I read THE REWIND by Allison Winn Scotch on New Year's, and the theme could not have been more perfect! The romance was angsty and I loved the chemistry between the characters -- you couldn't help but root for them from beginning to end!

maybe closer to a 2.5?

i feel like the periodic flashbacks do a disservice to this story. if i knew a little bit more about Ezra and Frankie's backstory, maybe i wouldn't have spent 90% of the book finding them extremely annoying. i don't know that it needs to be told in a totally linear fashion but learning more about their breakup is what finally made me feel some sympathy for them and that happens in the last third of the book.

and i don't really see what drew them to each other as full grown adults? but ok.

Thank you Heather for buddy read this with me. It took us a while to start but finally we did it 🤗

It was a slow burning. I needed some time to get into the story. I was curious what happened in the night that both main charcters lost their memory.

Waking up with your ex with a ring on your finger in the bed where they used to be together a decade ago... anyone wants to scream??

I belive everyone would be terrified after denying all coonections and avoiding eachother they are in the situation that require they think and collaborate to discover what happend last night.

Enemies second chance? A nostalgic vibe

Thank you Penguin House International for this ALC

I was really excited to read this book. But it wasn’t a quick read because all the characters were so unlikeable. There were good reasons that Ezra and Frankie broke up after college and the fight back to each other seemed forced and the ending was anticlimactic,

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: The Rewind
AUTHOR: Allison Winn Scotch
FORMAT: Audiobook
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
DID I CRY: No
PUB DATE: 11/1/22
RATING: 4/10
2 stars

Thank you so much @prhaudio for the complimentary audiobook!

MY THOUGHTS

I was super excited to start off my holiday reads with this new years/wedding romcom, but unfortunately it fell super flat for me.

I liked the idea of the story circulating around college friends (and exes) reuniting for a New Year’s Eve wedding on their small town massachusetts college campus. That’s about all i really liked.

My qualms are pretty extensive. The tropes in this book are probably all of my least favorites. I felt that the enemies to lovers was exaggerated to a ridiculous degree. The “amnesia” trope was frustrating and felt like a cop out, with the characters randomly remembering parts of the night before when it was convenient to the story. The cheating trope is icky & I can’t get behind it. I won’t list the others to prevent any spoilers, but it didn’t get better for me trope-wise as the book went on. The characters were extremely unlikable for me and I couldn’t get myself to root for them or their relationship. The ending had me extremely confused, and I wasn’t really sure what exactly happened / couldn’t make sense of it. It felt random and out of place.

All in all, I think if you’re looking for a holiday read, there are some better ones out there but maybe give this one a shot and see if you feel any differently from me, it’s always nice to form your own opinions.

some brief TW towards the end of the book (that also felt random and forced) but beware! message me or research!!

I had high hopes for this one, but the back and forth between past and present felt choppy and disjointed and never really came together. I liked the present parts more than the past stories.

I didn't anticipate starting this book on NYE, but I'm so glad I did. It really added to the mood and vibes. This was a really enjoyable read about a second chance at making things right again. You'll be just as confused as the characters themselves, yelling at them to get their shit together as they yell at each other to do the same, and just hoping that everyone can make it to midnight.

THE REWIND by @aswinn follows Frankie and Ezra, former college sweethearts who are reunited 10 years later at their school for the wedding of a mutual friend. While the two walked away from their relationship years ago, swearing they never wanted to see one another again, they later wake up in a dorm room wearing wedding rings and no memory of how they got there. 💍

And the search for answers- about their “marriage” and what really happened between them all those years ago- takes off.

Told from alternating points of view, between the past and present, this beautiful story about first love and the possibility of second chances is a must-read.
It’s fun and heartwarming and the 80s and 90’s references are frostings on the cake! ❤️
Thank You, NetGalley and the author for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book makes me want to go to my reunions and find a match that Allison writes about.
WOW!
Thank you to Allison for creating so many incredible stories.
I love reading this one.

I felt like I was trapped in this book - it reminded me of friends trying to relive their night out when you stayed in. Felt uninterested and like there were better ways to handle situations and piece things together. The book made me frustrated and couldn’t wait for it to end.

