Emma lord did it again! I can't get enough of her books. they are perfect for young adults and adults. I wasnt able to put it down. I loved the characters and the plot.

I just want to say that I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, but wow was I throughly impressed. I loved seeing a YA book set in college and could really relate as I am also a freshman. I loved all the characters and all the sub plots that were going on in the book. I also loved the romance, this was such a cute friends to lovers and I really loved the dynamic between the two. I recommended this book to anyone who wants to have a good time, it was so cute and a great fun read. I will definitely be buying the physical book when it comes out!

For a long time YA reads (and particularly Contemporary YA reads) were my jam - the majority of what I bought, read, and enjoyed. For the last several years, I’ve found myself spending more time within other genres and sub genres - all this to say Emma Lord pulls me back in every time.

I cannot resist her the pull of her books - the writing, the plots, the characters and the feels all exemplify what I love best about the genre and what has always grabbed me.

Begin Again is no exception - I devoured this read. I loved the world and characters she created, it feels so comfortable and familiar - as though I’m there living and experiencing it along with them. She has a knack for writing experiences in a way that really brings you back to that time in your life and also makes you feel like her characters are friends.

I felt there was so much to love here - the take on the college experience. The struggles that are all to real of acceptance, work life balance, finding who we are and a sense of belonging. I loved the weave in of the campus events and experiences (Werewolf, trivia nights, ribbon adventures), it just made for such a fun reading experience.

As always some heavier topics were woven in, as with life, and I loved seeing the challenges these posed. I’d also be remiss to not mention my happiness at the found family / strong friend group and romantic vibes interspersed throughout the story.

This book charmed me as I blazed through it and it left me with lots of feels and smiles. I’ll continue to pick up anything Emma Lord writes and definitely recommend this one for others. A great read for fans of YA writers like Lynn Painter and Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Thank you to Wednesday Books, St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and freely offered.

This is a heartwarming story about when life does not go according to plan. Andie Rose is ready to get started with the next phase of her life. After transferring to Blue Ridge State, she is excited to reunite with Connor, her boyfriend who has been distant in the semester they have been apart, and explore the traditions of the college where her mom, who passed away, made her mark. But from her first day on campus, nothing goes as Andie envisioned it. It turns out Connor transferred to the community college Andie had been attending and it is much harder to live up to her mom's memory than she expected. As she spends more time with her roommate, Shay, and her RA, Milo, who it turns out are the anonymous students behind the school's famous pirate radio program (which, incidentally, her mom had started), Andie finds a path, and a found family, that is much different -- and maybe better? -- than she could have imagined when she was planning out her whole future.

This is a highly engaging story, as Andie finds her way, and her voice, in ways that she least expected. Touching on themes of family, grief, love, and second chances, this is a terrific novel from a great author.

Highly recommended!

4/5 Stars!

Emma Lord brings us yet again her charm and solid story writing ability to a new and fantastic read! She is 100% my favourite YA contemporary romance writer to date. She knows how to create a story that will charm you from start to finish from the plot to the characters! What is not to love about an Emma Lord book?

But in this one we've moved up to college adventures! In the past it has always been usually high schoolers pushing graduation age but we finally get a peek into the college world with these characters. This gave Lord lots of opportunity to perfect tropes she's presented in the past (found family, personal growth etc.).

There's not much more I can say about this book other than it is truly a book that anyone can read! :)

Big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I like YA novels with an empowering message. The journey of self-discovery that Andie goes on and the maturing she does throughout the book (which spans a semester of her freshman year of college) adds some depth to this book, as do the theme of parental death.

Andie read as more naive than a typical 18/19 year old. Some of this could be chalked up to being from a small town and her mother’s death but this was definitely on the young side even for a YA book. Andie and her classmates were nothing like anyone I knew my freshman year of college. I’m not suggesting every college freshman is partying but there was a noticeable absence of it in this book. I wish that the author had made the fictional Blue Ridge State a small school instead of a large state school as I think that was part of my problem while reading.

Milo is a sweet and, quite frankly, perfect male lead. He was maybe a little too perfect to pass as a 20 year old male. Once again, I don’t think I knew anyone like him when I was that age.

I think the YA crowd will like this and I’m sure a lot of it will resonate better with them than myself. I would be fine with my kids reading this as young teens and I think that is more the age this book is geared towards.

I generally really enjoy books by Emma Lord, so I was really excited to get an arc of this. It started off entertaining and engaging and then just kind of fell flat. So much of it seemed implausible while also being beyond predictable. Just wasn't for me

4.5/5 - Wow, this was a book that really was an emotional punch. It is about grief, loss, figuring out where you fit in and who you are. This book has fresh perspective of college life, but as a YA rather than New Adult.

4.5/5 - Andie is a high achiever who focusses on fixing other people's problems around her. She does this, as it helps her avoid her own problems and worries. She has grief for her mom, misses her dad who checked out after her mom's death, and is struggling with a long distance relationship with her boyfriend. She lucked out and got a mid-year transfer to the college her parents went to and hopes this helps her feel closer to her mom. She works hard to collect ribbons for her and her boyfriend (when he transfers to college next year) to join a secret society together. She does this even to the detriment of her grades. She meets Shay, her sassy roommate, her RA, Milo and tutor, Valeria and forms an friend groups that she feels she has been missing. They help her get to look a bit at what she wants and where she is going, rather than focussing on fixing everyone else.

This book was truly wonderful. I saw so much growth for Andie throughout this book and really feel that she had learned something by the end of this book. Andie not only finds her purpose, but she also tackles a lot of her past in a healing way.

