Groundhog Day for the YA set. Interesting story, and some really great pieces, but dragged in some parts. Glad each "redo" section was shorter than the last. Not sure how I feel about the ending.

Spoiler

Some minor language, underage drinking, violence, vague ambiguous inferences to sexual content, making out.
Sickle cell anemia

**3-3.5/5**

So this isn't bad by any means, and as a debut novel it's a really nice indicator of the talent and ability of Reynolds. I enjoyed it for the most part as it was a quick read with an interesting/intriguing premise and I'm on a contemporary kick at the moment. I also really enjoyed the friendship trio and the family dynamic, but I was disappointed in how little those relationships got attention.

Jack makes a lot of mistakes with his friends during each re-do of the four months he's known Kate, and it takes him to the very end to finally, wow, get how he should treat other people. And that got old. The book itself was too lengthy, in my opinion, for the same kinds of things to keep happening. It could have been at least 100 pages shorter. And if it was the same length, more scenes with the friends and family were needed because that's the real growth that younger people need to see, especially when having your first relationship. Completely disregarding that dynamic in favor of a really unrealistic romance was lame.

Because the romance was really bizarre. Kate was cool; funny, nice and sweet, but Jack's obsession with her after 2 minutes of meeting her was just strange. And then he falls in love with her shortly thereafter and it was really just...not a healthy portrayal of romance, for one, and then just annoying to constantly have Kate be the center of every single thing in the story. It got old and tiring to read the same thing about her as thought by Jack just in a new round.

Overall: it was good, but not great. I'd recommend it because the writing is nice and flows well, and there's a good bit of humor and wisdom inside it. But it was lengthy and too focused on the romance when other aspects of the story could have really helped elevate it.

Fun YA romance with a lively, engaging narration. I did find it a little repetitive, though...which, considering it's plot, is a given.

3.5 stars! This was so great in so many ways and I have thoughts. So this is my first book by Justin Reynolds and this was also his debut novel. I’m so glad this book exists it’s a contemporary YA book about a HS nerdy black boy experiencing life whilst dealing with a Groundhog Day/happy death day type loop trope. I will always pick up slice of life light books that follow black male protagonists because we need more of them and this one was great. A few cons that I have are more personal preference cons vs book issues. I personally feel this could’ve been 50 pages or so shorter it did drag a bit especially since the plot is essentially repeating the same few days/events. Also, it reads very YA and like duh that’s what it is but as a 30 something reader who reads a fair amount of YA not all of em read the same and this one was more on the juvenile side IMO as far as the characters choices and thought processes. This is certainly perfect for readers in middle and HS and I’m not the target demographic for this at all even though again I mostly enjoyed this and I’m not mad I read it. Lastly the ending pissed me off slightly because there were some questions that weren’t answered and it was unsatisfying and the prose confirmed it was intentional in its choice not to answer them. It also suggested it was for the best and no no it wasn’t lol hate it felt like at the very least it could’ve provided that closure instead of feeling like I wasted my time a bit. All in all it was a good read the friendship dynamics in the book were so great! It depicted a platonic male male teenage friendship wonderfully and Jake was a wonderful protagonist he was charming and infuriating at the same time given some of his choices but both traits were on par for his age so it was necessary and well done. I’ll certainly be on the lookout for more works by the author and I hope he continues to write these fun loving light stories with black boy POVs.

I loved this way more than I expected to! The length of the time loop was a pleasant surprise, and I loved the different approaches and perspectives and lessons that were learned. So many beautiful moments of friendship and the struggles of being a teenager. I only wished I annotated this while I read, because there were definitely many lines in there that were worth noting.

It was a cute book. Pretty good theme. My teenage daughter read it and recommended it.

I really liked parts of this - it was clever and funny and sweet. But there were also places where I felt like "did I miss a chapter?!"