I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. Why? well, as I was reading this, I continued to think “this is good, but the story seems to be going by really quickly…and I don’t seem to get where it’s going." However, once the plot hit it’s turning point, I became fully immersed and I was ready to recommend this book to anyone who loves YA. This is a great coming of age novel for anyone who is at a turning point in college and questioning their decisions.. It's also a great novel for anyone who is a fan of the sliding door, what if genres.

I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS.

I was really nervous going into this book. I had heard time and again that Shane is essentially a fictionalized version of Christine. I have only seen a few videos of hers and honestly, you can’t miss the similarities. I tried my best to keep my bias about this at bay (which is why I have maintained a 4* rating), but it did sway me on the character originality. I luckily don’t know her channel that well which helped me to overall enjoy this book.

This is what I consider a book version of a TV Hallmark movie. We have the girl trying to find herself, a cute boy, some traveling and a hint of magic. I thought this worked well for this debut rom-com. I loved the wanderlust aspect and about packed my bags while reading because it gave me the travel bug (and we’ve established, I hate flying).

Shane is definitely…quirky. She struggles with social anxiety (my life). I was able to connect with most of her inner dialogue about deciding what to do in a given situation. Putting yourself out there is hard. I liked that this was in a college-aged setting because a lot of self-discovery happens in this part of our lives.

Now, while I understood her inner dialogue most of the time, it got annoying at other times. It was extremely repetitive and a little sporadic. It was too much inside her mind. I like when a book generally cuts some of that rambling down so we get what we need for being in their thoughts. This felt as if every single thought was put to the page.

I adored Pilot (hate his name though *shrugs*). He was cute and sensitive. I loved most of the banter between he and Shane. They were simple and sweet and reminded me of Anna and the French Kiss. The one real iffy thing I didn’t appreciate was this gray area cheating. He’s definitely in a relationship when things fire up with Shane (that even lead to a kiss at one point).

This book had its struggles. It’s a booktuber turned debut author. Again, but Better reads that way. At times it was naive and I think over time her future books will have a more mature sound. There were absolutely way too many pop culture references. I got so tired of reading about HP, Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, Angry Birds, etc. We don’t need all of that to understand the change in time periods.

I wasn’t expecting the magic element. It was peculiar, but once I’ve considered the entire novel, makes sense. The novel needed this change of pace, and I enjoyed seeing the characters in a new light. I thought they had grown a bit and were more understanding of the situation. I can’t imagine we all, at one time or another, haven’t considered starting something over.

Is it funny that I liked that the parents were alive and present? I feel in a lot of YA they aren’t often represented (or they are already killed off). While this can add some character complexity, I think there was plenty present by having Shane’s parents alive and in her life. I really found this a quick and easy read. I flipped the pages continually and realized I liked the story at its core. I really appreciated watching Shane find what her passion is and seeking out how to have that continually in her life.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fiction with romance
Language: some, not heavily present
Romance: some kisses and make-outs, an almost love scene, a skipped over night spent together
Violence: a slap
Trigger warnings: gray area cheating (which does lead to a kiss), assault (forced and unwanted kiss)

*Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Started skimming at 25%

First off, I wanted to like this book. I’ve followed Christine for a few years now and was intrigued to hear about her writing process. But it turns out that talking about your process doesn’t mean it’ll result in a good book.

