Better Together by Christine Riccio was just meh to me. It fell flat in its character development and plot in my opinion. It had the potential to be cute and quirky but it came off more annoying and like it was trying to hard without actually doing very much. I really wanted to like it but unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I did like the short chapters and some of the side characters, Dawn and Zarar. The parents in this came off completely unrealistic and problematic and were a huge reason this didn't work for me as a whole.

I found this to ultimately be a touching story about mental health, growing up, and family. It has a lot of rough spots but at its core it’s a sweet book with good character development, some mischief, and very atypical family dynamics.

The biggest drag for me was the writing. Somehow I feel like the author’s writing ability has worsened since her first book, even though you’d think it would be the opposite way around. There just wasn’t that spark in with writing that made it go from “just a book” to “completely immersive story that I don’t want to stop reading”. Some of the writing choices made the characters feel very unrealistic and the pacing feel inconsistent. It was fine, just not great.

Another annoyance was the use of non-expletive expletives. We have Jamie who swears like most of my family (often and creatively) and then we have Siri who says things like “gluteus maximus trench”, “intercourse”, and “excrement”. Sure, write a character who doesn’t swear! But please, please, PLEASE don’t make it this obnoxious. The first time it happened I had to reread the sentence multiple times thinking it was some strange ARC typo. It was just so confusing, distracting, and unrealistic.

The characters were fine. I liked Jamie more than Siri because she felt more realistic and overall seemed to have the best development throughout the book. She was abrasive, rude, and selfish but also opinionated, creative, and strong-willed. I could relate to her in some ways and felt like she was the most three-dimensional character. Siri was fine but just seemed to have a more passive voice, which I’ve never really enjoyed reading about. She cried a lot which honestly did start to grate on my nerves a bit because then some of the scene wouldn’t be explained, it would just be Siri crying. Dawn was a really cool character and I liked Zarar’s strange upfront personality.

The parents in this book are very selfish, childish, immature, and rude. Their father seems like the stereotypical workaholic dad while their mom seems like an absolute nightmare. It’s honestly appalling some of the things they did in front of Jamie and Siri and said about the other to their daughters. They were just so unlikeable that when the last few chapters rolled around I just couldn’t really get on board with the developments in their relationships with their kids.

I really liked seeing Jamie and Siri develop as characters and actually address their issues throughout the book. Jamie’s pain felt real and I loved watching her open up and confront her emotions. Siri, as I mentioned earlier, was a little more flat to me but still had quite a bit of development. I liked seeing her explore other career options and use therapy as a tool to move through her anger and sadness. I liked watching the two of them reunite as siblings and learn about their past together.

I found the magical Freaky Friday aspect to be really fun! I watched that movie all the time as a kid and could probably quote most of it to this day. I didn’t really feel like it was a ripoff of either Freaky Friday or the Parent Trap. There are tons of similarities but lots of authors get inspiration from other forms of media and base their books on those. I thought it was a cool way to have fun with those movies without just rewatching them. Also, I don’t think the magic in this book needs to be explained. It never was in Freaky Friday either, so why should this be so different?

Overall, this book isn't perfect but it's enjoyable. There were a lot of annoying aspects and things that I found lacking, but by the end of this book I mostly just felt content. I liked seeing the characters work through their issues separately and as a family. I think a lot of the reviewers on Goodreads are finding reasons to not like this book because they don’t like the author. I’ve still never watched one of Riccio’s videos and don’t know anything about her as a person, but a lot of the GR reviews seemed to give this book 1-2 stars because the author was or wasn’t self-inserting too much, was being intentionally obnoxious, was only being published because of her fanbase, etc. I can’t speak to any of those, I just know that I enjoyed the book and don’t really get a lot of the hate it’s been getting on GR. It isn’t an amazing book but it wasn’t horrible, either.

3 stars

Considering how much this book took from one of my favorite comfort movies The Parent Trap, I initially thought that this would have been a five star read. Unfortunately, there was so much unnecessary things that Riccio added in to make the book feel quirky and original that just ended up bogging this down for me.

