Book Review: The Do-Over

I raved about Mr. Wrong Number last month and I knew I wanted to read more by Lynn Painter. In addition to adult romance, she also writes very popular YA books. When I found out The Do-Over is one of her YA books that takes place at Valentine’s Day, I knew I had to read that one next.

The Do-Over follows high school junior, Emilie. Her parents are divorced and while they love her, they fight with each other so much that sometimes their dislike of each other eclipses their attention and love for their daughter. This has led Emilie to become a perfectionist and to do everything in her power at all times to be in control and never make waves because she doesn’t want to give either parent a reason to be upset.

Determined to make this Valentine’s Day the perfect one, she makes a checklist. One of the things on the list is telling her boyfriend, Josh, that she loves him. But her Valentine’s Day turns into the worst day ever with one thing after another going wrong. Starting with crashing her car into Nick Stark’s truck (he’s her chem partner and is a grump) and followed up by horrible things like losing out on a summer program, finding out her dad has accepted a new job out of state, and catching her boyfriend cheating on her. As if this horrible day couldn’t get any worse, she wakes up the next day to find out it’s February 14th all over again.

Emilie relives the day over and over again. She tries to change things up each time, but the outcome is always the same. Finally fed up, she decides to have a DONC – Day of No Consequences – because whatever she does, whoever she tells off, etc. won’t matter tomorrow when she relives the day again. She decides to take Nick along with her for the DONC since she has gotten to know him after reliving the same day over and over again. Together they have an adventure and Emilie can’t do whatever she wants without trying to be perfect for her parents. The downside? Nick won’t remember their perfect day together. But what happens when the days stop repeating themselves?

I really liked this book. It was adorable! The whole DONC day was cute and I loved Emilie and Nick getting to know each other. The ending was so cute too!

Spoiler

I wish there was a scene where she really tells her parents how she feels and makes them realize how crappy they’ve been to her over the years. But other than that I really enjoyed this book!

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