The Story~This girl wants to redo college and make it better. And then there’s the lame twist. After the “twist” the whole plot got even more boring. I didn’t care where these people ended up so I put my reading speed on turbo and skipped chapters, pretty much all the description and more of the introspective bits. I don’t think I missed anything important. I would’ve liked more travel-related things and less relationship drama.
The Characters~Christi- I mean Shane, was rough to read about. She lets everyone dictate her life and panics when things get out of hand. Well, what did she expect? I know she has some sort of anxiety and some people are supposed to relate to her, but hot biscuits am I glad I don’t. And should someone with anxiety really be studying to become a doctor? Dealing with stressed people and stressful situations involving people’s lives doesn’t sound like a smart call for someone like Shane.
Pretty much every decision she makes for the first three quarters of the book is foolish and sometimes damaging. i.e. Her laptop breaks and instead of buying a new one she goes to several European cities. I guess sightseeing is more important than her future job. There is some hope for her by the end, but most of the growth happened off-page, so it doesn’t have an effect.
If you follow Christine you will not be able to help seeing the glaring similarities between her and Shane. It’s kinda scary how many times I recognized Shane’s actions/everything as characteristics of Christine. Isn’t inserting yourself into the protagonist frowned upon? Did no one say anything to her about it? And what is up Shane being practically unable to get up from a chair without knocking it over? How? Why? And the amount of times she power walks is cringey.
Another thing that bothered me was how everything was so exaggerated. Pasta in a bag? Holy smokes! I’ve got to tell my parents! Street signs on the sides of buildings? Wow! Someone else knowing who The Beatles were? I thought I was the only one!!!!! Pilot watching Lost. Let’s make out!! Does she not know how to take things with some form of calmness? She was so hyper it made me tired and annoyed. And she’s way too stupid for Revolutionary War era. But all anyone did was praise her. No one could give criticism, constructive or otherwise. Unless it was her parents, family and sometimes Pilot.
Pilot was a coward, a cheater and indecisive. I don’t even know why he was at that particular school. (Maybe I missed that part.) And his personality consisted of those aforementioned things and joking about pop culture and Shane’s habits. Basically, he was boring.
Babe and Sahra, aside from having dumb names, were entirely forgettable. I was expecting Sahra to have a fleshed-out backstory but it never happened. Babe didn’t add anything, wait, was she black? I don’t know nor do I care.
Atticus was there for the gay/Asian quota and nothing more.
When we met her parents I immediately hated them.
Don’t get me started on the lameness of her cousin and his problems. I mean, puh-leese.
There were other people but I didn’t like any of them or the main cast. Although it bothered me how only those in some sort of relationship crisis were the ones in a bad mood. So many people were constantly happy and smiling.
The Description and Dialogue~The description, for lack of a better word, was bad. Bland, confusing, basic, I’m glad I skipped most of it.
The dialogue couldn’t have been more pop culture-y if it tried. Awkward, painful, weak, everyone had the same chipper attitude and winking delivery. Or they were depressed and throwing furniture around. There was no middle ground.
When Pilot and Shane you-know-what, they’re still idiots in how they express themselves and deal with situations.
And Mylanta is some sort of digestive drug. Someone please explain that.

Overall it was a poorly written, over-the-top, awkward story about a girl so afraid of her parents, she ran from home to make a bunch of juvenile errors and blunder her way through years of her life only to finally realize that she was unhappy and could she please try again. Or a girl with parents so lazy they can’t do research on the college they’re paying for. Let this be a lesson folks: if you’re unhappy, someone else will magically appear to drag your ass out of the muck. And pasta comes in bags.

Again but Better by Christine Riccio is a story of turning one's life around Shane is doing a study abroad in London looking to change her life for the better. With trials and tribulations, Shane finds that with growth there is consequences for living outside of her comfort bubble. Wow! this book was so unexpectedly more than I originally thought, this was so good. It was well planned and I could see that she put in a lot of hard work and truth into this story and very relatable for anyone trying to challenge and better themselves. I'm so excited about what Christine has in store for the book-world community.

I received a copy of AGAIN, BUT BETTER on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity.

FOUR STARS! And here’s why:

This book held my interest and the twist made my head spin! The writing Is quirky, like a lot of YA books, and that made it a bit harder for me to fall in love with it, but the plot kept me turning the pages for more and I’m so glad I did because the second half of the book is definitely worth it!

If you like stories with a hot guy, a smart girl trying to figure out her place in this world, and a hint of magic, then this book is for you. I recommend this book and would read more by this author.

