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Out of the Loop
She spent two years in a time loop. Now she’s ready to solve a murder. And maybe grab a bagel.
The Seven-Year Slip meets Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers in this wholly original time loop mystery.
For the past two years, Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop. Each day, she wakes up and it’s September 17th. Same day, same weather, same people, same conversations. Until, one day, it’s September 18th, and Amie is free.
Before she can celebrate, Amie learns her neighbor was murdered the day before—the day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie knows she has to help; nobody knows yesterday like she does. But acclimating to her new non-repeating life proves to be more difficult than expected. How does one resume their life after a time loop, anyway?
Assisted by an ex-girlfriend who wants to make their friendship work, and a grumpy neighbor who spends his days building Rube Goldberg machines, Amie sets out to track down who killed (and killed and killed and killed) Savannah Harlow.
Readers who love time loop novels, amateur sleuth mysteries, and original takes on classic tropes will love Out of the Loop.
The Seven-Year Slip meets Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers in this wholly original time loop mystery.
For the past two years, Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop. Each day, she wakes up and it’s September 17th. Same day, same weather, same people, same conversations. Until, one day, it’s September 18th, and Amie is free.
Before she can celebrate, Amie learns her neighbor was murdered the day before—the day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie knows she has to help; nobody knows yesterday like she does. But acclimating to her new non-repeating life proves to be more difficult than expected. How does one resume their life after a time loop, anyway?
Assisted by an ex-girlfriend who wants to make their friendship work, and a grumpy neighbor who spends his days building Rube Goldberg machines, Amie sets out to track down who killed (and killed and killed and killed) Savannah Harlow.
Readers who love time loop novels, amateur sleuth mysteries, and original takes on classic tropes will love Out of the Loop.
326 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2026
About the author
Katie Siegel
5 books263 followersKatie Siegel (she/they) is a former wannabe kid detective who eventually realized that writing mysteries was more fun than trying (and failing) to solve them. When she's not writing books, she’s either reading, listening to comedy podcasts, or playing TTRPGs with her friends. Online she’s at katiefliesaway.com, and offline she's in central New Jersey, which is real and exists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 363 reviews
February 3, 2026
A quick, easy read that brought together the feel of Only Murders in the Building with a Groundhog Day-esque storyline, Out of the Loop was everything I love in a cozy mystery. You see, between the amateur sleuthing and the sapphic love story, it was as original as it was fun and witty. I do have to say, though, that it was the time loop aspect combined with a murder mystery that made me pick this one up to begin with. Looking more at the aftermath of Amie’s repeating nightmare, I was delighted to find plenty of quirky elements such as out-of-order chapter numbers that endeared me to this tale. Not only did I love the lighthearted plot, though, but it was easy to fall for the memorable characters as well. David, in particular, was an utter home run and I looked forward to every scene that he was in. Gosh, I’d even like to know him for real.
The only thing that kept this book from being an absolute grand slam was the lack of an explanation behind what caused the time loop to begin with. Considering how much of a focus it was, the omission definitely left a big, glaring hole in the story. That being said, the sweet relationships—complete with giggle-worthy humor and a second-chance romance—combined with the cozy vibes meant my eyes stayed glued to the pages from beginning to end. Ultimately, though, it was how compelling the whole concept was that made this book into a one-sitting read. Unique, satisfying, and twisty, this time-travel novel has made me a fan of Ms. Siegel in no time at all. So if you like romcom-mystery mashups with a touch of humor, grab this book now. It was a clever premise that almost completely delivered by the end. Rating of 4 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
For the past two years, Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop. Each day, she wakes up, and it’s September 17. Same day, same weather, same people, same conversations. Until one day, it’s September 18, and Amie is free.
Before she can celebrate, Amie learns her neighbor was murdered the day before—the day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie knows she has to help; nobody knows yesterday like she does. But acclimating to her new nonrepeating life proves to be more difficult than expected. How does one resume their life after a time loop, anyway?
Assisted by an ex-girlfriend who wants to make their friendship work and a grumpy neighbor who spends his days building Rube Goldberg machines, Amie sets out to track down who killed (and killed and killed and killed) Savannah Harlow.
Thank you Katie Siegel and Crooked Lane Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: February 10, 2025
Content warning: death, infidelity, panic attacks, murder, blood
The only thing that kept this book from being an absolute grand slam was the lack of an explanation behind what caused the time loop to begin with. Considering how much of a focus it was, the omission definitely left a big, glaring hole in the story. That being said, the sweet relationships—complete with giggle-worthy humor and a second-chance romance—combined with the cozy vibes meant my eyes stayed glued to the pages from beginning to end. Ultimately, though, it was how compelling the whole concept was that made this book into a one-sitting read. Unique, satisfying, and twisty, this time-travel novel has made me a fan of Ms. Siegel in no time at all. So if you like romcom-mystery mashups with a touch of humor, grab this book now. It was a clever premise that almost completely delivered by the end. Rating of 4 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
For the past two years, Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop. Each day, she wakes up, and it’s September 17. Same day, same weather, same people, same conversations. Until one day, it’s September 18, and Amie is free.
Before she can celebrate, Amie learns her neighbor was murdered the day before—the day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie knows she has to help; nobody knows yesterday like she does. But acclimating to her new nonrepeating life proves to be more difficult than expected. How does one resume their life after a time loop, anyway?
Assisted by an ex-girlfriend who wants to make their friendship work and a grumpy neighbor who spends his days building Rube Goldberg machines, Amie sets out to track down who killed (and killed and killed and killed) Savannah Harlow.
Thank you Katie Siegel and Crooked Lane Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: February 10, 2025
Content warning: death, infidelity, panic attacks, murder, blood
May 23, 2026
a light time loop mystery wrapped in a sapphic romance.
our MC, recently emerged from a groundhog day style time loop, finds her neighbor was murdered on this day she repeated 700+ times. unfortunately she was so stuck in her wallowing routine that she never noticed (oops!).
so she teams up with her recent ex and another neighbor to try to solve the murder. in theory, i love the layers here - former lovers investigating together, trying to be friends while navigating their shifting feelings for one another.
