Okay, yes, it’s absolutely a Just Kiss Already! romance. Haha. I was waiting for it for what felt like ages– in a good way. I loved the close knit group of friends that forms around Andie and the way they need each other and see through each other’s masks. Also, I liked the relationship between Andie and her dad and how that unfolded. I probably cried more in those scenes than anywhere else.

There was a good balance between Andie’s past, her connections at home, and the things going on with her in the present as she formed new connections at college. Some of the big scenes didn’t surprise me at all, but I never picked up this book expecting big surprises, so I was totally okay with that.

I really liked the way the romance unfolded and the tension between Andie and Milo. I loved the bagel shop, Milo’s family, the chicken coops and outdoor tours and all of those background things that added so much to the story.

All in all, BEGIN AGAIN was a super fun read. I enjoyed the romance and the fresh, fun college campus radio show setting.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This review will post to my blog on 1/25/23.

Just when I needed a reminder why I love YA, this book came along! It was my first Emma Lord and it won't be my last. It was super refreshing that the characters were in college, not high school. Begin Again is as much a romance as it is a found family, and I LOVE a good found family story. I saw a lot of my college friend group in Andie's which made it all the more nostalgic to read. Andie and Milo were so cute as they grew together and found themselves at college.

If you need a feel good, YA verging on NA rom-com, please pick this up! Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this early.

This is my first Emma Lord book and I have no shame in saying this is the *perfect* YA read. I had started her last release, You Have a Match, but it was a little too close to home and I needed to put it down. I’m so glad I didn’t let that deter me from requesting this book!

This is a clean college romance with found family, healing, and friendship. The level of pining, insecurity, and ambition made me recall just how fragile those first few moments of the adult experience are; but also how sweet and tender they can be. Emma Lord did a masterful job of describing the freshman experience, taking us on that rollercoaster of a journey with some very loveable and relatable characters.

Summary:
Andie Rose has finally made it to Blue Ridge State as a freshman transfer student from her local community college. This has been The Plan, despite not being admitted the first time around. Once she arrives, she meets a colorful cast of students that quickly worm their way into her heart - and faces some painful truths from her past.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and NetGalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
This is the cutest romance EVER!
I fell in love from the very first page!

Begin Again is a moving coming of age story about a college age girl who is grappling with finding her own voice and identity in life, as she tries to walk in the footsteps of her late mother, always seeming to help others with their problems, always giving them sage advice, but somehow unable to help herself. The story captures her angst as she tries to let go of her past while trying to be her own person as well as learning to not only forgive others, but to forgive herself.

Andie Rose has worked very hard to transfer to Blue Ridge State College. Her boyfriend since she was a child goes there, but more important than that, her late mother graduated from there and certainly left her mark. But when she arrives, she discovers her boyfriend no longer there having transferred back to a college back home. With no friends, and the inability to do any type of math, she is at first frazzled. She also feels a sense of anxiety always trying to be the best at everything, feeling that is what her mother would expect. But even with her mother’s absence her life has been filled with love. She lives with both her grandmothers and her father is there for her as much as he can be, which sometimes Andie feels is not quite enough.

As she settles in meeting her new roommate, Shay and her RA, Milo she begins to feel as if she has found a home. And as always, she tries to fix everybody. But being the best at everything can be exhausting and add to that the pressure of work, sliding grades, an unhappy relationship, perhaps a crush and trying to be as good as her mother was, well, she finds herself in what seems like an unfixable situation.

Sometimes it really does take a village, but in order for that kind of help, you must accept what is given. In Andie’s case and with the assistance of her family and friends and a whole lot of love, she finds herself realizing its ok to let go of the past and begin again.

A heartwarming, funny, uplifting story of loss, love and finding one’s way through life’s most difficult struggles.

Thank you #NetGalley #WednesdayBooks #EmmaLord #BeginAgain for the advanced copy.

