4.5 stars.

FULL REVIEW HERE:
https://aishasbookworld.wordpress.com/2023/09/07/review-the-deja-glitch-by-holly-james/

Gemma and Jack have been trapped in a time loop for almost five months. When the next day comes, it's the same Thursday they've been reliving so many times, and Gemma didn’t remember Jack, so they have to do it all over again. The last time they ended the night with a kiss; it was the first time they actually kissed, making Gemma finally remember that specific moment when she wakes up again. Since the kiss ignited a solid memory in Gemma, Jack concludes that, to finally get out of that kind of limbo in which they find themselves, Gemma needs to fall in love with him before the day ends.

If I could describe The Dejà Glitch in one phrase, that would be: Groundhog Day meets 50 First Dates. The author created a compelling story with a steady pace and lots of things happening, not letting the reader get bored with the plot.

A book not only about two people falling in love, but forgiveness, family, taking risks, understanding, bold decisions and honesty, The Dejà Glitch is an easy, enjoyable reading which lots of personality.

• ARC given by Penguin Group-Dutton via Netgalley. Thanks for your trust.

The Deja Glitch by Holly James is a modern day romance of groundhogs day where the day unfolds in a time loop. Gemma, recovering from a toxic relationship, meets a mysterious guy who triggers a strong déjà vu sensation. It was a unique take on a love story and I didn't mind it for something different.

They are stuck in a 24-hour loop and only one of them knows it...

Jack and Gemma supposedly have been reliving the same day over and over again but only Jack knows this, and Gemma never remembers that she has relived this day multiple times. Every day, Jack purposely runs into Gemma hoping to make progress with her so she can remember and make her fall in love with him. He believes the key to breaking this loop is for them to fall in love.

I got to admit I wish I loved this book more and was hoping to rate this as a 4 or 5 star read but ultimately it was not exactly what I expected and is a 3-star read for me.

I really love the premise of The Deja Glitch and enjoy time loop romances.

Gemma and Jack definitely have great chemistry from the moment they run into each other. I even loved Gemma's friendship with Lila since they were so fun together and Lila is seriously the best friend you could ever ask for.

Jack and Gemma both bring out the best in each other and push one another out of their comfort zones as well as show one another different ways to view the world.

Gemma is definitely in a rut at the beginning of the book and her brother is supposed to come into town so they could deal with her estranged father. We later find out that Jack was living his life in a rut too so like I said above that they both show each other that there is more than what they know.

My biggest gripe with The Deja Glitch was Gemma's trust issue and her constantly going back and forth about Jack and if the day really is a time loop. It became really exhausting with her constantly being done with Jack and not really believing what truly is going on and then wanting Jack and believing in the time loop. I just wanted to scream at her to open her eyes and look. She literally was trying to find little, small things to nitpick about Jack.

Other than that, I enjoyed the book and think if you are a rom com lover and/or a time loop romance fan then you'll like this book.

In "The Deja Glitch," Gemma, recovering from a toxic relationship, meets a mysterious guy who triggers a strong déjà vu sensation. Their day unfolds in a time loop, revealing a sweet and emotional romance with supportive friends. While Jack's character could use more depth, the book offers a charming and well-paced journey through love and self-discovery.

I wanted to like this one. I really did. I just couldn’t get into the story or connect with the characters.I ended up only giving it 2 stars. The romance between Jack and Gemma fell flat. I found myself putting it down and picking up other books.


My thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

I want to thank NetGalley, Holly James and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for this amazing read!!

We meet Gemma who is getting over her last toxic relationship with an ex that used her for the people she knows. One day, she sees this cute guy that can't take his eyes off of her, they start to spark a conversation and he seems to be in tune with Gemma. They hit it off so much that she almost doesn't want to leave but she has to get home. The next day Gemma runs into this guy she doesn't recognize but gets this weird Déjà vu feeling when she sees him. Have they met before? What is going on?

I really enjoyed this book a lot, it was very cute and I found myself rooting for the main characters. I really enjoyed Lila and how she backs up Gemma all along the way. There were so many cute moments between Jack and Gemma. I enjoyed how Gemma seemed to grow a lot throughout the book! I highly recommend picking this book up if you're thinking about it. It was a really nice breath of fresh air and I would love to read more from this author!

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.

The Deja Glitch
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Holly James

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Penguin Group and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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.

My Thoughts: This was an unusual premise that attracted me in. Kind of a cross behind Groundhog Day (we all feel like we are stuck there sometimes) and 50 First Dates (one of my favorite romcoms), closer to 50 First Dates. Gemma and Jack are stuck in this perpetual cycle of the same meet cute meeting of meeting at the cafe, bumping into one another with a coffee spill. Gemma has no idea of this time loop, where Jack is very aware. If Jack can get Gemma to fall in love with him, in a day, this theory may break the loop. Will she trust what he says? This has a bit of a mystery thrown into the romance. It follows the tropes of time loop and insta-love.

