This book is hilarious and also a little heartbreaking. It's a story of someone starting over while also at a ripe age where everything feels so big.

This is more of a new adult as it's set at college.

It's so funny and enjoyable.

WHAT A LOVELY TIME THIS BOOK WAS!

I adore this author's books and have now read them all.

Milo is so swoony. This book is so funny.

I really enjoy everything I've ever read by Emma Lord. This was no exception! I don't want to spoil anything, so please please please read this one to see for yourself!!

› Andie Rose believes in destiny. She uses corny cuss words, has everything planned and if you have a problem Andie will brainstorm a solution. After a lot of hard work, she's finally attending her dream school, Blue Ridge State. And she even gets to surprise her boyfriend Connor because she managed to keep it all a secret. The only thing is, he surprised her by transferring to their local college. They decide to stay put for this semester and continue their long-distance relationship. Andie was raised by her grandmothers after her mom died and her dad was absent. Andie's RA is a tall guy named Milo Flynn. Milo is addicted to coffee, super serious, and broken-hearted after his girlfriend left him for his brother. Andie's new roommate is Shay Gibbins, a bibliophile who runs an Instagram with no idea what to claim as her major.

› Andie also wants to be a therapist. She plans to get a Psychology degree, then a Master's in clinical psych. She also wants to get into one of the secret societies at Blue Ridge. She feels that it's part of her destiny. Freshmen attend a ribbon event where they complete a task to earn a yellow, red, or blue ribbon. Each ribbon represents a different secret society. They can join the society at the end of the semester if they have enough ribbons. "The Knight's Watch" is a radio show hosted by an anonymous student that shares updates about the school and ribbon events. Andie has been listening since she was a little girl. Andie's mom was the original Knight - she's the one who started it all.

› Andie is determined to join the same society that her mom was in, but she doesn't know which one to choose because it was a secret, so she has to collect enough ribbons from all three societies. She's dealing with grief, a determination to follow in her mother's footsteps, intense emotions about her father wanting to reconnect, a long-distance relationship with Connor, struggling with college courses, and trying to help her friends with their problems. It's too much for one person. However, it's when things fall apart that we can begin again.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 10
The main characters are well-developed with goals, motivation, strengths, flaws, external and internal conflict, backstory and characteristics making them unique. The side characters are interesting and diverse.

› Atmosphere: 10
I can picture every setting and felt appropriate emotions.

› Writing Style: 10
I love Lord's writing style. It's original and readable with authentic dialogue. It's not repetitive.

› Plot: 10
I enjoyed the beginning, middle and end. This was a page-turner for me. I loved the pacing.

› Intrigue: 10
I didn't want to put it down.

› Logic: 9
Who in their right mind transfers schools without telling their boyfriend? It's out of character for Andie who's had her life planned out for years.

› Enjoyment:
Overall experience is a 10!

Average 9.9

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• Begin Again is a heartfelt and charming story about grief, navigating relationships, resilience, and self-love that made me try a cheese bagel with strawberry cream cheese (it's delicious BTW). If you liked A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings, The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon, One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston or Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali then I think you'll love Begin Again. Highly recommend it to fans of contemporary RomComs!


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Likeable yet still flawed (and therefore actually human) characters is always the best way to hook me. Andie is so relateable that I just had to keep cheering for her.

Always a fan of Emma Lord, I was excited to read her newest Begin Again. I have to say, it may even be my favorite of hers yet.

Andie is following her path, the one she has had planned for as long as she can remember. But the only thing is, now that she is at Blue Ridge State University it looks nothing like she planned or thought it would. Struggling with the loss of her mom so young, the estranged relationship with her dad, and a long distance relationship with her boyfriend, she finds herself unsure and struggling to find her own voice.

“- getting a new start doesn’t mean you have to wipe the slate clean. Just pick up the pieces. Begin again.”

This book is about stepping out on your own. It is about searching for your people, the friends who become family. It is about finding independence in the midst of fear. It’s about taking the risk and trusting your gut, even if it looks so different from what you thought it would be.

Although technically a YA, I always feel Emma is able to relate pieces of her characters story to whoever may be reading and whatever they may be going through. This one did that for me.

Thank you Wednesday Books for an eARC to read and review.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I love this author so I was very excited for this book.

The main characters Ansie and Milo are very cute and have many small moments leading up to their relationship on college. I liked that this book used characters in college as I feel this age group is very underrepresented in literature. Parts of this seemed slow but over all cute romance.

4 stars = Great! Might re-read.

