In many ways Again, But Better took me back to being curled up in bed with Stephanie Perkin’s Anna and the French Kiss, one of my favourite romantic contemporaries. Both books have a European/travelling vibe (which always excites me), explore a path of self-confidence and are centred around an adorable and frustrating romantic story line that’s completely addictive. I found myself rapt up in Shane’s story in Again, But Better from the first page as she travelled from New York to London to complete a university semester abroad, a chance she took to chase the dreams her parents have pulled her away from her whole life. When her own self-doubt gets in the way of her fulfilling her goals (writing, making friends and finding romance), a little magic is what she needs to find her true path and happiness.

When I read the summary for this novel, I wasn’t expecting the story to be quite the romantic comedy it is. There is nothing at all wrong with that, as Shane’s romance with The Guy She Likes was definitely the element of the book that made me keep reading way past my bedtime. The romance was adorable, funny and angsty in all the right ways and I absolutely loved it. Which was really a pleasant surprise, as I thought the book was going to focus more on Shane’s independent journey as she finds confidence in herself and her dream of becoming a writer. Christine Riccio does handle that side of the narrative well and in doing so, she showed me a side of Shane I could relate to in my own experiences at university, struggling to make friends and to keep on track with my writing goals and interests. Shane was a very likeable character that many readers will relate to and while I enjoyed seeing the outcome of her own personal journey, her relationship with The Guy She Likes and the way she was truly herself with him was the highlight of the book for me.

At times, I felt the writing style could’ve done with a bit more attention. The pace sometimes felt rushed and Shane’s monologues sometimes felt too simplistic or meandering. Still, Christine Riccio certainly got her characters right, whether they had small or large roles in the plot, and her inclusion of so many references about Europe and pop culture made me happy. There was a certain touch to her storytelling that felt real to me and, for lack of a better way to describe it, made me feel cosy and warm inside. Even when I wasn’t so sure about the inclusion of magic (which was the type of thing that made me think of Suddenly 30 or something similar), I was completely engrossed in the story the whole time and hoped so much that Shane would finally find her true version of happiness.

My college self relates a lot to Shane. She's socially anxious, she's awkward, she's a bit nerdy, she's not sure who she wants to be, she wouldn't go travelling on her own, the list goes on. We both went to London for school to try and find our way...

I like that the relationships formed in this book seem real and relatable. When you're in a situation like this, you gravitate toward your dorm mates. Shane, Sahra, Babe, Pilot and Atticus (which, I will admit, is a really weird group of names) become fast friends, but they all seem to be enthralled in their studies and their internships like real students would be. Sure, they travel together and rely on each other, but these people are actually there for school, which I appreciate. And they're diverse, which I appreciate.

There is a little bit of a magical event that I didn't see coming, but that really bought this book to another level. It made it stand out from anything else I've read. Sure, it was cheesy and made the story become impossible, but Riccio saves it from becoming completely ridiculous in the way the plot progresses. I also thought there was going to be some borrowing from Jenny Han's <em>To All The Boys I've Loved Before</em>... and I was pleasantly surprised when the plot went in a different direction.

My one bigger issue with the book is Shane's relationship with her parents, and how her parents treat her. In the beginning, when she's describing it, she makes it seem like her parents were just hard on her in wanting her to be a doctor, but as we learn later on, her father is borderline abusive (and her mother doesn't seem to see it either). The way Shane was treated by them—with the climax happening in front of a group of other people, no less, which makes it so much worse—and continued to be treated by them in the future was not okay. And I understand that people are not always treated nicely by their parents, but I didn't like the fact that it wasn't really addressed. Shane merely explained it as them not understanding her, and her friends just wanted to make sure she was okay, but that is emotionally abusive and should have been called out as such.

But despite that shortcoming, the main message of the story, though not totally original these days, was heartwarming. Riccio really wanted to drive home the fact that until you love yourself as you are, you'll never be able to love someone else, no matter how hard you try or how many chances you get. You're your number 1. And that's a moral I can get behind.

