I love Groundhog Day. I love About Time. And oh man, I love the Supernatural episode “Mystery Spot.” (🎵 Heeeeat of the moment 🎵) So I was bound to love the time-travelling trope thrown into a swoony YA romance. I’d seen the pretty cover of Justin A. Reynolds’s Opposite of Always floating all over the place, and I finally found the time to read it. Or hear it, I guess, since I experienced the story with Audible. The voice actor brought protagonist Jack’s charm to life, making it so easy to fall into this world. And phew, I fell running. Right away, we’re thrown into the intense time-looping shenanigans, only to backtrack and start at the beginning with Jack, Kate and the infamous steps where they met. What follows is a sweet, funny romance — and Jack’s desperation to hold on to that romance when fate keeps telling him that Kate is meant to die. Things, of course, don’t go any more smoothly the second time. Or the third. You get the idea. At first, the repetition got tiresome, but I grew to appreciate the different ways Jack and Kate fell in love. Maybe even more than that, I appreciated that every time we hit the reset button, Jack opened his eyes to the other people he loves as well, like his parents and his two best friends. A great book with a great reminder to appreciate life and the people in it.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Sara Bechtol 