This book has an interesting premise about how your life’s potential can be determined by a DNA swab of your cheek. This machine which is similar to a photo booth causes much excitement in this small town in Louisiana. It follows the lives of both the believers and non believers and effects on the town. #TheBigDoorPrize #MOWalsh #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam and M.O. Walsh for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Let me start by saying this is NOT my typical read. I’m almost strictly a contemporary romance reader these days, but it’s 2020 and the world is wacky so why not step out of my comfort zone?
The premise of this book drew me in and once I started reading, I was hooked. A small town store receives a new machine that can tell you your life’s possibilities with just a swap of your cheek. Suddenly people are stressing, realizing all of the “what ifs” in their lives. There were quite a few characters to keep track of, but I felt like the story flowed nicely and I never got too lost. I would’ve liked to see a better ending, personally, but to each their own. I really had no idea where this was all headed and that alone kept me engrossed until the very end!

A good story with an interesting premise, and quirky small town characters, but I just couldn’t bring myself to really care about any of the, very much. I think it’s more about me than about the actual novel, though. I just wasn’t motivated enough to keep reading.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Growing up in the south, I really enjoyed immersing myself in the town of Deerfield, Louisiana!

A lot of people who grow up in a small town don't really know how big they can dream, so they keep them small. But a cheek swab and a couple bucks at the DNAMIX machine that shows up at the grocery store gives people a printout of their life's possibilities using their DNA. It leaves people wondering: What would you do if you knew you were destined for something else?

The DNAMIX machine helps these small-town people dream big, and causes a lot of commotion in the process. I fell in love with each of the characters and I was rooting for their success. The pacing was right on--plenty of plot to keep things moving, but enough character building and background to win your heart.

It's a really small detail, but I especially loved the chapter titles; they were so unique and interesting. They didn't give anything away, but I kept revisiting them to see what they might be foreshadowing.

This was my first M.O. Walsh novel, and I quite enjoyed it! I'm checking out his other works to add to my TBR list.

(I'm also leaving this review on Goodreads and will post my review on Instagram @melcanwrite on pub day. I've already promoted it once on Instagram as a teaser.)

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Novel about realizing your potential and discovering inner truths.

A wonderful read.A book about a small town in Louisiana and the quirky characters that live there.A charming southern read highly recommend,#netgalley#penguinputnam

The Big Door Prize is a story about a small town in Louisianna and the quirky people we who live there. I like the book and the characters. The writing is very well done. And overall its quite enjoyable. I recommend it.

People in the small town of Deerfield, Louisiana are startled one day by a small booth that suddenly appears in the local grocery store. Upon entering the booth, people were directed to swab their cheek, insert the swab into a slot, and out came a blue paper showing what career they were best suited for, based on their DNA. Nearly everyone in the town is suddenly gripped by the frenzy of the life that “should have been.” People who had been going about their daily lives believe totally in the mysterious results and begin planning for new careers as cowboys and musicians. At the same time, the residents of Deerfield are planning for a big bicentennial celebration but the distraction of potential more exciting lives elsewhere is making it difficult to prepare.

The book mostly centers on two different families: the Hubbards and the Richieus. Douglas Hubbard is a teacher at the local high school. His wife Cherilyn spends her days working on crafts and on committees in town. They didn’t have children and now seem to have reached a crossroads in their relationship (matters not helped by the DNA booth). Jacob Richieus’s father is the mayor of Deerfield, but the high school junior is socially awkward and has spent his entire life being overshadowed by his more outgoing twin Toby. After Toby’s recent death in a car accident, his girlfriend Trina begins showing an interest in Jacob. Is it because she likes him, or that she wants him to be a substitute for Toby? She soon begins to hint that there is something not quite right with Toby’s accident.

The characters in the book all seem to be going around in a daze. Once the possibility of a different, more exciting life is dangled in front of people, they begin to live with hope and exhilaration. Most people experience an “I knew it!” moment when they seen their results, but not everyone is pleased..

I enjoyed reading the book because I had no idea where it was headed! The mystery of the DNA booth was intriguing and there is a vague sense of dread over what the teenagers are getting involved in. It was interesting to read about how quickly people are ready to believe something about themselves without questioning where the information is coming from. While the DNA booth gave hope to many, it also caused nearly everyone to question the life choices they had made so far.

I received a copy of the Big Door Prize from the publisher in exchange for this review.

A mysterious booth appears in a small louisiana grocery store which reveals each resident's true personal destiny based upon questionable DNA testing. The prominent town players, the mayor, the principal, the priest, and others are set free to pursue their new ambitions with hilarious results. This humorous, well paced narrative will keep you entertained as each storyline is intertwined one atop the other, augmenting a much darker fate for one young schoolgirl. How much of our fate is controlled by what we are led to believe about ourselves and others?

The idea behind the story is that a new machine has appeared in the local town. It can show you your full potential! Who wouldn't want to see that? Or WOULD you? That is the question to answer for the characters here.

I couldn't get into the characters in this book. I felt like they overtook the story a bit, and even led to the main plotline, which was very interesting, to become secondary. It wasn't a disappointing read by any means, but it isn't one of my favorites for the year.

A bunch of folks in PoDunk, Louisiana are sticking money in a machine (think photo booth) that will tell them about their destiny. The mayor is supposed to be a cowboy, a bored housewife is supposed to royalty and so on. This novel reminded me of a Fannie Flagg novel, which is a good thing.

quaint second-person voice is just missing me here... "How can you know that your whole life will change?" Maybe it's just out at an unfortunate time—when we all know our whole life can change...