1. If you thought the parents in The Parent Trap were awful for separating their daughters, this book manages to make the parents EVEN WORSE. Like so unbelievably bad.
2. Two actual adults who live and work in the world do literal replacements of curse words. The f-word becomes intercourse, a*****e became gluteus maximus trench, etc. It was one of the most cringeworthy things that I have ever seen in a book.
3. There is an element of magic that is introduced in the sister switch that I felt actually undercut the entire concept of them switching, especially when the author explicitly states multiple times how much the two look alike AND puts in a scene of them perfecting their disguises. All of the antics that occurred because of the magic glitter bomb "glamour" would have still happened if they were just disguised. In fact, it would have been more impactful because they would have had to actually deal with their parents not being present enough in the relationship to tell that something had changed.

I will say that I did appreciate that Riccio didn't wrap everything up neatly with a little bow. The characters are very frank about the fact that they are still working through their problems, but that they hope things will eventually be okay. However, there was just so much fat piled onto the bones of this story that prevented me from being completely swept away by it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Disclaimer: I was given an eARC by St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I had to DNF this book at 15%. I generally don't like to DNF a book before at least 25% but I just couldn't bring myself to continue reading this book. I had the feeling that I had to force myself to pick this up and it was putting me in a reading slump. I have a feeling that I am the entirely wrong audience for and just felt that this was way to immature for me to get into.

DNF @5%

This book starts off with the main character just really getting on my nerves. She was just constantly complaining about everything, specifically related to an injury that was handled in a way that seemed to mock disabilities and made it seem like people with back injuries are kinda less than. So um, obviously I am DNFing this book, especially after seeing all of the other negative reviews related to this book. Also, I believe I gave Christine Riccio debut novel a 2.5/5 rating so after DNFing this book, I am most likely never going to pick up another book by this author :/

As always, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was not an enjoyable read for me, which I felt very disappointed about. I really wanted to enjoy this book based on how much I enjoyed the Disney movie Parent Trap. However, this book wasn't what I was expecting. Overall, it felt like the author had done nothing but combine Freaky Friday and Parent Trap into one novel. With all the references to Mean Girls, I was wondering if the author is obsessed with old Lindsey Lohan movies or something... That's how it felt to me. I feel like there was a very good idea behind the story, but it really needed to be worked on to not come across like nothing more than a rehash of old Disney flicks.

The universe reunites two sisters separated for the past 14 years, when they both find themselves at a crossroads. With a Parent Trap Catfish type plan in place, they successfully switch places, with the help of a glitter glamour, and make great strides in their respective journeys.

I am so happy to be seeing more books filling this space. This post high school, but not-necessarily-in-college space. I liked that many of the characters in this story were searching. Siri's dreams were derailed due to an injury, while Jamie was struggling getting past a big failure. And then there was Zarar, who honestly was my favorite character. Zarar left his career and was trying new things on for size as he searched for his passion. That was a big theme in this story, at least for me, and something I really appreciated.

I also welcomed the premise with open arms. Jamie and Siri's parents handled this breakup in a most disastrous way. Bring on the confrontation, because I wanted answers. There were many fun stops in this journey, but something was off. The book felt long for me. This book was (more or less) a contemporary, yet it was well over 400 pages. It's not the page count that gave me pause, but the fact that the book felt long to me. I am not sure how I felt about the pacing, but I know there were many things I read, which I felt weren't necessary, as I didn't think these parts moved the story forward.

Overall, this was an ok read for me. I appreciated the journeys these two were taking, both romances were great, and I thought the ending was good.

I’m sorry, but this wasn’t my thing. Too much swearing, unlikeable characters (but not in the charming way), and the juvenile writing style sum up this book. I picked this up because of the ‘parent trap’ similarity promised in the synopsis, but the book itself did not grab my attention after a chapter and a half. Could be for others, just not for me.

This was a 2.5 review and I rounded down.

