I received an ARC from Net Galley. I wish I had finished sooner, but with school and stuff, that was near impossible.
Anyway, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I thought it was cute and fuzzy, and pretty surprising. I thought the second chance was the internship the first time around, but I enjoyed the supernatural/science fictiony aspect of actually taking the second chance.
I was a little irked at Shane in the second take that she spent so much time thinking of Pilot, but she really surprised me when she took a step back and decided to focus on her. I thought that was such a brave and awesome thing for her to do. Of course, it was sad about her and Pilot, and I am glad that they got their happy ending, and that they reformed their relationship to focus on themselves as well as each other. They’re very dorky.
I related to Shane a bit. I haven’t named my computer or anything, but her wanting to represent Lost in a subtle way is like me with my fandoms. I actually got a “Sherry, Niles” shirt because I love Frasier, and needed it, even if no one has commented on it. Lol
Because this was an ARC, there were jarring transitions, especially during the two Paris trips, where all of a sudden they are with Babe and Chad, but I’m sure that’s been fixed. There were some grammatical errors, too. But, of course, that’s been fixed too, I’m sure.
Some critiques: they snort way too much. Like, Shane snorted like six times in one chapter. I don’t remember getting a physical description on Shane until she’s in Scotland, and that’s just her hair being frizzy. We get a lot of her feelings, but not always in places where I think it matters. When she goes into the Elephant House, she has a tingly feeling, but that’s it. I want more of a physical description of the place, and more of her feelings. Does she feel overwhelmed? Excited? What does tingly mean? And in the second take, Atticus is never around. He’s always doing something, and I really liked him, so it was disappointing not to see him.
I also would have liked more with her parents, especially what happened when she got back the first time and the second. How did she mend the gap?
I loved seeing Shane be more assertive in the second take. I loved her actually talking with Leo instead of retreating into herself, and her relationship with Babe is super cute.
All in all, cute, funny, enjoyable story!

I have to start by saying I was totally into the premise of this book because I also went to London in college and met my husband there. So yeah, I was hooked and loved all the reminiscing I did with the character. However, with out my personal experience would I have liked this as much, probably not . However, if I was a teen reading this story I would probably get sucked in to it. So I will purchase this for my library. And I am sure it will circulate among teens.

I enjoyed parts of this book. I liked the concept of what happens in the middle. I liked Babe. I loved the travel. But other than that the book was a bit of a mess. Shane’s klutziness was beyond a YA cliche and I detested that. I hated all the lyrics and talk about books that I don’t like. Not including HP of course. Love those. And she used cackled over ten times and that grated on my nerves. This book just wasn’t for me. It could have used some editing and smoothing as I did like the concept. But too many YA cliches stuffed into one book.

After reading the synopsis I thought this would be a really good book to read. However, I had to stop reading after getting 25% through the book. I am sorry I just couldn't get into the writing style. The dialog was making me cringe.

I thought this was a fantastic read. I love the author and she did a more than excellent job creating this story, creating this character, and creating the overall mood of this story. I am grateful to have read this story because I relate to the character. She reminded me of myself when I first started something new. I highly recommend this read to those who want to read about a character getting out of their comfort zone to try new things.

Again, but Better was so much fun- filled with bookish references, song lyrics, movie discussions, and little YA winks- it was relatable and thoroughly entertaining. If you are a fan of Christine’s booktube channel, a lot of her personality shines through the story, but Shane still stands out as her own character. This book makes me wish I could have done a study abroad program! I loved reading about Shane’s stay in London and her many travels. Pilot! He was definitely a swoon-worthy love interest. He did frustrate me a bit with his inability to do the right thing. But I recognize it stemmed from a very human character flaw he eventually worked through. His banter with Shane had me grinning. Something that was very unexpected (but now looking at that title, I should have known) was the speculative twist that I not only enjoyed, but was left wanting to know more! The ending left me so satisfied, with an epic epilogue I absolutely adored. Overall, I definitely enjoyed this story and am looking forward to Christine’s next work.