BUT it doesn't quite work. there's weirdly little angst despite the breakup situation, which makes it all feel hollow. we see the their cute banter and tentative attraction for one another, but we never see the depth of their relationship. we don't know how long they were together, whether they lived together, or anything about their old dynamic. we don't even find out why they broke up until more than halfway into the book. without understanding their relationship and their history, it's hard to root for them or feel invested in their second chance romance.
typically i enjoy cozy mysteries and time loop stories, but aside from the romance element, this one is fairly rote and uninteresting.
plus, the pace is glacial. and we never understand the time loop or its purpose, so it feels like a gimmick.
one thing i enjoyed here is the way the story invites the reader to wonder - if you were in a time loop, what would you spend all this free time doing? would you explore and try new things, or would you stay stuck in your comfort zone?
i would recommend steering clear of the audiobook. the high-pitched narrator makes every female character sound like a squeaky quinn morgendorffer, which is unfortunate. i think her voice makes the book feel more light and vapid than it might be in print format.
our MC, recently emerged from a groundhog day style time loop, finds her neighbor was murdered on this day she repeated 700+ times. unfortunately she was so stuck in her wallowing routine that she never noticed (oops!).
so she teams up with her recent ex and another neighbor to try to solve the murder. in theory, i love the layers here - former lovers investigating together, trying to be friends while navigating their shifting feelings for one another.
BUT it doesn't quite work. there's weirdly little angst despite the breakup situation, which makes it all feel hollow. we see the their cute banter and tentative attraction for one another, but we never see the depth of their relationship. we don't know how long they were together, whether they lived together, or anything about their old dynamic. we don't even find out why they broke up until more than halfway into the book. without understanding their relationship and their history, it's hard to root for them or feel invested in their second chance romance.
typically i enjoy cozy mysteries and time loop stories, but aside from the romance element, this one is fairly rote and uninteresting.
plus, the pace is glacial. and we never understand the time loop or its purpose, so it feels like a gimmick.
one thing i enjoyed here is the way the story invites the reader to wonder - if you were in a time loop, what would you spend all this free time doing? would you explore and try new things, or would you stay stuck in your comfort zone?
i would recommend steering clear of the audiobook. the high-pitched narrator makes every female character sound like a squeaky quinn morgendorffer, which is unfortunate. i think her voice makes the book feel more light and vapid than it might be in print format.
February 28, 2026
Unique. Clever. Entertaining. Quirky.
Out of the Loop is a remarkably original time loop mystery, with a romantic sub-plot. The chapter numbers are not sequential, although it works very well with the story and the nature of a time-loop story (please read it yourself to find out exactly what I am referring to!). I also really like the inclusion of the chapter titles.
I enjoyed listening to this story as an audiobook, which is narrated very well by Krysta Gonzales. I was immersed in the mystery. I enjoyed the variety of characters depicted in this story and I found myself eager to find what would happen next. This was a fun and enjoyable listen, from beginning to end.
Out of the Loop is a remarkably original time loop mystery, with a romantic sub-plot. The chapter numbers are not sequential, although it works very well with the story and the nature of a time-loop story (please read it yourself to find out exactly what I am referring to!). I also really like the inclusion of the chapter titles.
I enjoyed listening to this story as an audiobook, which is narrated very well by Krysta Gonzales. I was immersed in the mystery. I enjoyed the variety of characters depicted in this story and I found myself eager to find what would happen next. This was a fun and enjoyable listen, from beginning to end.
February 25, 2026
Amie was in the loop for about 2 years, when she gets out, she finds out someone was murdered every night that she stayed in the loop.
She tries to solve her murder to redeem herself. She gets help from a neighbor and old ex girlfriend.
The loop is irrelevant to the story, the murder is solved accidentally, we don’t understand why she gets into the loop, we don’t understand why she gets out of the loop, we don’t understand why the loop resets at 2:22 AM.
It is a very nonsensical story, with no beginning or end or meaning or anything. I don’t understand why GoodReads suggested it for February bookmark, maybe they get paid?
She tries to solve her murder to redeem herself. She gets help from a neighbor and old ex girlfriend.
The loop is irrelevant to the story, the murder is solved accidentally, we don’t understand why she gets into the loop, we don’t understand why she gets out of the loop, we don’t understand why the loop resets at 2:22 AM.
It is a very nonsensical story, with no beginning or end or meaning or anything. I don’t understand why GoodReads suggested it for February bookmark, maybe they get paid?
March 6, 2026
Read Completed 3/5/26 | 2 stars | Book #49 of 2026
I was almost more savage in my rating of this book because I truly enjoyed no part of it except for the first 1% where we did not have to live the moments of the MC discovering they were in a time loop. That was the last time I had fun reading this book.
- First and foremost, THE TIME LOOP WAS POINTLESS. It served zero purpose except to show that when provided with endless amount of time with zero consequences, Amie does the most boring shit possible. Why include a time loop, then!? I kept hoping it would serve to be an important part of the mystery and investigation, but it *barely* meant anything except for the very end of the book where Amie picks up one inconsistency. From the two years she lived in a time loop. Cool. Great. This pissed me off to no end. Why was she in a time loop? What was she supposed to learn from it? How did she get out of it?
- The pacing was glacial in the beginning. The relationship drama takes the stage mostly throughout the beginning of the book and I could not have cared less about it. Amie has no business investigating this murder, and when she FINALLY starts looking into things, it's still pretty boring. Then things finally start to heat up maybe 70% in. How can an amateur murder investigation be boring? Put this girl in charge, that's how. There wasn't even a reason WHY she was investigating this murder. She felt responsible since she thinks she should have been able to stop it since it overlapped with her time loop, but she didn't even have clues or connections to do so.
- I did not like any of the characters. Literally not a single one. Amie was dull and yet obsessive. All she cared about was getting back together with her ex girlfriend, and now, this murder investigation. She had zero talent to take on this investigation and that was also very clear for most of the book. Ziya was annoying and she wasn't even very good to Amie. She said some mean stuff to her and even told her she's the most boring person to waste a time loop. It felt like a very mixed message that Ziya was pushing Amie to do things for herself, but she was also pushing her. Hey, some people like a quiet homebody life too. These two just felt like VERY different personalities and sometimes that just doesn't work. I get the point -- she just wanted Amie to take a chance on herself and take some risks to make her life better. But it also felt pretty judgy towards people who aren't traveling to Iceland and going out to bars. I just didn't like the way that half of that message came off. David was supposed to be the fun sidekick, but he was kind of a just a mush of random "old people" concepts put together and didn't feel like a real person. And every single smaller character was over the top and stupid.