Imagine a modern Parent Trap with older teenagers and throw in a bit of Freaky Friday to the mix and that is the starting point for this meh book. It might have been better if Jamie, one of the sisters, was even the tiniest bit likeable. The two "accidentally" meet at a summer camp and then through some magical spell, wind up looking like each other and go forth to walk in the other's shoes. Just not worth it.

I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I am a sucker for parent trap stories so I was very excited about this book (and that book cover is awesome)
Better Together reads fairly easy, though at times I found myself forgetting which character point of view I was reading. I also found Jamie and Siri to be childish. With that being said this book did make me laugh at times.
All in all Better Together is a cute young YA book.

DNF at 30%.

I’m very sad to have to say this, but this book is not good. In fact, it’s barely readable at times.

Better Together is a story in the vein of The Parent Trap. It’s about two sisters—Siri, a ballerina who just sustained a career-ending back injury, and Jamie, a wannabe stand-up comedian who’s struggling to come up with new set ideas—who were separated at a young age by divorcing parents. Now 18 and 20 and living on opposite coasts, the girls both happen to attend the same Rediscover Yourself retreat camp in Colorado, where they rediscover each other as well.

I love The Parent Trap, so a retelling of it sounded like so much fun. I also watch Christine’s YouTube channel and enjoy her outgoing personality, so after reading her first book, Again, but Better, which I thought was just fine but nothing special, I wanted to give her another chance. But oh boy, this book was actually worse than the first one.

To start with, I was irritated right off the bat when I realized that Siri uses ridiculous words in place of swear words. When I first read, “You’ve never broken up with your dream, no matter how excrement it made things,” I thought for sure I had read a typo. I reread that sentence four times, trying to figure out what word Christine had meant to type instead but ultimately concluded it was a mistake because I was reading an ARC and that it would get fixed later.

But then I got to this sentence a few pages later: “Don’t do excrement like that without telling me! What the underworld?” And it was then I realized that what I had read before was in fact not a typo. No, instead the word “excrement” is used in place of the S-word, “underworld” is used in place of Hell, and then I later discovered that “intercourse” is used in place of the F-word! There are more examples too, for other curse words, but I can’t be bothered to type them out; I’m already cringing so much. I appreciate the intent to create a character that doesn’t swear, but the way this is done is not working. It makes Siri sound so immature and it honestly makes the story laughable. I couldn’t take it seriously the whole time I was reading. I myself do not swear, but no way am I going to walk around saying, “Are you intercoursing kidding me?” or “You’re such a gluteus maximus trench.”

Another problem with the words Christine chose to replace swear words is their connotation. For example, whenever you hear the word “shit,” you don’t automatically think of poop because that word has lots of meanings and circumstances in which it is used. But there is never a moment when the word “excrement” is used that it doesn’t make me think of poop; that is its only meaning. So anytime “excrement” was used in this book, I immediately imagined poop (which I guess only goes to reflect my feelings on this book as a whole). Like what’s wrong with using frick, heck, dang, shoot, or crap as fake curse words? Too mainstream, I guess.

The writing in this book was just plain bad. I hate making such a bold, negative statement like that, but it’s unfortunately true. There’s a difference between objectively bad and subjectively not my taste, and this book is the former, somehow even worse than her debut novel. This book feels like it was written by an elementary-schooler, someone with no experience reading or writing whatsoever. I’m not an author myself, but I feel like I could write a better story than this just based on the fact that I’ve read a lot of books so I know what works and what doesn’t work in storytelling. We all know Christine is a reader, so I don’t understand why she’s choosing to make certain writing decisions that most seasoned readers often dislike and criticize.

The tone and writing style feel very forced. Written English and spoken English are actually quite different, with the former being much more formal even in a lighthearted and casual context. Speaking a joke to your friend and writing that same joke to your friend come across completely differently. Slang and colloquialisms work better in spoken English than they do in written English. The writing in this book reads like spoken English, and it just doesn’t flow right. It’s very cringey. I get that Christine was trying to use modern phrases and relate to the current growing generation, but it doesn’t work the way she likely intended it to work. The jokes are not funny. The constant pop culture references are grating and unoriginal. The drama is way too over-the-top and unrealistic and eye-roll-inducing.