As an avid Emma Lord fan and current community college student majoring in Psychology, this book was an instant favorite from the first page. This book gives all the warm fuzzy slow-burn feelings, and wraps you up in a big hug. I felt myself rooting for all of the characters throughout the book (aside from one nasty boy who will not be named) and leaves you wanting more from them after the final page. There were so many unique and fun ideas, such as the ribbon scavenger hunt and outside work-study programs, that made me want to participate in them too!

I was able to see a lot of myself in Andie, and I appreciate the fact that her personality and quirks were celebrated, rather than other characters trying to change who she is. Our "fix-it" people need more positive recognition in books, and I think it's important that Andie was able to go through so much self-growth but didn't change who she is.

One of the only criticisms I have for this book is the faux cuss words. For me, it's hard to get behind food as swear words, as I find it more annoying than endearing. That being said, it is really the only issue I was able to find in this book, and it's more personal preference than an actual issue.

I am so ready to transfer to Blue Ridge State and get myself to Bagelopolis, because I need to drink a cup of Eternal Darkness!!

A huge thank you to Wednesday Books, Emma Lord, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Emma steals a little piece of my heart every time she write a book. This one kept that tradition alive! The setting, the characters, the story...this one has it all. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one.

I always enjoy Emma Lord’s books- that YA romance gets me every time. This was a sweet fast read, and who doesn’t love a love triangle. This book captures well the unsure college years when every decision seems life altering.

The underlying story of a young woman trying to live up to her dead mother’s legendary college status moves the story along. I was rooting for sweet college dorm RA- Milo. The clueless protagonist Connor is a master at gaslighting our leading lady- Andie. Andie vacillates between grounded thinking (“I don’t believe in fairy tales”) to the optimism of youth (“But I do believe in destiny”). Andie’s estranged relationship with her father adds emotional impact to the story as she navigates the day-to-day campus life.

Of the many scenes I enjoyed, I really loved the magical snowstorm- even Mother Nature was pulling for our couple. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Happy Reading!

Andie always planned out what she is going to do, she transferred to another school where her mother was an alumni at that state college and where her boyfriend studies. But Connor (bf) transferred to her old school, it ended up in a long distance where the conflict grew with their relationship. While Andie is adjusting with college she made friends and pursued being part of a radio show where her mother is also part of it before. Milo is her resident advisor and anchor of the radio show and eventually a slow burn romance is developed.
I liked the character development of Andie but her wanting to try to solve other peoples problems is inappropriate but eventually she had a good friendship with them. Her feelings for Connor, making her think that she loves him is annoying while having feelings for Milo. Not a fan of slow burn romance, I wanted more of it and I expected much of their growth as a couple but overall it is a good read YA. The title Begin Again suits the plot, "How easily it can trust something that feels both certain and wild, something that was never part of the plan." My first Emma Lord read and I gave it 4 stars. Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

Ok this is genuinely the best book I’ve read in a while. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and Emma Lord for an e-ARC. Spoiler free as always!

First of all, I know Emma Lord is a huge Taylor Swift fan. There are SO MANY hidden (and not so hidden - hello Begin Again) references in this book, it’s incredible that she fit them all in so seamlessly. I fell off the TS bandwagon a bit ago, so I only caught some of them but Sabrina caught more in our unintentional buddy read. I appreciated that they fit so well into the story and didn’t detract from it.

There are so many layers to this book and I honestly saw so much of myself in Andie so many times throughout it that it almost physically hurt. Also a huge fan of her full name but I’ll let you learn that one the way I did because it is super fun.

We start off this book with learning that Andie has worked her butt off to get into her dream school and surprise her boyfriend from childhood, Connor, only to learn that Connor has transferred back to their community college two hours away to be with her.

We meet Milo, Andie’s RA, and right off the bat he has quite possibly one of the worst first impressions of any love interest I’ve ever met. We later learn that this is partially due to the fact that he has become overly addicted to caffeine and has a special blend he creates/sells at the local Bagelopolis. One of Andie’s first fix-its is to help him off this addiction. Grumpy, meet Sunshine.

