Whether it’s waking up and reliving the same day over and over again, or tumbling headfirst into another century, the books on this list are about connections so strong, they transcend the ordinary logic of the universe, where the normal rules no longer apply. We just love watching characters scramble to figure out where (and when) they belong, only to realize the answer was a person all along. So settle in, and prepare to lose track of time in the best possible way.
Puck & Prejudice by Lia Riley
A sizzling marriage of convenience romance between a pro hockey player who accidentally travels back in time to Regency Era England and the brazen contemporary of Jane Austen he just can’t help but fall for…
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a modern single man in possession of a hockey jersey may be exactly what a Regency woman needs to avoid the shackles of marriage…
Goalie for the Austin Regals, Tucker Taylor is benched due to health issues. So he decides to visit his sister in England. But an accidental plunge into an icy pond thrusts him back to 1812 where he comes face to face with a captivating blue-eyed woman who regards him as if he’s grown two heads.
Lizzy Wooddash dreams of a life surrounded by books, engaging conversation, the presence of literary icons like Jane Austen, and… nary a husband in sight. But in Regency England, only widows like her cousin Georgie enjoy freedom and solitary pursuits, unencumbered by expectations. The only way to quickly become a widow is by marrying a dying man or killing a perfectly healthy one, neither of which Lizzy desires.
A visitor from the future might just be the husband of her dreams. Once married, they can figure out how to return Tucker to his proper time, and his absence—aka death—will make Lizzy the widow she always dreamed of becoming. Yet as sparks ignite, they soon realize that matters of the heart rarely adhere to carefully laid plans. Can their love stand the test of time, or will Lizzy get exactly what she wanted…as well as a broken heart?
Not You Again by Erin La Rosa
In Julian, California, every day is April 23rd—and in a time loop, there are no rules. Eating endless slices of fresh apple pie? Yes. Partner swapping? Why not. Being trapped inside the plot of a sci-fi film would almost be inspiring for LA screenwriter Carly Hart…if she wasn’t waking up at her dad’s funeral every single day. Carly wants out.
Funeral director Adam Rhodes is equally frustrated. Every loop, Adam regenerates in the middle of a fight with his ex-wife. Her infidelity wrecked their perfect life together, and now Adam must relive her confession over and over again.
There’s only one solution to ending the misery: breaking the time loop. Easier said than done. And there’s another hurdle to overcome: Carly and Adam can’t stand each other.
Though strangers at best, Carly and Adam know they must work together to solve this cosmic mystery. But where Carly offers magical theories, Adam relies on facts and figures. When Carly wants to involve the local conspiracy theorist, Adam would rather work alone. The sooner they find a solution, the sooner they’ll never have to see each other again, yet somehow the tension between the two is hotter than a solar flare and as rare as the daily total solar eclipse. Maybe Carly and Adam are destined to be in each other’s orbit after all…
The Regency Switch by Helen Gaskell
Etta Moore expects nothing more from a Tuesday than another dull day in the office. But when her morning commute ends in Regency England, she is forced to accept the impossible: she and her ancestor Miss Henrietta Bainbridge – or ‘Mad Hetty’, as she’s known amongst the ton – have switched bodies.
Suddenly Etta and Hetty must get to grips with the new worlds they find themselves in. For Etta, it’s goodbye to dating apps and the daily commute and hello to the list of things ‘Ladies Do Not’ do. Luckily the dashing Lord Stanhope is on hand to aid her through even the most shocking of faux pas.
Meanwhile Hetty, who has always felt unseen and unknown, finds her truest self blossoming with the help of 21st century medicine and the most welcome attentions of her rather beautiful Adult Learning teacher, Stella.
Two hundred years away from everything they’ve ever known, might Etta and Hetty have actually found a place where they each truly belong?
Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau
Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.
Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.
Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.
But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
Once upon a time… …as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress…. A Knight in Shining Armor Jude Deveraux’s beloved bestseller has captivated readers the world over; now in a special edition featuring new material, this timeless love story greets a new generation. Abandoned by her lover, thoroughly modern Dougless Montgomery finds herself alone and brokenhearted in an old English church. She never dreamed that a love more powerful than time awaited her there…until Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, a sixteenth-century knight, appeared. Drawn to him by a bond so sudden and compelling that it defied reason, Dougless knew that Nicholas was nothing less than a a man who would not seek to change her, who found her perfect just as she was. But she could not know how strong were the chains that tied them to the past — or the grand adventure that lay before them.
The Do-Over by Lynn Painter
After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day.
Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways.
How many days can one girl passively watch her life go up in flames? And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.
Her Knight at the Museum by Bryn Donovan
Forgotten by time and abandoned by hope, Sir Griffin de Beauford’s existence stretches out before him. Cursed by a ruthless enchanter to see, hear, and think, but never to move or speak, Griffin suffers the long, lonely centuries trapped in stone…until an unexpected kiss from a fair maiden breathes new life into his soul—and his body.
Emily Porter, a recently divorced conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, is charged with the restoration of a statue of a medieval English knight. Breaking curses was not part of the job description. And yet, here he is, the man of her dreams come to life, resplendent in shining armor as he joyously barrels into priceless antiquities…and goes on to dismantle her defenses, wreak havoc on her senses, and tempt her to believe once more in happy-ever-afters.
But the modern age tries Griffin’s patience and pride, and Emily is a prime suspect in the investigation of the missing sculpture. In a complicated world, can they find their way to a fairy-tale ending?
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
A Highlander for Hannah by Mary Warren
Hannah Glenn is ready for a change. After quitting her job and breaking up with her slacker boyfriend, she moves to her family’s farm. In her search for clarity, she let her best friend talk her into buying a love spell. Hannah doesn’t believe in magic but decides to perform the spell anyway. What harm could it do? The ancient, brutish, but also undeniably handsome Scotsman she finds in her barn the next morning might be the answer to the question.
Graham MacNeil fell asleep in his uncle’s stable in 1745. He awoke over two hundred years in the future across the Atlantic. He is in a world he knows nothing about with a woman who drives him mad… mad with lust and just plain mad.
The spell can only be reversed under the moon of the spring equinox. They are going to have to find a way to survive each other until then. It’s only a matter of months. I mean… what can happen in that time?
Will Hannah and Graham learn to live with each other? If they can, then maybe, just maybe they can find a love worth crossing space and time.
