Title: Not You AgainAuthor: Erin La Rosa
Pages: 336
Publication Date: Nov. 11, 2025
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary / Fantasy
Synopsis:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…and tomorrow…
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.
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Not You Again is such a fun rom-com! The story definitely has some Groundhog Day vibes, as the people in the town of Julian must relive April 23rd over and over again. The story follows two people from the town’s funeral home, Adam and Carly. Adam runs the funeral home, and Carly is there for her father’s wake.
I can’t imagine starting over one of the worst days of my life over and over again, but that’s exactly what Carly and Adam do, Carly at her father’s wake, and Adam being dumped by his cheating wife. As horrible as it is, after months and months of repetition, both characters begin to change. I like that both gained perspective, faced their issues, and slowly healed.
I was also so intrigued by the other residents affected by the time loop. Everyone dealt with this reality differently, and it was a whole lot of chaos. I feel like that’s exactly what would happen – some would continue to live their lives the way they always did, some might try to figure out what’s happening, and others would go wild and reckless.
Of course, the enemies-to-lovers romance between Carly and Adam is my favorite part of the story. This isn’t a surprise. I love a slow-building love story, and seeing these two warm towards each other and grow closer was lovely. They had great chemistry and banter, and there are some fabulously funny moments interspersed with the heavier ones.
The ending was a little disappointing and abrupt, and I wish it had been fleshed out a bit more. Throughout the majority of the story, the characters are trying to figure out why they’re in this time loop and how to get out of it, so I guess I expected to learn why and how it happened. I also wanted to know what happened with two characters who disappeared for a short time. Not getting the answers to these questions left me a little dissatisfied.
A story of grief, loss, healing, and finding love, Not You Again delves into some heavier topics, but they’re balanced nicely with lighter themes and some pretty comical scenes. Overall, it was a fun story, and I’m thankful to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
- enemies-to-lovers
- time loop
- grumpy/sunshine
- dual POV
- small town
- forced proximity
ERIN LA ROSA is the author of Plot Twist and For Butter or Worse, and on her way to writing romance, she’s also published two humorous nonfiction books, Womanskills and The Big Redhead Book. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four daughters (two humans, two felines). Find her on Twitter and Instagram @erinlarosalit and on TikTok @erinlarosawrites.
