Enjoyed this book by the oh so talented Suzanne Park! It's funny, romantic, and relatable for an Asian immigrant like me. A fun read! But beware, this book will most definitely make you crave sweets (Beth sounds like the perfect roommate tbh). Thank you for the eARC!

I loved this book! It’s a beautiful cover and story and everything about it was perfection. I can’t wait to see what’s next from the author.

I am usually not one for second chance romances but Suzanne Park has proven me wrong. This book was so cute, heartwarming, and lovely.

I thought that The Do-Over was such a cute book and was written really well. Lily, who is Korean American, finds out during a background check for a new job that she never really received her Bachelor's Degree and she needs to go back to school to complete her degree and graduate. This really resonated with me because I'm in my early 40's and went back to school for my Master's Degree. Like Lilly, I found it an interesting challenge to be in classes with college-aged students. I loved how she overcame adversity! I also loved the second chance romance story between Lily and Jake. I really enjoyed this story and found it was a fast read. I would definitely read another book by Suzanne Park.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review:

As a 27 year old, the idea of going back to my old university and having to relive old memories sounds painful. But that’s exactly what Lily has to do in order to land her dream job. Just a few credits shy of getting her degree, 32 year old Lily returns to her old university before she can officially receive her dream position at her dream company. The last thing she expects is to run into her college Ex, the handsome (and apparently PHD candidate ), Jake Cho.

This second chance romance takes Lily and Jake down memory lane as they relive and move forward for their awful college breakup, and possibly have another chance at happiness now.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fast and easy read. I did feel it was a little slow in some places, and I also felt like the flashbacks took me out of the stir rather then drawing me deeper in. I really loved the romance (and Jake Cho 😍) and I loved Mia, Beth, and the real depiction of true friendship between Lily and her pals.

However, Lily confused me. I could never tell why she was making the choices that she was. She was trying to land her dream job, while also writing books on the side, and trying for a prestigious Computer Science internship? That’s a lot and all seemingly very different directions. Maybe the point was that she really didn’t know what she wanted even if she thought that she did. But as someone who had to sit through random classes in college to fulfill a requirement, I couldn’t see myself trying so hard for an internship that was out of my career goals.

I would absolutely recommend this story. The Do-Over was a very sweet little book and contained a plethora of Laugh Out Loud moments and eye rolls at the old college memories Lily’s stories brought up.

What happens if you find out while interviewing for your dream job that you didn't actually graduate college 10 years ago?

For Lily, it's a nightmare, not only is she a best selling author but also a business guru. She feels immense pressure to succeed and remain successful, between her parents and her publisher. The obstacles Lily faced were relatable. I enjoyed the plot, how she was able to do college over again and the friendships she gained, they were all so supportive.

I would consider this more of women's fiction than romance. The romance was just in the background but honestly I would have been okay with not having it at all since I didn't care for her college ex. I actually liked that Lily wasn't hung up on Josh, instead she focused on taking her classes, new business opportunities and events for her book.

While it was an enjoyable and quick story, there was just something missing. I also went into this expecting a light-hearted romantic comedy and that wasn't the case.
If you enjoy women's fiction with a headstrong main character who faces many relatable challenges than this one is for you!

Thank you NetGalley, Suzanne Park, Avon and Harper Voyage for the ARC!

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Lily, a best selling author and business extraordinare, finds out she didn’t actually graduate from college after failing the background check for her dream job.

So a decade after supposedly graduating, Lily returns to her alma mater to finish her degree. Who does she run in to? Her ex just happens to be her new TA.

I enjoyed reading about Lily’s publishing exploits, feuds with other authors, and finding herself while back at college.

I least cared for the romance portion of the book, and didn’t feel that the flashbacks were necessary.

Still a decent read.

Highly recommend!

This was relatable in so many ways, from imposter syndrome to the pressure and stress from Asian parents, etc. The setting of doing over college was fun, just because I'm sure many of us also have a laundry list of things we would definitely do differently. It was great to see Lily grow from the successful person she already was, to continuing to grow as a person and overcoming and facing past obstacles. A light-hearted read that tugs on the heart that helped me self-reflect as well.

Will give feedback and my review when the HCP union gets a fair contract. Thank you so much for the book and can't wait to leave a review in the future.

This is your typical romance while not being typical at all. The Do-Over by Suzanne Park is a second-chance romance following main character Lily Lee as she returns to school after finding out she never actually graduated and is short a few classes The subplots really add to it and the character development.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

A fun book, more of a women’s fiction read than a romance to me, but I still enjoyed. I appreciated the strong characters and friendships.

I was talking about how much I enjoyed Suzanne Park’s upcoming book “The Do Over” to a friend, and they wanted to know if it was a romance. I said that, yes, it was but. It is not your typical romance, and yet it is at the same time. What I like about how this is approached is that the main story is about MC Lily has to go back to college ten years after she was sure she graduated, when she finds out she has not.

Yes, she runs into an old flame, so the book could be called a second chance romance, but that isn’t her goal. Her goal is to get her degree and go back to writing her books.

What I really like is that this has a realism about the characters. About the snide Cameron, who thinks he has Lily and all women figured out, and just wants to talk about himself, and how he knows how to write business advice books for women. I like how developed Lily’s roommate is, and how supportive her best friend Mia is.

And although it is a romance, as I said before, I had no idea if Lily was really going to pursue it, as she was busy going after business opportunities, and dealing with book signings, and trying to hide that she had gone back to school.

