Ellie is having the worst Monday ever. Her parents are fighting, she gets a ticket
for running a red light on the way to school, and her hair is ruined in the
rain and it’s school picture day. In
rapid succession, she then flubs a quiz, botches her campaign speech for class vice
president due to a food allergy, and fails her tryouts for varsity softball. To top it all off, at the end of the day
her boyfriend dumps her. What she
wouldn’t give for a do-over!
And then she gets the chance: her whole horrible Monday repeats all
over again. With the advantage of foresight, some things she can fix but others are worse for the meddling. But our chances are far from over and the day repeats again. She gets to tinker with and tweak this fateful day, never quite
fixing it, because she’s really missing the big picture.
This would be the second Groundhog
Day rip-off I’ve read this summer (see Opposite of Always on July 6th for the other one). It’s a cute device, of course, and overflowing with comic potential. In this case, it also has a weightier moral about being oneself instead of trying to be perfect
for others.
The book does have a decent heroine and
a fun story going for it. The guys are largely
throwaway but Ellie is sympathetic with the right mix of skills and mistakes to
make her believable. It makes for
pleasant reading even if not treading much new ground.
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