April 23rd is the absolute worst day of screenwriter Carly Hart’s life. Her beloved father’s body is laid out in front of her in a funeral home and no one but her is attending his funeral. In the hallway behind her, funeral director Adam Rhodes and his wife are loudly breaking up. A bad day is a bad day, but when the day from hell begins looping over and over, the entire small town of Julian, CA goes into its very own existential crisis. The time loop continues, but every resident of Julian awakes completely reset the next day. That means they remember everything. You can horrifically hurt your back one day, only to emerge normal the next day. While some folks begin piling mattresses and couches in the center of town for massive urban jungle gyms, conspiracy theorists desperately try to find answers. Of course, no one can actually document what is happening as the very next day all proof is gone, and no one can leave town. There’s also the fact that Carly and Adam loathe each other. She thinks he’s a stuck-up quiet jackass. He thinks she’s a flighty nightmare. The only way to get away from Adam and stop waking up at her father’s funeral is to break the time loop. With Adam’s interest in science and Carly’s ability to get people to open up and talk to her, the two team up so that they never have to see the other again. Carly’s magical thinking and Adam’s scientific focus might seem incompatible, but the soon find they are more compatible than they think.
Not You Again by Erin La Rosa isn’t sure whether it wants to be a Romance or Sci-fi, so it simply decides to be both. The premise of the book is fun and fascinating, but the combination of science and magical thinking means that you’re not going to get a straight answer no matter how much you want it. This book is full of people looking within themselves and learning to be better people who live lives that they want to. That’s probably the most fantastical element of all; people who want to get better. Adam and Carly’s chemistry can at times feel forced, but they manage to find their way. If you love movie and science references, Not You Again is a fun distraction from the worlds around us.
Not You Again is available November 11, 2025 from Harlequin Press.