- The audiobook narrator made everyone even more annoying. The voice was high and kind of young, so everyone felt even more immature than they already were and I couldn't stand listening to Amie and Ziya go back and forth all the time. Her voices for the other characters weren't great and her mispronunciation of a few things was frustrating.
I guess this was not the book for me. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy any of it. It's not a garbage book, but it's very in the cozy mystery vibe, playing up the romance as well. It felt young, immature, and inexperienced. I just am baffled why the author included a time loop and did not incorporate it more into the story. There could have been so many opportunities to tie things into together and it was just not used well at all.
I was almost more savage in my rating of this book because I truly enjoyed no part of it except for the first 1% where we did not have to live the moments of the MC discovering they were in a time loop. That was the last time I had fun reading this book.
- First and foremost, THE TIME LOOP WAS POINTLESS. It served zero purpose except to show that when provided with endless amount of time with zero consequences, Amie does the most boring shit possible. Why include a time loop, then!? I kept hoping it would serve to be an important part of the mystery and investigation, but it *barely* meant anything except for the very end of the book where Amie picks up one inconsistency. From the two years she lived in a time loop. Cool. Great. This pissed me off to no end. Why was she in a time loop? What was she supposed to learn from it? How did she get out of it?
- The pacing was glacial in the beginning. The relationship drama takes the stage mostly throughout the beginning of the book and I could not have cared less about it. Amie has no business investigating this murder, and when she FINALLY starts looking into things, it's still pretty boring. Then things finally start to heat up maybe 70% in. How can an amateur murder investigation be boring? Put this girl in charge, that's how. There wasn't even a reason WHY she was investigating this murder. She felt responsible since she thinks she should have been able to stop it since it overlapped with her time loop, but she didn't even have clues or connections to do so.
- I did not like any of the characters. Literally not a single one. Amie was dull and yet obsessive. All she cared about was getting back together with her ex girlfriend, and now, this murder investigation. She had zero talent to take on this investigation and that was also very clear for most of the book. Ziya was annoying and she wasn't even very good to Amie. She said some mean stuff to her and even told her she's the most boring person to waste a time loop. It felt like a very mixed message that Ziya was pushing Amie to do things for herself, but she was also pushing her. Hey, some people like a quiet homebody life too. These two just felt like VERY different personalities and sometimes that just doesn't work. I get the point -- she just wanted Amie to take a chance on herself and take some risks to make her life better. But it also felt pretty judgy towards people who aren't traveling to Iceland and going out to bars. I just didn't like the way that half of that message came off. David was supposed to be the fun sidekick, but he was kind of a just a mush of random "old people" concepts put together and didn't feel like a real person. And every single smaller character was over the top and stupid.
- The audiobook narrator made everyone even more annoying. The voice was high and kind of young, so everyone felt even more immature than they already were and I couldn't stand listening to Amie and Ziya go back and forth all the time. Her voices for the other characters weren't great and her mispronunciation of a few things was frustrating.
I guess this was not the book for me. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy any of it. It's not a garbage book, but it's very in the cozy mystery vibe, playing up the romance as well. It felt young, immature, and inexperienced. I just am baffled why the author included a time loop and did not incorporate it more into the story. There could have been so many opportunities to tie things into together and it was just not used well at all.
November 27, 2025
One thing I've learned about myself is that I love mysteries that include time loops. I'm not sure why, but I can think of several time loop mysteries that I've rated four or five stars, so evidently, this is a trope that works for me, and Out of the Loop is no exception.
Amie has been stuck living the same day for two years: visiting the same coffee shop that's out of her beloved blueberry bagels, witnessing the same fight between her friend David and their difficult neighbor Savannah, and attending the same "friend date" with her ex-girlfriend Riya, who she maybe wishes wasn't her ex-girlfriend. When Amie finally gets out of the loop, she's excited to return to her life, but surprise! Savannah's been murdered! On the exact day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie takes this as her sign that she needs to solve Savannah's murder using the unique perspective only she can have.
This was a really cute, fun mystery. I loved the relationships between the three main characters. David, in particular, was my favorite and made me chuckle a few times. I would recommend for fans of Only Murders in the Building or Catherine Mack.
Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amie has been stuck living the same day for two years: visiting the same coffee shop that's out of her beloved blueberry bagels, witnessing the same fight between her friend David and their difficult neighbor Savannah, and attending the same "friend date" with her ex-girlfriend Riya, who she maybe wishes wasn't her ex-girlfriend. When Amie finally gets out of the loop, she's excited to return to her life, but surprise! Savannah's been murdered! On the exact day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie takes this as her sign that she needs to solve Savannah's murder using the unique perspective only she can have.
This was a really cute, fun mystery. I loved the relationships between the three main characters. David, in particular, was my favorite and made me chuckle a few times. I would recommend for fans of Only Murders in the Building or Catherine Mack.
Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 3, 2026
this was going to be a five but i didn't like the way the romantic element was resolved. probably full review later because i thought what this book did with its premise was suuuper interesting.
March 6, 2026
weak mystery, weaker characters, weakest ship (which is crazy bc do u know how much i'll overlook for a sapphic ship)
January 12, 2026
3.5 stars
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
There were things I loved about this and things that just didn’t work for me.
I loved having a story set AFTER being stuck in a time loop and all the small ways that’s overwhelming. It felt so realistic that, after such a long time of experiencing the same day, experiencing things you could no longer anticipate would be incredibly anxiety inducing. I thought this was explored so well.
I also thought the mystery and the way Amie’s changes in the time loop could have changed the outcome for certain suspects really interesting.
It was the characters and the romantic relationship that didn’t work for me. I really liked David, the friend and neighbour, but Amie was a very frustrating MC and her sort of, sort of not ex girlfriend was even worse. They were awful together. Every other character felt like caricatures. I honestly forgot the actual murderer was even a character when they weren’t actively on page.
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
There were things I loved about this and things that just didn’t work for me.