4.5 STARS

This review will be posted on my blog, The Modest Reader, on April 29 at 7:00 am.

https://themodestreader.com/2019/04/29/again-but-better/

Quality of Writing: 4/10
Pace: 6/10
Plot Development: 4/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyability: 5/10
Insightfulness: 2/10
Ease of Reading: 4/10
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Okay, so I want to begin by saying that nothing in the blurb about this book online prepares you for what it's really about. I thought this book was about a girl who goes to college, doesn't enjoy her experience, and does a do-over during her study abroad. Yeah... that's not quite it.
This book is about a girl who starts a study abroad with goals and doesn't accomplish any of them. Then she feels horrible and lives out the next six years of her life completely unsatisfied until she's given the chance to travel back in time and re-do the experience. Yes, I said travel back in time.
I have a lot of complaints about this book. First of all, all the "magical" moments are just weird. Like, totally unnecessarily awkward and weird. The author has a bad habit of putting acronyms in without saying what they stand for. (Examples: YU, TFIOS, BR) I happen to know what they all stand for, but others might not.
The romance is so... cheesy. It's not realistic in the slightest. The jump forward in time in the middle was jarring, unnecessary and unpredictable. Shane was not mature enough to be twenty, let alone twenty six.
Also, who describes sexual tension as "glitter"? Fire, maybe, but not glitter. I wasn't bored per se, but I was not entertained really. A few lines here and there cannot save a book.

Again, But Better is the highly anticipated novel from booktube Goddess Christine Riccio, aka PolandBananasBooks. I’ve been following Christine’s writing videos since the idea for this book baby was conceived and couldn’t wait to immerse myself into the story. It follows Shane, a pre-med university student in America with a passion for creative writing. After years of always doing what she’s told, she finally acts out and does something so unlike her - she signs up for a study abroad programme in London and convinces her parents it’s for pre-med, rather than creative writing. It’s Shane’s chance to experience something new and discover what she wants to do with her life.

I can already foresee many of the criticisms others may have, such as the insta love, the strange character names: Shane; Pilot; Baby; Atticus and Sahra, and the way that Shane’s housemates were underdeveloped. The writing is clunky in parts and there’s a definite autobiographical nature. We start in 2011, which is a little jarring until the pop culture references jump in, but this is a deliberate choice to follow the same timeline Riccio had in her own study abroad programme in London. Shane also visits the same Beatles store and runs her own blog, FrenchWatermelonNineteen. The parallels are hardly hidden, in fact they’re so in your face I wonder if they’re meant to garner the attention of Christine’s fans and encourage a little clue-looking.

Before I get into the good stuff, there are a couple of frustrating comments Shane makes about life in England which I feel the need to correct. Firstly, Mexican food in Britain is not bad at all. It’s actually amazing and this is a hill I’m willing to die on. Secondly, not all museums are free. I feel like an editor should have caught this because it’s such a huge statement to make. Anyway, those details aside, the portrayal of London captures the bustle and excitement of the city.

The writing was funny, the dialogue vivid and the throwbacks to 2011 were a ball of fun you won’t find in many other books published in 2019. In Part 2, the book veers off in an unexpected direction and offers something that I think will divide readers. I personally loved the second half of the book even more than the first and think it found its feet as it went on. I’ll definitely be reading more from Riccio. While Again, But Better is not perfect, it’s a strong teen travel novel with plenty of humour and romance. And yes, the title makes a lot of sense once you’ve read it...

RATING: ★★★

I went into this book with a lot of high expectations. Not because of who the author is--although Christine is, and always has been, one of my favorite booktubers--but because of the promise of the premise. Essentially, Again, but Better is a book about Shane, a 20-year-old junior in university who spent her first two (two and a half?) years of college in her room with no friends and no typical college experiences. As soon as I read the description for this, my heart fucking soared because Shane's experience sounded just like my own early college experiences and I've never seen someone like this represented in books.

Unfortunately, I don't think the book really lived up to what it meant to. Shane's character development didn't really work for me. What we were promised wasn't actually her arc at all. As soon as Shane arrives in London, she immediately becomes best friends with her roommates and the other people on her hall, without any kind of struggle or conflict besides a few minor awkward moments upon their first meeting and I was hoping for something more than what we were given.

I think if the idea of Shane having no friends and being generally sucky at the whole college thing wasn't such a huge part of the premise, the plot would've worked out better for me. I guess my expectations just got in the way.

Another thing that bothers me is (minor spoiler) the time jump that happens halfway through the book. Shane starts at 20-years-old and then, after the time skip, becomes 26 years old. Not only do I have a problem with that and this book being labeled as YA, I also felt the development as Shane from a young adult to an actual adult didn't feel real to me. She still felt like a young girl, still a little childish and naive, and the jump wasn't believable for me.

