The Do-Over

The Do-Over (2022) is a young adult contemporary romance by Lynn Painter. The novel follows Emilie Hornby, a teenage girl who lives her life to scheduled perfection. However, her perfectly planned Valentine’s Day completely unravels when she crashes cars with her surly chemistry partner, Nick Stark; has her prestigious summer internship revoked; witnesses her boyfriend, Josh Sutton, cheating on her with his ex, Macy; and discovers her father is moving across the country for a job with his new wife and sons while leaving Emilie behind with her mother. When Emilie wakes the next morning to discover it’s February 14th again, she views it as an opportunity to right all the wrongs of the previous Valentine’s Day. Though as hard as she tries, she cannot avoid fate. In trying (and failing) to prevent her perfect day from falling apart, Emilie discovers new things about herself that put her current approach to life into perspective. The Do-Over explores themes of the futility of excessive planning, imperfection, and the important nature of authenticity.

This guide refers to the e-book edition published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in 2022.

Plot Summary

The protagonist, Emilie Hornby, explains her viewpoint on love in the Prologue. While she believes in true love, she doesn’t believe it is achieved through fate but rather through planning. Rather than repeat her parents’ mistakes by spontaneously falling in love with a man completely wrong for her, Emilie has found herself the perfect boyfriend—Josh Sutton—by ensuring he ticks every box off her pre-written checklist. As Valentine’s Day, their three-month anniversary, comes around, Emilie plans every moment of the day to ensure it goes perfectly.

However, Emilie’s Valentine’s Day goes wrong in every possible way. Her day begins with a car crash that leads to an unfortunate confrontation with her surly chemistry partner, Nick Stark, who must drive her to school when her car is towed. Following that event, Emilie is then called to the office where an advisor for her prestigious summer fellowship program rescinds her invitation due to a scoring issue on the applications. Emilie then witnesses Josh kissing his ex-girlfriend, Macy Goldman, in his car. When she goes home early after feigning sickness to the school nurse, her day becomes even worse. She has a conversation with her father, and he reveals he is taking a job promotion that’ll require he move to Texas with her step-mom, Lisa, and their twin boys. Emilie will stay behind in Nebraska with her mom. Emilie decides to stay at her Grandma Max’s for the night but wakes in her dad’s house the following morning—only to discover it is February 14th again.

Emilie goes through the motions of the day before in a daze, becoming increasingly bewildered when everything occurs the same way. On the third Valentine’s Day, Emilie decides it is a gift from the universe. She believes she can fix everything that is bound to go wrong and restore her timeline. However, as the days continue to repeat, Emilie cannot avoid the car crash with Nick, the lost fellowship, Josh’s cheating, or her dad’s moving news. Even while the days continue to go frustratingly bad, Emilie experiences personal changes; she begins to realize that her “perfect” relationship with Josh is not so perfect after all. She slowly comes to enjoy Nick’s company as she learns more about him.

One final attempt to perfect the day results in Emilie walking to school to successfully not crash her car, convincing the fellowship advisor to consider her for other opportunities, entirely avoiding the parking lot where Josh kisses Macy, and speaking with her father about her concerns with him moving away. Though Josh gifts her a silver bracelet despite her allergy to silver, Emilie believes the day went well enough and is optimistic about waking up on February 15th.

When she wakes up to Valentine’s Day yet again, Emilie decides it will be the Day of No Consequences, where she will do whatever she feels like. Emilie steals her father’s Porsche and speeds on the way to school. She avoids a crash with Nick, but an officer pulls her over, revoking her license, impounding her car, and driving her to school himself.

At school, Emilie refuses to accept losing the scholarship and demands the advisor figure out a way to make it work before using the principal’s office intercom to publicly break up with Josh. In chemistry class, Emilie asks Nick out and invites him to skip the rest of the school day with her. They explore downtown Omaha while discussing their hobbies, opinions on love, and family lives. Emilie learns that Nick is not open to dating anyone right now due to his unresolved grief following his brother’s death last Valentine’s Day.

Emilie decides that anything that occurs between them will be erased when the day repeats itself. Together, they impulsively decide to visit the 40th-floor balcony of the First Bank Building—a rumored proposal spot that was popular before it was closed to the public. Afterward, Emilie gets a tattoo on her forearm that reads, “I had a marvelous time ruining everything” (185).

When Nick takes Emilie to her grandma’s house for the night, they share a heated kiss. Emilie admits to loving him for that one day only. However, she awakes in the early hours of the morning on February 15th to her angry parents. Forced to face the consequences of her reckless actions on the Day of No Consequences, Emilie attends school only to discover her peers have newfound respect for her. In chemistry class, Nick avoids Emilie rather than clarifying the dynamic between them following their romantic interactions on the Day of No Consequences.

Emilie is hurt by Nick’s rejection but ultimately commits to living more spontaneously than she had before because it brings her genuine happiness. Despite her parents’ anger, Emilie has open and honest conversations about her devastation about her dad’s move. Her parents conclude that her father can work remotely so Emilie can finish her junior year and then move to Texas afterward. For her senior year, Emilie will have complete freedom over which parent she chooses to live. Emilie also apologizes to Josh for humiliating him, and they come to the mutual conclusion that they are not compatible in a romantic relationship.

When Emilie’s birthday rolls around weeks later, she still hasn’t resolved things with Nick. At a restaurant after school, Nick approaches Emilie. He gifts her with a highly specific gift—the purple unicorn cake she once told him she never got to have on her ninth birthday. He claims he’s started therapy to work through his unresolved grief over his brother’s death, misses her, and is open to dating. They share a warm reconciliation that hints at a committed romantic relationship to come.