I loved having a story set AFTER being stuck in a time loop and all the small ways that’s overwhelming. It felt so realistic that, after such a long time of experiencing the same day, experiencing things you could no longer anticipate would be incredibly anxiety inducing. I thought this was explored so well.
I also thought the mystery and the way Amie’s changes in the time loop could have changed the outcome for certain suspects really interesting.
It was the characters and the romantic relationship that didn’t work for me. I really liked David, the friend and neighbour, but Amie was a very frustrating MC and her sort of, sort of not ex girlfriend was even worse. They were awful together. Every other character felt like caricatures. I honestly forgot the actual murderer was even a character when they weren’t actively on page.
February 26, 2026
The MC was stuck in a time-loop for 2 years. Did nothing new, like get a hobby, develop a new skill, or even the mundaneness of picking up running or hitting the gym.
Instead, they wallow in their small town, around the same blocks, people, and obsess about their ex. They go through a multitude of scenarios with community members in the loop, which one would think would be helpful to figuring out a murder, since you stayed and observed and interacted with everyone. For a story about a time-loop, a murder, and the ability to have known intimate information about that fateful day, this amateur sleuth is shit. And boring. And why did the storyline just focus on the 'will they-won't they' aspect of the exes?
Time-loop and murder and murderer running loose be damned, because they apparently were secondary plot points.
I thought this was a murder-mystery, not a boring romance with a character that is so bland I'm surprised their ex still had interest in them. It took a while to get through the book, and at times I wanted to DNF.
Instead, they wallow in their small town, around the same blocks, people, and obsess about their ex. They go through a multitude of scenarios with community members in the loop, which one would think would be helpful to figuring out a murder, since you stayed and observed and interacted with everyone. For a story about a time-loop, a murder, and the ability to have known intimate information about that fateful day, this amateur sleuth is shit. And boring. And why did the storyline just focus on the 'will they-won't they' aspect of the exes?
Time-loop and murder and murderer running loose be damned, because they apparently were secondary plot points.
I thought this was a murder-mystery, not a boring romance with a character that is so bland I'm surprised their ex still had interest in them. It took a while to get through the book, and at times I wanted to DNF.
March 1, 2026
The premise sounded really cool but the book just didn’t do it for me. Amie, fresh out of a 2 year time loop, living the same day over and over again, wakes up to discover she’s out of the loop, only now the murder of her neighbor, Savannah, has occurred. Since Amie has lived the murder day so many times, she enlists her ex-girlfriend, now friend, Ziya, and no-nonsense neighbor David (my favorite character) to help her solve the mystery of who killed Savannah. I found the book to be lacking something and it just missed the mark on a cool idea. It had some brief moments where the story flowed and it was fun but otherwise it was a bit confusing and mostly kind of boring. Also, I just felt like I wasn’t getting the clear picture on why Amie was in this time loop and what caused the sudden freedom from it. This made the rest of the book just lackluster for me.
Still, a big thank you to the author and publisher for this gifted copy.
Still, a big thank you to the author and publisher for this gifted copy.
May 27, 2026
this made more sense than expected?
February 18, 2026
This book was so disappointing. When I read the premise I was immediately intrigued, but all I got was three disjointed plots barely held together by a string. The time loop played way less of a part in the solving of the murder, it was literally just something that happened to Amie. Then there was the whole separate will they won’t they romance plat with Amy and her ex girlfriend.
For the first half of the book wanting to at least solve the murder was enough to keep reading, but the second half of the book was completely slowed down and full of unnecessary filler. 2.25 🌟
For the first half of the book wanting to at least solve the murder was enough to keep reading, but the second half of the book was completely slowed down and full of unnecessary filler. 2.25 🌟
April 8, 2026
DNF at 20%. Time loop idea is cool but I guess I didn’t look closely enough at the synopsis to realize it’s another damn murder mystery. No thanks.
March 20, 2026
3.5 rounded down for this frickin app that will not let us have half stars ffs ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
This was a super interesting and original concept and plotline. I can tell you with my whole chest that I have certainly never read anything quite like this. The whole time loop thing was very fresh and I liked how it fit into the story. David was delightful and by far my favorite character, I would have put myself in harms way to clear that man's name too, bless him and his trinkets. I was invested in the mystery and the comical journey to finding out who did the damn thing. Some points in this book literally had me chuckling (my husband was quite alarmed, yep.) Overall this was a fun and easy read.
The reason for the lower rating is that I just was not in love with the romantic subplot. I didn't like how it wrapped up and all the half baked pining between our gals was killing my vibe. If romance is your vibe, you will probably like this more than I did, because a timeloop mystery with humor and romance is very likely up many people's alley. This was very close to being a 4 star read, its literally the last 2 pages that made me be like "girlies wtf."
This was a super interesting and original concept and plotline. I can tell you with my whole chest that I have certainly never read anything quite like this. The whole time loop thing was very fresh and I liked how it fit into the story. David was delightful and by far my favorite character, I would have put myself in harms way to clear that man's name too, bless him and his trinkets. I was invested in the mystery and the comical journey to finding out who did the damn thing. Some points in this book literally had me chuckling (my husband was quite alarmed, yep.) Overall this was a fun and easy read.
The reason for the lower rating is that I just was not in love with the romantic subplot. I didn't like how it wrapped up and all the half baked pining between our gals was killing my vibe. If romance is your vibe, you will probably like this more than I did, because a timeloop mystery with humor and romance is very likely up many people's alley. This was very close to being a 4 star read, its literally the last 2 pages that made me be like "girlies wtf."
March 11, 2026
Been a while since I read a book in one day, but I burned through this on a plane trip and was really glad I did. The premise is fantastic, a young woman stuck in a time loop for about two years comes out of it to find that someone she knows was murdered, and now she’s wondering if that is why she was in the time loop and wants to solve the crime with two years of one day memories and the help of her mystery novelist neighbor and her ex-girlfriend, who she very much wishes wasn’t her ex. Great characters, a really well-developed mystery and a really clever twist on the time loop formula, I’ll definitely be checking out more from this author.
