The Do-Over: 08/14/20

The Do-Over by Jennifer Honeybourn is a second change at romance. It has a similar set up to The Locket by Stacey Jay (2011), except that it's a one way trip, a single second chance.

Emilia has a great life. She's dating the popular boy. Her parents are planning a trip to Italy. Everything is going her way. And then six months into her relationship, the day before the family trip to Italy, Em's best-friend Alistair admits he has feelings for her and she's forced to rethink everything.

Conveniently for her, Em encounters a fortune teller. She's given the chance to buy a gem that will give her a second go at things. When she wakes in the morning everything will be different. And there are no take-backs.

The majority of the novel is the what happens after she makes the wish and wakes up. The changes are more reaching that she could have ever expected. I also suspect some of the changes were influenced by her father's wish she overheard on the way to bed.

The first couple chapters cover so much plot — enough to cover 2/3 of a more traditional YA romance, that I was caught off guard. In all honesty, I had forgotten the time travel aspect when I started reading. But this one-two punch in the first fifty pages serves the same purpose as the first couple chapters of Belly Up by Eva Darrows (2019). The events are necessary but it's the consequences of them where the meat of the plot is.

Em's journey is also one that can be charted on the road narrative spectrum. Emilia is the only one who retains memories of the original version. While she is connected to what was, she is orphaned from what is, including life skills like her job, driving, and home repair. Thus she is an orphan traveler (FF).

Her destination is uhoria (CC). While she doesn't go back in time for to the far future, she goes to an alternate present.

The route is the cornfield (FF). Why? Her opportunity to travel to uhoria begins at a carnival. Where do they set up usually? In fields just outside of town.

Thus The Do-Over can be summarized as an orphan traveler's trip to uhoria via the cornfield.

Four stars

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