If you have read other books by Suzanne Park, then you know how she does not write exactly to formula, and that there are unexpected things that happen. This is no exception, and is well worth pre-odering, which I am doing, even though I got the ARC of this book to review, I want to support the author that much, so that she keeps writing these amazing stories that are a joy to read, and I hate coming to the end of.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

My first read of the year and I'm very pleased!! Suzanne does it again delivering a sweet, funny, but relatable and meaningful story. This book has a unique premise with Lily going back to complete her undergrad 10 years later. I hope this story finds readers who are in similar situations and helps them realize it's totally ok and nothing to be ashamed of. I really like how Lily had such strong support around her during this time. Personally, I resonated with the themes of being an "adult" not knowing what to do in life, trying to define what is means to be successful, and being a woman in the workplace.

The love aspect was also very cute, I liked it!! Jake was a main lead I definitely fell and was rooting for. It is light on spice, closed door.

Side characters like Lily's best friends and roommate were also likeable, as well as the people she met along the way in school. I've definitely encountered every type of character in this book from Cam's obnoxiousness to the counselor who set Lily up...

Would highly, highly recommend this book!!

This was a cute little story that was a quick and easy read. I felt that the MC's voice sounded a little closer to YA than it did a professional woman in her 30's, which I found to be occasionally distracting. Overall though, it was a decent light and fluffy story. The antagonist was delightfully hatable.

The Do-Over by Suzanne Park is a second-chance romance following main character Lily Lee as she returns to school after finding out she never actually graduated and is short a few classes. Despite being listed as a Romance, the central relationship of the novel did not take front and center throughout. The more compelling aspect of this book, in my opinion, is the strong friendships our main character Lily held with her best friend and her roommate.
I felt this book had many subplots and aspects to the story that didn’t quite meld together in the end. Overall, I found The Do-Over to be an entertaining read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved the description of The Do-Over, it conjured the image of a fun romantic comedy. However, the book actually read more as women’s fiction to me, with the romance taking a major backseat.
I enjoyed the book overall, but I’m surprised I did as I didn’t relate to (or particularly like, even) the main romantic characters. The side characters carried the story for me, and really brought the warmth, fun, and relatability to the story that the main characters lacked.
Another thing that bothered me about the book was that it hinged pretty heavily the reason for the main characters breaking up years ago, but when we find out what happened, it wasn’t all Jake’s fault as is heavily implied. The situation is something completely understandable, but Lily holds it against him for a decade as him failing her instead of an unfortunate, no-win situation with no one really at fault, and the story doesn’t present it any other way which was very frustrating.

I’d consider this book 2.5 stars. It was enjoyable, but it didn’t provide enough depth or interest to me to warrant a reread in the future, and the main characters were unlikeable to me.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lily Lee, a 30-something best selling author, finds out that she is a few credits shy of her degree. This novel follows her journey as she's forced to return to college 10 years after graduating without a degree.

Suzanne Park's The Do-Over is more of a women's fiction novel than a romantic novel, but it was still a good read! I liked the unique aspect of returning to college as an older adult. Because this book is trying to accomplish so much, it lends itself to having subplots that just fall through. The Re Do is a second-chance romance, a story about self-discovery, a novel about the importance of female friendships, an exploration of Korean culture, a dive into mental health, a coming of age, etc, etc. There's just so much, arguably too much.

Overall, I do think Lily is a likable and relatable character (though I can't say the same for Jake) with a great story. However, having this novel set as a romance dooms it to be a let-down. I think properly categorizing the book would make sure that the intended audience reads and enjoys it.

The Do-Over is a story about Lily Lee, a bestselling author of “How to Be a Work Supernova,” who is offered a highly coveted position at a top firm only to find out she doesn’t pass the employer background check. Turns out, she never actually completed her degree since she was a few credits short. So she has to return to her alma mater and finish her degree ten years later. And to add insult to injury, her new TA is none other than her college ex-boyfriend Jake Cho.

Let me start off by saying I went into this book expecting a cute second chance rom-com. That’s not what I got. I got a women’s fiction story about empowerment. Which is totally fine with me, but because I wasn’t expecting it, I was thrown off at first.

The romance is definitely a subplot in this book. Honestly, it felt like smallest part of the story. I also didn’t love Jake, something just never felt right with him. I feel like he didn’t grovel enough for what he did. He has made it onto my “the mc may have forgiven you but I haven’t” list.

I did however LOVE the relationships Lily has with Mia and then later with Beth. Those relationships felt so deep and were what really sold this story to me. It gave me found family vibes when I wasn’t expecting it!

I also enjoyed the journey of lily’s relationship with her parents. They’re unrealistic expectations for Lily starting at a very young age that causes her to stress and severe anxiety. Her mental health issues felt very real to me, the high functioning anxiety, panic attacks, and the imposter syndrome, all of it. It was very well done.

Overall I enjoyed it! However I wouldn’t recommend this book as a lighthearted romcom. This book is for those who enjoy women’s fiction, women succeeding in STEM, new career paths later in life, support for mental health and friendships that feel more like family.

Thank you to Avon/HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was initially drawn to The Do-Over because of the incredible cover! Then after reading the synopsis, I was so excited to read it because it kind of reminded me of the Melissa McCarthy movie, Life of the Party. However, this one fell a bit flat for me.

What I liked:

- I liked the overall concept of returning to college as an older adult and reliving the "college experience".
- I really enjoyed the friendship between Lily and Mia (and Beth!).

What I didn't enjoy as much:

- I never felt super connected to Lily and unfortunately couldn't relate to her.
- The relationship between Lily and Jake didn't feel real to me and I couldn't feel the chemistry. I wouldn't exactly call this one a romance actually. It reads more like women's fiction to me, which was enjoyable. Especially watching Lily explore her heritage and regain confidence.
- I had some trouble following some of the dialogue.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Suzanne Park and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this ARC!