Again, but Better is a really fun YA contemporary. As someone who studied abroad in college, I would have really loved to read a book like this about a study abroad experience at that age. I loved seeing all of the places Shane visited--London, Paris, Rome, Edinburgh! And the romance between Pilot and Shane is really cute--they have a lot of fun banter and inside jokes that YA fans will appreciate. I wasn't expecting all of the magical elements to this--I thought it was going to be a straightforward contemporary at first--but I think those elements made me enjoy it even more. A fun, fast read!

<strong>CW’s: Cheating, Emotional & Verbal Parental Abuse</strong>

<i>Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest Review! All quotes featured are from the Arc and therefore subject to changes.</i>

💗 <b><a href="https://bookcheshirecat.wordpress.com/2019/04/24/arc-review-again-but-better-by-christine-riccio/" target="_blank">Read this Review on my Blog</a></b> 💗

I had high hopes for <i>Again, but better</i>due to its very cool premise, that sadly were <b>disappointed by the actual execution</b>. From weak characters, a relationship based on cheating and the very cliché writing to constant references and a strange sudden change of genre, the entire story felt flat and off for me. I was a fan of the college and travel themes and got through the book rather quickly, as it is fast-paced, but found too many issues with the story to truly enjoy it.

<u><b>L I K E S</b></u>
<b>🌺 </b><b>The idea itself & college life</b>. Like I said, the premise is what drew me into the book and made me want to pick up, because I related a lot to Shane’s feelings about college. Being 20 she is also close to my age, so I felt connected to her experiences and insecurities. I liked that we got to see her study abroad and also pursue writing as her passion! The theme of trying to do things better and living life for yourself and no one else had strong potential to be very relatable to a lot of readers currently struggling with feeling like they failed at life.

<b>🌺 </b><b>Shane’s internship</b>. I absolutely loved the scenes in which we see Shane doing her internship at a travel magazine., Everything about her experience her was so relatable to me as I just did a longer internship myself. The initial awkwardness of being new, not being able to do anything yourself and having to ask, before becoming a bit more part of the team was all spot on. I liked those scenes the most, especially as the Team at the place was so friendly and welcoming!

<b>🌺 </b><b>The traveling in Paris, Rome & London</b>. Even if it felt more like ticking off the most important attractions, I loved getting to see Shane explore a lot of places during her year abroad, it was so nice to read about that! I do wish to know where they got all the money to finance the trips though. I mean, I know they slept in hostels and traveling is not as expensive if you choose cheaper options, but none of their internships were paid and Shane’s fund that she mentioned must have been huge.

<b>🌺 </b><b>Shane’s friends Babe, Sahra and Atticus, who made up a diverse supporting cast</b>. I especially loved her close relationship to Babe, who was such a gem. Babe is very positive, excited and energized, I would love to have a friend like her who just radiates so much positive energy. I also like Sahra and Atticus, even though Babe was a bit more prominent in the story. Furthermore, I appreciate that Babe was a plus-sized black woman and Atticus was Asian and gay. (Not sure about Sahra, she is described as tan, but nothing else is mentioned.)

<b>🌺</b><b> The pace was fast and addictive, with Part 2 being a lot better</b>. Despite me having a few issues with the book, it was very fast paced and addictive once I sat down to read the book. The pacing was very good, made the book easy to read and I felt myself wanting to keep reading even if a lot of things bothered me. In general, Part 2 was a lot more interesting to me. Even though the twist was a bit weakly developed, it did push the story into much more interesting terrain and raised a lot of questions about choices and taking control of your life.

<u>b>D I S L I K E S</b></u>
<b>⚡</b><b> Shane was too much like Christine</b>. As a fellow writer I know that we always put a bit of ourselves (or the version we want to be) into our works and that’s okay, but the issue is when it becomes TOO much. That was the case here, as the story is basically semi-autobiographical with Shane having a lot of similarities to Christine. It <b></b><b>got hard to distinguish between writing voice and actual character voice</b>, because they were one and the same. In my opinion, Christine poured a bit too much of herself into the story, <b></b><b>making it hard to see Shane as a separate character from her creator</b>. I personally couldn’t unsee Christine in the main character. If you know her you’ll inevitable envision Shane as the author, which is not a desirable effect, at least not for my reading experience. Unrelated to that issue, I also disliked how clumsy was a defining weakness/quirk of Shane and used for comic relief all the time. It quickly got repetitive. Another thing I noticed (but with all characters), was that they didn’t read like 20 year olds to me, they read much younger.