April 2, 2026
For a book with such a fun, promising premise, the execution couldn't have been more of a disappointment. Part of the reason 'Groundhog Day' continues to be a beloved film is the main character's need for change, his reluctance to accept this challenge, his attempt to do it the wrong way, and, finally, his understanding of what it means to be a good person. Basically, a reason for being in a time loop that makes the first day he wakes up out of it a revelation in which every little thing he never appreciated in life becomes a celebration.
Out of the Loop is the opposite. More frustrating than the fact that there was no reason for our protagonist to be in a time loop, when she breaks out of it, she has little to no reaction to that miracle. If a human being had to live for over two years without having meaningful connections with friends, family, or even the strangers around them, the mental effects of this would be profound. It would be one thing if we saw even a slightly different version of Aime in the flashbacks, but no; she is just as anxious, nervous, and unsure of herself as when we meet her in the present. The day after Aime wakes up, she spends a ton of time crafting a text message to her ex-girlfriend, not crying tears of joy at her second chance at life. In fact, she doesn't call her parents until the Saturday after she leaves the loop. This is a woman who hasn't seen her parents or another member of her family in over two years and is completely unaffected by it.
Any time there is momentum in the plot, the romance between Aime and her ex-girlfriend grinds it to a halt. Seeing as we're not clued in to much about their relationship and breakup until the end of the novel, we spend a great deal of time with a couple whom we don't know whether to root for or not. The relationship between Aime and the other tenants in her building is exponentially richer and more interesting, yet they are used only for small moments, while Aime's ex-girlfriend, unfortunately, takes center stage.
I wish I could give this book a better review, as I was genuinely excited to read it. However, the heaviness of the subject matter and the opportunity it had for layers of exploration were left virtually untouched.
Out of the Loop is the opposite. More frustrating than the fact that there was no reason for our protagonist to be in a time loop, when she breaks out of it, she has little to no reaction to that miracle. If a human being had to live for over two years without having meaningful connections with friends, family, or even the strangers around them, the mental effects of this would be profound. It would be one thing if we saw even a slightly different version of Aime in the flashbacks, but no; she is just as anxious, nervous, and unsure of herself as when we meet her in the present. The day after Aime wakes up, she spends a ton of time crafting a text message to her ex-girlfriend, not crying tears of joy at her second chance at life. In fact, she doesn't call her parents until the Saturday after she leaves the loop. This is a woman who hasn't seen her parents or another member of her family in over two years and is completely unaffected by it.
Any time there is momentum in the plot, the romance between Aime and her ex-girlfriend grinds it to a halt. Seeing as we're not clued in to much about their relationship and breakup until the end of the novel, we spend a great deal of time with a couple whom we don't know whether to root for or not. The relationship between Aime and the other tenants in her building is exponentially richer and more interesting, yet they are used only for small moments, while Aime's ex-girlfriend, unfortunately, takes center stage.
I wish I could give this book a better review, as I was genuinely excited to read it. However, the heaviness of the subject matter and the opportunity it had for layers of exploration were left virtually untouched.
September 2, 2026
Only Murders in the Building if it had less faith in its audience. The author over-explains obvious things throughout the whole book as if the reader can’t make a connecting within the text. Very much “character takes out an umbrella (because it’s raining)” sort of issue.
This is 100 pages longer than it needed to be and it is because we spend so. much. time going in circles about Amie and Ziya’s relationship, which ultimately has neither concrete conflict nor emotional value to the reader. Like, I didn’t care at all about them. Out of all the characters I was only entertained by David. Not to mention the whole loop thing feels more like a gimmick rather than a central plot point because we move so fast from it.
This is 100 pages longer than it needed to be and it is because we spend so. much. time going in circles about Amie and Ziya’s relationship, which ultimately has neither concrete conflict nor emotional value to the reader. Like, I didn’t care at all about them. Out of all the characters I was only entertained by David. Not to mention the whole loop thing feels more like a gimmick rather than a central plot point because we move so fast from it.
April 13, 2026
it was fine but easily predictable at points and didn’t necessarily captivate me
June 6, 2026
1.5 stars, with the only redeeming factor being that I can see other people maybe like it.
I am so dissapointed in this book. The premise was so interesting, but instead of focussing on the time loop and murder the book 90% focussed on the amies and ziyas love story. The murder was a afterthought, the loop mainly background. I mean we never even find out anything about the time loop and why??? Amie was 28/30, but continiously acted like a 15 year old at best, especially the way she was like "oh I hope she kisses me then id have no complaints". I unfortanetely really did not like amie.
It was going to be two stars, but then at the ending the book also tried to teach me to love myself and now Im really pissed off.
I am so dissapointed in this book. The premise was so interesting, but instead of focussing on the time loop and murder the book 90% focussed on the amies and ziyas love story. The murder was a afterthought, the loop mainly background. I mean we never even find out anything about the time loop and why??? Amie was 28/30, but continiously acted like a 15 year old at best, especially the way she was like "oh I hope she kisses me then id have no complaints". I unfortanetely really did not like amie.
It was going to be two stars, but then at the ending the book also tried to teach me to love myself and now Im really pissed off.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2026
Rounding up from 2 1/2 stars, solely because Goodreads won't let us use half stars, I found this book disappointing. It doesn't mean that you will, depending on what you're looking for in a book, and whether you care about ageism.
Out of the Loop was promoted as a time loop mystery. I should note that I am a sucker for time travel, time loops, and anything time travel-adjacent. The book is actually a cozy mystery with such a thin nod to time loops that the actual loop only takes up 13% of the book's actual text, and that's offered up in tiny slivers, inserted between chapters. The actual useful or interesting references to the loop in the non-loop majority of the book felt fairly pointless.
Basically, what I came to the book to read, the time loop element, could have been completely removed from the book virtually no impact on the plot. There's nothing that happens in the loop that actually leads to the solving of the crime, which really occurs by accident.
Further, the things that do happen in the loop that vaguely contribute to the protagonist's line of thinking as she attempts to solve the crime could easily have happened without there having been a time loop at all, and only her failure to be circumspect in speaking leads to a clue.
The book offers the following concepts (without any real spoilers):
1) Amie, the 20-something protagonist, is three months out of a relationship with her ex-girlfriend, Ziya, when she finds herself in a time loop, repeating September 17 over and over, Groundhog Day-style, with the day resetting again and again at 2:22 a.m. This is not part of the main story, but seen in flashback.
