Begin Again is the first book in the series Again by German author Mona Kasten. Although it is a series, it can also be stand alone since each book is about different couples. Begin Again is on Allie and Kaden. Two people who really are not that opposite at all meet, have a long build up, and blast fireworks explode.

The first half of the book i truly enjoyed. i first thought Kayden was going to be this bad boy, ladies man with the tattoos, and while yes he has the tats and is a ladies man the book doesn’t focus on his unless encounters with one night stands or really focuses on that at all. Allie comes from a rich midwestern family who has controlled her long enough. She leaves her Nebraska town for Oregon to start over in college, where she meets Kayden and becomes his roommate.

Allie is no angel and is far from your typical goody-two-shoes we usually read about in books paired up with the tattoo bad boy. I really enjoyed that the characters both had faults and went outside the typical sterotypes in books these days.

About 60% of the book is just a long build up between the two, which is the part i enjoyed the most. i enjoyed reading their hatred for one another turn into acceptance and eventually friendship… and then some…. once the two kissed/hooked up it became way too much for me. both characters were going back and forth on wanting to be together to being together, pushing each other away again. it was just way too much drama built up in a short span of the book. it was like on repeat over and over again the last half. i wanted to quit reading midway through because i was over it but i was too invested into the story. while the outcome is what i was expecting… the first half saved the book for me.

And a small thing that personally annoyed me was as someone who has visited Lincoln, Nebraska many times due to family living there… i would love to know where this rich high society lives in Lincoln live. I did not feel Lincoln was described at all accurately in the book. I had a hard time getting passed that, but that is more of a personal thing.


I give Begin Again (Again #1), by Mona Kasten 2.5 stars.


Book provided by the publisher, via NetGalley in return for an honest review.