After the rough first couple of chapters, I debated whether or not I would actually finish this book. If I could barely make it through the first chapter without getting irritated at the characters, I didn’t know how I’d make it through the whole book. But I told myself, with it being a Parent Trap retelling, I had to at least get to the part where the sisters decide to swap places. Only 7% of the way in, though, I just couldn’t handle it. I started skimming then, something I never do, reading just the dialogue and key moments between the sisters. I made it to 30%, just past when the sisters finally decide to swap, before finally deciding to quit. I knew this book wasn’t for me after the first few pages but I still wanted to give it a chance, and I ultimately ended up not enjoying anything that I read.

The main problem is that nothing in Better Together works—the writing, the characterization, the fake swearing, the constant pop culture references, or the random magical element thrown into an otherwise contemporary book (which I’m not getting into because of spoilers but it’s infuriatingly confusing and out of place in this story). Then there’s the fact that our main characters Jamie and Siri are both adults in this book marketed for a young adult audience but written as if it’s for children. None of it works and none of it was enjoyable.

The best thing about this book is the cover. It’s actually pretty cute.

DNF at 42% (and I very rarely DNF)

I just couldn't do it. It started out okay, but then a few pages in, the word "excrement" was introduced, and it went downhill from there. I don't cuss myself, but Siri's cuss-word replacements were just plain annoying and distracting ("excrement," "gluteus maximus trench," "underworld," "intercoursing," etc.). The Parent Trap parts were the most interesting, but when the Freaky Friday twist was thrown in, it was just too much, especially because I didn't really care about what happened to the characters, and that's never a good sign. And the book was just too long! 448 pages is way too long for a contemporary novel, and especially for a contemporary novel with this messed-up plot and weird writing. Like I said, I just couldn't do it.

This was pretty painful. The language, the immaturity, the story in general. I only made it through about 25% of this before I had to quit. It was a big waste of my time.

I received an ARC from Netgalley.

The premise of the book is the Parent Trap Movie with a modern twist. Long lost Sisters are reunited at camp and create a plan to reunite their parents.

The concept was great.. the execution not so much. Too many plot lines. Both sister have to coop with their new sister, adjusting to life, love, and reuniting their parents. Another book where proper communication between characters would make the story so much better. Too many back and forth chapters. I struggled to finish.

I could not get into it. And I wanted to. I so desperately wanted to. I read the premise and thought: this is a book I will love. But unfortunately I found the e-book format difficult to devour, and I think that was a big contributor. I read most books digitally, and something about this one didn't sit well with me. The layout was harder to navigate, the font couldn't be changed, and it made for a hard read. I think the idea behind it is great and I think that for anyone else, this might be a story for them to love. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In this book I enjoyed the difference between the sisters, and how drastic the difference between the sisters was. The things I didn't like:
-Siri's name. I just didn't! It reminded me of the iPhone Siri, and it kinda weirded me out.
-The Game of Thrones names that the twins had. Like,,, ew.
-Siri's "curse" words. If you are going to include curse words, then do, if you aren't going to, then please don't use 'excrement'. Just no.
And this is the short list.
Overall, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't something I really enjoyed all that much. 2.5/5 stars from me.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

*Review will be posted on my blog on 5/15/21*

DNF @ 20%
I Liked:
*I liked the moment the sisters meet because we get to learn a bit of the back story of their history. It’s a sad history though and they get at least someone to help them navigate reintroducing one another to their lives again.

*They are different in personality. Jamie is loud, says what she wants – she’s a comedian in life and as her profession. Siri is more subdued, was a ballerina until that dream came to a halt, so they are very different.

*There is a happy ending (yes I read the ending), so it all works out with the family and the romance storylines in each girl’s life.

Random Notes:
*I couldn’t connect with any of the girls. I couldn’t get over Siri’s name being Siri, it just reminded me too much of Siri from the iPhone. Also, the fact that they were named after Game of Thrones characters (I Love GoT too but…), bugged me because Jamie and Cersei, the incestuous siblings? Interesting choice of names.

