I loved this book so much. Getting to watch Lily learn and grow and finally figure out who she was and wanted to be was so rewarding. I loved her friendships and seeing her relationship with Jake rekindled was adorable. But i also loved the feminist aspect of the story! I really wanted to punch Cam every time he opened his mouth, but loved that Lily shuts him up in the end. This was such an uplifting story with moments of cuteness and lots of strong women!

Unfortunately this book fell flat for me as I wanted the rom-com but got more of a women’s fiction story. Just overall not my favorite plot line or writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this DRC.
Lily Lee is living a nightmare. She found out she didn’t actually graduate from college. When she decides to complete her degree, her old college boyfriend is her TA. Will Lily get a college do over and a boyfriend do over?
Lily is a relatable character in a position most would not want to be in – at least the college part. Finding your attractive available ex-boyfriend. Sounds good to me.

#TheDoOver #NetGalley

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

I overall enjoyed The Do-Over by Suzanne Park. I think it's an entertaining romantic comedy with a unique plot. I did feel a bit bored at parts, but I listened to this on audio, so the narration kept me engaged. The relationship between Lily and Jake felt rushed and forced at times. They just saw each other after many years, but it was almost instantaneous that they were back together. It just felt somewhat unbelievable to me.

I love Suzanne Park writing style. I've read most of her books and this one didn't disappoint. if you like light hearted romcom and second chances trope, this book is for you. I just wanted to know more about the side characters. they were a blast.

I think this book is slightly marketed incorrectly. I thought it would be a cutesy and funny second chance Romance, which it is, but I'd say it's more a Contemporary novel about personal growth.

I absolutely loved the character of Lily. She has to return to college 10 years later after realizing she didn't actually get her degree. Absolute nightmare! But she handles it with grace and ends up rocking at the classes she takes.

I was pretty neutral on Jake as a love interest. I liked him, but didn't feel the urge to root for him and Lily to end up together.

Lily Lee is a successful author and just landed her dream job. The problem is that the dream job ran a background check, and she never completed her undergraduate degree due to a few missing credits. She has always felt like a failure, and now it appears true. Ten years after graduating, she must complete the missing credits to complete her degree. When she enters her computer science class, she realizes her TA is her college boyfriend, Jacob Cho. Jake is working on completing his doctorate and never expected to have Lily as a student. As a result of this shake-up, Lily and Jake work through their past issues and rekindle their friendship. This was a fun, outlandish, witty second-chance romance that kept you entertained until the very end.

Who amongst us hasn’t had the stress dream that we’re actually a few credits short and never graduated college? I have it routinely.

The Do-Over is exactly that, where Lily lee, a best-selling author who’s applying for a high-level job finds out that she, well, was a few credits short at graduation. This alone is catastrophic to her, but what makes it even worse? Her TA is her old college boyfriend, Jake Cho.

On paper, this should be perfect for me, but it kept falling flat. I needed more development between Lily and Jake. Show me more moments of them falling back in love! It seemed like everything between them was very surface level and nothing went into too much detail. Even when The Third Act happened, I was expecting something more, something juicy to dig into.

But at the end of the day, this was fine. It didn’t reach high highs or low lows.

3 stars

This was an enajoyable, easy read, but I found a lot of the conflict to be utterly contrived and illogical. Now, this is a romance, so that's not necessarily a deal-breaker! But there needs to be something else, something magical between the characters to make up for their irrational behavior. It just wasn't here, unfortunately. The third-act breakup and the reason for their previously break-up made me actively mad; to call it a communication issue is to say Clifford is a big dog: true, but so much more than that.

The Do Over
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Suzanne Park
GR: 3.32

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Avon Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Lily Lee is a bestselling author of the How to Be a Supernova At Work series, and her editor wants her to strike while the iron’s hot with a new book, How to Land the Perfect Job. But when Lily is offered a coveted position at a top firm, the employer background check reveals she’s short a few college credits and never actually completed her degree. Unbelievably, her worst nightmare has come true.

Lily returns to her alma mater, reliving her senior year of college ten years later. She enrolls in classes, gets invited to frat parties, eats most of her meals with “dining dollars,” and to make things even more weird and chaotic, she discovers that her computer science TA is her old college boyfriend, Jake Cho.

As Lily and Jake reconnect, she sees that her ex has done well for himself: the handsome, charming grad student appears to have his life together while Lily’s so close to losing her dream job opportunity and her book deal.

Things aren't so simple the second time around

My Thoughts: This book was more women’s fiction with an aspect of romance. It carried a good message, women should empower themselves and always stand in their truth. The best way I can describe this book is Lily’s journey to discover what she truly wants out of life and the steps to get there. The romance was not as strong as I would have liked, it was more like a subplot than the whole plot. Not to say this was not a good novel, I did enjoy reading it, I just wanted more in the romance department, more chemistry, more banter, did I say more chemistry? This was not a bad read, I did enjoy it, but believed I would have enjoyed it more if it was labeled as a women’s fiction versus a romance.