As the story unfolds, we watch Andie spend the majority of her time fixing other people’s problems in an attempt to ignore her own. In the meantime, she’s such a light to everyone around her and creates friendships for people who previously just went about awkwardly ignoring each other. She slowly learns that facing your problems is the only way to deal with them, and it’s easier to do when you’ve created the family you missed out on growing up.

To be honest, my favorite thing about this book was its parallel to so much of my own life at that time. I saw so much of myself in Andie; I think it’s a pretty common response to childhood trauma to become a fixer upper for other people as you get older.

Watching the dynamics between Milo, Andie, Shay, and Valeria was so much fun. Truly a great found family. Valeria and Shay were really great characters and I loved that they were both huge bookworms.

Despite his inability to function without coffee (to start, obviously Andie helps to fix this as well), Milo is so much like my husband that I found myself swooning so hard. From the beginning, he believed in Andie 100% and never let her give up on herself in exchange for helping other people. Though a bit of a recluse, he has such a secret heart for other people’s well-being and is there for his friends through everything. The way he lifts up Andie and encourages her through her healing stepped him up in my mind.

When *person* tries to destroy everything Andie has done for herself and tells her that she doesn’t even fit in in this new school, Milo is right there to remind her exactly how strong she is and how many people she’s helped to become a better version of themselves along the way.

Y’all I think I could go on for a long time lol. I’ll stop here but

TLDR; I liked this book.

Emma Lord continues to write some of the most charming coming-of-age stories out there. With the characters in this one a little older than her usual high school seniors, we now join overachiever Andie Rose as she transfers mid-freshman school year to the university of her dreams in hopes of following the plans she's had half her life. The thing is that even the best-laid plans are not guaranteed to work out when one considers that life is messy and not everything can be planned, analyzed, and workshopped into perfection.
Andie is really likable and the people she's surrounded by are equally as entertaining and relatable. It's a story full of all the pressures one faces when enrolled in a competitive university with the added pressure of a long-distance relationship and trying to live up to the greatness of a parent that's no longer there.
The big reveal is obvious long before it's revealed simply because, of course, that's what happened (you'll know what I mean when you read it), but it's also a great motivator for Andie to finally face all she's been pushing down and distracting herself from. It also leads to some of the best character exploration I've ever read from a YA title, so extra kudos to Lord for that.
Overall, it's a quick, very charming, very enjoyable read that got me to care for every single character almost from the get-go and continued to give me reasons to love the story from beginning to end.

Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the charming early read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

What an adorable romcom/coming-of-age story. Begin Again is about Andie Rose, who transfers to her dream college, Blue Ridge State, to major in psychology and be closer to her boyfriend. However, all of her carefully laid plans go out the window when she discovers her boyfriend transferred to community college..to be closer to her. To avoid fixing her own problems, Andie focuses on the problems of those around her. This includes her roommate, tutor, and her swoony RA, Milo. Throw in a radio show, ribbon scavenger hunts, and a ton of banter and you have the sweetest college romance.

I just loved this book. Andie is such a likable heroine that you immediately root for. Milo is the SWOONIEST leading man. Emma Lord writes the best cast of characters every time. I also really enjoyed how Begin Again was set in college. I loved the atmosphere and all of the hijinks (I want to go to Blue Ridge State). Basically this book has everything - romance, comedy, EMOTIONS, everything. I loved it all. All the stars.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I know I won't be able to fully convey how much I enjoyed this book, but I really loved it. The characters were well written and developed. I loved their storylines and all the secondary characters too. They all worked together to form a heartwarming, funny, coming of age story.

Andie's life has had a few obstacles and when she finally gets into her dream college, things don't go as planned. Her RA Milo plays a pivotal role in her first semester at college and I love how their stories intertwined and he & her roommate Shay showed her what friends outside of her small town can be like. I also found Milo's family to be great additions and they helped the story have multiple layers.

The only negative I could find was how long a certain character stuck around. I honestly don't know what either person saw in them.

