Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all.
Published: 04 January 2021 (print)/10 August 2021 (audio) 
Publisher: Self Published/Self Published
Pages: 270/6 hours, 32 minutes
Narrator: Rachanee Lumayno
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
★ ★ ★ – 3.5 Stars
She’s late to the same make-or-break meeting.
She’s fired from the same soul-crushing job.
And—the cherry on top—she’s dumped by the same lying, selfish dirtbag.
But no matter how many times she relives the same disasters and no matter what she tries to change them, it all ends in the same abysmal mess. Because, apparently, being stuck in a time loop on the worst day of her life hasn’t cured her crippling social anxiety. Go figure.
The one bright spot? Her long-time crush wants to be more than friends…if only she can get them past their first date. And so her happily ever is doomed before it can even begin unless she can find a way to save her job, her heart, and, oh yeah, the space-time continuum.
I love a time loop story, and I like too one that plays with form, though there is something to be said for the classics too. This story dives into a bit of both.
Frame skips over multiple loops almost instantly which was interesting. Part of the fun of time loops is seeing the multiple early loops play out, but after a few the story skips and a lot of it is telling of what Jane has done instead.
There are a lot of deviations from the original day too, Jane changing up her routine almost instantly. Which is fine, but I was hoping for more exploration of the same day for a bit, it’s a core feature of the time loop I think to see characters adapt. This could easily be a time saving thing, and a chance to explore further down the line.
It isn’t all bad, I enjoyed the format in a few place where we see repeats of the same situation play out, but I still think it was an interesting choice to start skipping so soon. Jane comes to terms with it so quickly and it’s curious to see her shift in mindset.
The addition of magical realism – clearly proven early inclusion of magical realism – was also interesting. I like having a cause for these kind of situations. Mysteries are nice, but when something strange happens that has these kind of effects it’s fun.
I enjoyed the resolution to the loop. It was sweet but not over the top and it felt natural which is what you want with a story that has a little bit of magic in it.
Lumayno was a good narrator and it was an easy listening experience that let you fall into the story right away. It’s a relatively short story but one that tells a well-rounded narrative while still being light.
You can purchase Time of My Life via the following
Wordery | Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