I really wanted to enjoy this book - the description made me think of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl so I was excited. Unfortunately this book did not stand up to my expectations of it. Which is likely unfair but it did take away from my enjoyment. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.

I received this novel for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinion of the book.

Self-insert. If you wrote stories as a child or even certain kinds of fanfiction (I admit I totally wrote a few self-insert fanfiction as a young teen), you probably wrote a few self-insert plots and there's nothing wrong with that! You were having a grand old time just writing. But when a grown adult does it for a story they are actually getting published.... I don't know, it's cringy. I'm sorry, it's also a very... 'newbie' writer move or maybe lazy in the creativity department because you don't want to create a new character and get to the know them before writing... I don't really know how to put this the nicest way and for that I'm sorry but I just don't like self-insert in stories like this.

Now, I have seen the author's channel on Youtube, I used to love watching Booktube years ago. So, when little things started to pop up, like HP references in the first few pages and the we got to Lost, The Beatles.... Anything written by Cassandra Clare. Shane loved to write and read. Shane is Christine. They even look alike. Not to mention the whole blog name stuff. I cringed so damn hard when reading this and then rolled my eyes.

This book has brought up a whole topic in my mind about getting a book deal just because you're famous and will pull in the cash but we won't get into here. Now, I do want to say that I've got nothing against the author, I don't even know her so...

The writing was different.... kinda of blocky (?) but at least it was unique I guess...? It didn't flow as well as it could've with some extra editing. It will make you laugh and it does have a lot of heart. That is one good thing about self-insert books, you can feel that the author poured herself into this book (pun intended) and that it means a lot to her. Shane isn't a bad character she's just the author and if you like the author then you're going to love Shane. If you like the idea of an actual YA novel set during college instead of an NA then you're going to love this book. If you like the same things that the author likes then again, you'll love this book.

It's just not my cup of tea, I really don't like self-insert books.

Will go live on my blog 4/24/2019

Christine Riccio is a well known booktuber. If you happen to follow her on Youtube you got to witness the process of this book being made. I couldn't wait to read it because I felt like I was involved in the entire process. This book follows Shane who is making her second attempt at college. The first go around didn't work so well so she decide to do a semester in London. We not only get to see Shane struggles of getting out of her comfort zone, but new we see new friendships and romances emerge. This book is so cute and I am so proud of Christine!

This book read like the journal of so many exchange students I have met, and it just made me cringe.

Let me preface this review by saying I might be a bit biased. I'm French. I've had far too many experiences with study-abroad students thinking that moving to a new country for a semester will magically fix everything wrong with their lives. So many who just want to find a French boy and settle down on his castle/vineyard (no, really, three separate people have told me this exact reason for coming to my uni).

So when I read the description for this book, I was actually excited: I was hoping this was going to be a book about a naive college girl who comes to Europe to turn her life around, only to discover that isn't how life works. Reading the first few chapters, I felt like this is what we were going for: I mean, no main character could be this obnoxious without room for growth. Right?

Wrong. Shane Primaveri is exactly that kind of girl, and the world works exactly like that for her. If that's the kind of sweet story you're looking for, you're in the right place! If you've dreamed of moving to Europe to explore and want a guide to how to really make the most of your study abroad time, then go for it. But this book was just too sunshine and rainbows for me.

The love story was flat and unrealistic. Pilot Penn (yup, that's his real name) is still dating a girl in the US, and yet instantly flirts with Shane. Apparently he wanted to ask for a break with his GF before leaving, but she said no. Which is a terrible sign for any budding relationship, especially if he leads Shane on - and that he does. I felt bad for Shane, falling so hard for such a jerkface.