Trigger Warning: Parental death, semi-absent parent

Andie Rose transferred to Blue Ridge State as a mid-year freshman to surprise her boyfriend, Connor, only to find that he transferred to her community college. Both of Andie's parents went to Blue Ridge State and were members of the school's infamous secret societies. Andie has always dreamed of following in their footsteps and sacrifices her weekends for participating in the ribbon hunts that students need to qualify for the societies. In the midst of the chaos of losing time studying, she begins to question if she really belongs there at all. But with the friendship of her roommate, her RA, and her tutor, Andie finds herself at home on campus.

Emma Lord does it again! I was hooked from Tweet Cute, and I'll continue to read anything she writes. The characters in Begin Again were so genuine and well-developed. I became attached to all of them very early on, and I appreciated that one of the characters had a bookstagram. While some moments were a little predictable and cheesy, I loved following these characters and was rooting for all of them to win.

"You need to decide what's important to you, or then nothing is important. You understand?"

Emma Lord writes such lovely contemporaries. This is my third of her books and I think it's my second favorite! (Tweet Cute being my all-time fave).

Besides the fact that Emma Lord wrote this book, I requested an early copy for one main reason: IT TAKES PLACE IN COLLEGE!! I'm so glad this is becoming more common, especially in YA, so I had to get my hands this one. And, unsurprisingly, the fact that it took place in college ended up being my favorite element.

This book has a lot to offer—insight on parental issues, grief, long-distance relationships, co-dependency, and more. I think going in, readers should know this is NOT a romance. Yes, there is romance involved and a happy ending, but there are probably only like two romantic scenes. This is a contemporary novel about a girl's first year at college, and I really appreciated that.

I think this book would be incredibly healing for anyone going through similar issues as the main character, Andie. And even if you don't relate to all of them, anyone who is starting college or about to would find this extremely comforting and relatable.

I'm obsessed with the friend group at the heart of this novel, and while I didn't get to experience that in college (mainly because of COVID, ew), it made me even more excited for my upcoming study abroad experience! I'm hoping it's a built-in way to... you guessed it... begin again. ;)

Another adorable YA novel from Emma Lord about finding your place in the world! Emma is absolutely an auto-read author for me (although I have to admit I still haven’t read Tweet Cute yet… oops); her characters are always so endearing and her writing is both fun and warm, with a lot of emotional resonance.

I adored Andie as a main character. Other than our first name we honestly have so little in common but I really enjoyed being in her world and was rooting for her all the way! I also loved the found family that Andie created at school and the support they all gave each other – it made me nostalgic for those early days of college. And Milo was a total sweetheart; the slow burn of their friendship turning to something more was lovely to watch.

I do wish there had been a bit more romance. I loooove a slow burn but I could have used more payoff at the end of it. Having said that, this is a YA novel, so maybe I should just manage my expectations.

I’m still hoping for a sexy adult romance from Emma Lord one day, but in the meantime I am loving these cozy young adult books!

Fun fact: my full name is Andishé and two of my nicknames are Andie and Shae, which are two of the main characters in this book! Probably the closest I’ll ever come to having the same name as a book character, haha.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The part of me that remembers being 18 and lost LOVED this book!

I adore stories about found families. They're just as - if not sometimes more - important as blood families. There's something truly special about making the choice to support someone because you want to, not out of familial obligation. I really loved the family Andie found in the end.

All the characters are great. I felt like Andie got a little repetitive at times but I just had to remind myself that she's 18 and the annoyance went away. I want to sit on a quad and quietly study with Milo. I want to nerd out about romance novels with Shay and Valeria. I want to spend an afternoon causing mischief and mayhem with Andie's grandmas.

The journey Andie goes on is beautiful and heartbreaking and empowering. It made me so happy to experience, a balm my 18-year-old self would have appreciated.

I'll be recommending this to everyone!

Let me tell you, this book tackled a lot of feelings - leaving home, long distance relationships, life plans falling apart, mourning parents, and more - and I think it did a great job of tackling each one. I don't think I even realized how many things were going on until after I sat and reflected on the book for a bit. It was all done so seamlessly. This story is definitely character-drive as opposed to plot-driven, so you know it's going to be good.