<b>⚡</b><b> It was jarring how suddenly Shane’s life changed in London</b>. I was expecting her to take time to settle in and struggle with changing her life, as the narrative framed her college life before to be very different and lonely. However, the second Shane gets to London all her problems with making friends and staying connected are immediately solved. That was way too quickly given her problems in the last years and felt a bit alienating, as it is often not as easy. <b></b><b>A sudden change of scenery is not a cure all</b>. I was disappointed that her struggles to make friends and find out how to get out of her comfort zone were not sufficiently explored. Shane went from anxious to outgoing too quickly.

<b>⚡ </b><b>Pilot was pretty one dimensional.</b> I hope I wasn’t the only one immediately put off by his ‘quirky’ name. I mean Pilot Penn? Apart from that I didn’t feel like Pilot had a lot of depth. He was your typical love interest, who is attractive and probably interested in something artsy (here it was music). I also felt like Pilot wasn’t as great a character as Shane made him out to be. <b>How he talked about his girlfriend spoke volumes to his character and how selfish he truly was</b>. Instead of breaking it off when they have differing opinions, he keeps her warm for ‘later’ while flirting with Shane. Pilot conveniently pretended his girlfriend Amy didn’t exist in order to have two girls at once, until he no longer could avoid it. Then in turn he ignored Shane. Basically, he didn’t want to choose and did it at the expense of both girls. He only does what serves him and it rubbed me the wrong way, especially in Part 2. The last minute explanation as to why he was on edge didn’t convince me, it was thrown in too late.

<b>⚡ </b><b>I was not a fan of the romance especially the constant emotional cheating element</b>. It was mostly emotional cheating (and later a kiss), but Pilot would relentlessly flirt with Shane, resulting in almost kisses despite having a girlfriend. I did not like the “I have a girlfriend, but she is annoying/uninteresting/etc., so I’m ignoring that we’re together” trope that was going on here. It made me dislike Pilot a lot. The grey-area cheating was meant to add conflict and angst, but that could have done another way too. Point is: I don’t like cheating subplots especially when they’re between the Main Character and the Love Interest. Shane also has her burden to bear, because she still hoped Pilot would break up with Amy and often forgot that he was not available and still in a relationship. She was so set on him and the thing is that I didn’t think their relationship has any substance. So apart from the cheating, <b>I found the romance to be missing a spark</b>. It was pretty much instant love between them without any reason and even towards the end I never saw the appeal of both of them together.

<b>⚡ </b><b>The Plot Twist was very bizarre and underdeveloped.</b> If you introduce a new genre-bending element it NEEDS to have a foundation and a background. You cannot just throw in something new and then never explain it, but that’s what happened here. It came out of the blue and took me by surprise, sadly not in a good way, more in a “this is so bizarre what is happening?” way. We never explore why this twist works, does it only work for Shane? Does it work for everyone? How does it even work? I don’t know. It sadly felt like the element was just introduced as a shock and plot twist, but not as well thought out. Connected is the a weird side character that keeps popping up. Said character has no background or personality, they just serve the plot twist and it is never explained what they had to do with it.

<b>⚡</b><b> Some of the scenes/dialogue was very cliché with lots of overused phrases</b>. The writing style was generally okay, but sometimes the dialogue would be a bit awkward and spotted with phrases that felt unnatural. I think it was because they are phrases that are used very often and therefore didn’t feel fresh. Some phrases were just very strange and nothing I could see someone saying.

<i>”I like a boy. He has a girlfriend who isn't me, and it's the worst”</i>. is an actual quote from the book.

<b>⚡</b><b> Shane’s parents abusive behavior was never addressed.</b> This made me a bit uncomfortable because there was some clear <b></b><b>emotional as well as verbal abuse going on the entire story that wasn’t addressed</b>. Especially at one point Shane’s father gets really aggressive and violent, which was very scary as he is described to have anger issues. The way it was casually mentioned that he would often yell whenever Shane didn’t do things quickly enough or did something wrong didn't sit well with me at all. Of course Shane made her share of mistakes as well and went into apologizing, but the narrative never made her parents own up for their horrible behavior towards their daughter.