We're in 2011, and the author wants you to know this. And FEEEEEEL the nostalgia for eight years ago. I mean, have you heard of this new game, Angry Birds? And Lost is the BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION. And Taylor Swift. Listing names of popular books. In the first instance, I thought it was rather cute, getting me to remember what it was like when everyone was excited about Lost. But then... it just got obnoxious. The reminders we were in 2011 were just so forced.

There wasn't much of a plot beside a girl using a study abroad program to study writing and trying to figure herself out. Trying to break from her family, who insist she does pre-med. But her family was... cruel. Like, not funny picking on Shane, but borderline abusive. They tease her so incessantly, that when she posts a single photo posing with a guy, her grandmother shares to her FB wall, and a cousin calls her a bitch. WHAT. THE. HECK.

It was just so juvenile and obnoxious. It read like someone's fanfiction version of their own life. But when you frame it like that, written by an author who wishes her own life played out like that, and could turn back time to change it... the magical realism makes sense. And it just feels sad, because this isn't how life works.

I studied abroad in London when I was 20, and this book gave me so much nostalgia. I loved it. I loved the writing style and getting to know Shane, Pilot, and the rest of the flat mates. When I thought that this story was just about unrequited love, everything was turned upside.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

Full review to come.

Again, but Better is a clear example of the story of a different generation. The YouTube generation. I'm, unfortunately, not a fan of this book. There are too many pop culture references, numerous grammatical issues and an overall sense of underdevelopment. The style is different in my opinion, and I chalk it up to social media, and a lack of pen to paper learning. It's no offense to the author. This story has an intended audience of which I am not a member. It's sure to be enjoyed by the appropriate readers. Not for me, though. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was such a surprisingly joyful read for me! I would have never expected to like it as much as I did!

This book is about 20-year-old Shane Primaveri, who decides to study abroad for a semester in London, since her first two years at University as a pre-med student have not been what she had expected. Due to her lack of social interaction and failure to be as out-going as possible, she never made deep connections with her fellow students, and her missing passion for her major only contributes to her misery. She makes a bucket list of all of the things she wants to do better in England, now that she gets a second take at uni life. This list includes bullet points like "kiss a boy you like" or "start your great American novel" - needless to say that Shane has high hopes for her semester abroad, and she starts working on her dream of becoming a successful writer as soon as she boards the plane to London.
On her first night there she meets her flatmates, including quirky, Disney-obsessed Babe and artistic and musical Pilot - who Shane immediately finds herself falling for.
Will Shane succeed in her second take at University, will she make the connections she longs for and will she start her career as a writer? Even though she does her best to make the most of her experience, things soon start to crumble, as more things go wrong than Shane can mend.

WHAT I LIKED:
During the first half of the book, I was actually convinced that this would be a 3-star-read for me. I liked Shane's plan to go to college again and re-experience uni-life, as I complete understood, why she said that she failed the first time round. While I thought that part 1 was just fine, my thoughts drastically changed after the first half of the novel. I didn't expect the events that awaited me in part 2 and it completely blew my mind! I'm not going too much into detail, but BOY THAT TWIST WAS SO GREAT!
I really liked the main love interest, Pilot, as a character, and even though I found many YA-tropes in him (as well as in the novel in general), it didn't bother me as much, since it was still such an original take on the YA-contemporary-genre (at least for me).
I also enjoyed Shane as a main character, and since I've been following the author's YouTube channel for a couple of years (not excessively - but I do watch a video of hers every once in a while), I liked how she put a huge chunk of her own mind and personality into Shane. While I fully understand why some readers don't like it when the main character resembles the author too much, I personally find it beautiful - especially since writing can be as much as a means for catharsis as reading can be.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Sometimes the characters were a bit "too much YA-ish" if you get what I mean - which is a thing that especially John Green often overdoes in his novel. Especially the name "Pilot" was a bit too much. Noone's name is Pilot... come on.
Further, I'm not a huge fan of excessive pop-culture references. While I enjoy one or the other Harry Potter-anectode (I mean - to name your precious notebooks Horcruxes is just brilliant!), I do not need the constant reminders that the book is set in 2011. I mean, we get it... Avril Lavigne was suddenly a big deal again, Wrecking Ball wasn't released yet and Cassandra Clare was about to publish further novels in the Shadowhunter-universe.

