The Do-Over
Jennifer Honeybourn
(Swoon Reads)
Publication date: July 14th 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
In The Do-Over, a teenage girl gets the chance to redo her past in this smart and charming YA novel by the author of When Life Gives You Demons, Jennifer Honeybourn.
Emelia has always wanted to fit in with the A crowd. So, when Ben, the hottest guy in school, asks her out, she chooses him over Alistair, her best friend—even after he confesses his feelings to her.
Six months later, Emilia wonders how her life would have been different if she’d chosen Alistair instead. Haunted by her mistake, she finds a magical solution that promises to rectify the past. As a result, everything in her life is different.
Different, but not better.
What happens if her second chance is her only chance to make things right?
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Excerpt
Alistair doesn’t say anything for a long moment. It’s so quiet that I can hear the snow falling.
He clears his throat. “I wanted to know if you want to go to winter formal,” he says. “With me.”
I gape at him. A school dance is the last place that Alistair would ever voluntarily be seen, but he’s asking me to go with him anyway. As his date. It’s so un-Alistair-like that I’m momentarily thrown.
My throat feels thick as I tuck my hands inside my jacket pockets. “Ben already asked me.”
Alistair winces. He glances away from me. “So, what? He’s your boyfriend now?”
I shrug. I have nothing to feel bad about. I should be happy—I was happy, until he showed up outside my window—but instead I feel hollow. I’m shaking, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the cold.
He gives me one of his lopsided smiles and my heart aches. This is the worst. “Okay, well. No big deal,” he says. “Just thought I’d ask. Uh, I should probably get going. Before we both freeze to death.”
I nod. “Okay. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” My chest tightens as I head back toward my house. I just want to get inside and crawl back into my bed, and hopefully the next time I see Alistair, we can pretend this conversation
never happened. We can go back to ignoring these feelings we have for each other, and just stay friends.
I’m almost at my door when I hear him hurrying to catch up with me, his high-top Converse crunching through the snow.
“Actually, Em,” he says as I turn back around. “There’s something I need to tell you.” He’s standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me, his eyes bright. “And I need to do it now before I completely lose my nerve. So just listen, okay?”
I’m not sure that I want know what he’s about to say. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I don’t want to know—he’s going to ruin everything—but he’s already walking up the steps. He stops in front of me.
“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird,” he says.
I blink. Huh?
“I could be fun, if you want,” Alistair continues. The tips of his ears are red. “Pensive . . . smart . . . superstitious, brave. I can be light on my feet. I could be whatever you want. You just tell me what you want and I’ll be that for you.”
Wait. Is he quoting from The Notebook?
My stomach flips. I think he is. Marisol and I have made him watch that movie a million times. He always pretends to hate it.
Alistair sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that I—”
“I know what you’re trying to say,” I interrupt. I just can’t believe he’s saying it. I can’t believe that he’s doing this now. The depth of feeling in his eyes scares me and I don’t know how to handle it. I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready for him. He reaches for my arm but I step away.
We’ve been friends forever. I don’t want to ruin what we have. Besides, I can’t just turn off my feelings for Ben. And, more importantly, I don’t want to.
Alistair exhales and tips his head back to look at the sky. The silence between us stretches into awkwardness. “I don’t get it,” he says finally. “Why him?”
I shake my head. I don’t know what to say. The truth is kind of embarrassing to admit, and it won’t make anything between us easier: Ben is good-looking, the most popular guy in school, and he likes me. Out of all the girls in our school, he noticed me. Is it so wrong to want to be popular, to spend weekends doing something other than playing board games? To want a different life from the one I have?
But Alistair wouldn’t understand—being popular isn’t something he aspires to—so I just say, “Why not him?”
He scowls. “I can think of a few million reasons.”
“Come on. You don’t even know him.”
“And I don’t want to,” he says. “Em, seriously, he’s a jerk. How do you not see that?”
“People can change.”
He shakes his head sadly. “Yeah, I guess they can.” Then he turns and walks away, leaving me alone on the porch, my eyes burning with tears as I watch him disappear down the street.
Author Bio:
Jennifer Honeybourn works in corporate communications in Vancouver, British Columbia. She’s a fan of British accents, Broadway musicals, and epic, happily-ever-after love stories. If she could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, she’d have high tea with Walt Disney, JK Rowling, and her nana. She lives with her husband, daughter and cat in a house filled with books. Wesley James Ruined My Life is her first novel.
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