We're given almost nothing interesting about Amie's time in the loop which makes it fairly boring, and while the boring aspect of her TWO YEARS in a time loop is, I guess, supposed to be a point in and of itself (Amie isn't much of a do-er), it nonetheless makes the choice to put it in a mystery feel ill-advised.
Amie is a freelance writer, a sweet person, and a bit awkward. However, it's not clear whether she was awkward pre-loop, so her behaviors are hard to read.
2) Nobody really knows about the time loop except Amie's "fiftyish" neighbor, David, the only delightful part of the story. I'd have much rather read a book about him. Although all of the primary characters are underdeveloped and under-described, David stands out as amusingly snarky. He'd be the character worth watching if this were a movie.
3) Almost everything in the story happens in the few blocks of New Jersey between the apartment building where Amie, David, the murder victim and her spouse, and two other characters live, and the building with a cafe and bookstore where almost all of the other characters work. Only Ziya and one other person do not live/work there. Every other scene beyond this little neighborhood happens in either one restaurant or the penthouse apartment of one other character. The book feels far too suffocating for even a cozy romance, and it all feels like a school play set, with no real depth or character to the surroundings.
(Amie's parents live somewhere, off-camera, where she'd need to fly to get to them. We don't know where, and they literally take up two sentence of the book. Amie also has no friends her age, no connections to any other human beings outside of Ziya, David, and the people in the mystery. She has an editor she references once. Her life is a blank page.)
4) The book is primarily about the solving of the mystery, and takes place over the course of six days, not counting the two years in the loop. Who killed Savannah Harlow, prickly bookstore owner and upstairs neighbor? As with any mystery, there are a variety of red herrings. Mysteries are not my preferred genre, though I've read enough to judge this one as a bit thin. If it were a TV show, I wouldn't care about the mystery at all; I'd focus on the quirky characters and the dialogue. Here, there's little onto which I can grab.
5) Beyond the mystery, we're supposed to care about the relationship between Amie and her ex-girlfriend. Why aren't they together anymore? What happened? Why does Amie pine? Does Ziya still want her? I want to care, but I do not care. For much of the book, this feels so passionless that I kept trying to figure out if I'd misunderstood and that they were previously friends and not lovers.
By the time we're fed the explanation for how their relationship fell apart, I was more annoyed than satisfied. Basically, it feels like Ziya (and the author) are judgmental about what constitutes a life worth living and the denouement of the book is set up to make you go, "Oh, see, she just had to loosen up and be more adventurous!" and if this hadn't been an LGBTQ romance, I'd be calling out the book for annoying patriarchal tropes where if the little lady would just do what the man thinks best, it would all be better.
6) The characters are flat. Almost nobody has a job to which they have to go. Not the husband of the murder victim. Not Amie or Ziya or David. Amie is a freelance writer and David (no spoilers) has a decent enough amount of money not to have to work, but they live in the same building with a psychic medium and a bookstore owner? I'm dubious these people in such disparate economic circles would be living in this same small building.
(Lots of money-related plot points make no sense; at one point, a character's home rent is reduced by an amount that — for rent, is an impressive amount — but is so pitifully small that no brick-and-mortar business person would believably see a change in their ability to keep their business afloat on that rebated amount of household rent.)
Only two characters, Ziya and a neighbor, are described with any physical description at all, so if you can't envision someone purely by a name, good luck. (One young worker is described as having red hair.) If anyone in this book is a person of color — any color — other than Ziya, we wouldn't know, and Ziya seems to be described in a way that others or exoticizes her. Forget trying to "see" these characters; you'd have to make it all up for yourself.
Few characters have any friends or anyone in connection to them. (David has a niece we never see. The landlord has...some people in his life. Ziya has a friendgroup that is basically a tossed off reference until we see them for perhaps three sentences near the end of the story.)
But more importantly...
7) I don't think the author has ever met anyone over the age of 30! I'm GenX, and not even the earliest GenX, so I'll tell you that describing a women in her late 50s (but younger than I am) with characteristics I'd otherwise ascribe to someone in their late 70s or early 80s — difficulty hearing, seeing, and walking — is pretty ageist.
David is "fiftyish," we're told, "younger than [Amie's] father," but otherwise, cast in a paternal role. If he's gay, we don't know. If he's divorced or a widower, we don't know. He's neutered and is written as though he's in the final stages of his life. He doesn't know that all cell phones are set to the same time. He's a stock curmudgeonly character who begrudgingly interacts with others.
Even a comment written about a 40-year-old makes it sound as though the height of one's career should be met by that age.
8) Amie and David come up with a way for her to short-cut the explanation each day about her being in the time loop, but he seems to know ALL about it in each version, sometimes upon their first meeting on a given day AND on the first day after the time loop, which brings up the point of while Amie sees things in various versions of the time loop, only one version could have ACTUALLY happened such that everyone else would remember those things the next day, but the way it's written, it doesn't work out that way.
Which time loop day is the one that everyone remembers?
9) We never find out how Amie got into the time loop. Or what the purpose of the time loop was. Or why it reset at 2:22 a.m. Or how or why she got out. Or if she's the only one who experienced it. Did the murder occur in every loop?
Basically, I kept waiting to find out — something, anything, that made the time loop truly relevant to the story. If the only reason for the loop is so that a mystery writer can provide the protagonist with a few tiny pieces of first-hand knowledge, is it really worth it? A time loop is a high potential device but it really comes to nothing.
This book is so devoid of world-building and of character-building that I wonder whether the author meant this to be a script for a movie or TV show, where richness and nuance are shown instead of told.
If you're looking for a time travel/loop book, this isn't it. If you like rich characters, look elsewhere. If you are seeking an LGBTQ+-friendly romance, this offers the mildest ones but you have to squint to see romance or passion. If you like to gobble up cozy mysteries and are happy enough with mild humor and two-dimensional characters, then it might fill a rainy afternoon. But I veered between boredom and annoyance for much of this book, didn't care about the sole (and mild) romance, and found the resolution of the murder mystery to be unlikely and uninteresting. Meh.
