Neverending is right.

Kate's best friend is getting married after six months of dating. Not only that but the groom-to-be is Kate's ex-boyfriend. Kate has her doubts about the wedding and she's not afraid to let her best friend know. After a drunken toast she wishes she could turn back time so she can have a do-over. And that's exactly what happens.. six times. Each time she does something different in hopes of making everything right and moving on to the next week. ( )

If you are looking for an entertaining romantic comedy that has a humorous Groundhog Day meets My Best Friend’s Wedding theme, then Neverending Beginnings is the book for you!

Author Mary Chris Escobar weaves a fun tale that transports the reader into Kate Crenshaw's madcap reliving of the same week over and over again after waking up the day after flubbing her drunken toast at her best friend Amy's wedding to Kate's ex-college boyfriend Jack. Kate gets many chances at repairing the damage that she has done, and along the way finds an unexpected romance with the charming best man Ben!

Neverending Beginnings is a thoroughly entertaining romantic comedy that will simply keep the reader in stitches. With a great mixture of humor and sweet romance, the reader follows Kate as she relives the week from hell over and over again with many chances to make things right after causing drama and trouble because of her inability to hide her true feelings about everything (can you say "diarrhea mouth"?!) lol And if trying to repair a rocky relationship with her best friend isn't enough, Kate gets an unexpected chance at romance with Ben, the best man, if only she would give in and take a chance! I really enjoyed following Kate as she tried to figure out how to fix her mistakes in order to end the rewinding cycle of the exhausting time warp that she finds herself in, and I couldn't help but cheer at her developing romance with Ben. Author Mary Chris Escobar cleverly weaves an enjoyable tale that leaves you wanting more!

If you are looking for a delightfully lighthearted romantic comedy to wile away a lazy summer day, then take a chance and read Neverending Beginnings, it will leave a smile on your face!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2015/07/neverending-beginnings-by-mary... ( )

I received this book from Librarything, and really enjoyed it. Good summer reading. As others have noted, the main character, Kate, finds herself repeating the week leading up to, and including, the wedding of her friend Amy. Amy is marrying Kate's former boyfriend, Jack, after just a few months of dating. At the beginning of the book, Kate has damaged her relationship with Amy after repeatedly expressing concerns about the speed of the marriage - even speculating that Jack and Amy are getting married because Amy's pregnant! She's also dealing (not very well) with the relatively recent death of her mother, and just to make things more interesting, there appears to be a growing connection between her and Jack's friend Ben.

Kate messes things up. Over and over. Every Sunday morning, the clock resets to the previous week. During the course of the book, Kate tries to figure out why she's repeating the same week, and starts trying to change her actions - partly to break the pattern, but also to try and improve things.

I agree that it was a bit frustrating that the reader wasn't clued in to the reason why Kate kept repeating the same week - but maybe that's the point. She can't figure it out, either. Which is why she really has to think about her actions and how they affect those around her, and pay more attention!

It was interesting to see how each change in how Kate handled a relationship or a situation affected the rest of the week, and wondering whether she'd resolved enough issues to "win" and progress to the next week. Neverending Beginnings may be fairly light reading, but I found myself looking forward to spending time with this book. ( )

This book is unlike others I have read. The book covers a one week time frame that repeats itself over and over again. Kate is the lead character. Her best friend Amy is marrying her ex-boyfriend Jack on the Saturday of that week. Kate has been roped into giving the wedding toast after Amy’s sister backs out, because Amy wants a female toast along with the traditional one. Kate, who has drunk a lot during the reception, botches the toast, forgetting her notes, and is so embarrassed and sort of black out, waking up the next morning only to find herself back to the Sunday of the previous week, before the wedding occurred. The storyline is a bit creative, as I have not read anything quite like it before. In fact, I am not really a fan of time travel books. This one is intriguing, however, so I decided to try it. It was okay but I wondered whether it was worth my time when Kate ends up redoing this one week about the third or fourth time. I am not really sure what the author was trying to do, but, in my opinion, redoing a week again and again does not a great storyline/plot make. I found there were differences in the way Kate lived each iteration of this week, but not that many so there was good continuity. During this week, Kate also is attracted to Jack’s school friend Ben, who likewise is attracted to her, and a romance buds. However, after the third iteration of the same week, I began to wonder what the author’s game plan was or whether this romance was going anywhere. There is good characterization, good chemistry between Ben and Kate, some great humorous episodes as well as some embarrassing ones, definite changes in what Kate does and how she behaves in each do-over. However, how many times does someone re-live the same week? And to what end? This was not very clear.

This is a fairly good book, except for this one thing. I enjoyed reading about Kate and her friends, even though the events, actions and words were sort of repeated again and again. Each time a little bit more about each was shown. It was interesting to see how the author took one week and changed just enough to make it different while keeping the week and all its activities about the same. I just could not wrap my head around why the week was repeated so many times.

This is a good book for anyone looking for a different sort of time travel book or a different sort of romance. The book reads easily, though drags a bit. The reader might be tempted to wonder what on earth the author is trying to show/prove, as not much in that way stands out. Still, it will probably be worth the effort for many. I received this from Library Thing to read and review. ( )

I really didn't enjoy this book at all. I found that the storyline had some interesting twists but it felt so drawn out and boring each time the protagonist had to go back to relieve her week. I have read other books with this 'groundhog day' premise and have enjoyed them. See, Before I Die, that is a really good re-live a day book.

This one left me cold and uninterested. I found myself flipping through the pages to get to the meat of the new information twist from that re-lived week. The protagonist wasn't a character I could find myself liking or even rooting for. I felt as if I was being told not shown the storyline- which I detest. ( )