I also find myself completely disappointed in how much Shane resembled the author, Christine. Don't get me wrong; I love Christine. I think she's a great person, but there were so many little things about Shane's character that resembled Christine (her username, her love for books and writing, Lost and Taylor Swift, Harry Potter and pasta, to name a few) that made her character feel a little cheap and not like a real person. I couldn't get past the similarities and the construction of Shane's character felt like there wasn't much thought behind it. That being said, I do like the callbacks to Christine, I just wish they had been toned down and that Shane had shined a little brighter than she did.

All that being said, I actually REALLY ENJOYED a good portion of this. I think 90% of the things I enjoyed were the interactions between Shane and the love interest, Pilot. The banter back and forth was cute and even had me laughing out loud once or twice. I did feel like the side characters were undeveloped and I was super disappointed to find out they were all American. In my study abroad program at my school, we have such a mix diverse of students from both European and Asian countries and I wish Christine hadn't played it so safe and stuck to Americans only.

This book wasn't my favorite, but it's something Christine has had in her head for so long, it'd make sense that this extremely personal book would be the first one she would put out. I'm looking forward to when she breaks out of her shell, out of experiences she's familiar with, and brings us something new (and hopefully drastically different). Can't wait to pick up her second book!

tw: minor cheating, non-consensual kiss

I’m going to be honest, this was really hard for me to get through. I was surprised to find out that this was NA because Shane could be compared to an excitable middle schooler. Not that being excited all the time is bad (i’m jealous) but it made it feel so juvenile. The romance felt forced. . .Shane is very dense, Pilot’s mood changes in an instant and is not admirable. I just really think this was not for me. I’m very, very proud of Riccio in all that she’s done, but i have to remain unbiased. I really wanted to enjoy it, but by the end I just lost all interest. The middle of the narrative and magical realism elements made it seem like it would redeem itself, but even the magical realism seemed. . .odd. After the middle it just returned to how it originally was. It was a very cute story with nothing but positive outlooks, but i think it’s not intended for people like me.

The Queen of BookTube publishes a novel. So is Christine’s book any good?

It is! It also… isn’t.

The book tells the story of Shane Primaveri, a pre-med student going to London for a semester. She is eager to get away from her dull life and start over abroad where she not only plans to finally make some friends, but also to ditch pre-med and follow a writing program instead. Before long she realises that life with friends, and also falling in love, is not as uncomplicated as it had once seemed but she is determined to make this the experience of a lifetime. To finally get out of her shell and live the life she’s always wanted for herself.

I really liked the setting, it’s the main reason I gave this book three stars. When I was in college I also took a semester abroad so everything felt very relatable. Being new and more or less alone in a foreign country, having to take care of yourself and be responsible without an adultier adult to fall back on. It’s challenging for sure but it’s also an extraordinary experience. Meeting wonderful new people, late-night meetings in the dorms, taking trips all around Europe - basically living on the edge. So I immediately felt at home in this book. It was really nice to revisit this and it’s easily the best part of the book.

That part was great. The names of the side characters were decidedly less so. I appreciate a fun creative name for a character but there is such a thing as overdoing it. Shane’s friends are Babe, Atticus and Sahra (which okay) but to top it all off, there is love interest Pilot Penn. Yes, you got that right. Pilot Penn. Ehm so yeah, no. But they were all likeable enough. They seemed like a fun crowd to hang around with and I liked Pilot. I had more issues with main character Shane.

It’s simple, really. Christine is her main character; or the main character is Christine, whichever you choose. I don’t watch a lot of Christine’s videos, she’s just too “loud” for me, so I honestly didn’t think I knew all that much about her. Except clearly I do because I couldn’t separate Shane from her. Everything SCREAMS Christine. From Shane’s constant fandom references (Lost, The Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, Taylor Swift) to her online username (FrenchWatermelon19) to the way she spoke and carried herself and reacted to things and people… Even their appearances are similar. I don’t think this book is supposed to be autobiographical? So that’s a problem. That’s a real problem. As an author you have to be able to distance yourself from your characters.

Shane also suffers from social anxiety. I realise that this means different things to different people but here it felt kind of unauthentic. Yes, Shane was a bit awkward around people at first and she sure stumbled over a lot of chairs but social anxiety is more than that, I think. That could have been explored a lot better in my opinion.

I did like the pop culture references. That really is a hit or miss with me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really really doesn’t. But Christine managed alright. I especially liked it because a huge part of the book is set in 2011 and it was nice to be reminded of what was ‘hot’ back in the day. I never really understood the obsession with Angry Birds but I mean, we ALL had that friend.

The book is a really fast read. The writing is pretty basic but it’s entertaining and flows naturally. I liked the banter and I was invested in Shane’s journey. However I clearly hadn’t read the blurb closely enough because the actual magic in it surprised me. I honestly thought I was reading a regular contemporary. But it strangely sort of works. It was a different approach and I was curious as to what would happen.