This was my first book by this author and I know it won’t be my last! I loved it and I stayed up way to late reading!
Frankie and Ezra met in college and fell in love, and then their relationship ended tragically and they went their separate ways. Frankie followed her dream of music and she has a job that many envy and and Ezra to law school in NYC. Now it’s ten years later and they're back at their alma mater for a friends Y2K wedding. Frankie is making it her mission to avoid Ezra at all costs and Ezra has plans to propose to his girlfriend Mimi. Mimi plans to fly and meet Ezra the next day. So the old group of fiends head to the rehearsal dinner. What happens next is confusing, because Frankie and Ezra wake up in their old college dorm room that now belongs to someone else, and their both wearing wedding bands. They have no memory of the previous night Frankie is sure she’s suffering a concussion. Frankie and Ezra head out and try to uncover clues that will help solve the mystery of the night before, all the while facing their past and the buried feelings they still have for eachother. This reminded me of the movie hangover but between two former people who dated in the past!

A perfect romance. Frankie and Ezra share a lovely second chance romance filled with lots of nostalgia. Sweet, funny and full of characters that are so well written,

I couldn’t help but think about the “Dude, Where’s My Car?” movie when I was reading this novel. That isn’t a jab but the premise that the protagonists had to recall a night full of antics when they woke up in bed that they don't remember climbing into, was a funny one. I really enjoy second chance romances and the dual timelines of memories added such a nice touch to the overall story and I appreciated that it didn’t hold up the pace of the story. I always enjoy the realistic part of a love story, where they show the not so pretty sides to relationships that aren’t based on the horribly overused miscommunication obstacle that most romance novels depend on. Overall, it was a lovely story.

The Rewind has the cutest premise, two former exes wake up together with wedding bands on their fingers? I am here for this! However, being marketed as a “rom-com” is quite the stretch. I would have appreciated this book more if it had been marketed as literary fiction. I struggled to finish this book. I felt like the storyline went in a circle at times and the plot would not progress.

Frankie and Ezra kind of annoyed me and acted a bit immature. The entire premise of going backwards trying to figure out what happened felt an endless cycle that caused me not to care what happened. Others have loved this book; it was just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy, all opinions are my own.

Thank you, Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy of The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch #berkleypartner

Genre: Romance
Trope: Second Chance
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 11.1
Star Rating: ☆☆.5

When I first started reading Rewind I was so excited to see where the story would be going because it combined second-chance romance AND the 90's. So, two of my favorite things combined into one book? Sign me up.

I enjoyed the first 15% of the book, but then the story started to fall off for me. I felt like nothing was happening. When were they going to get to the juicy part of the story -- why were these two ex lovers seemingly loving one another again. But, then the book just seemed to drag on without any real promise of something happening to keep my interest.

And it became obvious that the two characters main issue was their lack of communication - which, is my least favorite aspect to the romance genre. Because it seems to be authors most used making it overused.

Then the ending just left me wanting so much more and honestly felt a little unrealistic. So, as much as I truly wanted to love The Rewind, the story just fell flat for me. But, nevertheless, there will be another book and I will happily give Allison Winn Scott another shot!

The Rewind was a nostalgic 90's throwback with classic Nore Ephron movie vibes. Overall I enjoyed it very much although I felt the ending was unfulfilling as I don't think the case was made for why the main protagonists belonged together.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: sick parent/death of a parent (past), grief, miscarriage

This was an interesting twist. Second chance elements, a bit heist, taking place all within 24 hours as the MCs try to piece together the night before.

Steam: 1

Ultimately this just wasn't for me. The only likeable characters in the entire book were Gregory and Joni. While Ezra was okay for the most part, he was also to rigid in his ideas about how his life needed to go and took too long to get a backbone and tell both Frankie and Mimi off. And, even that said, neither Frankie or Mimi were great romantic partners for him. There was a plot twist/development at 80% that just pissed me off (no spoiler) but suffice to say it's a plot device that is used in romances that most people get enraged about and I don't really like the double standards.

I'm happy others found joy in this book but it was a no for me.

This book took me longer to get through than normal, not because the chapters were long or the book itself was long, but because I couldn't get into it.

I loved the idea of it. Second chance romances can are my favorite so the premise of a couple falling in love again 10 years later on New Years was very exciting to me.

Unfortunately, I didn't like either of the main characters. Frankie was too stubborn and mean spirited, and Ezra was too weak and let people walk all over him.

I did appreciate that there was not any spice to the novel as I often feel like that detracts from a storyline. It was a very sweet, PG rated book.

DNF around 25%. It’s definitely my bad for reading the synopsis wrong and having a different set of expectations. I thought this was set in present day and the two MCs traveled back in time to 99 when they met or broke up to rekindle their flame or something. Aside from that, Frankie is such a pill. Every time I’d pick this up to try to make progress the page is just full of descriptions of her arguing or scowling or something. Its just not enjoyable to read.