I’ve been in a chick-lit and romance mood recently, so when I saw The Do-Over on Netgalley I thought…why not give this one a go? It sounded cute and like a fast read. I got exactly what I wanted from this book.

Perci was just dumped by her boyfriend on the radio. On New Year’s Eve. Spending the night with her best friend, it’s decided that she needs to try something different. This year she won’t date, she won’t try to please her mother, and she won’t attempt to lose weight, among other things. She’s not sure she can do it. Yet in an attempt to complete one of them, she lies to her family pretending that she’s dating her next-door neighbour. When he finds out, he agrees to play along. What could possibly go wrong?

This book was pretty much what I thought it would be. It was an enjoyable read, but one where it was a little hard to decide whether I actually felt for her or not. Perci’s home life was difficult. Her mum was too harsh, and there were moments when it felt borderline abusive. She was trying to control things way too much. But the way things exploded near the end felt too far. She just assumed she wasn’t wanted when her parents had never suggested otherwise. I could see why her mum wouldn’t want to talk to her for a bit then. But at the same time, I wasn’t sure why Perci would want to go back to spending time with her. Obviously, they sorted things out in the end, and they were both willing to try. But it was just a bit of a mess.

The other main relationship in the summary was obviously romance. Now this book contained something I loved which is when the love interest has a kid. I love seeing the kid involved in trying to get their parent with someone lovely. Lilah was a sweet kid. Very weird, but it just made her even more adorable. I loved that she didn’t care that she was odd, going as far as to do bird calls at the school talent show even when Perci was trying to put her off. The fact that the third act breakup involved her also made sense. There was no miscommunication. It was just a parent worrying that they weren’t being there for their kid. Perfectly understandable.

The thing I liked the most about this book was seeing Perci’s growth. In the beginning, she’s doing what’s expected of her and is kertowing to everyone. By the end of the book, she’s growing more confident. It was nice to have a plus-sized protagonist in a romance and see her grow to love how she looked. Her style definitely suits her body, so it was nice to see some plus-sized vintage love.

As I read this as an audiobook, I just need to quickly say something about the format. I tend to enjoy non-smutty romance and chick-lit in audio as they tend to be easy reads. The narrator for this wasn’t amazing, but I felt like her accents were decent and she made it fun.

I thought I’d have more to say about this book as I genuinely enjoyed it, but only a few days later, it’s already started to fade. It was a fun read but probably not one I’m going to reread.

That said, I would recommend this book. If you want more plus-sized positive romances in your life and love chick-lit or romantic comedies – this book is for you.

This was a cute, though mostly standard, finding oneself / romcom story.

I loved Perci's character development over the story, especially her relationships with her mom and the rest of her family. I think the best part was her realizing how her relationship with her mom influenced her interactions with others (and how her mom's relationship with Mimi influenced her mom's own interactions with Perci). The approach was nuanced but overall very positive, and it was great to see.

Perci's relationship with Nate was also very cute.

Would recommend if you wanted a quick and sweet read.

3.5

Watch out for this on August 1st. It’s brilliant. I can’t believe it’s a debut novel. Although she isn’t our protagonist here, Mimi and all her Mimi isms that open the chapters is golden. A fictional character that every girl needs. I adored the perci’s friendship with Mathias her bond with phee and finally her relationship with her overbearing critical mother. A great, fun laugh out loud read. Not just another rom com either, a glimpse into actually having the power to do over your life,

I received a free copy with gratitude from NetGalley.

Synopsis

“Look, you’re a nice girl but I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” The voicemail ends and I freeze in the dentist’s chair as I realize, I’ve just been dumped on live radio.

It took the most humiliating break-up for me to see that my life is in serious need of a do-over. Cue my anti New Year’s resolutions that even I can’t fail:
Stop dating. (Men are the worst.)
Stop trying to lose weight. (I’m never giving up chocolate.)
Stop working so hard. (Selling mortgages is not my dream career.)
Stop trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. (Start living my best life.)
Stop trying to please my mother. (It’s not possible.)

But it turns out number five is harder than I thought, as she begins her campaign to get me back with my ex. So, what’s the perfect solution to keep her out of my love life? An imaginary boyfriend—at least he was supposed to be imaginary until I blurted out my neighbor’s name…

Nate, the bad boy next door with gorgeous hazel eyes, a razor-sharp jawline and a mysterious scar, might be hot, but he’s definitely not my boyfriend. Now all I need to do is stick to my resolutions while also keeping my interfering family away from my non-existent lover who has no idea that we’re fake dating. What could possibly go wrong?