Overall this is a quick, light read. It’s not groundbreaking but it’s not terrible either. I liked it, if mostly because I have such a personal connection to the whole study-abroad thing. And it carries a powerful message. Live your life for yourself, not for someone else. Make your own choices and don’t let someone else tell you what to do. I think that’s important.

This just really didn't work for me. First off, Shane is a 20 year old college student who feels like she's missed out and done college wrong, so she decides to go study abroad doing a creative writing track that she has to lie to her parents about because they want her to stay premed. This is a solid premise, but one big glaring thing stood out to me as I started this: Shane does not sound like a 20 year old, not at all. Sixteen at the most. The writing is so juvenile and just plain cringe-worthy at times. You could argue that this is a YA book. I'm not one to shit on a YA book for being YA. But this book is about a 20 year old, and therefore the character should read like one. I'm sorry, but I just will never be able to read the line "what the fudge" and not feel every muscle in my body cringe. I get that this was trying to be quirky, but there's just a very fine line between good quirky and cringe quirky (see Christina Lauren's books for some good quirky!) and for me, it just didn't work.

I will say though, the writing and story as a whole was a LOT better to me in the second half of the novel, as this is split into two parts, one taking place in 2011 and another in 2017. This might of gotten to a three star if the whole book had been like this. Not to say that the second half was perfect. There were some strange things that just didn't quite ever sit right with me, and definitely still some cheesy parts, but overall a lot better. It took me a few days to get through the first half, but I plowed through the second in one night.

In addition to the juvenile-ness of the writing, I also wanted a whole lot more description. Shane is experiencing so many amazing new things, but in the first half especially, we read about most of these in diary entries that are essentially, "we did this, then we did this" which were just not interesting to read about. I wanted to BE in these places with the characters. Show, don't tell!

One part of the book that I did really enjoy and appreciate though was the anxiety rep. I thought Shane's anxieties were really well written and I was able to relate to them a lot. There's a scene where she loses her purse that especially hit home. The anxiety was rep was probably the best part of the book.

There's also a bit of emotional cheating that goes on in this book. Now, I know a lot of people see cheating and automatically scream PROBLEMATIC! But I do think it's actually an important thing to discuss, because whether we like it or not, cheating is a real thing that humans do. It's shitty, but it happens. I think it's good to have a dialogue surrounding it. However, this just didn't handle it the way I was hoping for. There was some owning up to mistakes, on the male love interests part anyway, but I don't love how things were portrayed with "the other girl." She's not the villain, and she shouldn't even slightly be painted as such.

Lastly, and this is the part I'm dreading most of this review, we have to talk about the self insert here. I don't want to shit on Christine for putting elements of herself in the book. Because let's be real, if this was any other author, we wouldn't know them the way that (most) people will know Christine going into this. When other author's put little quirky things about themselves into the book, we, for the most part, do not realize this. This was the attitude that I tried having going into this. Okay, Shane likes reading, and there's Harry Potter references, that's fine. Okay, Shane has a blog called FrenchWatermelon19, pushing it but okay. Write what you know!

But it just became to much. From talking about the Mortal Instruments, Lost, Taylor Swift, and hell, the part about Youtube especially. Not to mention Shane's physical description is . . well, very Christine. While I do think we should respect the fact that we do know more about her than the average debut author, I think there needed to be more of a distance between character and author here, because it became impossible not to imagine Shane as Christine. And unless you're trying to write a semi-autographical novel, there shouldn't be this many similarities.

Overall, I didn't love this. It was just too much at times. Some things with her family especially was extremely over-dramatic to me. But, it had it's good snippets, too. The anxiety rep, a certain scene in a bathroom. I wouldn't be opposed to trying a book of hers again, because I think there's potential. Here's where I could make a cheesy joke about doing it "Again but Better," but I'll save us all from that and just stop the review here

First of all, congrats to Christine Riccio for getting her book out there! I've been subbed to her on Booktube for the longest time. It takes a lot of bravery and determination to put something you've worked so hard on out there for people to enjoy and judge.

This book just wasn't for me though. It may be the major reading slump I've been in and this just wasn't the "OMG THIS IS IT" book to pull me from it. The main character is very clearly Christine in an alternate world (they have such similar personalities). I had a hard time following the chain of thoughts of the MC often sadly and it felt like there was a lot of tell and not enough show as far as the places the MC was exploring and visiting during her study abroad trip.

