Cover Image: My Second Impression of You

My Second Impression of You

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Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

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Maggie’s perfect boyfriend breaks up with her and she’s really going through it. I liked that this book tackled heartache. It does have some slow moments, but it eventually picks up again!

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Maggie’s day probably couldn’t get any worse - dumped by her boyfriend, Theo, and a broken foot? That means no performing, and that’s one of the worst things that could ever happen to her. On a whim, she replies to a text asking her if she wants to relive her best day - August 6, when she met Theo. Turns out, things didn’t happen exactly as she remembered, and now she’s left with more questions than answers.

This was so much fun! I loved the concept of reliving the best day and getting more insight into the events of her supposed best day ever. I loved the Backstage Pass angle of things because Maggie didn’t have much motivation to care about the people around her, and it helped her grow as a character.

I loved Carson, especially when he’s helping her after breaking her foot. The fact that she finally starts seeing that he can be a kind and genuine person was great.

I also loved how her best day ends up helping her strengthen relationships with her friends and family. Mind you, there’s some falling out first, but you can see the change in her versus the start of the book.

This was incredibly adorable, and parts gave me butterflies. I’m definitely going to check out more by this author!

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Maggie is a 16 year old having her worst day ever. She is expecting her boyfriend to invite her to the prom, but instead he dumps her. In a state of shock, she stumbles and breaks her foot, which means she can't star in the school play. She lives for the theater, both school and community, so she is doubly devastated. She gets mysterious text messages about reliving her Best Day Ever and clicks on it to relive the day she met her ex-boyfriend, Theo. But she is not just reliving that day, she is gaining insight into the thoughts and feelings of people in her life such as her best friend, ex-boyfriend's best friend, her brother, etc. I enjoyed her journey of becoming a more thoughtful, less-self-absorbed person and her realization that more is going on with the people in her life than she realizes. My only criticism is that this was awfully juvenile. In many books 16-year-olds are unrealistically portrayed as super-confident and sophisticated, but this book goes the other way and Maggie is incredibly immature.

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*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for this ARC!*

This was a cute little contemporary YA romance! I really enjoyed the time travel aspect of the story, especially that it was done through a mysterious phone app. It was creative and fun!

Maggie was a fun character. I enjoyed all of the musical theater references, as she was obsessed with the theater. She kind of reminded me (uncomfortably so) of myself when I was in high school. I really liked her journey of self-discovery.

The two love interests in this book were so much fun. I really enjoyed seeing both of them from two different perspectives as Maggie gets more background info from her “best day”.

The opportunity to go back and re-experience the “best day” of your life, but not be able to change anything was an interesting premise. I loved that she could choose to hear peoples inner monologue or not. It was very creative!

The over-dramatics and self-absorption were spot on. You don’t think you are acting that way as a teen, but looking back on it…we all absolutely did 😏

This was a really fun read. It makes me want to search out more time travel type books in the future.

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave My Second Impression of You 4 Stars!

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Not for me, but a cute story about a girl named Maggie who discovers a lot about her her boyfriend, her family, and her friends through an app! Geared toward a younger audience.

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The premise of this book sounded so cute, but it ended up DNF at 41%. I didn't feel like Maggie was acting and thinking like a 16-year old. She came across as much younger--it's not something I can give an example of, but it just seemed like she was an 8th grader and not a high schooler. The pacing just felt so s-l-o-w. I felt like I'd been reading the book for a week and getting nowhere.

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Another book for teens with the message that they might be misinterpreting how their friends are reacting and what is actually going on around them. When Maggie is dumped by her boyfriend and breaks her foot on the same day, she is given the chance to relive her "best day ever" over again. This time though, it comes with back stage passes so she can see what some of the other people she interacted with were thinking. This gives her a really surprising look into the lives of people around her, including her parents, best friend, and former boyfriend. This was a great story and teens will love finding out the behind the scenes info. Would it be better or worse to be able to do that in our own lives? Highly recommended for grades 7 & up.

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I had really hoped for more from this book but it just didn't live up. It had fun app time travel vibes (similar to The Retake by Jen Calonita) and made lots of musical theater references, but there was lots of not love as well.

First, I'll start with the fun idea behind the book. I loved that Maggie was able to go back in time to the "best day ever" and get a new perspective on things. She'd always put Theo on this pedestal and so it was nice to see her view of that day and her ex-boyfriend in general change. I was also very intrigued with the story every time she used the app. It gave lots of interesting insights into Maggie's friends and family and was fun as a reader to create assumptions and connect all the dots at the end.