A completely addictive, feel-good rom-com perfect for fans of TikTok sensations The Love Hypothesis, The Unhoneymooners, and Sarah Adams. An absolutely hilarious page-turner for anyone who feels they need to start living life to the fullest.

Thank you NetGalley, Sharon M. Peterson and Bookouture Audio for the ARC of The Do Over. This is my personal review.
This was a fabulous audio to listen to as I was driving my myself. The narrator did an excellent job!
Perci was sitting in the dentist chair and the dentist was listening to the radio as she was working on Perci. Never did Perci imagine that she was be dumped by her boyfriend on the air just so he could win some free tickets!
This one thing changed Perci’s life but without a few bumps in the road.
I enjoyed and connected with each character in this story. The Grandmother Mimi was a hoot and she sure said what ever was on her mind.
Nate was exactly what Perci needed in her life! Their connection was perfect.

When Perci gets dumped by her boyfriend over the radio to win a contest for concert tickets, she thinks she’s hit her lowest point. She doesn’t like her job working for her family, she doesn’t love the way she looks and she really doesn’t like being compared to her beauty queen sister and she can’t live up to her parents, especially her mother’s expectations of her. She considers herself to be an all around failure. So when New Year’s Eve rolls around, her best friend Matthias makes her a list of anti-resolutions for her to follow like “don’t try to lose weight” “don’t try to be a better daughter” and other things that are really freeing if she can make herself go by them. When she has one last run in with her now ex boyfriend, who also happens to work for her parents, she decides to quit her job and goes to work at a local daycare and finds herself happy to walk to work everyday. She also happens to meet her neighbor, Nate, and his daughter. Sparks fly with Nate, but one of the resolutions is to not date for a year, and Nate has a lot on his plate so he’s fine with it. However, neither can deny their connection.
As the years goes on, Perci finds her voice and figures out how to make herself happy instead of everyone else. She finally stands up for herself and changes the dynamics of her life in every way.
There were lots of things I liked about this story, including the unique way of getting dumped, and I loved Mimi, Perci’s grandmother. I liked that Nate wasn’t typically handsome but I also didn’t like that the author kept pointing that out over and over. We get it lol. I also liked that Perci’s journey inspired her sister to reevaluate her life as well. It’s total predictable but it was a fun way to spend the morning listening to it while I worked.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

This is a clean romance with aspects of familial tension at the forefront. There are discussions of weight and fat shaming so please check out the content warnings.
One thing that really confused me throughout the book was the title. The Do-Over just didn’t really encapsulate the story in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean the book wasn’t good. I enjoyed the book but felt like I kept waiting for that “aha, the title makes sense!” moment and I never felt that way. I think there are likely a few aspects that could have been the intent, but it just didn’t feel entirely apparent for me.

I feel like a lot of romance books nowadays with fat female main characters are always confident in their bodies, which is great, but I honestly really enjoyed that this wasn’t the case for this book. I felt it was tied with Percy’s journey and was an important aspect to explore especially in regards to the familial relationships.

The ending was a tad rushed, and tied up nice and neat without much explanation into what changed (behind the scenes, there is an explanation but since it’s a single POV book, it just felt like a character changed their mind since we did not see them suffer internally at their actions).

I’ve never read this author but will keep my eye out for more work in the future!

It’s an easy assumption that after the first chapter you would think The Do-Over is a romance book. But it’s not. It’s more of a journey of a woman making her life her own. Romance is there, but it’s a side dish to the meal. Persephone, journeys through relatable situations one who struggles with confidence and self esteem would experience. I enjoyed watching her fight for her own needs regardless of her family expectations. The side characters are memorable and fun to read however there are moments that I wish weren’t described in a rush such as Persey’s date. This is a highly anticipated scene and it felt like it ended too quick.
The narration is done well excluding one male character in the beginning but fortunately that character rarely speaks after the first few chapters.

I adored this romance, This storyline had me interested the whole way through. Although Percy didn't have a backbone in the beginning she worked up to it and she made the changes needed to have a happy life.

I love a curve MC and although I don't love when weight is an issue I can see it's needed for Percy's backstory and development.

Mimi the grandmother was funny and important to this story and clearly the hero that helps Percy develop a lot.

I enjoy the person who voiced they did a great job in bringing the story to life. However she was great at all the female voices -the male voices could be a little more distinct but all in all, it wasn't a big issue

DNF @ 25%

I've been really struggling to connect with this story, especially considering it almost feels like the primary romance is between her best friend and her sister while she has only interacted with the love interest one two very short occasions.