I think if I read this at a different time, I might have enjoyed this a bit more but it just wasn't for me right now.
Again though, so much love for the author and proud of her for this big step!

I picked this book up because I've watched many of Christine Riccio's book vlogs and I am astounded by what I've read. There were so many twists and turns, and I was truly surprised, not expecting at all for it to go the way it did. This book made me feel the feels, and wish I too, could do it again, but better like Shane did. Shane is just so real and I can resonate with her on so many levels. This is everything I want in a book and more.

I really enjoyed this book for what it is.
It is a light, fun, romantic read, and we need more of this in YA. I honestly feel that there is so much doom and gloom, deep and meaningful realistic fiction in YA...as well as so much fantasy...so this is great for something different. Very cinematic in its feel, so it works well as a quick read, for those struggling to find the time to read. It's a chic flick in book form...and that's a winner for me.

This book is adorable... it reminded me so much of being 18 and the main character basically lived out my high school / collegiate fantasy of studying abroad in London. I absolutely loved Christine Riccio's voice, and I think this is a great debut. I can't wait to get more from this author!

3.75 stars. Recieved this proof to read from Netgalley! So who here hasn't wished they changed something in their past? What they went to college for, wish they told their crush how they felt, wish they had more friends? Shane did all of that and more. Unlike the rest of us, she did have a fairy godmother of sorts to give her the chance to change her life. I enjoyed this light. Easy read. I may have not gone to college overseas, but I always wondered what would have happened if 1 thing in my life changed. I wouldn't change my life for the world, but it was fun to see how 1 change can change your whole life.

I live for these books that are filled with little pop culture references. It always feels kind of like an Easter egg hunt, while reading! I also really appreciated the representation of social anxiety. YA books about the first years in Uni seem to be getting more and more popular and I am such a big fan. I think the biggest thing to take away from this read: is the importance of staying true to yourself. There was all this pressure and conditional love put on Shane, where she felt like she had to succeed, and I really enjoyed her story arc of learning to live the life she wants to live. **on that note – maybe a bit of a content warning for abusive parental relationships?**
And – slight spoiler – but not really because it was in the synopsis. This is another one along with Opposite of Always and An Absolutely Remarkable thing, where it reads as a contemporary because it IS a contemporary … but it introduces a touch of fantasy to keep things interesting.

What can I say about this book?

The story follows Shane's year studying abroad, which was her last ditch effort to have a fresh start from the world she knew and the friends she didn't have. Anyone who has been following Christine's youtube channel would easily find the correlation between Shane's college experiences and those that Christine has shared with the internet.

Honestly, it's difficult to compose my thoughts about this novel because I've been following Christine's booktube adventure for years now. It has been a wild ride and I've watched every single one of her writing updates. That being said, it feels a little disloyal to say anything critical about this story when I know how hard she has worked on it however, the truth of the matter is that this is a solid three star read for me.

The beginning of the book follows Shane as she expresses her goals for the future and establishes a reason for her "quest." This part was so disorienting to me because the writing style reminded me of trying to get on my bicycle after spending a decade away from it. The writing style was a little jilted, and the similiarities to her actual youtube channel were too distracting for me. I couldn't stop hearing everything in her voice, but thinking that she sounded more eloquent in her videos- which doesn't really make sense because you spend much more time thinking about how you compose a written response than you would in a vlog style video.

She seemed to have reached her stride around page 100, which was when this 2 star read became a three in my opinion. Once she reached the pinnacle of conflict and the conflict was about the growth of the actual character, rather than the relationships, I was sold. I was taken for a loop and the suspense and tension build up made everything else so worthwhile, though I do think the exposition lasted a little too long. The first section of the book could have been cut 50 pages and I wouldn't have missed it at all. There was definitely no reason for this book to be longer than like 275 pages.

The male protagonist was a little flat until the end, but I truly enjoyed the latter half of the book. You could definitely tell when she started to feel more comfortable with writing and I loved the imagery she began to include and the dialogue. I thought it was endearing- though also very distracting- to have an allusion to her biggest writer pet peeve (those of you who follow PolandBananas will know exactly what I'm talking about).

All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of hers and doesn't mind a little soul searching story that is written with low text complexity. There are plenty of pop culture references and youtube references to keep the die-hard fans of hers happy and "in on the joke." Based on the writing at the end of the book, I can honestly say that I am very excited to see what she comes up with for her sophomore novel.

**Full disclosure, I kindly received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, though this comment is a little unnecessary because I did pre-order a copy the minute it was announced.

