An enjoyable enough quick read, but ultimately it fell a bit flat for me. As someone with zero interest in sport, it was difficult to engage with a with so many golfing references.

I usually love the trope of visiting an alternate reality to appreciate the life you currently have, but I found Mary so insufferable it made it hard to care what happened with her. There’s a few plot holes with the magic and you have to just accept those and not dig too deep into the how’s & whys.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

All I have to say is that I was exhausted from reading about Mary. She was negative most of the time.
It was just a regular premise of finding yourself with a hint of sci-fi. It wasn't interesting, and I didn't enjoy the characters.
Not for me, unfortunately

I enjoyed this book and Mary overall. I just get tired of women having to need a second chance to begin with or wait for their spouses to want to spend time with them etc etc. Well written and a great book!

I read about 50% of the book, and ended up skimming the second half.

I struggled to root for Mary at times, particularly because of how deep in denial she was about the curse and what it meant for her life, decisions that tended to lack common sense/plausible character logic, as well as her constant reflecting on the past that grew a bit frustrating for me as a reader. This also made many beats feel repetitive. Certain character decisions also felt convenient / not totally believable, and many of the other characters' actions felt unbelievable at times as well.

I did enjoy the exploration of what it means to age as a woman in western society, and I thought the concept and goals of the narrative were really great. The message was also cute, but it all felt a bit contrite and predictable, and it didn't particularly stand out in a pool of similar books. I think this one wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing access to this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Such a great read! Highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

When Mary finds herself lonelier than ever in her mid-fifties, with her daughter overseas and her husband rather wanting to play golf than spend time with her, the possibility of getting a do-over and rectifying her biggest regret in life arises. Removing her wisdom teeth is said to bring her back to her twenty-four year old self with the life she once dreamed of still ahead of her, but when she realises that those dreams aren’t worth the loss of the life she already had, she needs to find a way to get it all back.

The concept of this novel really intrigued me, as an avid lover of magical realism I knew this was a book for me. Mary is a very loveable character, although her decisions and actions can be frustrating at times, but I felt a lot of sympathy towards her.
I do wish that the magical element was more thought out and explained, it did feel like there was a bit of a plot-hole in the magic of the what essentially is time-travel, and I would have preferred a more complex magic in that sense.
There was generally a lot of telling instead of showing happening within the story, I felt most of it was told to me via Marys memories and thoughts which is where a lot of repetition happened. Her main concern and the conflict point of the story was repeated over and over again, where I would have preferred to be shown the effects this has on her rather than her thinking and repeating it over and over again.
This is also why I think this story would have benefited from a dual time-line. Due to the nature of the story, we follow Mary through a lot of her memories from her “old life”. Again, this felt a lot like her telling us her memories. Going between time-lines would have been very beneficial to the story in my opinion.

Overall, it’s a cute story with a, quite obvious, message behind it. I ended up giving it 3-stars and I would definitely recommend it to people who love magical realism, but the storytelling was lacking and could have been a lot more powerful and meaningful.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the eARC.

Utterly charming and a unique way to handle the “curse trope”. I read this book aloud to the blind person I am a personal secretary to, and they loved it as well. This book made me want to start writing something myself, and when an author gives me THAT kind of emotion, you KNOW it’s been done correctly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Whilst I accept that when reading some books or even watching some films, you need to suspend reality and just enjoy it, I feel the premise of this book needed a little more work.
A family ‘curse’ means that Mary has a chance to redo some regrets. Her cousin Darby has already experienced this redo and is Mary’s go-to for info. However, Darby isn’t exactly forthcoming in telling Mary the most critical piece of information…. in not doing so the book is allowed to continue but honestly, it’s the thing I struggled most with. It was critical to Mary, especially as she has a daughter.

Aside from this I did enjoy the book and thought the last third was great and really enjoyable

The premise of this book sounded so fun and I always enjoy a good parallel universe/time travel-ish story. Mary wishes she can undo one of her biggest regrets and because she's a Mulligan, she can. How lucky?

Through the first part of the book, it was a bit hard to get into the story because I didn't like any of the characters. Mary is extremely whiny and naive for a grown woman, she reads like a 16 year old. Dean has no personality what so ever and Kendra for some reason is hella aggressive and rude to her mom (Mary). Darbi who is Mary's cryptic cousin tells her about the Mulligan curse so matter of factly and did almost nothing to stoop her that I wanted to punch her in the face.

Then when Mary wakes up in her younger self's body, things start to pick up. I liked the young characters later introduced. They really are what kept me going because I still didn't like Mary and wasn't rooting for her one bit. This woman seemed like she didn't enjoy herself a single moment in either of her lives. What's the point of getting to redo the past 30 years if you're still moaning and yapping all the time!

However, I really started enjoying myself when we meet Dean again. I loved the tension and the drama. I loved that he gets a little bit of personality and backstory. I wish we could've gotten more of that. I also loved her relationship with the fireman, and the party scene was soo fun.

Overall, I didn't hate the book, but I feel like it still needs a little work. I want to like the characters and not feel like they could literally be swapped with one another and it wouldn't even matter. I want to have reason to root for Mary and be sad and happy for her. I want to see her enjoying herself a little. I want to know more about the random uncle that's just mentioned in passing. I want Darbi to be a proper mentor.