Out of the Loop was promoted as a time loop mystery. I should note that I am a sucker for time travel, time loops, and anything time travel-adjacent. The book is actually a cozy mystery with such a thin nod to time loops that the actual loop only takes up 13% of the book's actual text, and that's offered up in tiny slivers, inserted between chapters. The actual useful or interesting references to the loop in the non-loop majority of the book felt fairly pointless.
Basically, what I came to the book to read, the time loop element, could have been completely removed from the book virtually no impact on the plot. There's nothing that happens in the loop that actually leads to the solving of the crime, which really occurs by accident.
Further, the things that do happen in the loop that vaguely contribute to the protagonist's line of thinking as she attempts to solve the crime could easily have happened without there having been a time loop at all, and only her failure to be circumspect in speaking leads to a clue.
The book offers the following concepts (without any real spoilers):
1) Amie, the 20-something protagonist, is three months out of a relationship with her ex-girlfriend, Ziya, when she finds herself in a time loop, repeating September 17 over and over, Groundhog Day-style, with the day resetting again and again at 2:22 a.m. This is not part of the main story, but seen in flashback.
We're given almost nothing interesting about Amie's time in the loop which makes it fairly boring, and while the boring aspect of her TWO YEARS in a time loop is, I guess, supposed to be a point in and of itself (Amie isn't much of a do-er), it nonetheless makes the choice to put it in a mystery feel ill-advised.
Amie is a freelance writer, a sweet person, and a bit awkward. However, it's not clear whether she was awkward pre-loop, so her behaviors are hard to read.
2) Nobody really knows about the time loop except Amie's "fiftyish" neighbor, David, the only delightful part of the story. I'd have much rather read a book about him. Although all of the primary characters are underdeveloped and under-described, David stands out as amusingly snarky. He'd be the character worth watching if this were a movie.
3) Almost everything in the story happens in the few blocks of New Jersey between the apartment building where Amie, David, the murder victim and her spouse, and two other characters live, and the building with a cafe and bookstore where almost all of the other characters work. Only Ziya and one other person do not live/work there. Every other scene beyond this little neighborhood happens in either one restaurant or the penthouse apartment of one other character. The book feels far too suffocating for even a cozy romance, and it all feels like a school play set, with no real depth or character to the surroundings.
(Amie's parents live somewhere, off-camera, where she'd need to fly to get to them. We don't know where, and they literally take up two sentence of the book. Amie also has no friends her age, no connections to any other human beings outside of Ziya, David, and the people in the mystery. She has an editor she references once. Her life is a blank page.)
4) The book is primarily about the solving of the mystery, and takes place over the course of six days, not counting the two years in the loop. Who killed Savannah Harlow, prickly bookstore owner and upstairs neighbor? As with any mystery, there are a variety of red herrings. Mysteries are not my preferred genre, though I've read enough to judge this one as a bit thin. If it were a TV show, I wouldn't care about the mystery at all; I'd focus on the quirky characters and the dialogue. Here, there's little onto which I can grab.
5) Beyond the mystery, we're supposed to care about the relationship between Amie and her ex-girlfriend. Why aren't they together anymore? What happened? Why does Amie pine? Does Ziya still want her? I want to care, but I do not care. For much of the book, this feels so passionless that I kept trying to figure out if I'd misunderstood and that they were previously friends and not lovers.
By the time we're fed the explanation for how their relationship fell apart, I was more annoyed than satisfied. Basically, it feels like Ziya (and the author) are judgmental about what constitutes a life worth living and the denouement of the book is set up to make you go, "Oh, see, she just had to loosen up and be more adventurous!" and if this hadn't been an LGBTQ romance, I'd be calling out the book for annoying patriarchal tropes where if the little lady would just do what the man thinks best, it would all be better.
6) The characters are flat. Almost nobody has a job to which they have to go. Not the husband of the murder victim. Not Amie or Ziya or David. Amie is a freelance writer and David (no spoilers) has a decent enough amount of money not to have to work, but they live in the same building with a psychic medium and a bookstore owner? I'm dubious these people in such disparate economic circles would be living in this same small building.
(Lots of money-related plot points make no sense; at one point, a character's home rent is reduced by an amount that — for rent, is an impressive amount — but is so pitifully small that no brick-and-mortar business person would believably see a change in their ability to keep their business afloat on that rebated amount of household rent.)
Only two characters, Ziya and a neighbor, are described with any physical description at all, so if you can't envision someone purely by a name, good luck. (One young worker is described as having red hair.) If anyone in this book is a person of color — any color — other than Ziya, we wouldn't know, and Ziya seems to be described in a way that others or exoticizes her. Forget trying to "see" these characters; you'd have to make it all up for yourself.
Few characters have any friends or anyone in connection to them. (David has a niece we never see. The landlord has...some people in his life. Ziya has a friendgroup that is basically a tossed off reference until we see them for perhaps three sentences near the end of the story.)
But more importantly...
7) I don't think the author has ever met anyone over the age of 30! I'm GenX, and not even the earliest GenX, so I'll tell you that describing a women in her late 50s (but younger than I am) with characteristics I'd otherwise ascribe to someone in their late 70s or early 80s — difficulty hearing, seeing, and walking — is pretty ageist.
David is "fiftyish," we're told, "younger than [Amie's] father," but otherwise, cast in a paternal role. If he's gay, we don't know. If he's divorced or a widower, we don't know. He's neutered and is written as though he's in the final stages of his life. He doesn't know that all cell phones are set to the same time. He's a stock curmudgeonly character who begrudgingly interacts with others.
Even a comment written about a 40-year-old makes it sound as though the height of one's career should be met by that age.
8) Amie and David come up with a way for her to short-cut the explanation each day about her being in the time loop, but he seems to know ALL about it in each version, sometimes upon their first meeting on a given day AND on the first day after the time loop, which brings up the point of while Amie sees things in various versions of the time loop, only one version could have ACTUALLY happened such that everyone else would remember those things the next day, but the way it's written, it doesn't work out that way.
Which time loop day is the one that everyone remembers?
9) We never find out how Amie got into the time loop. Or what the purpose of the time loop was. Or why it reset at 2:22 a.m. Or how or why she got out. Or if she's the only one who experienced it. Did the murder occur in every loop?
