I have really enjoyed Phoebe MacLeod's books in the past and though I can see that this one was really different in its intent, it was still marketed as romantic comedy - which it was not.
As someone else mentioned in their review, there is a strange disconnect between the first and second parts of the book. Before we have the energised and invigorated lawyer who gets junior partner and is rising through the ranks...next minute she's planning to flip a house? Okay...
I loved her relationship with Rebecca though, again, this felt like it came out of nowhere.
Luckily it was a quick, distracting read when I needed it and I read it in a lunchbreak plus about 30 minutes before a book club meeting. However, I feel that other books by MacLeod had something that this one didn't.
I liked the fact that we went with the characters to Drusilla's (a place I spent a great deal of my childhood), but again, another thing that came from nowhere. And as for George, don't even get me started on how much of a weak character he came across as being.
As I have said before, I have enjoyed her other books, but this one just fell flat for me.

I am genuinely a bit disappointed in this book - sorry. I did like the relationship between Thea and Rebecca, especially the parking wars which was quite funny. But overall, I just couldn’t get into this book and struggled to finish it.

As a long-time Phoebe MacLeod fan, I knew I was in for a cute and sassy story, and The Do-Over did not disappoint.

Thea is a strong, smart, driven young lawyer, teetering on the brink of professional burnout.

When she’s forced to make changes, we see more facets of her relationships, old and new.

I thoroughly enjoyed Thea’s new friendship unfolding with an annoying (but fun) neighbour, but I found one of her love interest storylines a bit lacking because I felt zero spark between them. I know that particular storyline wasn’t meant to carry through (no spoilers); I just wish there’d been a bit more zest to enjoy so I’d feel more invested and relieved at the resolution.

This novel was easy to read and had just the right blend of fun and troubles that had me rooting for Thea the whole way through.


A big thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with the arc in exchange for my honest review!

My review has been posted to GoodReads.

I loved Alasdair. He was an interesting character and I wish we had more chapters with him in it. But I didn't love all the time jumps that weren't well labeled. It was frustrating to start a new chapter and not realize that you were 2 weeks etc in the future.

Overall, this was an easy read however it does feel a bit disjointed at times. I do wish that there was a little more romance involved but I did enjoy Rebecca and Thea's friendship.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

Fue bastante fácil de leer, pasé rápido por las páginas a pesar de no amarlo. Pero sentí que no pasó mucho en realidad. No recuerdo puntos de trama muy distintos. Y el romance... muy, muy mínimo. Esto se publicitó como una comedia romántica. Dónde estaba el romance? La comedia? No me reí ni una sola vez...

I loved this! The FMC, Thea, was strong and and decisive, and an all-round entertaining character. I related heavily to some of her decisions; getting away from the rat race would be amazing...

The other characters in the book all help build the story into a wonderful tale that just leaves you feeling good. I dont want to give anything away, but the love interest didn't end up how I expected - but I found I preferred it this way!

I think this is my second Pheobe McLeod book, and she's making herself at home on my bookshelf.

This is probably the tenth Phoebe MacLeod novel I have read and I'm not sure how she manages to keep finding interesting stories to tell, but I'm not mad about it! I really enjoyed the main character, Thea and her journey as she realizes that her career maybe isn't as fulfilling as she thought. I was (pleasantly) surprised at the twist that I didn't see coming, and I smiled the entire last chapter. I loved it!

This was a pleasantly surprising book!
Thea has it all. The fancy car, the posh house, and the title of youngest female junior partner at the most prestigious firm in London. And for her, the work is all she needs. Until her world wobbles and she says yes to an idea that Thea from merely months ago would be going into cardiac arrest over.
The best part of this story was the amount of self-discovery Thea went through by throwing caution to the wind and following her gut instinct. I think there is something really remarkable about following one's intuition and this was very well done. Some may find her drastic change a breakdown- as we hear thrown around in the book- but she found inner peace with her decisions, so who can fault her for that?
I found myself drawn to Phoebe's writing as well. She took what could have easily turned mundane and tedious into something exciting and refreshing to read. She created a twist that, like Thea, I may have been a little dense to miss, but I loved the outcome throughly!

The Do-Over is about an ambitious female lawyer who began to second-guess her career choices. While I liked the premise of the book, the story and characters fell flat for me. I wasn’t connected to or invested in Thea’s character. The story didn’t flow and it felt like two separate books for before and after the career change.

An absolutely wonderful story of transformation, healing, finding oneself, and true love. Thea has been on a very specific career and life trajectory since a childhood experience shifted her priorities. But now, as an adult and well on her way to achieving her dreams, everything suddenly seems hollow. I loved Thea's journey in this book - and especially loved the kooky characters she met along the way. An all around fantastic feel good novel, perfect for those who sometimes wonder what if they completely changed their life.

The Do-Over by Phoebe MacLeod was engaging written with strong and appealing main characters. These things kept me happily reading until the end.. When I got there, however, I was forced to the conclusion that it was wasn't a very coherent or cohesive book.

The premise was strong. Thea is forced to realise that her partnership in a prestigious global law firm is not all that she wants. Yes, she's proud of herself and enjoys her work but, when a senior colleague dies suddenly, she starts thinking about her own life. That leads to her changing directions. All this was fine. The decision wasn't taken on a whim, although it happened suddenly. Thea felt like a strong woman with a good sense of self. But the middle part of the book seemed unlikely, as though it had been lifted from another story altogether. I couldn't believe in Rebecca or the male characters the two women met in Kent.

However, the ending was better (mostly). Alasdair was a brilliant character whom I thought we deserved to see more of. His part in the book was too rushed and squeezed. I really wish there had been less about the (frankly uninteresting and ever-changing) property situation and more about Alasdair, and Thea's family.

