Happy Tuesday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for THE DO OVER by Lynn Painter! I’m so excited because today I have an excerpt of the book to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so excited to for you to find out more about it, PLUS enter for a chance to win a print copy!
The Do-Over by Lynn Painter Published on November 15, 2022 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 304
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day.
Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways.
How many days can one girl passively watch her life go up in flames? And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?
One
When Valentine’s Day rears its sugary-sweet, heart-shaped head, there are two types of people who receive it.
First, you have the full-on lovers of the holiday, hopeless romantics obsessed with the idea of love itself. These individuals believe in fate and soul mates and the notion that the universe sends out winged, mostly naked babies to shoot arrows into select single people, thus infecting them with true love that may cause drowsiness and a massive happily-ever-after.
Then you have the cynics, those curmudgeonly souls who call it a “Hallmark holiday” and complain that if true love exists, its proclamations should be expressed spontaneously on any random day and without the expectation of gifts.
Well, I am neither—and both—of these people.
I do believe that Valentine’s Day is an overcommercialized Hallmark holiday, but I also think there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the materialistic side effects of the celebration. Bring on the chocolates and flowers, and throw in a gift card to the local bookstore while you’re at it.
And yes, I believe in the existence of true love. But I strongly suspect that fate and soul mates and love at first sight are concepts created by the same people still waiting for Santa to show up with that puppy they asked for when they were seven years old.
In other words, I absolutely expect love in my life, but there is no way I’m going to sit around and wait for fate to make it happen.
Fate is for suckers. Love is for planners.
Two
Nick stared at me for a solid five seconds before muttering what sounded like Hell no as he pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the insurance card. After that, he insisted on calling the police when my van started smoking. I tried to insist that it was drivable—I needed to get to school and hear my poem, dammit—until the engine went up in flames and the firemen had to put it out.
Ugh, my dad was going to kill me.
And then my mom was going to pick apart my corpse until there was nothing left.
And I wasn’t going to have time for Josh’s poem until after first block.
“Here.” Nick came over from his truck and held out a coat. “I know it doesn’t match your outfit, but it’s warm.”
I wanted to say no because I blamed him for this disaster, but I was chilled. My classic pink Ralph Lauren oxford dress had been too cute to cover with a coat, but that’d been before I was standing out in the cold, watching my vehicle become a bonfire.
“Thanks,” I said as I slid into the army-green jacket that nearly went down to my knees.
Nick crossed his arms and surveyed the scene of emergency responders cleaning up the wreckage. “At least you already had a clunker.”
“I think you mean ‘classic,’” I said, even though I hated my creeper van. There was just something about Nick’s attitude—and the fact that he didn’t recognize me—that made me want to argue with him.
He crossed his arms and said, “You doing okay here?” I fake-smiled and bit out, “Wonderful.”
I glanced down at my phone. No notifications. Neither of my parents answered when I tried calling them, which wasn’t surprising. I desperately wanted to text Josh, but the last thing I needed to do was remind Nick that I might’ve been distracted when I hit him.
The police officer got there quickly after the firemen and was relatively nice as he wrote me the citation that was sure to get me grounded.
Ugh.
Nick looked at me as the tow truck disappeared with my van. “You want a ride? I mean, we’re going to the same place and you’re dressed like that.”
I looked down at my bare legs and brown leather booties, clenching my teeth to keep them from chattering. “Like what?”
“Ridiculously.”
“Hey.”
He actually grinned at my expression. “I wasn’t impugning your fashion choices—you look very, um, polo player’s girlfriend, don’t worry. I was merely referring to your bare legs and the fact that it’s, like, twenty degrees outside. Ride? Yes?”
I swallowed and buried my frozen nose in the coat collar. It smelled like cold and motor oil. “Um, yeah. I guess.”
“You mean thank you?”
That actually made me smile a little. “Thank you so much, my amazing savior.”
“That’s more like it.”
About Lynn Painter
Lynn Painter is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author who writes romantic comedies for both teens and adults. She lives in Nebraska with her husband and pack of wild children, and when she isn't reading or writing, odds are good she’s guzzling energy drinks and watching rom-coms.
Week One
| 11/7/2022 | YA Books Central | Excerpt |
| 11/8/2022 | Kait Plus Books | Excerpt |
| 11/9/2022 | A Dream Within A Dream | Excerpt |
| 11/10/2022 | Mindyourshelf | IG Review |
| 11/11/2022 | Fire and Ice | Review |
| 11/12/2022 | @booksrn_rashi | IG Review |
Week Two
| 11/13/2022 | My.Bookish.Mind | IG Review/TikTok Post |
| 11/14/2022 | travelersguidetobooks | IG Review |
| 11/15/2022 | @jennareadstuff | TikTok Review/IG Post |
| 11/16/2022 | A Court of Coffee and Books | Review/IG Post |
| 11/17/2022 | The Page Ladies @jacleomik33 | IG Review |
| 11/18/2022 | OneMoreExclamation | Review/IG Post |
| 11/19/2022 | onemused | IG Review |
Week Three
| 11/20/2022 | Nerdophiles | Review |
| 11/21/2022 | Books With A Chance of Traveling | Review/IG Post |
| 11/22/2022 | @planwithemm | IG Review |
| 11/23/2022 | @just_another_mother_with_books | IG Review |
| 11/24/2022 | The Book View | Review/IG Post |
| 11/25/2022 | A Blue Box Full of Books | IG Review/LFL Drop Pic |
| 11/26/2022 | Lisa Loves Literature | Review/IG Post |
Week Four
| 11/27/2022 | Two Points of Interest | Review |
| 11/28/2022 | The Real World According To Sam | Review/IG Post |
| 11/29/2022 | @thechattybookworm | TikTok Review/IG Post |
| 11/30/2022 | Confessions of a YA Reader | Review |
| 12/1/2022 | @lexijava | Review/IG Post |
| 12/2/2022 | Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers | Review/IG Post |
Enter here for a chance to win a print copy of THE DO OVER by Lynn Painter!
(US Only)
What do you think about The Do Over? Have you added it to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!
I adored Better Than the Movies and love the premise of this book too.
interesting