Basically, I kept waiting to find out — something, anything, that made the time loop truly relevant to the story. If the only reason for the loop is so that a mystery writer can provide the protagonist with a few tiny pieces of first-hand knowledge, is it really worth it? A time loop is a high potential device but it really comes to nothing.
This book is so devoid of world-building and of character-building that I wonder whether the author meant this to be a script for a movie or TV show, where richness and nuance are shown instead of told.
If you're looking for a time travel/loop book, this isn't it. If you like rich characters, look elsewhere. If you are seeking an LGBTQ+-friendly romance, this offers the mildest ones but you have to squint to see romance or passion. If you like to gobble up cozy mysteries and are happy enough with mild humor and two-dimensional characters, then it might fill a rainy afternoon. But I veered between boredom and annoyance for much of this book, didn't care about the sole (and mild) romance, and found the resolution of the murder mystery to be unlikely and uninteresting. Meh.
February 27, 2026
Look, I love a time loop, I love a mystery, this is a book For Me. But also, I thought it was really well done! There's a time loop, which I know is divisive, but it's over and it's more worldbuilding than actual plot device. There's a mystery, and it has the requisite number of twists and red herrings. There's a bit of a romance and the characters talk to each other or at least know they're doing a bad job of talking to each other. There is a daring Ferris wheel escapade! If you like any of those things you should definitely check this out.
February 7, 2026
This was really enjoyable and a different take on the time loop concept! There was a bit more focus on the romance than I expected but I didn’t really mind by the end. I might’ve enjoyed more scenes from the time loop itself but a book set mostly after the person is out of it was a unique idea. Funny characters and a good ending overall.
February 21, 2026
Interesting concept. Easy read.
April 28, 2026
Fun take on a time loop: after 700 days of reliving the same day, the protagonist wakes to find a murder was committed on the day she looped!
March 20, 2026
3.5 stars
Loved the coziness and humor, a lighthearted mystery. Even though I read a lot of mysteries, I keep saying to my reading buddies: I'm glad I'm not a detective cause again I didn’t work it out. It’s even worse: the chapter where it’s all explained, I didn’t fully grasp, even after listening to it twice. Probably because it’s more difficult for me to process information adequately when listening instead of reading, especially if it’s not in my native language. I liked David and Amie (her friend not so much tbh, she started to get on my nerves lol). Very much enjoyed it though yes, I think they could’ve done more with the concept. This is a true 3.5 star book so it's very hard to rate it as GR (still) doesn't allow for half star ratings...
Characters 7
Atmosphere 7
Writing Style 7
Premise 8
Plot 7
Pace 7
Length 7
Structure/Setup 7
Enjoyment/Engrossment 7
Narration 7
Loved the coziness and humor, a lighthearted mystery. Even though I read a lot of mysteries, I keep saying to my reading buddies: I'm glad I'm not a detective cause again I didn’t work it out. It’s even worse: the chapter where it’s all explained, I didn’t fully grasp, even after listening to it twice. Probably because it’s more difficult for me to process information adequately when listening instead of reading, especially if it’s not in my native language. I liked David and Amie (her friend not so much tbh, she started to get on my nerves lol). Very much enjoyed it though yes, I think they could’ve done more with the concept. This is a true 3.5 star book so it's very hard to rate it as GR (still) doesn't allow for half star ratings...
Characters 7
Atmosphere 7
Writing Style 7
Premise 8
Plot 7
Pace 7
Length 7
Structure/Setup 7
Enjoyment/Engrossment 7
Narration 7
September 21, 2026
I enjoyed the humour in this book, I found myself laughing out loud to myself a handful of times which was nice. I know that not everything needs to be explained but I wish we knew why/how she entered and exited the time loop. The pacing of the book was good with little flashbacks to her time in/before the loop, however, I found it a bit repetitive at times, especially the multiple times when Amie would talk to people who’d happily be willing to give up any information they know about Savannah’s murder.
June 13, 2026
I read this book in both physical and audio format interchangeably and I do think that it hindered my enjoyment. Do NOT listen to the audiobook, the narrator sounds like the voice I make when I am putting on a stereotypical valley girl persona while reading to children. It was GRATING. But I needed an audiobook to get through my chores. Fire her!
As for the book itself, I don’t think that the author did enough with the concept. And it is SUCH a good concept. I love time loop stories, especially time loop mysteries. I love the idea of someone coming out of a time loop and having to reacclimate to life with consequences. I also enjoyed the question this book poses: if you had infinite chances, how would you spend your time? Our protagonist doesn’t stray too much from her routine, that’s kind of her thing.
However, I think that the story kept getting distracted from the mystery it was trying to solve by shoehorning in a very VERY bland romance. Maybe I hated Ziya because the audiobook narrator’s horrible, awful, valley girl voice increased TEN fold and included slurred “s”s as though she was drunk. Or Maybe it was because Ziya was kind of obnoxious. Either way I did not like her, and found her to be extremely wishy washy. Their third act reunion and immediate break up was soooo stupid that I physically groaned and rolled my eyes when I got there.
Would the book have been four stars if the author had omitted Ziya and focused on what makes this idea so interesting? We will never know because unfortunately, the author does not get an infinite amount of days to try again.
As for the book itself, I don’t think that the author did enough with the concept. And it is SUCH a good concept. I love time loop stories, especially time loop mysteries. I love the idea of someone coming out of a time loop and having to reacclimate to life with consequences. I also enjoyed the question this book poses: if you had infinite chances, how would you spend your time? Our protagonist doesn’t stray too much from her routine, that’s kind of her thing.
However, I think that the story kept getting distracted from the mystery it was trying to solve by shoehorning in a very VERY bland romance. Maybe I hated Ziya because the audiobook narrator’s horrible, awful, valley girl voice increased TEN fold and included slurred “s”s as though she was drunk. Or Maybe it was because Ziya was kind of obnoxious. Either way I did not like her, and found her to be extremely wishy washy. Their third act reunion and immediate break up was soooo stupid that I physically groaned and rolled my eyes when I got there.
Would the book have been four stars if the author had omitted Ziya and focused on what makes this idea so interesting? We will never know because unfortunately, the author does not get an infinite amount of days to try again.
September 3, 2026
Hated this. The time loop didn’t even matter? What the hell was that.
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