What really turned me off was when she said she knew it "probably wasn't politically correct to want the husband / family / house thing" (summarized) because...what? This honestly makes no sense to me. Feminism is about encouraging women to pursue *whatever* they want and that includes having a family, if one chooses. Honestly, I think they could have picked another word/phrase and it would have been fine but this just didn't sit quite right with me.

That said, I did appreciate the curvy FMC and the discussions regarding fatphobia.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

If you were a fan of Dumpling you will love the Do-Over!

I listened to the audiobook and I felt like I was in southern America. The story is paced well and easy to keep up with the audiobook. Each chapter there is words of wisdom from Mimi, the grandmother of our main character Perci. My favourite words of wisdom was "Don't judge a book by it's cover, you know it'll be better than the movie".

I loved that our main character was plus size and I loved watching her come into her own and gaining her confidence. All the characters were perfectly written, even the irritating ones were perfect, like Percy's mother constantly bringing up Perci's weight. I love the humour and that it didn't over shadow the tougher topics.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audiobook to review.

The full review can be found on Goodreads.

I adored this book! It was such an easy read, with both great main and side characters. I especially loved Mimi and Lilah, who were both pretty much crazy, but amazing. I loved the little saying by Mimi above each chapter, and I also liked the fact that the chapters weren't too long. I loved Nate and Perci's chemistry, and I enjoyed reading about the development of their relationship. However, I disliked Perci for a bit at the end because of her actions and how unnecessary they were, and although I feel like some things were convenient – just a means of progressing the story – I did really like the book. I also enjoyed the narrator's voice, and I feel like it was easy to follow along. I definitely recommend this book if you’re in for an easy but very lovely read!

I really enjoyed The Do Over, it was the perfect book to read via audiobook, the narrator Elise Roth did a great job.

Perci is hugely relatable, making her story all the more endearing.

She is a plus-sized (normal sized!?!?) heroine dealing with heartbreak, an overbearing mother, career hiccups, finding love and most importantly, understanding and finding herself.

Nate, the grumpy neighbour and Mimi, Perci's grandmothers were just as endearing and made The Do Over a book with humour, depth and heartfelt moments.

The Do Over is a perfect story about changing your outlook on life, not letting yourself be molded into a shape you don’t want and standing up for yourself to people you love. It’s a great read for anyone and there’s some great lessons to be learned along the way.


Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

I loved this audio so much. A romantic comedy or more just romance for me. I adored the style of thos book really a lot. It was a nice journey of transformation, also growing of a peraonality and also relarionships, resolving several family issues.

I loved the grandmothers begginings of the chapters and all the sidea characters. Everything was perfectly done. I felt so sad at the beggining couse beeing dumped like that was cruel. But fortunately all things happen for a reason. It was meant to be for Percy to find someone better. And it was maybe a challenge but aa I said I just adored this. The neighbour was just great friend, confidant and...more. I felt in love again. I say just this, I hope that many will enjoy this book so much as I did.

Thank you Bookouture Audio and Netgalley for this alc.

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️🌛
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Thankyou #netgalley #sharonpeterson #bookouture for the arc copy of this book for a honest review.
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⚠️Body shaming, toxic relationship.
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5⭐️ For narrating the story, the narrator was great and makes me go with the giggles all the time.
Percy is a strong lady. After getting through a breakup after being dump via radio for tickets, she experiences some food addiction. She also doesn’t have any confidence on her own after breakup especially when her mum wants her to wear dark clothing to make her skinnier.
But I like the fact that she stand up for herself at the end, wearing bright colours and go for her dream to have a daycare business.
I love the fact that even she doesn’t get so much confidence or her body she was very vocal and say what she wants.
. The annoying part is when Nate and her met. Nate is like 2/5 for me on his character . Abit childish on his part and Percy is a strong lady. It doesn’t make sense .
Anyway, a happy ending at the end. Just doesn’t like the plot of them getting into break and getting back again, the ending is abit rush.



❤️Shaye.reads

This is such an easy and fun audiobook to listen to perfect for taking on holiday! The main character is Perci - I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in her. Poor Perci sadly gets dumped by her boyfriend over the radio. From this moment onwards we follow Perci’s transformation within herself and her confidence begins to soar. We also get to meet a fabulous cast of characters - one being Mimi who comes out with some epic lines and was my favourite character of all! This audio book is narrated by Elise Roth and she narrates the story effortlessly it really is a joy to listen to. This is just a lovely, humorous, relatable and funny listen that is out on the 1st of August. Thank you so much to Bookouture and to Netgalley for my gifted copy.

Loved this audiobook. The family in this story are so relatable and I loved all of the characters and their life stories and this audio just felt like a warm hug to me.