CONCLUSION:
I loved this book, I couldn't put it down, and it is sooo much more than the description leads on. Especially for a debut novel it was great and would definitely recommend it!

It is hard to wrap my head around this book and my thoughts. I fell in love with the main character, Shane, and all of her quirks. Add in Pilot and I loved them together. At first I did not understand where this book was headed, but by the end I was so glad to have been a part of the ride. A must read for all of us who wonder...what if?

If Again, But Better hadn’t been my first ARC that I was stoked about, I’m sorry to say I would have DNF’ed pretty close to the beginning. I really wanted to love this book and was hopeful from the start, because I mean who doesn’t love the BookTube queen herself! But unfortunately this ended up falling flat for me in the end.

Here’s what I liked.

The main character Shane is so me! The blond, shy and awkward girl who loves Harry Potter, Lost and Nutella. I’ve never met Christine, but the humor and personality of Shane made me feel like I’ve known her for ages! I was easily able to relate to Shane’s frustrations and struggles.

I always love when authors include some other type of medium in their writing. In this book it was a series of postcards and journal entries. The humor written in these were my favorite part!

Halfway through the book I was pleasantly surprised - I couldn’t put it down! I had no clue there was a time traveling element to the story and that piqued my interest immediately. Unfortunately after that halfway mark, it was beyond boring and was quite the let down! I kept wanting to skip to the end just to see where Shane ended up.
Now onto the not so great aspects.

The movie, book, show and music references were supposed to be funny, but it was done so often that it got annoying very quickly, especially when you don’t know the references at all. It was almost overwhelming at times. I felt like the references were thrown in at random just to confirm that this book was set in 2011. I would have like to see this portrayed in a more creative way.

The grammar wasn’t spectacular, which gave away the fact that this is a debut novel. Most authors grow with time and practice and I’m hopeful that Christine will do the same!

The overall relationship between Shane and Pilot was extremely forced. It took me forever to get invested and I’m still not convinced that I am. This could be because the humor was not my cup of tea, so it didn’t seem like a serious relationship. They’re supposed to be 20 year old college students, but they acted much like 14 year olds.

Overall, I probably would not recommend this book to anyone I know. It was filled with too much fluff and cliches for my taste!

2.5 stars - If you are part of the booktube community, you know who Christine Riccio is and that this is her debut novel she's posted countless videos about. As much as I want to support her, this book was a bit of a mess.

Christine's writing style definitely has potential but is very juvenile. The main character's POV is essentially just a stream of consciousness which barely offers any descriptions. We don't get a description of Shane (our MC) until three chapters into the book and if you're interested in the backgrounds of any characters, you won't learn anything until the last quarter of the story.

For a book featuring adventures in Europe, you'd think it would be rich in atmosphere. (Especially since Christine had the experience of studying abroad herself.) Yet when Shane gets to experience authentic gelato in Rome she doesn't have any thoughts or opinions on the taste, texture, smell, or literally anything. When she experiences Italian ravioli, it's described as "the most delicious ravioli she's ever had." Okay, but what makes it the most delicious? I WANTED TO EXPERIENCE ROME WITH YOU... When they visit Paris, they "had dinner at a French restaurant." Yeah, I figured that you'd be eating french cuisine in Paris, but WHAT DID YOU HAVE AND HOW WAS IT?!

It's a shame that the readers don't even get to experience all of the travel adventures as they take place because half of scenes are cut abruptly short and then written in past tense through journal entries. By doing this, we lack character development and dialogue that could've really helped connect us to this group of friends.

