I'd describe this as the written version of "meh" as i feel that it wasn't entirely awful but there was so many ways it could have been done better. The characters all felt a little flat and i really struggled to care about Jenny and what she was going through. The moments of drama and tension were okay-ish, they weren't completely bad but they certainly didn't help save or make the story better in my eyes. I feel like people will like this book but it feels as if this needs to be looked at again as there is some promise in it, it's just not showing yet.

Really lovely read. A perfect summer holiday book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my feedback.

Thank you for my earc of this book. This was a solid premise that mostly delivered. I didn’t finish because I found it a frustrating read at times.

I love the writing in this book! I do think it’s a book that has so many takeaways that left you with a lot of things to think about in your own life too. I’d say this is a must read for someone who needs the reassurance that it’s ok to want to change.

I thought the premise was really intriguing & right up my street. Imagine getting the blueprint for the perfect life?
& It was an entertaining read for the most part.
But I felt the execution was a little haphazard & rushed in places.

writing: you can really tell this was written by two authors | plot: meh | ending: super meh

my opinion

This was one of my most anticipated reads because of the premise: the FMC is NOT thriving, yet all of her friends are, leaving her to feel like she missed 'the memo' in life. Very relatable concept; some of my darkest days were spent on LinkedIn seeing how all my HS classmates were making major career moves while I was 200 job applications deep. Unfortunately, the execution, much like my life, was very average.

Firstly, it took too long for the whole memo bit to get started. The first third was just her moaning and groaning and getting mysterious texts that she didn't act on. The best bits were when Jenny was rewriting the past. Relocating the nuns had me deceased (and on my way to hell, obvi). But the flip-flopping in writing quality (idk who wrote what, but one of ya'll is a MUCH stronger writer... soz), unnecessary body comments, and the romance didn't do this book any favors.

Romance is a bit strong of a word for whatever the fk was transpiring between Gabe and Jenny. It shouldn't have been included AT ALL. She went on a couple casual hangouts with this guy (I think only one of them was not in a group setting) and is ready to give up the good life for him and his daughter????? Tf??? It would've made more sense for her to cling to her flop-life because she had a talented and affordable hairdresser than risking it all for an grown man in a choir (respectfully).

I will hand it to this book, I really didn't know which 'life' was better by the end. Despite being a mediocre book, it would spark some great book club discussions. Maybe something to consider for those that have an audiobook club? Do those exist? Anyways, I wouldn't be mad if this book was made into a movie. Idk if she's still cancelled, but Jennifer Lawrence could play the fuck out of Jenny's character.

pros & cons

pros: banging concept, funny, thought-provoking, I liked the scenes where she rewrote her history

cons: uneven writing quality, slow at times, Gabe was as unnecessary as putting calories on a restaurant menu (I'm not at a place called The Cheesecake Factory to watch what I eat), weird body comments

tysm dialogue books for the arc

I really loved the concept & premise of this book & enjoyed the storyline of Jenny and all of her 'what ifs' coming to fruition . I found the execution a little choppy and haphazard at times which meant that some of the finer details of the story were lost on me, purely for trying to keep up with what was going on and what timeline we were in.

Overall however, I thoroughly enjoyed the read & would recommend!

The Memo by Lauren Mechling and Rachel Dodes

Jenny is reluctant to attend her college reunion as she feels like a failure in comparison to her high-flying, over-achieving peers. But whilst there she has the opportunity to get 'The Memo' which will allow her to revisit the mistakes of her past and do it all again, better. Will Jenny choose the life the memo dictates for her?

What a fascinating concept for novel - I really enjoyed it. A cautionary tale with a brilliant ending. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. The storyline was interesting, but the execution was so poor that I just couldn’t continue. The author wrote so much unnecessary detail all at once that I got the same feelings as when trapped in a car on a long distance journey with a child reading an encyclopaedia. Why the author thought it was a good idea to give so much unnecessary information when the story hadn’t even progressed enough to be interesting I don’t know, but can only speak to their lack of experience. I hope the author manages to develop their writing style as their ideas are good, just unreadable in their current format

Oh how we would all love a do-over, a blueprint to what our lives should have been like if they were as successful as they could be. I would have very much liked someone to tell me what to do and when to do it to make my life a success. I often with someone else made my decisions for me.

