This book was super cute! The Parent Trap is a favorite of mine, and you could definitely tell that this was very heavily inspired by it. With that being said though, there was enough variation in the actual story that it didn't bug me, and I really enjoyed the overall story line.
The variety of voices, characters, accents, ages - literally everything, and it flows perfectly. Brittany Pressley and Karissa Vacker deliver a seamless performance, and it’s a treat and a pleasure to listen to this amazing story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early listen. What a perfect summer read.. Loved the characters. Author and narrator did a great job telling/reading this story. Kept me reading sad to see it end. Will look for more by this author.

The audiobook was so great! The two narrators was phenominal and added so much depth to Siri and Jamie's characters. Though maybe I do wish they sounded a bit different as I didn't realize there were two narrators until I was almost done.

Christine Riccio's sophomore novel was great. While Again, But Better is very different, I could definitely see her improvement as a story teller. Her writing was stronger—while just as hilarious and relatable. The characters too were so well rounded and you could seemlessly see their character progressions. I love that Christine wasn't afraid to make Siri and Jamie unlikable in the beginning, because it gave them so much room to grow, and grow they did. I also love that we got to travel and see the two girls in so many types of situations and interactions. They felt so real! Great job Christine!

However, I do think it could have been at least 50-100 pages shorter. While the pacing was okay, there was too many b, c, and d plots that weren't very necessary. (Though I did really enjoy Shane and Pilot's cameo!)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audiobook of Better Together in exchange for an honest review!

LMAO. So, I originally gave this two stars, but while writing this review -- I realized it was much worse than I thought.

Okay, so Better Together has some.. issues. I did not read Again, but Better & I had zero idea that Christine Riccio was a BookTuber prior to writing books, so this is my first experience with the author. I've seen a lot of reviews mentioning the writing being less than great but as I listened to the audiobook I really did not pick up on this -- therefore, I'm not able to speak on this.

What I can speak on though -- is the plot and characters!

Which at times was a bit iffy. Let's start with the plot, shall we? What sold me on this book was the Parent Trap concept. Like, YES PLEASE. & I suppose this book is, as pitched, a Parent Trap story, but it's not the Parent-Trapping that the focus seems to land on. Once the sisters swap places, I feel the story more so focused on the romance storyline. Unless we count Jamie being an absolute menace to her estranged mother.

However, the mother sucks (but don't worry, the father does too! He takes one daughter, but lol who cares about the other one!!!!!) Can we please discuss what happens after the girls split up when they're children -- Siri is made to believe, by her mother, that Jamie was simply an imaginary friend. What. the. heck. First of all, I'm not sold on the fact that this mother would just give up her daughter. No phone calls throughout the years? No visits? Just.. nothing? No, absolutely not. Second, to make your daughter believe her sister was just an imaginary friend is complete trash.

In general, the characters suck in Better Together. Except for Pizzagrammer, Dawn. We love Dawn in this house. Siri is absolutely insufferable in the beginning, but I will say if anyone gets better -- it's probably her. Jamie has some pretty excrement (see what I did there? If you didn't, keep reading & you'll understand) reactions to Siri's life in California, especially when it comes to Siri & Dawn's relationship.

Speaking of Siri & Dawn's relationship, while the parents are confronted on everything -- the dad's like, "OH DID YOU KNOW SIRI AND DAWN ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP." First of all, dad, read the damn room. Second of all, um????? This whole line was so out of place & just a cop-out way to push the drama between Siri and Jamie.

Another thing that was really bothering me was Siri's weird anti-swearing thing that she got from her mother. At first, I thought it was cute when she said, "Are you intercoursing kidding me?" But then, it just kept happening. I'd much rather Siri pull an Eleanor Shellstrop and say "forking." Oh, and for "shit" she uses "excrement," cause duh, why not.

Timothée Chalamet even has a cameo. Is that something writers can do? Like, I'd understand if the characters just went to his house for a party & he was simply in the background, but he has actual written dialogue? Seems weird, but maybe this is okay.