The story is narrated by Lily, mostly in the present with flashbacks to the past. Lily is unsure of herself, even though she had always thought she was confident. The female relationships were heartfelt and I loved them. There is the dialogue between the characters and there is also Lily’s inner dialogue, where you find out a great deal about her. While the book is premised on a second chance romance, it is also Lily’s opportunity at a second chance at life. The author did a fantastic job at addressing mental health and did it so gracefully. Lily had a tremendous amount of growth throughout the novel. Overall, this was a good story and I would recommend to others.

The premise of this novel pulled me in without a doubt. The idea of retiring to school (successful no less) and seeing your college boyfriend... as your TA. I loved it! Sadly I did feel it fell a little short. I usually don't mind if a book is closed door as long as the chemistry between the characters is off the charts and for me this one wasn't there. I could tell that they were attracted to each other and there was obviously unresolved feelings but past that is fell flat. I still enjoyed myself reading this and would easily read future novels by this author!! Also yes to more conversations about imposter syndrome please!!!

I loved this one! It plays a really nice line between YA/early adult (with the university setting, study hall, midterms drama, etc) and more adult contemporary (MC is in her 30s, dealing with all of the real-world problems of people being in their 30s) in a way that let me get the best parts of both genres. It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s everything a contemporary romance should be, with a side of quarter-life crisis of self-reinvention. The ending, if a smidge predictable (like all the best romance novels are, in my opinion) really stuck with me in the sense of “it’s never too late to do something again and/or for the first time.”

This was my first Suzanne Park book and it was a fun, crazy read. The plot did not feel realistic to me at all, but once I got over that it was enjoyable. I thought that the main characters were generally likable, but the side characters were who really made this story for me. I love the family that Lily creates for herself during her second chance.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley.

Sometimes when you pick up a romance and instead you get a fiction novel with a romance as a subplot... well, that is this novel. It's not bad, but it's not the type of romance you would think it is from the descriptions or the cover. It's more of an empowerment, self-worth story with a sprinkle of romance here and there. Again, it's not bad, but not the swoony type of story that most people who look in the romance section think they are getting.

🎓Summary🎓

Lily has a great job now as a consultant and writer, after quitting her corporate job. After writing a best selling book about , she’s on track to write book number two and take her career to the next level. When a company considering hiring her does a background check that she fails, Lily learns that in her last semester of college, when she was struggling with personal issues, poor advice from her advisor meant she never actually earned her college diploma. Now, she’s back at Calthorpe to take the last classes for her degree and her college ex is the TA for one of the classes she needs to graduate.

🎓Review🎓

This book was all about second chances. Lily, needing to officially graduate from college, is now living with a new roommate, taking classes outside of her wheelhouse (Computer Science anyone?), and making friends. It is a second chance, but I would say, less second chance romance and more second chance at figuring things out. Some of the story was a little ridiculous. This college seems to be a hot mess if there is not a list of requirements somewhere! And while there is a focus on mental health, it also didn't seem to be as fleshed out as it could have been to be really impactful. And things just tied up in a neat bow at the end but with all the messiness Lily needed to overcome, it seemed too perfect for the story and her life. It was a good read for something light, but I think there was a missed opportunity to flesh out some of the story lines to make it more impactful and more engaging.

Lily Lee is a best selling author of HOW TO BE A SUPERNOVA AT WORK and is about to land the job of her dreams, until she figures out she is a couple credits shy of actually having the degree she said she already had. unfortunately, the TA for the class she has to take to graduate is none other than her ex boyfriend who broke her heart.

This book was cute. Very light hearted and charming to read if you just need a pick me up. The romance aspect was cute, but as romance heavy as I was expecting. Also, it was fun to see how Lily navigate college ten years after.

Read this if you like:
- Second chance romance
- university/school settings
- womens fiction
- m/c who work in the book industry
- light hearted romcom.

this book didn't quite line up with my expectations of this author.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.

I'm sad to write this review, because I like Suzanne Park, but I really disliked this book. The premise is fun, but I found the main character pretty insufferable and infuriating at times. I feel this was marketed a bit like a romance, when really it's more like women's fiction, so that might be why I didn't enjoy it (it caught me off guard).

I had a hard time reading this one. The author is writing what should be empowering women's fiction probably but was called a romance. The romance is barely a subplot. They spend so little time on the page together and when they do, there are no sparks. This book is about a woman going back to complete her college degree and finding a new career she loves while also discussing the issues of age, race, gender, and class in the workplace.

Unfortunately, even as women's fiction, I wouldn't have enjoyed this one. The book does a lot of telling instead of showing and it felt very boring to follow the MC from class to work to seminar etc. until she achieved her goals. Throw in a dorky Southern roommate and a best friend that was literally copy and paste Awkwafina (but the author was like "she just gets COMPARED to Awkwafina a lot, which???) supporting her all the way but having almost no nuance themselves? Pass.

I think people looking for something light-hearted and inspirational might want to pick this one up as well as those who like a more low-level romance in their stories. I would recommend to people looking for fiction, not romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

I love Suzanne Park's books, her sense of humor always makes me laugh! This was another great book by her, that I would definitely recommend!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.