This was lovely. While technically a romance (and a good one!), the focus here is more on Andie's personal growth and journey. Some serious Enneagram 2 vibes on this one - lots to recognize in Andie's story. While there are some great humorous moments - like I have come to expect from the author - this is a quieter, more introspective story. It's so good, and so satisfying. There's a fantastic twist that I had to go back and read twice. Fans of the author and fans of college self-discovery stories should definitely pick this one up. (Language)

A cute and charming read that had me flying through the pages from the second I started it. I was so invested in the characters and their lives. I laughed, I cried and I truly loved it!

I've read all of Emma Lord's books and I've enjoyed each and every one. Begin Again was no exception. I will say guessed the twist/ conflict in the story early on, but I still found the ending so satisfying. I adored these characters!

When say Andie was relatable... sheesh. The helper, the planner, the organizer. Totally me. I Aside from her, Milo was my favorite in the book. Emma writes great heroes. As this takes place in college it was more NA than YA and it worked for me! This one was great and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Tender, funny, and perfectly relatable--three things I expect from every Emma Lord release, and three things we get with Begin Again! Reading this book felt like wrapping yourself up in a cozy, well-loved quilt. It was warm and fun and the perfect book for anyone needing their next read to be a cozy pick-me-up. I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the found family. Begin Again carries the charm and tenderness I've come to associate with Emma Lord, and is perfect for fans of Emory Lord, Jenn Bennett, and Lynn Painter.

Begin Again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA Romance
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 1/24/23
Author: Emma Lord
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio
GR: 4.02

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: This story rang college experience 101. Andie switches to one school to be with her boyfriend, while he secretly switches to another school. Through Andie’s college experience, you can feel her triumphs, her fallen grace, and the connections she makes along the way. I have not read a Emma Lord book before, but I will be reading more of her stories.

The story is narrated by Andie, in her perspective. This takes place in a college setting. There are not your typical social cliches, which I absolutely appreciated. The characters are flawed, and make mistakes, you can see the human side of the equation, and it just makes them likable. Andie is outgoing, independent, and fierce, and she really grew throughout the story. Milo is the RA that is quiet, hooked on coffee, and just lovable. The characters were well developed, had witty banter, connective, and creatively woven. The author’s writing style was crisp, straightforward, funny, swoony, and kept me engaged.

This was a cute, fun story about finding who you are, navigating young life, and the relationships along the way. I had the pleasure of receiving both the ebook and audiobook and preferred the audiobook on this one. This story is definitely a journey, one that I think a lot of readers will be able to connect to. I recommend picking it up!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙆𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮! 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝘽𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝘼𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙔𝘼 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣.

📍 Read if you like:
• Friend Groups
• College Stories
• Campus Settings
• Well Developed Characters

This is my first book by this author but definitely won’t be my last. It starts with a miscommunication that worked, usually, that’s a trope I don’t love - but in this story, it was done perfectly.

One of the strongest aspects of this book was the friend group. As much as I loved our main characters, the supporting characters were so lovable.

I loved the campus setting, I’m a sucker for stories set in colleges. Blue Ridge community college was perfect!

Andie was such a sweet and caring character. But Milo definitely stole the show - he was so wholesome and relatable.

The book does talk about some deeper issues, like our MC Andie dealing with her memories of her mother who passed away.

This whole book was an amazing experience. Some moments did feel a bit obvious, but I loved the book as a whole. The characters were so flawed and genuine, especially their friendship. The college vibe was so fun to read about: scavenger hunts, trivia nights, and vampire games.

If you’re looking for a heartwarming contemporary YA rom-com then I would highly recommend checking this one out!

Begin Again is YA Romance (and Emma Lord) at its finest. I’ve enjoyed all of Lord’s work, but this one felt different and more refined? Perhaps it was the college setting or maybe just the storyline in general, but this is a very sweet and uplifting story of a girl finding her own way against deep, internal pressures and expectations. Lord has a special way of making me relate to her protagonists, and Andie was no different. The overachieving teenager in me always feel *seen,* but never judged or belittled, by her characters and writing style.

Begin Again features a really fun cast of characters that strengthen this story immensely. Shay, Val, and Milo are my favorite trio and I loved how they all built each other up. Each of them had their own personal tribulations and it felt deeply rewarding to watch them sort through those feelings and come out stronger. I loved how Andie’s “fix-it” personality wasn’t played as a joke, but instead as a piece of armor that was able to be dismantled throughout the story. Watching these characters grow, and watching And make choices that ultimately make HER happy was my favorite part of this story.

EL has proven herself a master of YA contemporaries and I think that I’d write anything that she publishes at this point. This may not have been my favorite of her four books thus far, but it’s deeply enjoyable and worth a read!

Thank you so much to Netgalley & Wednesday Books for the advanced copy.

Andie Rose transfers to her dream college with two goals in mind: surprise her boyfriend Connor and gather enough ribbons to join a secret society. When she arrives on her first day to find her boyfriend transferred her to her old college, she must find a way to find her own path at school.

