The Do-Over
Book Feature - The Do-Over by Bethany Turner
HBL Note: An author recently told me that her editor asked her to “age down” her main characters from late 30s/early 40s to late 20s/early 30s because “no one wants to read about old characters.” Are you rolling your eyes along with me? I hope so. I thought First Wives Club, the 1996 movie starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton (and based on the novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith) proved people were interested in older characters.
Lucky for us, Bethany Turner’s editor doesn’t feel the same way. In the Do-Over, McKenna Keaton is in her late 30s *gasp!* and single. And she’s perfectly content until there’s a scandal at work, causing her to return home. At that time she learns of a family curse that could mean she has just one year left to live. What will she do with the time she has remaining? Scroll down to read more.
From the publisher:
Career-driven McKenna Keaton has devoted her life to attaining the senior partnership at her law firm. So asking a man on a date should be nothing. But the past four days have been the worst of her life and have called everything she thought she knew about herself into question. Besides, she can’t remember her last real date—one that didn’t involve using a blind date as an opportunity to get a stranger’s perspective on effective cross-examination techniques. (It’s like sharing fondue with a jury!)
But a real date? And with shy, nerdy Henry Blumenthal—McKenna’s high school rival for valedictorian who once took three hours to beat her at chess? Scratch that. He’s Hank Blume now, the famed documentarian, Durham’s darling son, who has attained all his dreams and more. He also happens to look like he stepped out of an Eddie Bauer catalog.
Whereas McKenna is a disgraced workaholic from New York on unpaid leave, accused of a white-collar crime she would never commit, succumbing to panic attacks, watching her dreams unravel. At age thirty-eight—and destined by the family curse to die before she turns forty, it appears—it’s absolutely the wrong time to have a major crush on a man. Especially one who treasures his memories of McKenna as the girl Most Likely to Succeed.
“Pitch-perfect comedic timing, a relatable heroine, and a refreshing sweetness elevate this novel above the sea of modern rom-coms. The rare author who can make me laugh-out-loud, The Do-Over is Bethany Turner at her best.” —Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author