Andie is a planner, so when her plan to surprise her boyfriend by transferring to Blue Ridge backfires, everything for Andie seems to slowly come apart for her. She does make some good friends throughout the semester, and uses her "fix-it" urge to help with their problems as a distraction from her own. She does eventually face her problems, with the push from her friends, and learns some lessons from it. Her main character arc was to learn that plans don't always go the way you want and sometimes you have to embrace the spontaneity of life. 

Meanwhile, I loved her relationships with her grandmothers, who raised her after her mother passed away. They were a funny duo and I wished there had been more page time for them. I especially loved how Grandma Nell's trait of using food as curse words was one that Andie picked up.

The friendships Andie made with Shay, Milo, and Valeria were all just so pure and funny at times. I was a fan of all three of them. They were each fantastic characters and all had traits that I loved about them. First of all, Shay is a bookstagrammer and loves reading and reviewing books (which is all of us reading this, or most), and she has a great sense of humor and her immediate connection to Andie was so sweet. Milo - I just adored him, and I loved his addiction to his own brew of coffee, Eternal Darkness, that's borderline legal on the caffeine scale. And Valeria was a fun addition, as well as an interesting one, as she is the rare combination of being good at math while also being a writer. I felt her hesitation when she was asked by Shay and Andie to read her manuscript because I've been there. 

The dialogue in this book is one of my favorite things about it. The characters are quick with their wit and I found myself smiling at the things they'd say to each other. Shay especially had that quick wit about her, as any great side character does, and again, she was probably one of my favorites in the story.

There's so much more to this book that I could go on about, but that would make this review a novel of its own, haha. I'll leave it here and just say that this was a very enjoyable read, and while it's listed mostly as Romance on Goodreads, I feel like this book is more of a contemporary read because it doesn't really give all its focus to the romance. The book is definitely more about leaving home for the first time, making and breaking friendships, and learning that plans can change at any time in your life.

I highly recommend this one!

I absolutely loved this book. 4 1/2 solid stars.

This is the story of Andie, a college freshman transferring to the school where her boyfriend started his freshman year. It's the school where her parents met, and fell in love, and she grew up longing to attend the same school, to have the same experiences, to walk in the shadow of her parent's love. Andie's mom passed away, so it's extra special to her that she gets to transfer mid year and participate in the same activities that her mom did, she yearns for those memories to come alive.

This is also the story of Milo, her RA, who grew up in the town where this college exists, and his family life is so intertwined with the school that he's known as the source for work study jobs.

While I usually don't love books about college age characters, this one draws you in from the first page and doesn't let you go. I read it in one session. Refused to do anything else. Even read it on the treadmill.

Read this book. I have read all of this author's work and will continue to do so.

“‘Anything worth doing starts with a mess.’
I let the words settle, taking their own quiet root in me as I stare out past the woods with him.
‘I like that,’ I say. ‘Like—getting a new start doesn’t mean you have to wipe the slate clean. Just pick up the pieces. Begin again.’”

We love a title moment 👏🏼 and this book had plenty!

Easily my favorite Emma Lord novel to date. The college setting, the found family, the falling in and out of relationships, finding yourself, learning how to take care of yourself before you can take care of other people…every word of this was immaculate.

I ADORED Andie. One of my favorite YA protags to date. I loved her fix-it personality and how it wasn’t overbearing, how she knew when to step it and when to step back. The things she grappled with, in finding herself outside of her small town, with people who didn’t know her late mother, In the end, all the plans she had for herself went up in smoke, burned away by something so much better than she ever imagined.

I loved her friends: the bookish roommate Shay, the aspiring author/math tutor Valeria, and, of course, the RA turned friend turned SO MUCH MORE Milo. Milo is utter perfection. I will not be taking questions at this time.

All that to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this coming-of-age story. It was heartwarming and gut-wrenching, sweet and sassy, laugh out loud funny yet serious. Highly recommend!