3.75 rounded to 4. I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. I got hooked by the beginning of the story, when we were first finding out what everyone's DNAmix results were and trying to figure out how it worked. The characters were fun and quirky and immediately pulled you in so that you were invested in how their lives turned out. Even though I thought they might be a little on the "too quirky" side, they were lovable and relatable enough. I wasn't sure it was completely believable how totally and immediately the characters went all in with their DNA results, i.e. Hank's says he's destined to be a cowboy so he buys new clothes, boots, hat, and lasso, starts talking with a drawl and walking bowlegged, but it's an exaggeration that makes for a fun read.
I thought the story slowed down a lot in the middle and I was really confused about where we were going. But, I'm so glad I stuck with it because the end was really good, and as an added bonus we do get to find out the machine's origin! As a fun quarantine read, I think it was a good reminder to not take your life for granted and to always appreciate the things and people that make your life good.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. A small town grocery store has installed a DNAMIX machine. You feed the machine a swab of your cheek and it spits out information about you such as name and age but also what you were destined to be in life. The Mayor thinks he is to be a cowboy, the surgeon thinks he should be a magician and the Hubbard's wife knew she was destined for royalty. Everyone is taking on the new persona this machine says they are to be and the town is falling apart. This book was just ok. It really drug in the middle but the ending summed everything up nicely. #thebigdoorprize #MOWalsh #July2020

"The idea that a machine could tell us something about our fates? That the life a person has willfully chosen, that they had chosen together, could be a mistake"

There is a certain charm to the concept of this book. It presents a small, rural town full of average people who find their lives turned upside down by a machine that challenges their understanding of their potential. The story focuses on a few townspeople in particular and through their interwoven stories, the readers follows the journey of people who are both skeptical of the machine as well as big believers. Unfortunately the story dives so deeply into these characters that one loses track of the main premise. I wish that the ending, which was highly predictable, was followed up by more of an explanation and allowed the reader to see what happened to the town once the science behind the machine was explained.

Charming and heartfelt, The Big Door Prize would make a nice addition to most general fiction collections.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Big Door Prize.

The premise was so intriguing I had to request it so I was really excited when my request was approved.

In the small town of Deerfield, LA, a machine called DYNAMIX has the ability to foretell people's true occupation in life.

This newfangled contraption upends the lives of its residents, already preparing for their town's bicentennial, causing locals to confront painful truths and harsh realities.

This is my first book by the author, and unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

I imagined The Big Door Prize with sinister underpinnings, sort of like a Twilight Zone-like episode where the author dissects what happens to the local townspeople when a strange machine forces them to reexamine their lives and the decisions they have made so far.

The writing is good, no mistake about that, but the story is more about the townspeople, the Hubbards, a husband and teacher, and his stay-at-home wife; a local priest; a teenage boy who is grieving the loss of his twin brother, Toby, from a car accident.

Each of these individuals assess their current life after using DYNAMIX, wondering about what could have been instead of what they have right now. They are confused, befuddled, wondrous, excited and regretful, each coming to their own conclusions and contentment with their lot in life, but not without a lot of soul searching first; discovering who they are, who they are meant to be, and who they can still aspire to be.

The locals are quirky, interesting, troubled, but I had a hard time connecting to any of them. I wanted to know more about DYNAMIX. How did it get there? Is it a secret government conspiracy? What's the point?

I know DYNAMIX is just a plot device to explore the true premise behind the book: what would you do if you discovered your destiny was something other than what you are doing right now?

Would you be frustrated? Angry? Disbelieving?

Or, would you make changes that could upend your life, and the lives of those you love and care about, for the sake of fulfilling a prophecy on a blue slip of paper?

The Big Door Prize wasn't for me, but it would appeal to readers who enjoy stories about small towns, quirky townsfolk, and good character development.

1.5 stars



Dude the aliens have definitely taken me because I read all the words wrong.

When I saw this book was coming out and read the synopsis I got all kinds of excited. I was begging for it all over the internets. Then I got it and did not like it. I suck.

The local grocery store in Deerfield, Louisiana just got a new machine. It's called DNAMIX and what you do is swap your check and insert your DNA. It tells you what your life potential should be.


Dammit...that sounds so good!!!

But you really don't get much of the machine. Mostly the story is centered around a few characters. A married couple who's destiny from the machines make both of them go into a mid life crisis. A boy who's brother died from drunk driving and a few others.

I just didn't give two craps about any of it. I thought about just throwing the book to the side but I did want to see how it wrapped up. Then that was some bull crap kinda ending and it pissed me off too.
I'm giving it an "just ok" rating because I finished it.

PS I probably did read it wrong.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review

Was really digging this book and the premise, right up until the ending. The characters and setting were quirky and charming but I think everyone in the book deserved a better ending than was served up here.

The writing flows naturally here, effortless read. Giving four stars for the fun characters and first 90% of the book. I wish the author would write a whole series about Tipsy and the characters he drives around.


My copy was provided by NetGalley for review all opinions are my own.

The Big Door Prize by M. O. Walsh. A charming, well written story that at times is humorous, sometimes sad. Destiny and second chances are explored by the citizens in the small southern town of Deerfield, LA. Douglas and Cherilyn Hubbard reevaluate their lives. hopes, and dreams in a very entertaining, fast paced read.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.