Even more frustrating than the writing style, Christine very clearly wrote herself as the main character. "Shane" is ghostly white with blonde poofy hair, her online alias is FrenchWatermelon19, she is constantly recommending books to others, trying really hard to be quirky, and obsessing over Taylor Swift. Oh, and this is an actual quote:

"[YouTube] is just a platform to jump off. People can discover you there; you can build an audience there; it's a portfolio when you're trying to get a job. It can provide endless possibilities! I spend a lot of time on the internet. I've watched it with my own eyes!"

I typically enjoy when author's mention little fandom references, but this book was over the top. Christine was trying to win over just about every fandom imaginable; Harry Potter, Lost, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, etc. It got to a point where it just didn't feel like this book was speaking for itself anymore.

The second portion of this book went in a completely different magical direction that just didn't feel like it belonged. It made the story predictable, rushed, and pretty corny. At least this was an easy book to get through?

I really wanted to love this book. I really tried, but the writing is just too undeveloped and unsure of itself. There are lots of awkward sentences and ideas that aren't fully described so it makes it hard to paint a clear picture of what's going on. I love that more College YA is being published (and II'm in love with a London exchange story), but the author just didn't get the book to where it needed to be.

This book focuses on Shane and her study abroad journey. The beginning was slow. Shane's character seemed a little flat. There was a possibility of a romantic love interest, but instead of building tension it seemed he was uninterested in Shane. What I wasn't expecting was the magical elements that were added to the book. Not to give too many spoilers, but it was possible for Shane to have another chance to do things more her way. Overall, the writing was a little more juvenile than I was expecting, especially because the story took place in college and beyond. I would not recommend this book to college kids, but maybe to the high school book lovers? It was a sweet story, but there could have been more dynamic character development.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Again, but Better" tells the story of Shane, a girl who has yet to have a boyfriend or a first kiss, even though she is in college. Shane makes it a goal to change her life when she signs up for a study aboard program. Only problem is, Shane told her parents it's a premed program when it's actually a creative writing program. Uh oh! Can you smell trouble? Everything is going great with Shane in London. She meets a great guy, loves her internship, has friends. But then everything falls apart. The perfect guy, Pilot, actually has a girlfriend. I can't believe he didn't say anything! Ugh! Then her parents found out that she lied. Double ugh! Fast forward to the future and Shane decides that she needs a change in her life. With the help of some magic and a cute boy Shane does the same thing again, but better (hence the title).

"Again, but Better" was a really fun read. I related to Shane so much! College was about school to me, not parties or boys. Can I get a redo? This novel is fun and cute to read!

I was very lucky to be sent the eARC of Again, but Better by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press; this was a release I have been highly anticipating.

That being said, let me start out with: I really, really, really wanted to like this book. Christine is one of my favorite Booktubers; her book talks are some of my favorite videos, and my friends and I all discuss her videos and eagerly await each one. Her passion and enthusiasm are evident in all her videos, and this book is no different.

The story follows Shane Primaveri, a girl who studies abroad in London in search of adventure. She feels as if she’s been missing out on the true college experience, and wants to push herself to make new friends and explore new cities. Soon, she runs into a potential romance, which she must quickly learn to deal with. She’s just starting to learn how to juggle her family, her career aspirations, newfound friendships, romantic aspirations, and trying so hard to stay on top of it all.

I loved the premise; it seemed like something I would immediately fall in love with. Sadly, Again, but Better, didn’t live up to my expectations. Initially, the writing was hard for me to get past. One of the things I can’t stand about books is when they are written in the present tense, and this story was entirely in the present tense. For whatever reason, present tense takes me out of the story, and it takes so much more concentration for me to dive into a fictional world. That was my first hurdle.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize some of aspects I dislike about the way certain books are written. I don’t like when there are large portions of the text dedicated to the character getting dressed, or detailed descriptions of outfits characters are wearing. It always takes me out of the story, and actually, makes it harder for me to visualize the character, what they look like, and what they are about to do. For some reason, I hate it. I also dislike when there are too many references to pop culture, especially when they are not well-incorporated, like consistently putting in song lyrics as if they are part of normal dialogue. This book had a lot of that, and it was hard for me to overlook my pet peeves and dive into the story.