A heartwarming coming of age story that features friendship and taking a chance on yourself. A fantastic reminder that we’re all exactly where we need to be.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Emma Lord has had a new book come out every January for the past four years and I've loved every single one. They have everything I will forever love about most YA Contemporary: self-discovery, heart, and a little romance. Begin Again was no exception—now diving into college!

Andie Rose worked her butt off to get to be a mid-year transfer to her 1st choice college which is also where her boyfriend Cooper was accepted to right off. She decides to keep it a secret from him so she can surprise him, but when she knocks on his door someone else answers and says she has the wrong place and that he's never heard of him. She doesn't have time to figure anything out since she needs to get to her dorm, meet her roommate and attend an event on the quad and then on to her first class. Later she finds out he transferred back to the community college she'd been attending as a surprise to her.

She immediately hits if off with her roommate, Shay, is mostly amused by the RA, Milo, but after hitting the quad is late to her first class and the entrance exam with lots of math without a calculator on her and panicks and takes off. Milo talks her down from leaving for home. In an effort to make new friends she gets the whole dorm to attend a game and starts building a found family at school.

As she struggles to do everything and help everyone she overwhelms herself and is on the verge of failing a class. She gets a tutor who also becomes a good friend. Andie's other thing is this school is where her parents met & fell in love. When her mom died of cancer when Andie was 11, her father kind of distanced himself and let her grandmothers raise her. Everywhere she goes on campus she feels like she is in her mother's shadow.

I really enjoyed Andie's journey to find and not only define but re-define herself as her own person. I'm pretty sure at this point I will read anything Emma Lord writes. This time she had me when the group attends trivia night and Andie is so sure she'll be useless until the category of tv & book vampires (or something like that) and she rolls up her sleeves and says in true Edward Cullen fashion says "Hold on spider monkeys".

Andie Rose has plans for her life and she’s finally making them happen. She transferred out of her community college so she can be at her dream school, be with her boyfriend, and study psychology. Just one problem: while she was secretly transferring to surprise her boyfriend, he was doing the same thing.

This is Emma Lord’s first college book and it did not disappoint. It still has the same quirky charm but it’s slightly more mature. And Blue Ridge State is the perfect college setting. The traditions, the games, the professors, the town, the ties to Andie’s parents. I love it all.

Andie thinks she has her whole life mapped out but she’s starting to realize she can’t fix everyone without working on herself first. It’s such an interesting look at the way grief can shape us in our choices and our actions. Andie needs to figure out who she is as her own person rather than following in her mother’s footsteps.

Every character in this book is just so sweet! Andie’s roommate, Shay, is a bookstagrammer and her whole aesthetic is everything. The romance with Milo may be a slooow burn but I love him so much. And you can’t forget the grandmas. What’s a book without a set of spunky grandmas?

Everything Emma Lord writes is a must read for me and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Read this book for:
-college fun and games
-grandmas
-grief and healing
-nods to bookstagram
-lots of bagels with a variety of cream cheese flavors

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

🎗️☕ Book Review ☕🎗️

#beginagain
#emmalord
#teens&ya
#romance
#NetGalley published 1/24/23
#wednesdaybooks

☕☕☕☕/5

This was a great story of finding one's tribe and love. Andie grew up longing to go to her parents' Alma mater. She needed to feel closer to her late mom. She decided to try to reinvent herself and succeeds in finding the real Andie.

She is the type of kid I would have loved to have found my freshman year in college! But the reason for the minus one star is that everything almost came just a little bit too easy for her. The conflict happened before the book starts. I think that's what I was missing in the story. EL does describe it but it doesn't feel like conflict. It only feels like memories. And not necessarily bad ones. Something does happen in the story to stir things up at one point but it seems minor when the reader expects it to be a major conflict.

But hey, thankfully, there is no miscommunication in this one as there is in most romances. That is my least favorite part of a romance!

This is not my first EL book. I definitely enjoyed this main character and supporting characters much better than I did in the other book of her that I read. I will continue to read/review her books as I bump into them. They are a nice light break from some of the other books that I choose.

#stmartinspress
#ya
#collegeromamce
#bookstagram #bookrecommendation #bookreview #booknerdigan #bookish #booknerdbookreviews #bookaddict #bookaholic #booklover #booknerd #readingaddiction

Begin Again by Emma Lord is a heartfelt adventure following Andie as she experiences the highs and lows of her first year of college. She transferred from a community college to be with her high school boyfriend Connor. Blue Ridge State is Andie's dream school because both parents attended and met there. This place is extra special now since it holds many dear memories of her mother, who has since passed away. Andie forms some deep friendships and discovers herself throughout this book. I listened to the audiobook, and the narration was delightful! I highly recommend it!