OH. And the Game of Thrones references?! SO MANY. Which, again, fine at first -- but straight up, during the parent confrontation scene, they explain the glitter bomb and how they basically swapped skins (yep, a thing that happens!!) and the parents are just like "OH OK MAKES SENSE. JUST LIKE THE FACELESS MAN IN GAME OF THRONES." EXCUSE ME, WHAT????? None of this makes sense, I don't care how much fantasy someone reads, lmao. People don't swap skins in real life, the parents could have been a bit more shocked.

And, finally, I felt this book was a bit longer than needed. At this point, if I see a Contemporary audiobook that's longer than 10 hours, I'm gonna start running the other way.

This is a really bad book. It has very bad written characters, with very forced dialogue and an unlogical plot. This book was a mistake to read. But at least the narrator was good.

A YA coming of age story featuring two sisters who find each other after being apart for years because of their parent's messy divorce. Jamie and Siri meet at a camp and in a Freaky Friday esque magic moment switch appearances. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the girls decide to embark on a confront the parents trap, exchanging lives for a few days in order to get to know the parent they haven't seen in over ten years. Eventually everything comes to a head when all four meet up in Las Vegas. Geared more towards older teens this book explores sexual identities, new romances, finding new dreams, overcoming anxieties and confronting their dysfunctional Game of Thrones loving parents. I thought this was an entertaining read and would recommend for fans of Emma Lord's You have a match.

“Freaky Friday meets The Parent Trap”

Yep, that grabbed my attention. When the chance came up to review the audio version of Better Together, and I read that tagline, I knew I was going to grab this one.

I’ve never heard of Christine Riccio (but damn she’s pretty, and if you haven’t seen her pic on her author page, do yourself a favor and click asap!). The narrators, Brittany Pressley and Karissa Vacker are new to me as well. I'm seriously impressed, and I'm going to be looking for more from these talented folks in the future. They poured their hearts into this one, and it shows.

I've got to say, we audiobook fans know that dual narration is super hard to do well, and I am blown away by the skill of whoever put this all together. The variety of voices, characters, accents, ages - literally everything, and it flows perfectly. Brittany Pressley and Karissa Vacker deliver a seamless performance, and it’s a treat and a pleasure to listen to this amazing story.

On to a quick review of Christine Riccio’s novel. Better Together is fast moving, clever, and funny, though not in a constant laugh-out-loud way. This one's more soft chuckles and occasional belly laughs, and I smiled almost the whole way through.

There are poignant and serious moments as well, as these characters are dealing with some intense emotional issues. Without giving too much away, I will say when the young ladies confront their parents, and the choices they made, it is beautifully done. “You chose your dream over your daughter,” brought tears to my eyes.

Beautifully written, spectacularly performed, and a ton of fun, Better Together is an audiobook not to be missed!

Disclaimer: I received an audio ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio!

I want to preface this review by saying that I unfortunately did not enjoy Christine’s debut novel, but was still looking forward to reading this because I had followed her YouTube channel and have met her a couple times in person; so I’ve been cheering for her to get published and have her writing dreams come true. I tried to go into this book with lower expectations than I had with the previous one, but still hopeful that I would love this story. Unfortunately that was not the case.

This book was promoted as Freaky Friday meets The Parent Trap and that seems like an interesting concept because both those movies were hilarious and enjoyable; at least I thought so. Imagine my surprise when this book did not feel like it was inspired by those movies, but instead felt like actual plagiarism with just minor changes of facts, names, and events here and there. I’m specifically referencing the scenes of the two sisters meeting “for the first time”, the plan to switch, and the plan to get their parents together in the same room; as well as the whole magical aspected of “body switching” that came out of nowhere! If I was able to ignore everything else, this would be the one thing I can’t ignore; an unexplained magical cop-out! It happened in the first book and it has happened again in this story. If magic exists in the world you are creating than it needs to be explained and introduced fairly early into the story. Not an afterthought that gets thrown into the story because it’s a convenient loop hole that you can use to have the story take a different direction that you wouldn’t be able to have otherwise. Magic needs an explanation, especially in a book that is meant to be ‘realistic fiction’!

