I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Wow... just wow. I read Better Than the Movies and enjoyed it, but I love this Lynn Painter novel even more. Maybe it's the fact that Emilie understood her predicament and took charge immediately. Maybe it was the fact that Nick was so swoon-worthy and mature, or maybe it was because it was so entertaining I forgot I was reading. It was all of those things, making this novel everything I hoped it would be.
I'll be recommending this book and making sure my daughter reads it when she gets to high school.

The Do-Over is a cute young-adult romantic comedy that had me charmed from the very beginning. The book focuses on Emilie Hornby who is forced to re-live Valentine’s Day over and over again. Unfortunately for her, it is not the best day for her to be reliving. She has to watch her boyfriend, Josh, kiss another girl. She also finds herself being drawn to her mysterious chem lab partner, Nick Stark.

I don’t usually enjoy Groundhog Day retellings because I find that it can get quite monotonous after a while. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this one! Lynn Painter does a beautiful job of keeping the readers’ interest while Emilie relives the same day. And she even provides a subtle clue as to why this all may be happening!

The main characters are fleshed out very well. Emilie is a delightful protagonist who goes through a beautiful character arc. Nick makes for a swoon-worthy love interest and has a depth to him that I have rarely seen in young-adult novels. The side characters are not as developed but that didn’t bother me given that we do not spend as much time with them.

The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because there was an element of insta-love to it. I won’t say much more on that as I don’t want to spoil the book.

Overall, this was a great read! It was my first Lynn Painter book, but it certainly won’t be my last! Pick this up if you want a rom com that is not only cute but has depth.

Most Memorable Quote:
Nothing makes you feel alone quite like thinking you're the only one who is alone

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest review!

Love,
Penny

okay oh my god this book is AMAZING
thankyou Simon and Schuster for this ARC i really enjoyed this book!! this book was well written, GREAT PLOT, very adventurous i loved it all so much Lynn Painter is now my favourite author. im giving this 5 stars because this was such an emotional rollercoaster and such a page turner for me!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lynn has knocked another one out of the park!

This sets around a rom com style Groundhog Day which I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever pick up and read so when I found myself constantly smiling and loving it, I was happily surprised.

The chemistry (as always) was written so well and such as easy flow to this book I read it in one day.

Lynn never lets us down. Her writing is fantastic and I always say, my favourite romance author.

100% recommend this book and all other books she’s written.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Lynn painter has done it again folks, she has this way of writing compulsively readable books. You pick them up and in about 24 hours you're done. Her books feel exactly like a good rom-com. If you ever need a sweet pick up I definetly recommend this book or better than the movies 💕

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Confession: I’m a Lynn Painter fangirl. I’ve had this book on pre-order since it was announced and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release. Did I scream when I got approved for an ARC? Maybe. Were my expectations high? Yes (blame BTTM and its general fantasticness).

I have good news: The Do-Over was marvellous. It was really adorable YA, that actually felt like YA. A few books I’ve read lately have had MCs that spoke and behaved way older than 16yos (this annoys me). The Do-Over was on the money.

Emilie has a terrible Valentine’s day, then ends up repeating it. She also bumps into Nick every repeated day, quite literally. She keeps trying to do the day over to get what she wants, but finds that the bad things keep happening anyway. Time to throw the to-do lists and plans to the wind!

The time loop concept is a popular one (I also loved Rachel Lynn Solomon’s “See You Yesterday” – another 2022 time loop book). I was intrigued to see what would set The Do-Over apart from the others- what was the fresh take on the time looping concept? This time loop story wasn’t as much about the science and “why” of the time loop, as it was about the growth of the lead female main character, Emilie. *SPOILER* I particularly liked that it was the “day of no consequences” (DONC) that was the day that followed through. Most other time loop stories have a DONC as a comic relief/frustration-release plot device, so I liked watching the leads take on the consequences of the DONC. *END SPOILER*

On the romance side of things, Nick as the male lead was lovely and charming. I do think there was scope to amp up his previous feelings about Em for *extra swoons*, but the parts of him we saw over the DONC and the earlier looping days perfectly delivered the charm you expect in YA romance. Nick and Em’s banter was sensational, and I loved how every time loop day their interactions came out differently. Such a sassy pair!

There were a few sections of the book (and I don’t know if this was just my e-book proof) that seemed to lack spacing or indications of time breaks. I felt there were time progressions that jumped really quickly without context. I also think there were a few rapid turnarounds of the initial repeats - a little more detail would be nice (but I also get that it can be tedious to repeat the same content over and over – a tough balance to strike!)

In short: bantery, hilarious YA with some good lessons on what it means to be yourself (and ya know, kissing).