It definitely gave me food for thought, and it wasn't always comfortable. If I'd finished writing the novel I started at University, where would I be now? Was there anything I could have done to stop my illness developing? If I'd taken the job offer I pulled out of? It's not always an easy read to think about, but it is interesting and I think it would make a good book club read.

But it also makes you wonder about whether perfection is really worth it. What makes a life successful? Is having the perfect job worth losing your friends? Is having the perfect partner worth losing your freedom? I having the perfect body worth losing your joy in things like food? It really looks at what is it worth, what would you sacrifice, and what does a perfect life really mean for you?

Having a 24/7 job, an expensive house, lots of money, the perfect partner, the ideal body - it is worth it when you don't see your friends or family, don't eat what you want, spend your free time working out instead of relaxing?

Rarely do I read what I would call "real" books. Books about real people doing real things. I read books about crime and murder, historical books, dragons and parallel worlds. But I haven't read many...what do I call it? Normal books about normal people, normal feelings, normal things. There are elements of the fantasy, of course, but it's mainly very human. And it's a completely different reading experience.

It was a very interesting book. I did worry I would find it boring because of the aforementioned love of thrillers and whatnot, but I wasn't. It was a really good read, well-written, with relatable characters. Not every character is nice, some are worse than others, but that's what I liked, it made them real, these imperfections that felt so real.

I admit that once the whole time travel thing got going, and people and events started changing left, with and centre, I did get a little lost trying to keep up with it. It didn't ruin the reading of it, but it meant I had to focus a lot more on those parts which slowed down the reading slightly.

It's not the most suspenseful book. There were bits I did figure out before the end, but that didn't spoil the reading of it. I was just as interested to get to the end. I would say it's the reading of it, the journey of the story that I enjoyed more than the destination, if that makes sense. I didn't mind how it ended, I didn't mind that I may have figured some of it out, I was simply enjoying reading Lauren and Rachel's writing.

I found the start a little slow. Not terribly so, but it took me a little while to get into it, but then once I was - once the time travel started - it absolutely flew by and I read it in less than 24 hours.

Apart from the slight confusion about the changing characters and slow start, there's nothing I can really say is overly wrong with it. It maybe lacked a little spark to push it over the edge into a fantastic read, But I really did enjoy it and would definitely recommend it. Thoroughly enjoyable and I will definitely look out for future works by each or by both authors.

I am always interested in how a book is written by two people. Does each person write a chapter each? Or does one write it and the other edit? How do they ensure it comes across as one voice?

I really enjoyed it by the end; I had a huge smile on my face and couldn't get it out of my head for ages afterwards. It's interesting, well-written, unique, fun, but honest, and serious. Definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Dialogue Books for sending an e-ARC of The Memo in exchange for an honest review.

This book for me falls into the "good idea, but poorly executed" category. At its heart, the book examines choices in life and what would happen if people got the chance of a do-over. It is also quite a heavy handed critique of the impossible standards set by social media and the "wellness" industry. I don't disagree with these concepts at all, but there wasn't a lot of subtlety, perhaps because the writing style itself was a little shoddy. A lot of it read like fanfiction and it actually surprises me that this took two people to write as it was relatively simple.

Plus, it took a little too long to get going. For the first half I was just irritated by the unlikeable, and stereotypically klutzy, protagonist. The first few pages were incredibly off-putting and very strongly made me want to stop reading. I started to care just after the 50% mark once the constant exposition died down a little. But there were a lot of plot points that were not quite wrapped up, or unsatisfactorily so, and even with the made-up science in the plot I completely fail to understand how in the epilogue we have a side character who seems to have knowledge/memories from two different timelines. Speaking of which: promoting this book as a time travel story is not accurate, it would be more correct to call it an alternate universe(s) story - also a staple of fanfiction now that I think about it.