I don’t want this review to be so negative, but sadly I just did not enjoy the story. I do want to point out some things I did like, for example the two side characters Dawn and Zarar. In my opinion they were the only good part because even though both characters have to deal with this crazy sister swap, they remain true supportive and loving friends. In Dawn’s case having Jamie not truly value her as the best friend she claims she is, Dawn still sticks around and is extremely supportive of Jamie and later of Siri. I don’t know how she can be so kind and always show up for Jamie when she doesn’t get the same kind of relationship in return, but her presence in a scene definitely made that scene more bearable.

In the end, I wanted to enjoy this book and be supportive of the author but I unfortunately did not like it and had to push myself to finish it. If you decide to check this book out for yourself, I hope you can enjoy it more than I could.

As a pre-teen, Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap were among my favorite books. When I saw Christine Ricci's new book Better Together described as a cross between the two I was tempted. But I don't really read much young adult novels anymore but then I thought it's summer why not and gave into nostalgia.

Eighteen-year-old Siri has sustained a career-ending injury and is at a loss as to what to do now that she no longer has ballet. She is also pretty neurotic and overly dramatic. Her mother sends her to a "find yourself" wilderness retreat in Colorado.

Twenty-year-old Jamie's whole life is a mess. She wants to be a comedienne, yet she has horrible stage fright and cannot make it through her entire 10-minute set. While it is never clear why she is having to sign some kind of social contract with her father and grandmother, one of the stipulations is to attend a "find yourself" wilderness retreat in Colorado.

Jamie and Siri literally run into each other at the camp - in the shower cabin no less. While Jamie knew of Siri's existence, it has been 14 years since she has seen her. On the other hand, Siri has been told that Jamie was her childhood imaginary friend. If she wasn't crazy before this, she definitely believes she has fully cracked now. It turns out that when their parents divorced and each took a child a la The Parent Trap, that her mother didn't know how to handle Siri's questions and insisted that Jamie was never real.

While similar in looks, they are not identical twins like the characters played by Hayley Mills. So to pull off the switcharoo and fool their parents a bit of Freaky Friday magic has to come into play.

As this is a young adult book and I'm clearly not a young adult, there were some eye-roll moments as the characters are a bit over the top at times in their attitudes and reactions. As they are technically adults, I didn't feel too bad in thinking they needed to grow up. Even though Siri's neurosis at the beginning was a bit much, I liked her more than Jamie. Perhaps Jamie had more childhood trauma as she knew she had been separated from her sister and mother without much explanation and that is why she isn't a very nice person. At least Siri was interested in getting help whereas all Jamie wanted was revenge and to make everyone else as miserable as she was. Siri wanted to see her father to get answers whereas Jamie, who wanted some answers, mostly wanted to see her mother in order to torment/punish her.

Jamie and Siri are named after characters from A Song of Ice and Fire series. Apparently, their parents were huge fans of the book series. But I'm not really sure as they kept referring to "Thrones". I'm not a fan of either the book series or the show, but I've never heard anyone refer to it as Thrones. The show is either referred to as A Game of Thrones or abbreviated GoT and the same goes for the books being referred to by its series name or abbreviated ASoIaF. Fans of the show or books might enjoy the references, but they just moved right past me.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Brittany Pressley and Karissa Vacker. They did a great job - I didn't actually realize there were two narrators until just now when I went to look up the name. The characters had distinct voices and I couldn't tell when the story switched to the other narrator unlike I can sometimes in books read by multiple people.

As a pre-teen/young teen, I would have enjoyed Better Together. As an adult, I felt it was an entertaining summer read that I didn't have to follow closely to know what was happening in the story. It would be a good book to share as a family - either reading it together in the evenings or listening to it in the car while on a family vacation.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Sunday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2021/06/better-together-by-christine-ricci.html

I really thought the premise for this one was interesting, and the way that both girls ended up at the retreat was entertaining.