<b>⚡ </b><b>There were too many references and often they felt forced</b>. Firstly, I always appreciate pop-culture references, but they need to be integrated into the story well and feel natural in the scene. They should be woven into the story and not constantly thrown in. The latter sadly was what happened here. <b></b><b>Shane would always find ways to insert any reference to her favorite things in the scenes</b> to a point where it felt a bit like ‘fan service’ to the readers, to show how relatable the story was. I appreciate that it was shown how nerdy Shane is (because same), but it got too much. Same with the <b></b><b>constant references to 2011 in Part 1</b>. The author tried to establish that we’re in the past, but after a few references readers usually get that, you don’t need to bring that up again and again. <b></b><b>A minor thing that I didn’t get was the initial ‘culture shock’ that Shane experiences. Like … she is SO hung up on the differences between Britain and the US, even though both countries are not that different from each other.</b> I have been to both Britain and the US. Sure, I saw that some things were different but I never had such a huge reponse like Shane. I know it was meant to be endearing, but some things were just too much and strange to me. She was so outraged about the lampposts, the pasta and sauce … all minor things. Forgetting that you have to look the other way to cross the street I can understand, because it is so instinctual, but the rest felt over the top for me.

<u><b>At a G L A N C E</b></u>
<b>Series?</b> No
<b>Recommended for?</b> People interested in books set in college + an angsty romance, Fans of Christine/her Booktube Channel

This book.... is in a way a love letter to the book world & to the reads who want to be writers.
(Yes, I'm a fan of Christine as a BookTuber, been watching her for years, but I did my best to not like that influence my thoughts of this book.)

This book gave me a push to want to work on my own book because unlike Shane, I (& you) don't get second chances. I enjoyed this book, was it cheesy, yes, was it funny, yes, dramatic, yes. But it's like sunlight with light rain while still dealing with family problems, and learning to grow as a person. This has been the second book I've read in the last two weeks that deals with how our choices affect our lives and the outcomes of them. I'm starting to think that it's a sign.

With that said let get back to the book, Shane is our lead character. We get to see her grow. I relate to her in many ways. Booknerd, wannabe writer, Beatle fan and so on. With that said, she was very light-hearted, bubbly, yet still a hard worker. Who follows her heart.

Don't let the blurb keep you from reading this book because it is so much more than that. I enjoyed the fandoms drops. The joy of adventure made me want to read more books that have a travel theme. The dash of magic didn't feel forced or 'not-real'.

The other characters of this book made me love it, Babe is a black, plus-sized woman, while Atticus, (who I love) is an Asian gay, Gryffindor who is a theater major! Sahra, who grew on me. Pilot is a strong male character, who was an on again off again character for me. I enjoyed him at the start & end of the book, but the middle-ish he was driving me crazy.

With that said, I can see why some people wouldn't like this book, but I however did. It was my cup of tea, my favorite kind of books to read during the spring/summer time. I just hope people won't judge this book because a 'BookTuber' is the author.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had never heard of the author before, or even the term "booktuber", so going in, I had no idea what to expect.

This was a lovely story and fun to read!

Shane is not having a good time at college - she is lacking a "life" so to speak and decides to do something about it.

Being pre-med (because that's what her parents want) but actually she is in love with writing, she sets off on a study abroad program. Here she meets several friends, and even begins a relationship with a guy! Unbeknownst to her, her mom and dad visit and things go out of control.

Flash forward to the future and she is living the life of a medical student, but still isn't happy. She goes in search for those in her past and there is a bit of a time travel adventure (not expecting this!).

What will Shane do? Will she choose to change the fate of her future? Or leave it be?

Recommend to anyone who loves to laugh and a good love story.

