The Do-Over by Lynn Painter - HIGH

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter, 291 pages. Simon, 2022. $20

Language: R (100+ swears, 15 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

11th grader Emilie has the perfect Valentine’s Day planned out – she is going to tell her boyfriend that she loves him and has the perfect present chosen. Instead, she catches him kissing his beautiful ex. Worst of all, that isn’t the last of the bad day. The next morning – that bad day starts all over. And then again. Finally, Emilie has had enough and sabotages everyone around her all day, dragging in Nick, her science lab partner and boy whose car she crashes into every day, along with her into her plan to do as much damage as possible. The next morning – it’s the 15th. Now what is Emilie going to do?

Fast paced and compelling – I finished in one afternoon. Of course, this is a take on Groundhog’s Day, and I didn’t mind at all. Watching Emilie pick up her life after she trainwrecks everything and finally figures out the real lessons she needed to learn was a lot of fun. 

Cindy Mitchell, Library Teacher, MLS