The do over was an entertaining read…..Definitely a feel good story about finding yourself and new beginnings. Narration of this book was so good, brought the book alive for me and I easily followed the storyline. My cheeks hurt from smiling through this delightful book. This one kept me hooked and entertained until the last page… I read the audiobook version and really enjoyed the narrator. Highly recommend if you want a fun, easy listen with lovable characters.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio and the author for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The book follows the story of Persephone 'perci' Amelia Mayfield who wanted to grow up and live life to the fullest just like her Mimi. But growing up is funny business, especially when you have a helicopter parent like Roberta aka Bobbie Jo, her mom who doesn't just think she knows whats best for her daughter, but knows, moulds and changes their lives actively into what she deems perfect. What this leads to 27 year old Perci still living as per her mom's script. But when she gets dumped by her boyfriend over a radio gameshow, Perci knows and decides she has had enough. The story then progresses to Perci taking active steps to defy her mom and the way she thinks to try and be happy.

Let me confess, adult romcoms are not really my genre of choice, but this book made me laugh out loud, giggle all while feeling all the emotions. The romance is there, is a big element and yet not the fundamental element. I would like to call this book a story of mothers and daughters, because that's what it is. The romance is really cute, and not completely cingey (except for the obvious fairytale moments) which worked perfectly for the plot. The best part of this book is active character growth and progression we can see in the characters across the span of an year. Inspite of all this I feel absolutely no compassion for Perci's mother, I could absolutely not excuse her for her actions whatsoever her reasons, because they were outrageous, priviledged and selfish and I felt like amends were made too soon and too quickly. And don't even get me started on Brent (read pr**ck) and Joel Allen (read a**h*le). I also have to admit I struggled with representation (IYKYK!)

Things I absolutely adored in this books include Mimi, she is a force of nature, the quotes from her at the beginning of each chapter was a total knockout. Nate, our love interest mainly because he is described as not handsome and he is one of the most healthy book boy friends I have read about with just some drawbacks!! Perci and Mathias's friendship, Perci and Phee reconnecting and becoming the sisters they have always wanted to be. The whole discussion regarding body image and weight and diet was really well-handled and I loved the moment when Perci decided to chuck the diets and spanx and live her life her way. Also the food fight had me chortling even though it was also a very serious point in the story!! I thoroughly enjoyed the narration and some of the voices that the narrotor did was absolutely hilarious, epecially Brent!!

In conclusion, The do-over was everything it promised funny, feel-good, thought provoking yet light!

TW: Hypercontrolling 'helicopter'parenting, Body shaming, Sexism, Toxic relationships rep

I really loved reading about Percy’s (main character) journey to finding happiness. The description of this book makes it seem like it’s mainly a romance story. There definitely is romance (and it’s very sweet), but it’s more so about a woman taking steps in life to be the person she wants to be, with the help of her friends and family. Some of the plot points and even the personality of the characters has been done before, but that did not stop me enjoying it.

I do wish that there was more of a high level theme of the book. I understood that it was about a ‘do-over’, but I found myself wanting to tie all of Percy’s choices back to something (like why she chose her career path) and I wasn’t able to.

I read the audiobook version and really enjoyed the narrator. Highly recommend if you want a fun, easy listen with lovable characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.75⭐️ Which I’ve rounded up.

A feel good light hearted Rom Com. I fancied a light summer type listen for a change from my usual delves into darkness.
I had the audiobook narrated by Elise Roth who did a great job, she had a good range of voices for the various characters. My fav voice was that belonging to Mimi.

Growing up our main character Percy wanted to grow to be just like her grandmother Mimi, who is fun loving, no messing, brash, loud and doesn’t worry about what others thinks or what she eats. Somewhere along the way she fell into a long standing dull rut of a life until she was 27, with the added hindrance of an overly controlling mother. She is given the tag as a people pleaser, she really needs to channel her inner Mimi.

This is Percy’s story of rediscovering herself and learning to love herself gaining confidence along the dreaded J word ( journey)
There are big changes along the way, her boring boyfriend dumping her on the radio. Next to go was the job she worked with the ex and her father, at this point we can see how insular her world was.

As for the characters, I found Percy too much of a drippy pleaser to be truly likeable, she did grow on me as she finally grew a ‘pair’ Mimi was my favourite, her mom on the other hand was a nightmare.

It’s a sweet story, with twists, turns and revelations along the way.
I liked some of Mini’s sayings which were used as chapter headings.
The plot was predictable, as this genre tends to be. I found it light hearted but not funny. It kept me pleasantly entertained.