Maggie had a nice character arc. It was pretty obvious and not super deep, but I appreciate the effort the author put into changing Maggie into a more rounded character. I also appreciated that Maggie sounded and thought like a teenager. She didn't feel like an adult writing a teenager.

Now moving on...

Carson was spineless. I'm glad he loved his friend and supported him enough to not go after his girl, but come on. Speaking of Carson, we only really start to get to know him in the second half of the book. we see some glimpses of him as Maggie relives her best day ever, but we don't really get time with him until pretty far into the book. There was a positive interaction between him and Maggie at the beginning of the book, which was nice, but I needed more of him.

Now for the whole Rayna/Maggie feud. Honestly, I was kinda with Maggie. Maggie deserved to be mad at Rayna. Rayna had been lying to her for months so it really wasn't fair for Rayna to get mad at Maggie for getting mad at her. Rayna had her reasons for the way things went down, which I understand, but I was kinda mad at Rayna too so I didn't blame Maggie.

This is in the lower YA age group so it's totally "safe" for all ages. It was a fun plot/idea that was just missing some things. I kept wishing for better writing and a better-paced plot and characters that were a little less surface. Maybe it would be more enjoyable for younger YA-aged people.

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This is a warm hearted and funny story about what happens when you have the chance to relive the best day of your life -- after experiencing what feels like your worst day. Maggie has a flair for the dramatic. Sixteen years old, she is an eager participant in every possible theater program available to her. She has a perfect boyfriend, Theo, who she spends much of her time with when she is not preparing for a production, performing on stage, or talking with her theater friends about upcoming roles. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Theo dumps her and Maggie is so shocked, she falls and breaks her leg. Due to her injury, Maggie must sit out from the upcoming school play and all her other theater commitments.

Not understanding how her perfect life unraveled so quickly, Maggie is intrigued when she gets a strange text message from an unknown number offering her a chance to relive the day when she met Theo. Maggie clicks the link and soon finds herself reliving what she thought of as her best day -- only this time, she knows what happens and even has access to some of the other participants in the day's internal monologues. As Maggie relives the day, she soon finds that she may not remember it as well as she thought ... and that everyone may not be quite what she always assumed.

The author takes this intriguing premise and gives it a modern and fresh spin. Full of endearing characters and a fun (and often hilarious story), this is a great read.

Highly recommended!

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This was such a surprising and fun read perfect for fans of books where time gets weird and fans of cute contemporary romance alike.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

After her boyfriend Theo breaks up with her, Maggie receives a mysterious text offering her the chance to relive the best day of her life - the day she and Theo met. She takes the offer and is transported into a simulation that gives her a whole new outlook on things as well as everybody else's perspectives. The information – not only about Theo, but her family, her best friend, and even Theo’s obnoxious buddy Carson – is more than she bargained for. As she learns about all the minor details – and major ones – she missed the first time around, she finds herself transported back to reality with a completely new perspective and a big opportunity to decide how to move forward on her own terms.

This book was honestly one of the cutest reads that I have come across this year. Everything, from the plot to the romance was just delightful and adorable.

The only thing that made me rate the book lower is Maggie. In the beginning of the book she gave me such a pretentious and selfish vibe which I hated. She did get a redemption in the end but it still wasn't enough for me to like her. I did like the rest of the characters though.

My Second Impression of You is perfect for fans of hate to love romance and a quick summer YA read that will for sure make you experience all sorts of feelings.

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Maggie gets dumped by her boyfriend, Theo and then breaks her foot and is in the hospital for a bit. Full of woe, Maggie gets a mysterious text and then gets to re-live her “best day” aka the day she met Theo.

Only this do-over comes with insight to the thoughts of everyone around her: her mom, her best friend Rayna, Theo and Theo’s best friend Carson who has been nothing but a jerk to her for the duration of their relationship. These revelations cause Maggie to take a step back and evaluate her relationships and how much time she’s spending on drama club and her other activities and how much she’s actually listening to and spending time in the present with those around her.

This book was awesome, I loved every bit of it. It was fun and it had a great message (a lot of things in life are worth another look/second impression) and lovely resolutions for all the conflicts and ended on the best note it possibly could’ve. It was fun and sweet and such an excellent YA rom com.

5 stars!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This one was so cute! I think we can all take some advice from Maggie and make a be-better list.
The beginning she is kind of self absorbed and then she gets hurt and has time to really think about her relationships and about "her best day ever".
I really loved all the relationships in this book. Maggie's friends Rayna and Clara are such great side characters. I really liked Carson throughout too, he's such a sweet guy.
This was a great teen read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

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