist on the time loop aspect, especially since the first chance she didn't realize what was happening. I enjoyed Lou and her characterization with her flaws and I feel like she grew a ton throughout the book. It was also sad at times and made me shed a few tears. I highly recommend this book.