2.75 stars.

e-ARC received via St. Martin's Press & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
T/W: Grey-area cheating, mild-assault (unwanted kiss)

As a recent subscriber of Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS) I am probably coming at this review one apart from the rest. I am not a die-hard fan of Christine (yet!) but I was curious when I discovered that she was writing a book. This means that my thoughts about the Again, but Better are completely non-bias in terms of how much I want to support this book purely for the fact that I like Christine. My admiration for Christine does not mix with the thoughts I have about her novel. Now that we've got that out of the way, here begins my review...

I enjoyed Again, but Better. It was fun and lighthearted and the pacing was spot on. I would like to note that 2.75 stars is not a negative rating - it pretty much means "It was okay. I liked it." which is a good thing. The problems I have with this book are mostly because it felt quite 'lukewarm'. It was a nice easy read but I wasn't desperate to read it all the time and I haven't thought about it much since finishing it a couple of days ago. I do wonder whether my experience reading it might've been a little better if I had been reading it physically (generally, I read my books physically) rather than on e-reader. Just a thought.

My greatest issue with Christine's novel is her characters. They are mundane and a little too inactive for my liking. I thought the characters were exactly like the sort of people you do come across in life but considering our main character has trouble making friends, she certainly had an easy time making them in the period of her life that we get to see. One large gripe that I had with the characters is kind of ridiculous but oh my goodness literally all of their names were ridiculous. I think unusual names so you'd think that maybe I was being a bit harsh with 'Shane' (f) and 'Babe' but 'Pilot Penn'..? I mean really?

As for Shane, while I read this book I was constantly taken aback by just how 'Christine' she was. There is no way that Shane isn't almost a direct copy of Christine. I can even tell this without having watched that many of Christine's videos. Like Christine, Shane has an Italian surname, her online username is almost identical to Christine's, they express themselves in pretty much the same way and they have very similar mannerisms to one other. These with the fact that I picture them looking almost identical means that I find it very difficult to differentiate Shane's character from real-life Christine's. Don't get me wrong, I really do like Christine but the other day I watched an interview with the one and only Victoria Schwab, who said that it is a dangerous game to insert oneself into their characters. Yes to characters sharing one or two of an author's characteristics, but an exact copy can be a risky move. For me the similarities were slightly jarring and removed me from the story as I read.

In terms of the actual storyline: I didn't mesh very well with it. I enjoyed the concept of an American visiting London for the first time for a study abroad experience - relatable and realistic - but having said that Again but, Better isn't just a bog-standard contemporary. It has a twist. There was both an unexplained time-travel-moment as well as a spirit guide present. I was confused every time the spirit guide was mentioned and we were never told why she was there or how what she did was ever possible. I thought that it was brave of Christine to go down that route and I think had this novel been her second or third, if might've worked very well, but for now her writing seems premature but still very promising.

Following on from that, the writing style itself was interesting. In many ways it felt like I was reading a blog post. I think this must partly be because the novel is written in first person. It is chatty and informal and packed to the brim with references. I'm talking Lost, The Beatles, Cassandra Clare, Angry Birds etc. etc. All things that Christine Riccio loves herself, might I add. Sometimes I really enjoyed these references and found that they added more to the story - an example of this is when Shane and Pilot are dancing in a club, I was able to listen to the songs that she mentioned were playing in the scene while I was reading that particular scene. It was good fun. Other times however I found that there were slightly too many and it suffocated the dialogue and descriptions a little too much.

As I write this review, I am discovering that the issues I have with Again, but Better are all ones that can be worked upon in time for Christine's future novels (?). She has a lot of potential and a lot of room to grow and develop. For this reason I am excited to see what is to come from her and I am thankful that I could read this book and be one of the first to watch her journey as an author begin.

Will I be buying a physical copy of this book for myself? Probably not. I like it but it is not an all-time favourite and I don't think I will be re-reading it anytime soon.

Should you buy this book? Yes, I don't see why not. It is good fun, it has an interesting message about personal growth and if you were to read it non-critically I think it would be very enjoyable indeed.

~ Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press & Netgalley for an early review copy of Again, but Better by Chrisitne Riccio. ~

It hurts to give this book just two stars but I really can't give more.

I honestly had such high hopes. I love Christine's videos and she seems like such a lovely person herself and I wanted to love her book. I also loved following her journey of writing this book and getting it published. I was excited, though also a little nervous when I started reading but I quickly grew annoyed with this book.

