If only you knew then what you know now...Imagine if you could go back ten years and meet your younger self - would you recognise her? And what advice would you give? Wear sunscreen! Back away from those PVC trousers? DON'T give that idiot your phone number? Lemon juice won't bleach your hair - it just attracts wasps...He's the one - don't let him go! For Charlotte Merryweather, there's no need to imagine. She's about to find out for real. With surprising consequences...Alexandra Potter's deliciously funny and enchanting romantic comedy looks at life, love and what might happen if you could turn back time.

It's funny, it's real, and it actually makes you think (well, it made ME think, that's for sure!). After I read the book, I wrote my own list of things I'd say to a younger me if I could, and it opened my eyes to some things that I already knew, but had chosen to not address. After the first one in the list, the other 9 came almost naturally. I love books that give you something to think of after you've read them, and this one definitely did it. =) ( )

This book is dumb. But I'm more than halfway through, and damn it, I'm going to finish it if I have to skim through the last chapters as I drop it in the return slot at the library.

Truth be told, I don't think I've read a whole chapter in the past 100 pages; it's that bad.

ETA: A predictable end to a bored premise. ( )

Who's That Girl? By Alexandra Potter
As I felt before with Alexandra Potter’s books, I think she picks great ideas and then doesn’t develop them enough.
The great idea here was: what if you could travel back in time and advise yourself not to make the same mistakes you did?
The poor development was:
1. The first 30% of the book was utter B.O.R.E.D.O.M.E.! You have to force yourself through it. I mean, if I buy a book about travelling back in time I can’t wait for it to happen! She makes you wait 115 pages!!! You get a vague hint it will happen, but no real action until page 116. To me it was such a waste; also because this overlong introduction is so dull, is just everyday activities, boring boyfriend presentation, and work related stuff! She should have cut this part in half, or her editor should have!
2. Once she gets in the past, it is all a minor, minor part of the story. I did expect some old good bottom line where you think you needed to change everything and then rediscovered yourself, but this book was totally shifted on present-day Charlotte, I wanted to know Lottie more, explore a little more her life… and I don’t say change it completely but at least SOMETHING!!! I mean there are so many useless part in the book, like I felt 60% of it was about her job, that she could have explored and developed the main plot, i.e. travelling back in time and advising yourself, so much more! And here we get to reason number three and why the stars of this book dropped dramatically.
3. REASON THREE IS A SPOILER… DON’T GO FURTHER IF YOU STILL WANT TO READ THE BOOK!! Ok this one was so bad it infuriated me. What is the point of writing a book, and supposedly, a happy, easy, funny book, as chick-lit should be for definition, and then drop this on the reader: when you are approaching the end of the book, you discover that the heroin in her youth becomes pregnant after a bad one-night stand and then decides to have an abortion. Already sad enough. But then the Author makes the story go down in the same way twice?? Is she crazy? Already she didn’t change one thing of the past, and this was disappointing and unexciting enough, but this one she should have changed!! Does anyone agree with me?
( )

I really enjoyed this book. We learn so many things as we get older: exercise, buy good shoes, not all guys are good. But we also forget what it’s like to be carefree and maybe even a little naïve. This book captured those two sides perfectly. Our 21-year-old selves have something to learn from our 30-something selves, but then again, that goes both ways. Charlotte tried to learn from her earlier mistakes by going to an extreme: workaholic, neat-freak. I liked the way she was able to go back and see that maybe she didn’t need to go to that extreme and could learn from her mistakes while still being true to herself. ( )