The Do-Over by Lynn Painter
A Book Review by Mina Nguyen
The Do-Over is a groundhog day, modern day rom-com perfect for Taylor Swift fans. Emilie Hornby plays by the rules. She’s a strategic planner and even has a checklist for the ideal man. On Valentine’s Day, Emilie makes sure everything goes according to plan. She’ll give her gift to her boyfriend, and her boyfriend will give a gift to her. They’ll go out to eat, and she’ll confess her love. However, Valentine’s Day is a dumpster fire after she catches her boyfriend cheating on her, so Emilie escapes to her grandmother’s house for comfort and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s at home and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And again? And again. Emilie is stuck in a time loop, and she can’t figure out how to get out of it, reliving her boyfriend cheating on her. However, she runs into Nick everyday, literally, in the most unfortunate ways. Emilie can’t strategically plan her way out of this one.
I loved this book. This book is probably one of my top books of 2022. Emilie is extremely relatable. She’s a girl who has high expectations of love, and she knows she deserves it, so she makes a checklist for all the qualities she looks for. However, her checklist might not work in terms of love, and it was so fun to see her figure this out. Also, in the beginning of each chapter, Emilie makes a confession, which is a creative way for readers to know more about her without stating it directly into the book, if it doesn’t relate to what is happening in the storyline. I found this book to be funny, and I remember laughing a few times. Lynn Painter knows how to write the perfect humor in a rom-com. There were also a lot of original moments between Emilie and her love interest; it wasn’t tropey for those who like to avoid tropes and want something original but fun. I read this entire book in one sitting. I can not praise this book enough. It was magical, funny, and perfect. Also, there are Taylor Swift references throughout the entire book. And, there is a pretty good playlist at the end, which sold me on this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Lynn Painter book I didn’t love. All her writing is incredibly well-written with the right amount of character development and romance with a little bit of humor.
Read-Alikes:
See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Soloman / If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang / Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter
