Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. Emma Lord always does a great job with YA romance. I love her balance of coming of age and romance. Starting college is never easy and I enjoyed how Andie found her tribe at the same time herself. Her friendships with the characters added depth to the story. Andie was a bit goody for me and I enjoyed seeing her growth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. This was a sweet little book about college, the ideas you go in with, and being open to new ideas and experiences. I thought this was well written and I really enjoyed it.

Begin Again by Emma Lord is the story of Andie who begins college at Blue Ridge State mid year. Her mom who passed when Andie was eleven attended and was very involved on campus. Emma is trying to figure out her future as she looks at her mom’s past. She has a boyfriend from high school and is becoming friends with her RA, Milo.

This is a very thoughtful story that handles grief in a beautiful way. I appreciated that the story did not gloss over the hurt someone feels when someone they love dies. The author walked each character through their grief and we were privileged to see them change. I loved seeing Andie be honest with herself, reach out to make new friends, and come to terms with who she was. Beautifully written. I enjoyed the humor woven through the story and it was fun to be in college once more. . I recommend the story.


Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the story. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I love Emma Lord. Like, LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm consistently blown away by how light each novel feels at the start, but how in depth the characters and scenarios really go. This book was no exception - it was phenomenal. I loved how Andie changed during the course of the novel - in relation to herself, her friends, and her family. In addition, the narrator was so easy to listen to!

YA romance are my jam and this one is *chef’s kiss* Emma Lord proves again why she is one of the reigning queens of the contemporary YA romance genre. Begin Again is hilariously witty and also surprisingly tender.

Andie Rose is a mid-freshman year transfer to her dream college, where her parents met and her mom was the beloved founder of the college’s pirate radio station. All she’s ever wanted in life was to become a radio psychologist like her mom, and once her mom got sick and passed away, it’s become something to she’s been hyper focused on - get into the same college, collect all the ribbons to get into the same secret society, get on the radio, then graduate with a degree that allows her to follow in her mom’s footsteps. But things get off to a rocky start - her RA Milo isn’t exactly fond of her, or really even awake most of the time, and her boyfriend transferred away from the college just as Andie transfers in. Believing that they’re end game, just like her parents, she doubles down on the ribbon race to get enough for both of them to get I. When he transfers back next semester. But at least her roommate is cool! But when the going gets tough and the ribbons begin to take priority over her grades, she’s left feeling adrift. That is, until she discovers the identity of The Knight, the pirate radio station’s broadcast host. As everything she thought she knew from her past gets jumbled up with her present, she begins to question what she wants from her future. And when she gets more involved with the radio station and giving advice to listeners, she starts to wonder why she’s chasing her mom’s legacy instead of creating her own.

This book was a fun YA contemporary read. I loved the realistic lesson of college on a big campus not living up to your expectations, and I feel that the characters learned a lot of lessons that the intended audience will benefit from. The lovable cast of side characters did a great job at normalizing diversity without seeming performative.

Read if you like:
• YA college coming of age
• grumpy - sunshine
• Sarcasm
• Characters in a serious relationship with coffee ( my kind of people)

Begin Again was a fast paced, easy read; although the story itself didn’t blow me away, it still kept my attention. The story was predominantly lighthearted (a lot of sarcasm which I loved) with a few emotional situations sprinkled throughout. I really loved the character growth of the main character, Andie. She comes into college trying to fit in by helping everyone else around her, all the while ignoring her own needs and problems. By the end she has learned healthy balance and has faced her own issues, resulting in her ability to “Begin Again”. Her personal growth is something, no matter what age, we can all learn from.

Andie’s roommate Shay and her RA, Milo, were such lovable side characters. They were full of sarcasm as well as helpful advice. Their little family was a wonderful example of a “chosen family” , that most people make in college, which was a breath of fresh air. I haven’t found many books where friends are around for the entirety of a book, but Shay & Milo were a constant for Andie.

As for the Romance… this was an interesting one for me, I’m not sure if it necessarily qualifies as friends to lovers, but I truly loved how Andie & Milo established a friendship throughout the book. Also, it’s subtle but I love when the guy falls first, bonus points that he’s a grump and she’s the brightest sunshine!

Overall, Begin Again this was a fun and enjoyable read.

Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒
Begin Again by Emma Lord is a delightful Young Adult book about a young woman navigating her life as a transfer student in college. This book is delightful, and I loved it.

Story Recap:
Andie Rose is a planner. She is transferring from the community college to Blue Ridge State to their prestigious psychology program to fulfill her lifetime goal of becoming a self-help guru. It also helps that her boyfriend, Conner is also enrolled at Blue Ridge State.

Once she arrives, she finds out that her boyfriend, Conner has transferred back to the community college because of his grades. Her carefully laid plans are already in disarray as she works to navigate her life at the university as a transfer student.

However, she finds life at Blue Ridge State exciting. Her roommate Shay is welcoming, but not the resident advisor, Milo. Being a fixer, Andie is determined to help Shay find a major, but that becomes more difficult than she expected. Soon she finds herself part of the pirate radio program, The Knights Watch. And her grumpy RA is the Knight, and she eventually becomes The Squire. The radio show is a legacy that her mother was part of many years ago. Andie finds her place at Blue Ridge State and starts to settle in, and then everything goes wrong and she’s wondering about her new life, and her expectations.

My Thoughts:
Emma Lord is such a talented writer and she understands and communicates the angst and insecurities of young adults expertly. In Begin Again, we have, organized, and planner, Andie and sleep-deprived, grumpy Milo in a slow-burn romance that was just what I wanted.

The friend group of Andie, Milo, Shay, and Valeria was wonderful. They worked at a local bagel place called Bagelopolis, and during the very early mornings, produced and performed the pirate radio show, The Knights Watch.

This book tells the story of what it’s like to start in a new college and making friends and finding love.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend, Begin Again to anyone who enjoys young adult romances. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Begin Again and another excellent book written by author Emma Lord. I have listened to all her books, and each one blows me away. Great storylines and excellent characters always leave you thinking.

Reader’s Notes:

– this is told from Andie’s point of view

– a girl is interested in another girl (close side characters)

– there are about 62 curse words

Review:

I removed a star due to the number of curse words (I’m not a fan of them).

I loved this romance so much! I loved Andie and her optimism/determination to get things done, even when the odds were not in her favor. I loved her friends and how they spoke sense to her when she needed it. They were also great at supporting her and being there for her (and she for them). They all had so many great times of hanging out together that I loved and times where they pushed one another in the areas they needed pushing to be able to move forward with their goals. I loved Milo’s obsession with coffee and how blunt he’d be about his thoughts on decaf coffee. Some of my favorite scenes in this story included: the coffee mix-up, trivia nights, the snowstorm, a snowball fight, the first common room game night, the radio recordings, and working at Bagelopolis.

Summary:

Andie has always planned to go to Blue Ridge State for college and major in psychology. She wants to learn more about her mother’s time there and hopefully have as great a romance as her parents did. But those plans don’t start off the way she hopes.

With not doing well in one of her classes, Andie needs to devote time she doesn’t have to studying more. Her boyfriend who was attending school at Blue Ridge transferred back to their home college when she transferred here. And their relationship hasn’t been doing well long distance anyway, which is another added worry for Andie. Plus, Andie has been participating in any and every ribbon event in order to collect ribbons so she will likely be accepted to a secret group just like her mother was, but also gathering ribbons for her boyfriend in hopes that he’ll be able to join her soon.

When everything begins falling apart, Andie needs to take a step back and assess what she really considers to be important to her future. With great friends by her side, she’ll be supported in whatever direction she chooses, Andie just needs to make some tough choices…

A cute, charming read that had me feeling just a bit nostalgic for my early college years. Just a bit though because my college experience was nothing like this book.

I took notes on what I thought would happen in the book as I read & sure enough, every single guess was bang on. But weirdly I didn’t hate how predictable the book was? Though let’s be honest, read the synopsis and you can probably guess how it all goes down too

Andie has a cloying habit of saying the names of her favorite snacks instead of *gasp* a swear word, which gets really old, really fast. But the side characters are more real and less diabetes-inducing sweet so they help even out the personalities depicted.

Connor’s trash.

And I'm glad Andie worked through her issues with her dad.

Side note - the synopsis describes Milo’s eyes as seafoam green but the book calls them celery green. Sooo which is it?

Rating: 3 stars, but if half ratings were a thing I'd give it a 3.5

Ok picture this: grumpy night owl guy obessed with coffee meets sunshine morning person girl who loves tea. Basically a match made in heaven. They were absolutely everything to me. The banter between the two of them, the way they had their own little cute moments where they connected with each other, man I love Milo and Andie. On top of their little romance there was this whole other plot involving a secret society which was amazingly done.

Overall this was one of the cutest little romances I've ever read that takes place in college, I seriously will read whatever Emma Lord writes bc all her books are amazing!! Highly recommend!!

(thank you to the publishing company for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review <3)

Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, cheating

Emma Lord doesn’t disappoint…again! I’m so happy, and I just realized this book actually takes place in college, which is so nice! I don’t see many in YA but I hope we have more. This book made me feel a whole bunch of things and I think any good book will do that to you. Contemporary YA seems to be a hit or miss for me, but Lord's work always seems to hit the mark.

I absolutely loved following Andie through her second semester of college. She transferred to Blue Ridge State, a very competitive college, to attend with her boyfriend, Connor, who happened to transfer to their community college back home. They try to work through their kinks, but tbh, I'm glad things imploded for them because I didn't really care much for Connor. Andie sacrificed much of herself in order to better him and...I wasn't feeling that. I'm glad that Andie was able to find a close knit group of friends because she didn't seem to have that back home, after being raised by her two grandmothers and an absent father (I have mixed feelings about her dad).

The whole backstory regarding the Knights and how the school as a whole is a dream that Andie wanted to achieve because of her mom was really neat. But I'm glad Andie was able to find herself even though she was longing to follow in her mom's footsteps in a sense. Her growing friendship with Milo (and really her other friends too) seemed to develop so naturally and I really liked that. Each of Andie's friends also had to work through their own issues. There were equal parts frustration and happiness for everyone, especially after you realize how stubborn everyone also seems to be.

I also applaud Andie for working things out with her dad (and respectively, Milo working things out with his brother) because to be honest, I'm not quite sure I would have done the same thing. I definitely think that Andie's dad should have gone to therapy because he had a very difficult time dealing with his wife's death and that inadvertently affected his relationship with his daughter. I'm glad Andie was brave enough to tell him how much that, among other things, hurt her and they they were able to be very honest and candid with one another.

Overall, another very enjoyable book from Emma Lord. I've said it from the beginning but I'll say it again, I can't wait to see what Lord writes next. She writes meaningful work and really makes her characters not only about their actions but how to work on themselves as a individuals. (I also feel like there's less drama when YA novels take place during college but maybe that's just me?)

Andie transfers to a state school, following her boyfriend, who has just returned to the community college she just left.
I liked how Andie comes into her own. She confronts her mother’s legacy, embarks on her own connections, and finally deals with her shell of a relationship with Connor.
My favorite aspect was the Bookstagrammer angle and how Shay carried lots of books with her.
I couldn’t get behind the white ribbon thing, but just worked around it.
Young adults will gain a lot from reading it.

🔊Song Pairing: Lost Stars - Adam Levine (from the fantastic movie Begin Again)

🗯Thoughts:

I heard a lot of people I respect DNF’d this and the others didn’t love it sooo I didn’t go in with hope, but I’d say I was surprised

Emma lord is so gifted in the craft of writing about food. Always making my mouth water in any of her novels. However, the MC instead of swearing says random trans fat/complex carbohydrates snacks in all of her books. But other characters swear and it’s well frankly, annoying.

Andie is just a bit too much for my liking. I know we have an age gap but I think even at her age I would have told her to take a step back from me. A bit too in your face and meddlesome ✌🏻

I don’t get the damn ribbons. It’s annoying how central this is to the plot.

Begin Again by Emma Lord is about Andie Rose, a college freshman that transferred mid-year to her boyfriend’s school only to find out he transferred to hers. This is only the first of her plans that doesn’t go as expected. She has to navigate new people and a new school without the support she thought she’d have.

Emma Lord’s books always make me happy. I was hoping for more exploration of the romance. But when I adjust my expectations, Begin Again is a charming story with great character development and exploration of obligations, expectations, and how to separate them from what you really want. Andie is a determined character that works hard to achieve her goals without being completely unrealistic. I loved read about her story and learning about her family and friends.

*Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books, and Emma Lord for this ARC!

Uh oh. I don’t think I am the right audience for this book. I feel like I’m too old for this. Whenever I read this book, I get confused, lost and unable to focus. I tried, but I can’t.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the eARC.

Emma Lord is excellent at writing cute YA contemporaries and her 4th novel is no exception. This cozy college set read is fun and entertaining. It's a fairly quick read with just enough drama. It does have a good amount of predictability and there was some lapse in logic and believability around one of the major "twists", but it was still enjoyable.

Lord's characters are cute and have a decent dollop of diversity without feeling forced. Excellent roommate/best friend set up and a good surrounding friend group. Milo is the most adorable thing on the planet and I definitely would read more about him. Andie is a decent protagonist with some past trauma that she works out in an age-appropriate manner. She is a little quirky and occasionally overly cutesy, but I liked her all the same.

However, everything surrounding her relationship with Connor fell flat for me. For all the commentary on how he was such a great boyfriend and their relationship and friendship were so good, there was ZERO to demonstrate that for me as a reader. He felt like a chump from page one and their relationship did not feel like anything of the sort. I've had a better relationship with my toaster.

Still...despite it's flaws, I enjoyed the storyline and I will revisit the fact that Milo is magnificent. We could all do with a Milo.

This is my first Emma Lord book and honestly, it was a tad disappointing. I really liked the writing and the side characters but the main character Andie didn’t really interest me a lot, I found her to be kind of unrealistic at times. The plot was good I just felt like it wasn’t completely fleshed out.
I really liked the setting; the vibe of the campus and dorms were really cute!

My favourite parts were all of the scenes with Milo!

I think this is a good book for those in college or school who are figuring out their passions and themselves.

The quick cut: A teen girl transfers to her boyfriend's college second semester of her freshman year - right when her boyfriend transfers to her old one. Chaos ensues as she tries to balance her college life with her romantic one.

A real review:
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

College is hard, especially considering it's a time when you're trying to define who you're going to be. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement and interests to the point of overload. For Andie - that's exactly what happens when she transfers to Blue Ridge State her second semester as a freshman.

Andie has a plan and she's executing it as expected: get amazing grades at community college and transfer to get preferred school second semester: Blue Ridge State. Going there will also have the added benefit of being at the same college as her boyfriend, Conner. However, when she goes to surprise him and finds out he transferred to her community college, plans get complicated. Will distance make the heart grow fonder? Or add to much weight to Andie's schedule?

This is a very cute contemporary story and I love that it tackles the complications college can bring someone. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement and take on more than you can manage. For someone as high achieving as Andie, it's also easy to think you can balance it all like you did in high school. The truth is that college is harder and you need to do what matters and not it all like high school often does.

Andie is smart, motivated, and knows what she wants for her future. In the beginning, it's easy to think she's got it all. As the pages go by though, you start to see that she has plenty of problems, she's just not good at facing them. We all do that at some level, in our own way. It makes her flawed and relatable. It makes her human.

I am annoyed about where things end romantically at the end. Without giving too much away, it's so storybook and expected. For a story that starts realistic feeling, it quickly turns to stereotypical story feeling.

A feel good story with real feeling problems.

My rating: 4.25 out of 5