Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of The Mulligan Curse by Diane Barnes, in exchange for my honest review.

Sometimes, we need to step back and look at our lives from a different perspective.

This was a well-written, enjoyable read, with a relatable, not always likeable, main character.

I look forward to reading more by Diane Barnes.

If you could erase years of your life would you want to, even if it means it would change everything? That’s the question Mary Mulligan has to answer. Sounds intriguing right? Wrong! I had so many problems with this book, believe the low rating. The first problem I had was Mary herself, she was just so damn unlikeable. The other problem was the plot, it had no surprises and I knew exactly where it was heading. Mary’s supposed to be a menopausal, middle-aged woman but she was so gullible and ignorant and she used no common sense. I didn’t like Mary’s cousin Darbi at all either. She lied by omission to Mary and didn’t tell Mary the important repercussions of erasing her life.

If you’ve read any of my reviews you know repetitiveness is a pet peeve of mine and this book was really repetitive. Over and over again Mary goes into her head thinking of the past and I became bored to tears. I felt like Joe Biden when he debated Trump the first time, “Will you shut up, man!” With books like this, magical realism, you have to have characters that work or are at least likable to some degree. I found Mary to be a whining complainer, you know the “woe is me” type. Add to that her cousin Darbi being untrustworthy and the repetitive plot this is a flop in my opinion. A much-used trope with nothing new or different to add to the genre.

The Mulligan Curse by Diane Barnes is, in essence, an updated version of It's a Wonderful Life, with the protagonist learning the important lessons being a woman, and the events of the book taking part in modern day.
Mary Mulligan has been cursed, or blessed depending on your point of view, with de-aging to the point in time when she made the decision that led to her greatest regret. That regret is deciding to follow her heart instead of accepting a promotion, which eventually saw her age into a somewhat bitter, angry, and unhappy empty nester of a housewife.
The book is well-written, with plenty of relatable instances as Mary deals with the consequences of getting her do-over. As the book unfolds, she sees how different her life, and the lives of those to whom she made a difference without realizing the importance of her effect, would have been had she accepted that job so many years ago. Of course, the reader cannot help but put themselves in her shoes, and wonder what would have changed had they could change their largest regret in life.
While Mary is often relatable, at other times she is irritatingly needy, stubborn, and selfish, refusing to listen to other people even when it has been proven that she should, or to take the feelings of others into consideration. Sadly, the irritating parts, and her internal woe-is-me meltdowns, are quite repetitive, and I found myself skipping entire paragraphs after a while.
Overall, however, the book contains a good premise and makes the readers reflect on their own regrets.
Thank you for the ARC of #TheMulliganCurse to #NetGalley.

Highly entertaining! I love books that have a slightly wacky hook and that embrace a family curse so this book was right up my street. It was such an easy and enjoyable read. Relatable, loveable characters made it impossible to put down and I kept finding myself smiling throughout - even when things weren't going according to plan for Mary. Needless to say, I loved it!

I read this to the end, but I have to say that I found the main character just too annoying and full of themselves, refusing to listen to anyone else or their opinions. I can see that they meant well, but you just want to give them a shake and tell them to shut up and listen. Very self absorbed and a little irritating. Having said that, I did enjoy the story.

A story about a woman who wonders whether she should take the opportunity to embrace her family curse and go back in time to her younger self, make different choices and live the life she always wanted. While this sounds good in theory, Mary comes to learn that what she thought she wanted isn't quite as good as she thought it would be and she finds herself longing to go back to her old life. I felt a little sorry for Mary and understood why she felt the way she did about her life however I was also frustrated with the way she dealt with her situation.

A lightheaded and entertaining read which doesn't have any real surprises but which, at least superficially, deals with themes that many of us in the 2nd half of our lives have probably given thought to at some point. It's a good reminder to be careful what you wish for and appreciate the life you have.

This book took the generational curse theory to another level. I appreciated the twist on the do-over aspect, and the connection to the wisdom teeth issue is quite quirky. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

This was a lovely little read, especially for people who are regretting their life choices. I have to admit it was quite compelling and I did enjoy how the Mary considered her move would be temporary, and her realisation that she was stuck in an alternate reality. This is a woman who is living with regret on a constant level.. So there’s part romance and part rediscovering yourself, whilst coming to terms with a somewhat traumatic situation.
I quite liked seeing how Mary had to live the life she had dreamed of whilst realising that actually it wasn’t what she wanted.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to have read this ahead of publication and exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and lake Union Publishing for the advance egalley to read, all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Mulligan Curse follows the story of Mary, married to Dean and mother to Kendra. Mary is at a point in her life where she has begun to feel as though she is stuck in a rut. Mary looks back to her dreams and aspirations as a twenty something, and begins to feel resentment towards her husband and her life.

Mary experiences pain in her wisdom teeth and her cousin Darby tells her of 'The Mulligan Curse' which Mary finds ridiculous.... there is an element of magical realism in this book, a trope that I really enjoy, and when Mary finds herself once again as the twenty something she had been reminiscing about, the story starts to open up.

I enjoyed the message that was being conveyed through the story; you don't know what you've got until it's gone.... I was hoping that Mary would realise that she had a great life, even if it was different to her younger self's aspirations, and was really really hoping she could make it back.

I liked the mention of the butterfly effect; how changing one thing can have an effect. I could relate to Mary's character, as a wife and mum it is easy to feel lost. I found Darbi a little mysterious at times.

Two quotes from the book that stuck with me:
'Life isn't about winning. It's about being in the moment and enjoying it.'
'Love always leads you back.'

I quite enjoyed this story, it was one I could resonate with a little thank you.

**Book Review: _The Mulligan Curse_ by Diane Barnes**

_Diane Barnes' _The Mulligan Curse_ is a captivating family drama filled with secrets, humor, and heartfelt moments. Barnes skillfully unravels the complexities of family dynamics and the legacies that shape our lives, creating a narrative that is both relatable and deeply moving. The characters are vivid and well-drawn, each carrying their own burdens and dreams, making readers invested in their journeys.

With her engaging prose and sharp insights, Barnes explores themes of love, forgiveness, and the courage to break free from the past. _The Mulligan Curse_ is a beautifully written novel that leaves you reflecting on the power of family ties and the possibility of change.

I just couldn't get to grips with this book, I liked Mary the main character to start with and how her life was like many other women in their mid fifties, whose children have flown the nest and whose husband is more interested in golf. But when she has her painful wisdom teeth removed and turns back into her twenty something self I couldn't quite keep in touch with how the story continued.

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