The first thing I noticed was the forced quirkiness in this book which I hated. It didn't feel natural and genuine at all. Most of what the characters did or said was super cringy and it made me so uncomfortable reading it. I also quickly realised that Shane felt like Christine. Not only did she feel like Christine, she WAS Christine and I couldn't unsee that. The whole time I read the book I saw Christine and not Shane. I mean...I get that every author puts something of themselves into their book(s), but here it was just exaggerated. A reader should be able to see the character while reading a book and not the author.

Unfortunately, I was also never really pulled into the book which has a lot to do with the writing style. It just didn't flow the right way and the dialogues made me put the book away because they felt so unnatural. All the pop cultural references also got on my nerves at some point. There were just way too many of them

I think what put me off the most, though, were the one-dimensional characters and how immature they all felt. I know that barely anyone is really mature when they are just 20 but these characters didn't feel like they were 20 at all. They actually all felt like immature children which I hated! I also couldn't connect to them at all. Shane could've been such a relatable character but I was never able to connect to her emotionally and her actions were inexplicable.

To me, the book also felt pretty rushed. Nothing was ever really explored. Instead, Christine rushed through everything. This way the book was definitely very easy and quick to read but the story was also underdeveloped. I wish Christine would've taken more time to explore certain situations. This way she could've showcased some awesome friendships but unfortunately, they also fell flat to me.

I have to say, that I liked Part 2 of the book a little better. It was still rushed, but certain key situations were a little bit more explored like the internship. I also really liked the idea of the novel and the setting. I myself went a year abroad but the experience was a little bit different and my life, unlike Shane's, didn't change from one moment to another like that. I wish Christine would've explored the struggles of going abroad a little bit more.

I definitely had a lot of problems with this book but I didn't end up hating it. There were still quite a few moments that I enjoyed but in general, I felt that the execution of this book was lacking and it could've been so much better. This is definitely a book I won't be reading again.

** spoiler alert ** 3.5 stars
The time travel aspect took me by surprise but the title really makes sense now!
I enjoyed the book but sometimes the drama felt a little too much for me, unfortunately. Still a very enjoyable read though.

I grew up with Christine's videos, her personality and her excitement were truly captured in this story!
I loved it from start to finish and it is definitely going to amaze everyone!

A great idea for a plot with a great message of applying yourself completely to your goals. However, the story itself felt clunky in its execution. It seemed like the story was trying to check certain boxes which made the diversity feel more more like token and not well done diversity which distracted from the overall plot rather than adding to it. Some of this might be chalked up to a debut so if the author publishes another I would give it a chance via a library etc.

Again But Better was a good read, similar feeling and premise as Anna and the French kiss. In the first half the MC has this nervous energy that took some getting used to, but it gets endearing when you do and there's a twist a little over halfway through that I did not see coming but that was amusing. Towards the end there's a wonky bit that didn't feel consistent with the story that far, the focus shifted abruptly, and I got a bit confused. The whole book revolves mostly around one aspect and suddenly she doesn't talk or even think about it at all? I wish I could let something go so completely too! But in the end, the author manages to straighten out the story, I really liked the ending and I definitely enjoyed it as a whole!

WOW. I am obsessed with this book. From the first Harry Potter reference, I knew I was going to love it. Riccio’s writing style and Shane’s voice are absolutely hilarious and there were times when I felt like she was inside my brain. Shane is a totally lovable and entirely relatable character. All of her bookish fandom and pop culture references killed me, and I just loved the way her mind worked. I was rooting for her to come into herself the whole time and I loved watching as she figured out what she truly wanted. As someone who fell in love with London on my own travels, I was so excited to be transported back and was definitely living through Shane’s study abroad experience. Her flatmates were such a great grouping of characters who all had their unique, fun quirks. Babe with her Disney obsession and aspiring actor, Atticus, were my favorites. Then there was Pilot Penn, Shane’s crush. Their dynamic and chemistry were fantastic and while there were moments that he made me mad, I totally understood the conflict. I think my favorite thing about this book was reading their witty, flirtatious banter. There were several swoon-worthy moments that had my stomach all fluttery. The big twist in the middle of the book caught me totally off guard and seeing it play out was so exciting. As you can tell, I just really loved this book and I have very little, if any, negative comments. From the romance to the friendships, to the wanderlust, and finally discovering who you are meant to be, this book knocked it out of the park and I can’t wait to see what Riccio does next.