However, other than that, this one didn't work for me. I am outside of the target demographic, but Better Together is situated in a strange place where Siri's point of view skews younger YA and Jamie's does not, especially since the characters are new adult age.

I started out with this one on audio and really struggled, I didn't love the narration of Siri's voice, and found the pacing made Jamie not all funny, but cringe inducing instead. I thought that switching to read it visually would help, but it didn't, and I ended up putting this one aside at about the 50% mark.

The three things that did me in, though, was the "creative swearing," the personality inconsistencies, and just how terrible (neglectful? abusive?) the parents were.

I think this book would appeal to people who are bigger fans of the parent trap than am I, and who have a higher tolerance for creative swearing and glitter than I do.

I was granted audio ARC access to Better Together via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Better Together is Freaky Friday meets The Parent Trap, but LGBTQIA+ friendly and set in the current century. Siri grew up with her mother, utterly dedicated to ballet and dreaming of joining her mother on stage someday, but a career-ending back injury has her searching for a new dream. Jamie grew up with her father and, after yet another disastrous attempt to deliver her full 10-minute stand-up set left her wondering if this is really what she's cut out to do, she finally gives in to her grandma's suggestion that she attend a retreat to find herself. Queue the two sisters quite literally running into one another in a camp bathroom nearly 13 years after the last time they saw one another. As they plan to swap places and confront their parents, glitter magic takes hold and the pair swap appearances far more successfully than either intended.

Honestly, I'm shocked to see so many 1 and 2 star ratings on this book attached to reviews that complain about the writing. Is it perfect? No. Is it distractingly bad? Also no. I love the inspiration materials, so perhaps I'm biased, but I really enjoyed this book and I love the updates. This was fun, light, and quick to get through, and basically just everything I'm looking for in a weekend read.

My one major complaint is that the quirky A Song of Ice and Fire references (especially without anyone calling it A Song of Ice and Fire despite the adults proudly being fans before it was popular) are too much. The girls have taken on Aria's nameless street rat catchphrase "A girl ___" and made it their own identities, and it got old.

I also both love and hate the twist of who's behind the glitter magic. I love who it was, but I'm utterly confused about how, and I don't like that.

If you loved Freaky Friday and/or The Parent Trap, give this a try!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and the advanced audiobook.

I was not a big fan of Riccio's debut novel but I thought the premise for Better Together seemed fun and interesting enough take on a familiar story, so I decided to give it a go. It had a lot of potential but didn't really deliver. The writing is not great, but it's not terrible in the way some reviews seem to suggest. I think that the characters and a lot of language reads very juvenile and, well, a little ridiculous.

Siri is intolerable, but Jamie was a good balance to have. Karissa Vacker is the saving grace. I would not have made it through this book if it weren't for the audiobook.

I really liked the dynamics between the two sisters; whether they were bonding or fighting or learning more about each other, their interactions felt very real and reminded me of growing up with my own sibling. I especially identified with Siri. Her social insecurities and her fight to overcome them were very relatable to me personally. Her journey to figure out what she wants to do in life and what really makes her happy was very fulfilling to read and follow along with. I also really liked the two romances with each of the main characters, and thought those were handled and resolved really well.

I fell in love with the cover and was curious after finding out this book took place in California & New Jersey (2 of my favorite places ever). However, this book did not live up to my expectations. I found the main characters insufferable, both so whiny! Then, the big switch, did not seem believable at all. The fact that everyone was not aware except their love interests seemed so ridiculous. Similarly, the parents divorcing and splitting their kids up also seemed just as ridiculous and did not sit right with me. Overall, this was not the book for me.

DNF at 25%
This book is cringeworthy. The MCs act younger than they are, the language choices are a struggle (ex: yelling "excrement" and "intercourse" frequently.) I thought they way the mother was gaslighting her own child was out of line. Sorry, this book isn't for me.

1/5 stars

Thank to Netgalley for providing this audiobook!

The book was fine but i unfortunately wasn't too attached to the characters and was utterly confusing

Ive been trying to decide how I want to write this review. This book is pitched as cute parent trap-equse story but that is so simple of an explanation.