This book was so nice! it reminded me of me when I was dorming in college. This is a book I would totally recommend.

2.5/5 stars.

Again, But Better follows Shane Primavera, who has had her life completely figured out since she was a kid. She's premed to please her parents, but all she wants to do is read and write. She applies to study abroad for a semester in the UK where she journals and blogs about her adventures abroad. She manages to escape her parents' expectations and solidifies her love for writing as she becomes an intern for a travel magazine. 

The book is split into two parts: It's first set in 2011 where Shane is 20, and the next part is set in 2017 when Shane is 26. The book is a mix between Fangirl and About Time. That sounds like an interesting combination, right? 

The thing is the writing was really clunky. The majority of the book was telling and not showing. What's insane to me is that Shane was studying abroad in the UK, she was travelling to a new country and city each weekend, and yet we didn't really get to see any of that. Instead, we got a quick recap of it from Shane's diary entries or her blog post. 

A lot of the writing was awkward and cringy as well. The majority of this book is set in 2011, which is fun, but Riccio really tried to sell it. There's some kind of pop culture reference to that time in almost every paragraph. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't read this without thinking Shane was Christine the whole time. They have the same personality, they talk the same, and they have the exact same interests. It strikes me as odd that Riccio didn't take this time to craft a character that's completely unique. It's kind of lazy that she self-inserted herself into the story. 

One thing I did enjoy about this book was the plot twist. It was fun and a little hokey. And I gave this book an extra half bubble tea because I didn't call that ending. I was so sure I knew where it was going as all time travel stories end the same. 

I also think Riccio did a great job writing about anxiety. The scene where she loses her purse in Rome was spot on to what I know myself and others have experienced. You could see Shane's thought process and her anxiety escalating, which was extremely accurate for someone who experiences anxiety. 

In the end, this book was a miss. The pacing and the writing didn't work for me. It struggled with trying to be too quirky and that overshadowed the story, which could have been great. The romance is also based on emotional cheating, which I found to be unnecessary. Pilot and Shane could have pursued their relationship in a healthier way. And the drama didn't have to be so manufactured. 

Books by YouTubers often receive a lot of backlash and I can understand where it comes from. But you can tell Riccio loves to write and put effort into her debut novel. I think with more practice, she could become better at it. She's clearly got great ideas. It's just the execution that needs a little more work.

Honestly, I was pretty excited for Again, but Better—the main character, Shane, is the same age as I am (a junior in college) and is studying abroad in London (I love London!). Overall, though, the book had me cringing. Shane is a bit...too relatable. Her actions and hobbies were overwhelmingly basic, which is fine, but the story was told so plainly that the plot became increasingly obvious after every chapter. I liked the characters, but there needed to be more interactions that were meaningful. Some information was ~revealed~ about characters, but it wasn't really followed up with and just kind of seemed to be unnecessarily there.

SPOILERS------------------------------------------------------------------------
In my opinion, Shane didn't really do it better the second time. Sure, she got what she wanted: she's a successful author and ends up married to Penn, but she didn't really learn from her mistakes. I think that there needed to be more...meat? action? something? the first time Shane did her semester abroad. It was short and pitiful, which I understand, of course; the whole point is that she's not having a good time. BUT. It went by too quickly for us to truly feel sorry for her. From our point of view, she instantly made a close-knit group of friends, has a killer internship, and is in London. During her lonely spring break week, her experiences are summed up in a single sentence. We needed to feel how lonely Shane actually was for us to feel for her.

Anyway, the magic? Huh? That part was never fully explained and just felt super random. Also, I feel like things could go so awry if two people time-travelled and restarted the last 6 years of their lives...

I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This read is a story about second chances and discovering who you are.

Shane is for sure going to be a relatable character for a lot of people. I think that this read will inspire a lot of people to go out and live their best lives.

I love how hopeful this book is. It shows how hopeless Shane feels but it also shows how she overcomes those feelings and I think that is a very good message for readers.

Shane finds that courage and determination can conquer anything and the book shows that in a nostalgic bittersweet way in a story about new beginnings.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

More like 3.5 stars but I erred on the higher end. I’m a bit conflicted with this book because it was an easy, light read. Definitely felt like a Y a novel so if that is the genre then perfect, but if it is not, it misses the mark. The first half was fun as the reader explores Europe as a self professed college hermit. The second half, though, felt a little far-fetched and unnecessary. I don’t think this novel lived up to its hype but if you’re looking for light and fluffy then by all means read this book.