Another issue I had was with the characterization. I love Christine, and Shane seemed like a fictional portrayal of herself. However, in book form, I didn’t find it endearing, as I do in real life. In fact, it seemed borderline unrealistic at times: a twenty-year old doesn’t act or think like the character is written. Perhaps, if Shane had been a bit younger, I could’ve found it to be more believable, but at the beginning of the story, it was a bit annoying.

It was also hard for me to get over the names. Shane, I could deal with. Her flatmates, Pilot and Babe, were names that continually took me out of the story every time I came across them. However, I do read Sarah J. Maas, so I guess names shouldn’t be that big of an issue for me.

I also had some problems with the portrayal of the romantic relationship in the book. The potential love interest is Pilot, but you find out very early on that he has a girlfriend. Though it’s clear that Shane is not happy about any prospect of Pilot cheating, their banter and flirtations still continue. Personally, I strongly dislike the cheating trope, particularly how it portrays another person as an obstacle to get to “true love.” It’s overdone, and I’m tired. Also, at least twice in this book, two drunk guys kiss Shane without her consent. This is a little nitpicky, but I would’ve loved a little more discussion on that; I don’t want to see sexual harassment or assault normalized.

To put it frankly, this book was a complete rollercoaster for me. I truly don’t want this review to be all criticism; there were some parts I enjoyed. Though Shane annoyed me at first, as the story progressed, I began to root for her more and more. I began to like her right before the twist (which I won’t spoil), and I particularly liked the emphasis on her finding herself. Whenever I got annoyed at something that Shane did, a couple chapters later, she would realize that herself, and grow from her mistakes.

I think the book also did a really good job of capturing the study abroad experience. In my personal life, studying abroad felt like a do-over of freshmen year of college: you’re thrown into a new city, and become friends with everyone you meet, mainly out of necessity. It did a good job of capturing both that confusion and camaraderie, even though, at times, I found Shane’s inner monologue to be grating and over the top.

The book also emphasized friendship, though not to a huge degree, but I still appreciated it. The relationship between Shane and her flatmates is important to her, and it comes across how they they have each others’ backs, no matter how close they seem, particularly when Shane has trouble with her parents. I liked that there was a strained relationship with her family; it gave her character a bit more depth. I also found Shane’s struggles to follow your passion very relatable. However, at times, the family dynamic seemed to be too over the top, particularly when her cousins make fun of her on her Facebook wall. For me, it’s a little hard to believe your cousins are willing to blast you on the internet like that, especially on such a public forum.

I liked how Shane and Pilot needed to be friends first, even if that was necessary because of Pilot’s aforementioned girlfriend. Though, the banter between the two came across as if you were talking to Christine in real life. Of course, I don’t know her personally, but as one of her viewers and now a reader of this book, there didn’t seem to be a big distinction between fictional Shane and Christine in her videos. At times, I liked I didn’t mind the similarities - it was cute, and established a precedent for Pilot and Shane’s friendship. At other times (going back to my pet peeves), there were too many contemporary references that threw me out of the story altogether.

The twist in this book is what (partially) redeemed it for me. At first, I was unsure if I could finish it. Around halfway through, I was glad I decided to finish it, because it did get slightly better. However, the problems I had with the book and the writing didn’t go away, but…I no longer hated the book. By the ending, the story was less focused on Shane’s love life and more about her personal growth, and that, I could get behind. I still don’t love the book, but I’m glad I read it.

This digital ARC was sent to me by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 3/5

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: May 7, 2019

This was a cute love story. I did enjoy reading it but it wasn't anything new for me. I have read this story and seen these characters before. I am always looking for something a little bit different to draw me in and unfortunately this didn't do it for me.