Mary Mulligan unknowingly suffers from the Mulligan Curse. As she begins to regret her past decisions, her wisdom teeth start to emerge, causing her significant pain. Despite her cousin Darbi's pleas, she decides to remove the teeth herself. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her early twenties, no longer in her fifties with a husband who irks her and a grown daughter moving across the globe. This unexpected opportunity allows her to change her biggest life regret, but the catch is that her previous life never existed.

The Mulligan Curse serves as a poignant reminder to never take those we love for granted. Life can change in an instant, and it is too short to harbor regrets or to remain silent about our needs. Mary's adventure through the past, along with the lessons she learns, is both endearing and enlightening for any reader, especially for those who may feel a bit lost.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐

Nice concept. Good execution. 

A bit heavy on the "How hadn't she realized that?" and "Dean's wife and Kendra's mother" sometimes. But otherwise quite good. 

Reminded me of the film "About Time" with time travel being an important but not too important an element and the focus more on the character and character development than a complicated plot. 

Recommended. 👍

I really loved reading this book. Following Mary at the start living with regrets and then the second chance to go back and change her life but is it for the better ?
I found it an easy book to read and was able to follow the story without any issues. So pleased I got to read it . Thanks NetGalley

I enjoyed the premise of this book. I am a sucker for anything time travel related, particularly when it is about what one can learn from going on such an adventure. I immediately fell in love with the main character - Mary and couldn’t wait to see what decisions she would make. This is a sign of a well crafted and written book. 📕 An enjoyable read!

Mary Mulligan's life seems to be in a rut—her relationship feels stale, her career is stagnant, her daughter is moving overseas to escape her overbearing presence, and to top it off, her wisdom teeth are causing her pain. When she learns that removing those teeth could erase 30 years and take her back to a critical moment in her past, she decides to take the leap. Suddenly, Mary finds herself in the present but with a younger body and a fresh start in her career.

While the book offers a heartwarming exploration of second chances and appreciating what you have, it didn’t quite resonate with me. The time travel aspect didn’t captivate me, and I found it difficult to connect with Mary as a character. Despite the decent writing, it wasn’t enough to fully engage me in the narrative. I can see how this story might appeal to others, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

This is a light chick-flick, breezy and extremely fast to read. I had expected more fantasy rather than a quick Crazy Friday gimmick, so I was a little disappointed. I'm definitely not the intended audience, I was not very interested or sorry for Mary which explains why I wasn't very much into it, a shame since I think we need more books with mature heroes.

I loved this time slip novel. The main character, Mary Mulligan, is so well drawn - I completely believed in her regrets and insecurities. There's a lesson to be learnt from the way Mary blames her dissatisfaction with her life on one 'wrong' decision. Life is never that cut and dried, as Mary discovers when the 'Mulligan curse' allows her to go back to do things all over again. Maybe it would be good for all of us to have the chance to see our lives from a different perspective the way Mary does! All time slip stories require the reader to suspend her disbelief, but I willingly and easily did so for The Mulligan Curse, tearing through the pages, eager to find out how it ended. Fabulous stuff!

This was a fluffy, light page-turner that was perfect for the beach. I was a little disappointed because it was billed as sci-fi - the main character is feeling dissatisfied and chooses to "reboot" her life before a major decision. However, it was much more of a domestic, chick-lit type novel, and the time-travel aspect didn't really make sense. Mary is in her 50s and regrets giving up her chance at a major news network to stay with her fiance and have a family. She is told about an Irish family curse where she can restart her life, and jumps at the chance with an annoying lack of prepearation or details, and a large number of chapters are just about her realising the very obvious consequences of her actions. When she wakes up as a 24 year old, she is still in the present day but now has the chance to become a TV anchor. The whole premise seemed a little out of date as becoming a nightly TV news anchor doesn't seem like the ideal career for an ambitious woman in 2024! In addition, Mary is only really interested in fluffy feel good news pieces about lost dogs and ice cream. It becomes very clear early on that Mary hasn't appreciated her previous life, husband and daughter, and the rest of the novel is her working hard to get them back. It's a light hearted book with a very strong message of appreciating what you have.

I like the idea of The Mulligan Curse - the ability to go back in time and have a do-over and make different decisions. However, the main character, Mary, was quite naive to not think it through that this would alter her life path. I did skim over some of the chapters as it felt repetitive but overall a pleasant light read.

A delightful and thought-provoking read! Mary Mulligan's journey is a relatable and charming exploration of identity, family, and the choices we make in life. I loved how the author weaved together themes of love, loss, and self-discovery, all while maintaining a lighthearted and humorous tone.

Mary's character development is fantastic, and I found myself rooting for her from the very beginning. Her struggles with loneliness, regret, and the search for meaning are deeply human, and her growth throughout the story is inspiring.

The premise of the Mulligan curse is clever and adds a fun touch of magic to the narrative. The writing is engaging, and the pacing is well-balanced, making this a quick and enjoyable read.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a heartwarming and uplifting story about embracing life's second chances. Mary's story will resonate with anyone who's ever wondered "what if?" and will leave you smiling long after the final page is turned.