Thea is working as a lawyer in London, when one of the senior parters at her firm passes away, she realises that there is more to life than spending more time in the office than her house. She decides to quit being a lawyer and find a new passion in her life... renovating a disused watermill.

To start, I will talk about the things I loved about this book:

• The friendship between Thea and Rebecca
• The enemies-to-friends trajectory for Thea and Rebecca
• The property development aspect
• Ben (what an absolute sweetheart!!)
• The epilogue!!!

I thought that Thea's male love interests, George and Alasdair, where boring and neither was suitable for Thea. I changed my mind during the last chapter when I fell for Alasdair's charm, but I wish this had been my feeling through the whole book.

I also think the main storyline should have been more about Thea's personal development rather than focusing on a love interest. Especially as Thea was such a strong woman at the start, I would prefer for this theme to continue through the book rather than being reduced to a simpering fool at the sight of an attractive man with the personality of a cardboard box.

Overall, I thought this book was okay, definitely not something I'd read again but I didn't struggle to finish it.

I’ll read more books by the author in the future after reading this one. This author writes with such verve and positivity and emotional intelligence.

Enjoyed this book! Thea is a young lawyer who is passionate about her job. She makes partner at a very young age, following her life plan. When a senior partner does things start to feel different for Thea. This is a story about reinventing yourself, mixed with some romance. She does decide to leave the law firm and find her new passion..

The friendship between Thea and Alasdair was refreshing. From starting out at the law firm together, to becoming friends and more. He seemed really in tune with her thoughts and needs. I did not however enjoy George a potential love interest. He just seemed incredibly boring and not really sure what he wanted.

I would recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun, entertaining read. I would say this is more of a Women’s Fiction story with a subplot romance than a Romance. I liked Thea and enjoyed her journey of self-discovery throughout the course of the book. She’s a strong, wounded, interesting, relatable, intriguing, complicated, complex and entertaining character. She goes on a wild ride throughout the course of the story, which many can relate to. The secondary characters added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. The story is easy to read and get into.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book wasn't for me. It started out well, but then I just lost interest and DNFd at just after halfway. The main characters felt much younger than their actual age and I just couldn't connect with them

Oh I really wanted to love this book. I started it a while ago and put it to one side to see if my mojo came back. Unfortunately it didn’t, and I think the book just didn’t grab and keep my attention enough.

The synopsis is great. I love a rom com so did think this had all the boxes checked. However, reading it was quite different to the promise from the synopsis.

As a positive, the author described characters well and this helped with connection to the main characters.

I am grateful for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I respect the amount of blood, sweat and tears that authors give when writing a book. Therefore, I’d like to be clear that this review is my personal opinion. Other will read this and absolutely love it.

It was okay! I think Thea just got a little wake up all- something I feel like we all need every now and then-

'Some people are surprisngly flexible in matters of the heart"

This was very different to what I was expecting.

The Do-Over by Pheobe MacLeod focuses on Thea Rogers, who has spent her entire life striving to be the best at everything she does. After years of dedicating her life to her career in corporate law, she achieves the thing she's always wanted. She is the youngest female partner in her firms history. However when a senior partner suddenly dies, Thea realises the only people at his funeral are there because they feel they have to be. It sends Thea spirilling as she reconsiders her life choices, but can she really change, or is it too late for a do-over.

So this book was totally different to what I was expecting. I was expecting a rom com, with with a friends with benefits to something more. What I got was a story about a woman who recongises she isn't happy with her life, and enemies to best firends, rediscovery journey, and I loved it.

Thea is one of those characters who is just instantly relatable, even in her coporate law job, when she is no nonsense, and totally focused on her job, and then again when she haves a not quite mid life crisis, and in all honesty I enjoyed her character all the more for it. She was really relatable in the way she showed her frustrations, the way she questioned everything, we've all been there when loosing someone very suddenly, even if it's someone we don't know or like very much there is usually still that feeling of oh wow, making us question what we'll leave behind when we go.

I really like Rebecca as a character as well. The difference from when she's first introducewd to when her and Thea actually become friends is really interesting, and it's almost like she was two different characters. The firendship between her and Thea felt so special, no underlying feelings of jealousy, no clinging onto a friendship when everything falls apart. Even though they were two very different people there's no patronising, and honestly I think this book is less of a romcom, and more a testement to female friendships, which is something I am severly lacking on my bookshelves.

I did have a couple of complaints, I wish there weren't so many time jumps. There was a few too many times when you start a new chapter and suddenly its been six months, or its been weeks, or its been two months. THings like that when I'm reading feel very disjointed and take me out of the story. Don't get me wrong time jumps can be good, but there were just too many, it felt like there would be this big build up to something, it happens, and then its months later, there's no fallout from it happening, there's no emotion connected to it happening, and it just takes me out of the story a little.

It also felt like I was reading two different books. The second half of the book felt so vastly different to the beginning of the book that it could have easily been it's own book. Both were good but mixed with the time jumps it just added a little to the feeling of being disjointed.

Also personally I wouldn't consider it a romcom in the traditional sense. It was funny at multiple points, Rebecca meeting Ben had me genuinley laughing out loud, but the romance aspect really takes a backseat, but to me that wasn't a bad thing. I found myself more invested in Thea and Rebecca's story and doing up the house then I was with the romance plot, and I think it would have worked out without it to be honest. It felt a little bit like there are very few chapters left we need to get the romance sorted, but I still enjoyed it and still really enjoyed the happy ending.

All in all despite a few issues I really enjoyed this book, and flew through it (I finsihed it in two days) and it's really made me want to check out more of Pheobe MacLeod's books.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy, all thoughts are my own.

The book was okay, nothing amazing about it but nothing terrible either. Nothing really jumped out at me to make it memorable.