I think it will still appeal to a type of reader who might have a preference for predictable stories and is looking for a light read that doesn't use up too much brainspace.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨 | 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
★★★.½

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟
⟡ Contemporary fiction
⟡ Time travel
⟡ Female friendship

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
The Memo had a really cool concept that centered around the idea of a second chance to rewrite over mistakes made in the main characters life. However this book has more of a scientific take on it: to time travel using… I’m not even sure, powerful emotional philosophy? 😂 either way it’s an interesting idea.

This book is also really relatable to anybody in their 25s-40s who feel as though they haven’t got their life together and perhaps even dream of a second, better life. Although this book reminds readers that ‘better’ is a matter of subjective opinion rather than a measurable achievement.

This is all told through writing that is sharp and witty. My favourite part was the writing. The humour was subtle but still hit heavy at regular intervals to keep the mainly belittling tone light.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
The most prominent relationship is Jenny and Geeta who are best friends. But the friendship felt really toxic to me. I felt like they were trying to mold the other into what each other wanted them to be rather than celebrating their sense of selves together. It wasn’t a friendship I enjoyed and it wasn’t until the end that I really understood why Jenny would want to salvage it.

The MC could come across as unlikable too as she is in an almost constant state of self-pity, being belittled by those around her and quietly resenting them for it. It could be a bit draining but I did have a good time with this book and do recommend it.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬
“𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦. 𝘖𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵.”

DNF. The writing is awful and I just felt so mad reading it. I was drawn in by the concept, but I just can't get past how awfully the story is trying to be told. Stop info dumping on me in the very first chapter! There has to be a more interesting way to start a book than just 'I woke up and then I left the house and then I thought of something and here's a long tangent about that thing because it's essential exposition for the book you're about to read' - UGH. I am having the worst time with books this year. I just...hate everything I pick up. I'm sure people will like it but for right now, I'm not those people.

The concept behind "The Memo" seemed intriguing but I think the authors got a bit lost in the world building. On one hand, it was quite fun to explore Jenny's alternative life story, but towards the end the plot got rushed and so out of style that it was way too hard for me to suspend my disbelief.

A laughter-full riot of chaos and catastrophe that will make any 20-30 somethings who are waiting to feel like they’ve got it together cringe with its relatable and brutally honest story.

Jenny is a hot mess, a little lost and I absolutely loved her - she was real, authentic, confused and so far from perfect just trying to keep up with what everyone (including herself) expected her to be. It’s all normal, real-life drama until a mysterious figure from a secret shadow organisation aimed to pave the path of success for women pops out to explain she isn’t on the right path and the story takes a strange twist.

At times it felt a little haphazard to me when we’re first introduced - the twist didn’t quite hit right or feel finished and the jumping between times or realities didn’t flow as I’d expected but I still had a great time as we rushed around exploring friendships, love, success and sadness in heartwarming and heartbreaking ways.

Make sure you don’t miss the memo and get your hands on this book!

*3.5

The premise of this book seemed perfect for me, and I definitely did enjoy this book.

The book takes place over different timelines and jumps back and forth from past and present. I think that this was easy to follow considering, and gave a lot more depth to the characters and their relationships.

I think this perfectly captures what it feels like to compare your life to others and feel as though you are not where you should be in your life.

I wouldn't say this book is ground breaking in its genre (it was quite predictable in terms of the plot), and I don't think I would necessarily think about this again in future. BUT it was a joy to read.

A humourous romp through time, THE MEMO imagines a world where you can go back and undo your mistakes in pursuit of the perfect life. It’s incredibly readable and the story is great, but it feels like this book was missing something that would take it from an okay read to an unforgettable one. I liked the voice, but something about the friendships didn’t ring true for me and I didn’t much like Geeta, Leigh or Sophie. I also didn’t feel the spark between Jenny and Gabe. All in all, a good beach read.

This is a really interesting premise but the execution didn't work for me personally - it's a lighter read than I'm used to and it would be perfect for a holiday read but there isn't much substance to it and I found the main character infuriatingly dense at times. Ideal if you're looking for an entertaining and easy read though. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

While the book was overall enjoyable, I can’t help but feel like there was a spark that was missing to really push this book over the edge and make it one to remember. It is not entirely unpredictable, but as with Jenny’s own life, the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

I very much enjoyed this book. It had all the elements of an intriguing sad messy girl book that was highly relateable. Will recommend.