I adored Jack’s character, he was dedicated, compassionate, and after having a hard life, really had a positive spin on life. Gemma, on the other hand, was a bit childish, immature, and even bordering insecure. I really disliked her character, as she came off more irritating/annoying than anything else. The story is a tad predictable as a Hallmark movie would be, not in a bad way. One conflict for me is since Jack knows about the time loop and Gemma does not, it should be told in his narrative, instead the story is solely narrated by Gemma. Then the second conflict for me is that we are only seeing one time loop. Generally in these stories, you get a series of the same time loop. It would have been less noticed if we got a few time loops prior to Gemma finding out about said time loop. Gemma does have tremendous character growth and you start to fall in love with her at the end. There are a gambit of emotions exchange through the characters, from sadness, grief, to love, happiness, and smiles, with some confusion dashed in. The characters could use more of a backstory, while some was fed in, I was left with wanting more.

Overall, a good read that I enjoyed. I have read that the audiobook is really good as well. I would recommend readers pick up, especially if you enjoyed the movie, 50 First Dates.

I really thought I knew where this book was going at first, and I'm so glad I was wrong because I would have been extremely disappointed if this book was about a ghost. I thought the story was adorable and kept me entertained the entire time I was reading it. I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future!

Thanks to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

I was super excited to receive this book, since the cover is adorable and the synopsis sounded good. I like books with time loops and thought this one would be really cute. I was a little disappointed to realize the entire book takes place over one day. Jack was the one that realized he was stuck in a time loop, but Gemma didn't - and she just went ahead and believed him almost from the get-go.

The whole point was to make Gemma fall in love with Jack so the time loop would end. All with obstacles in the way, like Gemma believing him about the time loop, their obnoxious exes, Gemma's family issues, Jack's work problems...oh, and Jack doesn't remember anything of the "before", so that was kind of weird too.

I did want to keep reading to find out how they got out of this mess, but I found the whole book kind of meh. It all just felt kind of basic to me, and I wanted more depth to the plot and characters.

A lot of people seemed to enjoy this one, so maybe it's just me. If you're a fan of time loops in romances, check it out.

the plot for these kinds of books can feel repetitive.
i'm glad that it began with Jack finding ways to trigger gemma's memory and we got to avoid his 146 days of getting her to remember.
otherwise the book was just fine

Cute fun always love a good story about messing with time. I loved jacks devotion to Gemma and Gemma finally figuring out so much about herself. I liked how important the romance was but also not the only important thing.

I really enjoyed Gemma and Jack's "stuck in a time loop" story. I loved how, rather than subject us to the same events over and over, the author chose for the story to be just the last, and most important, loop through Gemma's point of view. I have a soft spot for Hallmark-ish plots and The Deja Glitch satisfied that with this fun, clean read. Kristen DiMercurio was a new-to-me narrator, and she did an excellent job.

The Deja Glitch was cute... but I found myself not as interested. It fell a little bit flat and I really struggled to keep my attention and focus on this. Not a terrible read, but not the best thing I've ever read.

I thought this sounded cute, and was excited to pick it up. However, I did not love it. It was cutesy but for a romance book there is very little romance on page. I’m not really sure how I felt about the time loop thing. I didn’t really connect to the characters, and felt Jack was a borderline stalker throughout. Yes, he did live the same day over 100 times, but def still gave a weird vibe. There were a couple times I considered DNFing because of all the rehashing of events that happened, again I get it goes along with the time loop thing, but I wasn’t a fan. Overall it was a cutesy book, just not for me.

Time loops are one of my favorite things to read, and this one hit it out of the park! I loved how it was not told from the perspective of the person who knows they're in a time loop because subversion of familiar tropes and plot points is the best. I maybe would have liked to see the day repeat at least one more time, but overall, a very enjoyable romance and story.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

I kept trying to love it, the beginnung was definitely a bit flat for me. I was intrigued but the more i kept reading there in I couldn't get into the book like i wanted to. It wasnt bad but definitely not one of my favorite reads

A solid, easy, swoon worthy ready! I really loved this book. All the characters are great and Gemmas struggles are so relatable. Loved cheering her on along side her best friend Lila. A time loop TOTALLY worth being stuck in. I hope to see more from Holly James soon!

For a book about a time loop there’s disappointingly very little time looping, with most of the story taking place during one loop. And since the story is told from the female character’s point of view, but only the male character remembers the previous loops, the story is kind of dull. It would have greatly benefited from a dual POV. I kept wondering about the emotional and mental toll the time loops were taking on the guy. The romance also fell flat, and the characters were pretty generic. I love time travel/time loop stories, but this one didn’t do it for me.

After a guy literally runs into Gemma Peters in a coffee shop, spilling coffee all over her, he doesn't just apologize, he also tries to convince her that this has happened before. Many times. In fact, Jack says, this has happened many, many times before and they are stuck in a time loop. They've already lived this day 146 times and Jack believes the only way they can get out of the time loop is for Gemma to fall in love with him. This sets off a chain of events that ultimately help Gemma to face her fears, repair relationships, and yes, fall in love with Jack Lincoln. This is a light, fun read with likable characters, romance, and an intriguing hook.