*Jamie tries too hard and there is a lot of swearing (I don’t mind swearing) but a lot of it is in caps, so okay, Jamie is loud. But then her sister Siri likes to swear also…but using non-curse words such as “excrement” and just other random alternative curse words. But excrement is used a lot and after awhile it isn’t cute or funny.

*I skipped a lot and apparently I skipped too much because there was a parent trap situation somewhere in the story and there’s magic that made that happen.

Final Thoughts:
This one was clearly not for me since I did not finish and mostly skipped but I think there are readers out there who will enjoy it especially if you like stories like the Parent Trap.

Received for free in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. I've also pre-ordered the B&N special edition, so I may update this review if I re-read it then. This book releases June 1st, I believe.

Let's just break this up. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but there are a couple of necessary ones to mention.

<b>THE GOOD</b>
- This book reads like a movie, in a really fast-paced, enjoyable way. Very <I>Parent Trap</i>, obviously.
- I liked both girls, I enjoyed both their POVs and their differences and similarities.
- Both romances were cute.
- <spoiler>Having the parents <i>not</i> get back together. That was a good choice, they were obviously not made for each other.</spoiler>
- The utilization of therapy. It's not a bad thing.

<b>THE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER</b>
- Every character is so. quirky. Just, incredibly quirky. To a point, that's fine, but it grated on my nerves and induced some cringe.
- For superfans of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, the dates for the parents' young romance are incorrect. I would have expected Christine to google when the books were published. The dad says he was doing a theatre play for the first three books. Jamie was born in 1999. The third book came out in 2000.
- Speaking of the superfans... ugh. I get people are like that, but the sheer cringe was a lot. And may as well have named the girls Jaime and Ceresi, but no. James "Jamie" George and Siri Martine. Okay. Riight.
- <spoiler>The way the glamor magic works. Christine picked a halfway between bodyswap and the girls' original plan of twin makeover. Which. Just pick one. I expected the girls to accidentally bodyswap, honestly. But they made themselves over, then were... glamored. Specifically, glamor glitter magic that made them look like each other to everyone... except to their love interests.</spoiler>
- This is definitely a me problem; the absolute lack of concern for money. Both parents are doing well, and even jobless the girls don't really give any thought to actual, basic costs in a way I struggled to relate to. Like, ah, yes, everyone can just afford to fly here or there and the credit card can just drop $200, sure!!
- <spoiler>I found it hard to dispend my disbelief when it came to reading emotional, honest letters helps as fixing communication. Like. It wasn't even shown as a miracle fix, but I guess I couldn't entirely believe in people just sitting there listening as someone else talks feelings/roasts them and the person not, just, getting pissed or more upset. Like, that's a little bit too hard to believe, knowing people being people about things. In my experience, talking feelings with people doesn't go so well.</spoiler>

I definitely don't want to be harsh, because I love Christine and I genuinely enjoyed this book. Enough I want to do a makeup look for each cover with a book review video. I feel this book suits a certain type of person, and you <i>can not</i> take it too seriously. Take it in the same vein as Christine's video: high-energy, wacky, fun.

And again, this is an arc! Some of my nitpicks are probably fixed in the final, who knows. I will update this review if I do reread, I do plan to. June 1st!

Overall, this book vacillates between a 3, the occasional 5 feeling, mostly an enjoyable 4. So, <b>4</b> stars. There was a little too much cringe to be a 5, for me, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. I would genuinely recommend this if you enjoy a quick-paced comedy-drama contemporary with a hint of "happy haunted".

If you LOVE Freaky Friday and young women finding themselves, read this incredibly long book about a crazy body swap, a wild family situation and how it gets set up and then how it resolves in absolute detail. Not insane detail, but the resolution is maybe a full third of the book. There is some great family drama and resolution, plus romance drama and resolution with HEAs by the score. I did not need to read all the pages in this story, but I know there are folks who will really enjoy this deep exploration of Siri and Jamie.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy!