I always have fun with books that explore the "what if" - how would my life look if I made different choices?

This one does so in a creative way that I haven't seen before which was fun and refreshing. A bit out there but that's part of what makes it fun

I absolutely love the originality of this book! That is hard to find sometimes. The writing was very engaging. The character development was good, though the characters themselves fell flat for me with the exception of the main character. The plot was great and well executed.
I do not, however, like the cover. It made this book look lame. It isn’t lame, I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Really great and engaging story. I enjoyed the characters, they were all interesting in their own ways, and I could relate to the main character. Really kept me reading, was a page turner and I didn't want to put it down. The premise was interesting and it kept me reading in order to find out what the memo was and what it was all about. Had good suspense and mystery elements as well. Ending wrapped up nicely and didn't leave anything unfinished. Would read more by this author in the future.

While the idea for this book is fantastic, it fell just a touch flat for me. It was really enjoyable at moments, but it just felt like it spent too much time bouncing around between timelines and not enough time developing the characters or the story. While Jenny was bouncing around lost and confused, so were we.

We don't get to dig too deeply into the characters and there were quite a few times where I just wanted to slow down and really try to understand what was happening to who. It never really made me care for any of the characters and everything just felt really disjointed.

That said, I did enjoy seeing characters face consequences and the book does a great job of showcasing that "butterfly effect" of seemingly small decisions which makes for a really interesting time travel story.

I actually would rate this at a 2.5 star, but rounding up.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the gift NetGalley copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️From the publisher Harper Perennial: Do you ever feel like your life doesn’t measure up to everyone else’s—and wonder if you just didn’t get the memo helping you make the right choices?
Jenny Green dreads her upcoming college reunion. Once top of her class, the thirty-five-year-old finds herself stuck in a life that isn’t the one she expected. All her friends seem to have it all figured it out. Did she just not get the memo they all did?
As it turns out, she didn’t!
When she arrives at her alma mater for the festivities, she receives a text from an unlisted number.
Somewhere on campus, a discreet female-led organization provides comprehensive memos to select students, a set of instructions that are a blueprint for success.
The first time around, Jenny didn’t receive hers. Now, she’s being given the second chance she wants, but at what price?
****************
My review: I love a time loop/travel book. The premise of The Memo is great. Jenny never got her memo about how to proceed and succeed in life, and everyone else did. She gets to essentially do some things over once she realizes she is a Memo candidate.
While her two BFFs are pretty “surface-y” characters, and I had a hard time suspending disbelief regarding “The Consortium”, I enjoyed the book. The idea that one misstep or choice can lead or change a life is so interesting to me and Jenny had the chance to change her past actions or situations. I loved that she had a hard time keeping things secret and not blowing her time travel knowledge when she was in the past…now that’s realistic!
It got a little confusing with the timelines, I had to stop and reread in a few places. But I liked the ending.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

A super fun and intriguing premise - what would happen if your classmates from college got the memo - in other words, what if you were the only one who didn't "get the memo" and didn't even know there was really a memo? I'm drawn in by sliding doors type stories about the path in life not taken and this is the concept here. Jenny at age 36 wasn't in a good place in life and it's time to go to her 15 year college reunion with all of her beautiful and successful classmates - those who it turns out got the memo. She reunites with Desiree who it turns out had offered Jenny the memo during college but Jenny stuck to her own path instead. Desiree offers Jenny another chance to see her pathetic life choices in contrast to what might have been. This happens about a third of the way into the book and it's where the book fell off for me. By taking the path of the memo, you need to follow it exactly without question and it removes your free will. I questioned everything in this book and the choices you make in life - both good and bad - make you what you are in life, for better or worse - who cares about perfection? I guess that was the point of the book but the entertainment factor diminished for me as the book progressed. Grateful to NetGalley for an advance copy and still glad I read this.

This book just wasn't my cup of tea. It wasn't bad at all, I just found it a little boring and the pacing was off for me. I felt like I didn't have time to get to know the characters.

The premise of this book is super unique and interesting. I love “do over” type books and this was fine so well! A story of friendships and what ifs. I really enjoyed this one!

I am not the biggest fan of going back in time books, but something about the Memo stood out to me, and I decided to give it a try.

When Jenny Green returns to her 15th-year college reunion, she gets suspicious texts that offer her the ability to go back and re-do the last 15 years, fix some of the mistakes she made, and alter her future.