Siri and Jamie are sister, 2 years apart. Siri was 4 and Jamie was 6 when their parents marriage fell apart. Jamie went to live in California with her father while Siri stays in NY with her mom. At 4 yrs old Siri couldn't understand where her sister went. So like any normal person, her mother convinced her that Jamie was her imaginary friend. Sent her to therapy and had everyone else around her also convince this CHILD that her sister was never real. She removed all photos that included her. Just erased her other daughter.
CHRISTINE?! Ma'am??? The level of child abuse, mental torture, gas lighting, narcissistic, mind game type shit that is. This happens to a 4 year old. Like I know we want to be like omg this story is so cute and fun these sisters find each other but this is deep serious CHILD ABUSE, wrapped up with a parent trap plot bow.
This directly impacts every aspect of Siri's life. She questions everything (very peeta hunger games real or not real), she's meticulous. She doesn't have friends.
The dad also just does along with this, splits the sisters and never looks back. He ignores Jamie, encourages her to change who she is to fit in. Lets her grandmother basically raise her. Hes controlling, self centered and just like the mom, a narcissist.
Jamie is flighty, detached, unemotional and rude. She forces herself and this plan onto Siri without concern for how it might impact her after just finding out she has all this years of trauma to unpack.
Honestly Siri rights only.

While the girls are body swapped they do find a lot out about themselves, and if that aspect of the story could have been there without like the mentally fucking up your kid bits, Id have enjoyed this a lot more. Best part about this was Siri is Bisexual and gets into a relationship with a STABLE, sweet, loving, caring, compassionate understanding woman who will value her. I cant go on about this anymore. Im disappointed.

I was super excited to read a Christine Riccio book, and i liked this. It was kind of like a Freaky Friday concept but with sisters. I liked that the sisters’ relationship was the main aspect of the story.

As for what i didn’t like that much, Jamie’s comedy sets. I found myself cringing with the references she made. But, I loved Jamie. I related to her on so many levels even though her decisions were questionable sometimes.

Reviewing
Better Together
Christine Riccio

Hummmm.... where to start? Better Together is considered a YA read so I went into it expecting a bit more maturity then I found.

This modern day mash up of The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday features two sisters who are almost obnoxiously stereotypical. While I understand Siri’s decision not to curse I found her literal substitution annoying as “”intercourse”! Jamie’s inability to have a single conversation without excessive sarcasm made her difficult to connect with.

Although readers are sure to share a few laughs, meet some quirky characters, and enjoy two budding romances. However, to really enjoy this novel readers must be willing to overlook a few major flaws. An overly dramatic plot, excessive story lines, selfish and emotionally abusive parents, and young adults that read more like young teens are all components that stopped me from falling head over heals for Riccio’s latest publication.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars for this young adult read that feels a bit to immature for for young adults but with themes and language too strong for early teens.

Thank you to Macmillan Audo for my alc of this title.

One sentence review: I really enjoyed this book that is a hybrid retelling of the Parent Trap and Freaky Friday.

Better Together by Christine Riccio tells the story of Jamie, an aspiring stand up comic, and Siri, a ballerina who just suffered a career ending injury. They are two sisters who have been separated for 15 years but meet up again at a Discovery Retreat. Here they put together a Parent Trap scheme that gets morphed by some glitter magic, into a Freaky Friday scenario.

My thoughts:

- I thought the story was really fun. The Parent Trap has always been a favorite of mine so I enjoy retellings of it.
- I was really amused by the creative euphemisms for swearing in the book. Some might find it annoying but I thought it was pretty funny.
- I enjoyed the sapphic relationship in the book and actually would have liked to see more on that front.
- I did feel like the story got a little long towards the end. I would have liked to see a little quicker of a resolution.

I think this book would appeal to fans of The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. There is some magic in the book related to glitter bombs, if this is something that might annoy you, then I'd stay away.

NARRATION: I enjoyed the narration on this one. As times the voice for Siri grated on my nerves a bit, but as she came into her own as far as self confidence goes, I felt like her voice became less grating.