"The Retake" by Jen Calonita Book

Hello! Today I'll be reviewing the book "The Retake" by Jen Calonita.

Summary

Zoe knows that the only thing harder than middle school is losing a best friend. She and her BFF, Laura used to do everything together from taking silly selfies, to joining all the same clubs together and even throwing surprise birthday parties for each other. But lately things have been weird between them. Now Laura will post a photo of her hanging out with other girls before responding to Zoe's ordinary texts. She doesn't even want to sit with her at lunch anymore. Zoe is devastated--all she wants is for things to go back to the way they were before. But then a magical app downloads on her phone...and things get even weirder! Suddenly Zoe can travel back in time to moments where her and Laura started drifting apart. It is like a dream come true. A chance for Zoe to fix their friendship. But as Zoe goes back to moments of middle school drama, she realizes that second chances don't always go as planned and that sometimes you need to trust the magic of new beginnings.

Likes

I greatly enjoyed this book! It was a realistic portrayal of middle school friendships with an added element of sci-fi time travel. Zoe was a lovely character who I adored. Her longing for her friendship with Laura to go back to the way it was before was portrayed perfectly. The storyline was really good and the middle school realistic fiction and sci-fi time travel were perfectly mixed together without seeming too complex or abnormal. This book was superb!

Dislikes

I think the obsession with boys that some of the girls had was a little absurd and exaggerated. Another dislike I had was Zoe's obsession with Laura and how oblivious she was to how fake Laura was.

Overall

This book was really good! With the perfect blend of sci-fi and middle school, realistic characters, and heart-breaking scenes, I would rate this book a 9.5/10. If you have any book suggestions for me to review, please comment them below! TTFN!