I have, a lot of feelings about this book. There's a lot of ways to feel about this book and they can be good and they can be bad and truthfully they're a bit of both because I don't love it and I don't hate it either.

It was a good first novel for someone to publish and I'm proud of her putting everything that she had into this piece of work. I haven't watched many of her writing vlogs because I didn't know how much I wanted to know about it before I got into reading it myself but you can tell how much love was in there from the start and there is a lot to respect from that.

Getting into the actual novel though; I think she may have put all of her personality into her Main Character, and projected just a little bit, with factors of naming things the same way that Christine does.. I don't think she gave any of the characters much personality in general, but if she maybe had more time to do drafts and rewrites it would have been a fully developed story where every main character actually has a name. I don't like the fact that one of the most important characters in the book didn't get a name, they just referred to her as 'the red haired lady' and we never found out more about her or what she was and I feel like that should have been an important part of the plot but it wasn't!

I think that, she had a blast writing this book, and I feel like for a first book, contemporary, it's good that she enjoy what she did. I liked the general plot, and the ways that it moved along; it was fast paced and I was able to read it in an entire day when I couldn't sleep and that's a good sign for other readers. Especially when they're huge fans of Christine and everything that she's done with her life..

I'd recommend this to someone if they liked rom-coms and this is a pretty good rom-com, put into a book.

Shane felt like she had done college all wrong, and believed a semester abroad in London would be her second chance at doing college the RIGHT way. All started out well, but things began to fall apart, and ultimately, Shane eschewed her own desires and dreams to follow the path chosen by her parents.

Don't worry folks, this was not where the story ended. In fact, this was where I really became invested in Shane's tale.

I absolutely fell in love with the Shane I met in the second half of the book. She was wiser and making better choices for herself. She became more focused on her dreams, her desires, and her future, and wasn't going to allow herself to get off track, as she had in the past. I loved her determination and her drive, and admired that she learned from her missteps, and made an honest attempt to do it better the second time.

I had a lot of fun with Shane and the gang, and especially loved traveling throughout Europe with them. Riccio included great sites, and did an admirable job taking us along on the trip. The blog posts were a little extra, which I enjoyed and thought helped us get to "see" Shane even clearer.

Other things I enjoyed:

• This was a great entry into YA-goes-to-college. The characters are older (20), but it read YA, and Shane experiences a great deal of growth, as I expect, of any YA protagonist.

• The romance! This romance was up and down, so hold on to your heart. I did adore these two together though, and was hoping it would work out the entire time.

• Do yourself a favor, and beware of spoiler reviews. I had no idea about this BIG thing that happened in this story, and was so pleasantly surprised by it.

• The ending was so, so, so good. My face hurts just thinking about it, because I can't keep the smile off my face.

After an OK start, this book took off for me in the second half, and I am really happy I stuck with it. It was a fun story of following your passion and blazing your own path, which is something I have no problem getting behind.

Like most people around, I used to watch Christine on YouTube and, therefore, got quite curious when seeing that she had a book coming out. I don’t really have an opinion on the fact that BookTubers are getting published, it’s just awesome for them!

When it comes to Again, But Better, I found it just okay. I struggled with the writing at times as it felt a bit underwhelming. However, I can definitely see potential in Christine’s writing and do believe that she’s a good writer, it just felt a bit rushed and meh in this one at times.

Regarding the story, I really liked the concept and the first part but the second part, although interesting, threw me off by its execution; I was confused by some aspects and not fully satisfied by the resolution of it all.

The characters were okay but I found our MC, Shane, to have some strange - almost over the top - reactions to what was happening to her. I did connect with her for certain things though. The romance between Shane and Pilot was cute although fast and confusing sometimes.

All in all, Again, But Better is a nice book with an interesting, enticing concept but the execution left me meh. I’m still looking forward to what Christine comes up with the next time as I think she has talent and potential.