I liked how this handled the idea of fixing parts of your life and having something better. This book focused more on the impact of friendships, and it felt like it really came down to having to choose between to friends because the paths were very different. I really enjoyed the book until the end. I hate that one of the characters went to jail, and toward the end the book seemed to slow down and loose its fizz. The overall ending was nice, and I think this book is a great millennial story.

3.5 stars

Thank you the Publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

If you liked the Midnight Library and or Cult Classic, this is a read for you. A fun lit-fic with a overall self growth moral. Has some light sci-fi elements, where the character travels to parallel timelines, and shows the butterfly effect of decisions. Easy beachy read.

This was a quick rom-com read. The premise of the book was interesting, but I didn’t feel like the time hopping was executed as well as it could have been. The main character Jenny is written well and the author had me as the reader agreeing that Jenny wasn’t being true to herself. I think the ending was too predictable and it could have been interesting if Jenny had pulled the lever and took the path of joy and somehow later found her way out from that path and connected with Geeta at that time and then had the ending we had. I know that would have made for a longer book, but it was enjoyable to hear the adventures happening in the “perfect” life path. Lastly, it would have been interesting if Gabe could’ve appeared all those times in her “perfect” life and had brief interactions that didn’t result in needing to have him vanish.

Overall I enjoyed the ending and found this to be a fun light read. Will be a great summer pool book for people.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. I’m DNF’ing at 52% because I’m having a hard time keeping track of the storyline and all the characters. I also found myself not thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it, which is unusual. I think it will find its audience and people will enjoy it - if you liked Oona Out of Order and/or The Midnight Library, I think you’ll enjoy this. But that trope surprisingly doesn’t work for me so I think it’s just not for me.

This cover drew me in, immediately! The story is fun to read and has comedic moments but also a deep and thought provoking topic. Very good!

<b>My rating: </b> 3 out 5 --> An easy to read story with a extremely relatable main character

<b> Novel's Intention/obstacle: </b> The protagonist's wonders why her life doesn't look as "successful" as your friends at her college reunion. She is presented with the opportunity to follow her "personal memo" that will make her life more of a success like her friends. We follow as she takes this journey to change her situation and learn more about what she really wants.

<b> What I liked </b>
The book is well organized into a clear three act structure with the labels 'Memo-less', 'Memo-made', and 'Memo-unsubscribed'.

The protagonist is extremely relatable. If you are in your 30s or 40s and questioned 'what if' in your own life then you will relate to this character.

<b> What I didn't like </b>
I didn't love the ending because the consequences for the various characters involved seemed very unbalanced.

The Memo is a good fit for readers who are interested in exploring the themes of self-discovery, personal growth, and the pursuit of happiness and success, as the protagonist is given a rare opportunity to rewrite her life story and make the right choices.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for allowing me to read an ARC of The Memo by Rachel Dodes and Lauren Mechling, in exchange for my honest review.

Who wouldn't love a do-over of some of their not-so the finest moments?

This was a quirky and entertaining journey through the "what ifs" of Jenny Green's life. Truly enjoyable!

I definitely recommend this book!

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the message it conveyed, but I felt that it lagged at times. It really didn't evoke any emotions from me, good or bad, so I don't have a lot to say about it. But for a debut novel, I think it is a good read.

The whole premise of this book (aside from the magic of it all) is so relatable. Everyone around you seems like they know exactly what to do and they're doing the right thing, while you're floundering and wondering what you missed. In this book, Jenny finds out that she literally did miss The Memo, and that's why her life has been one disaster after another. There's time travel, the butterfly effect concept, and lots of questions about if the grass is really greener.

I really enjoyed this story! I'm a sucker for anything involving time travel, and while there are some things I would've loved to see improved (for example, the way to propel back is to look at a curated collection of "Pathetic" moments in your life - didn't love that as a concept or how at the end, we see a glimpse of resolution but don't get any firm like yes, Jenny made the right choice and is happy with her choice), I liked this a lot as a whole.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Oof, I was skipping pages right from the first chapter. This one's not for me. Disliked all of the characters. Interesting premise. DNF'd at 30% and it hadn't even gotten to the time travel part yet.

This book is unlike any other I’ve read. The plot will get you from the go - don’t miss THE MEMO on this book. You’ll regret it and might not get a re-do. Read the book and it’ll make sense!