I also loved the friend group that Andie creates. It reminded me of the friendships that develop in college and can take hold for life. Shay, Milo and Valeria are all well developed characters with lots of their own wit and charm. They seemed multi-layered and helped Andie work through the things she needed to tackle in different ways.

The romance here is extremely slow burn, but I don't think it is the romance that this book should be read for. It is the relationships that Andie makes with her friends and herself. One thing I did find a bit dragging was the relationship with the boyfriend. We knew all along things weren't going well, but I felt it dragged for 80% of the book, especially since he wasn't on page all that much.

I loved this book! Emma Lord seems to always write books I want to read and this one was no exception! Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

This story was a lot deeper than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. Watching Andie grow into the person she was meant to be was a delight. And the banter between the love interests was perfect. I love good banter. Bonus points for the roommate/best friend. I loved her character.

Emma Lord does it again.
I receive this book as an ARC (after doing a sacrifice to the book gods to get my hands on this because I love the authors work).

Lord has become an automatic buy type of author for me. While her books are more YA, they give me the feel that every Dessen novel leaves me with: a warm heart, a crush on the leading lad, and a connection to my younger self.

This book was no different. I loved Andie. I see a lot of complaints about her no cussing stance and how she uses desserts as swear words, but who didn’t have a weird thing they did as a teenager? I was awkward and lived through the RAWR era on MySpace. As usual, her stories focus less on romance and more about finding yourself in new situations and taking the path to find out who you are as a person. Andie’s journey was a good one. The friendships she made are those lifelong type of friends that’ll be there forever. I think all of us reviewers can relate to Shay’s want to only read books and get paid for it! This book had me hooked, and I’ll definitely be buying it when it comes out.

Wonderful, heart filled book. 5/5 recommend!

Emma Lord does it again! She does it again!
I'm telling ya, I'm convinced she can't write anything bad! She just can't!
I might have jumped up and down.... Squealed, had a touch of happy feet and squealed some more, when I seen this little beauty on my shelf! @WednesdayBooks I love you!

Begin Again by Emma Lord is another unforgettable, engaging YA contemporary!
Emma always creates fun, loveable and down right remarkable characters.
And the same goes for her newest novel.
Andie and Milo are extremely entertaining characters and it was such fun getting to know them.
A sweet and very entertaining read. The characters were well developed and liked.
This one did not disappoint. I loved everything it had to offer.... the story it's amazingly written, the characters, the storytelling and style. Every single thing was pure perfection!
Begin Again is one of my favorite YA contemporary reads...... Ever!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was fun and lighthearted but I felt like I got to know the main character a little more deeply than I typically do in rom com books. A tad predictable but that’s the point of these types of books. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I tried, but this wasn't for me.

I loved the premise of a YA romance set in a small college town. I'm a sucker for the grumpy-sunshine trope and thought the ribbon hunt was an interesting concept, but Begin Again just fell flat for me. There's fun tropey and predictable, and there's tired tropey and predictable, and Begin Again was, unfortunately, the latter. The story felt trite and formulaic in the worst of ways, and characters were gratingly clichéd. (The most interesting people were the two grandmas.) I don't quite know how to describe it, but I feel like Emma Lord tried too hard and not enough at the same time. She just used so many familiar tropes and storylines, that the story ended up feeling really one-dimensional and uninspired. It lacked the spark and originality I was looking for, and Begin Again was, unfortunately, a forgettable read for me. There are plenty of 4-5 star reviews out there, so this may be a case of "it's not you, it's me," (hi, I'm the problem, it's me.)

Emma Lord writes YA gold! She's so good at writing touching and heartfelt stories. This one doesn't disappoint. I loved following Andie's journey as she's finding her way into adulthood.

𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 follows Andie who's transferred to Blue Ridge State, mid- semester to be close to her mother in a sense but with the added benefit of being with her boyfriend. But what she finds there are friends in two grumpy, early morning haters of dormmates and a statistics tutor as well as what it means to start not from the scratch up but the mess that already is to form a new adventure.

- ~ -

It's excruciating to explain how such a good story was ruined a small technicality.

It was all going swimmingly well but the protagonist just had to have a boyfriend she was in a relationship with till nearly the 75% mark and was a bit hung up on him even though she claimed to have fallen for the love interest...smh.

But the Flynn clan with their chicken family and Shay and Milo with their morning abhorrence and caffeine addiction more or less made up for it.
Though to soothe some of my frustrations over, I'll provide a little bit of the story:

"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."

- ~ -

3.84 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age story about Andie's life as a college student. She and her high school boyfriend had the opposite of a meet-cute when they both transferred colleges to be with each other. Andie ends up finding herself in her new school, thanks to some unexpected friends and an underground radio show. Her story was heartfelt and relatable, even for someone a few decades out of college. What made this book for me was the fun cast of characters Andie met along the way.

This was such a cute novel. I really enjoyed the relationship twists and how Andie found herself through each interaction.

The ending wrapped up nicely in a traditional HEA, no complaints about it here.

Definitely a great read for anyone who loves coming of age, light romance, and college drama.

I am a big fan of Emma Lord's YA books and I was excited when I got approved for an advanced reader copy from Netgalley & St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books.

This was probably one of least favorite of Lord's books. I liked the premise but thought some of the plot points (the ribbons) were kind of confusing and the book felt longer than necessary.

I thought the book did a great job of capturing thefeeling of finding your footing in undergrad - trying to make new friends, navigating classes, and growing up.

I typically am not a fan of YA but Emma Lord creates such great, relatable characters and her stories remind me of my youth in the best way. Begin Again is evenly paced with great characters and a satisfying conclusion. What more can you ask for? It was a sweet, refreshing read.

-andie’s journey of finding yourself again after so many years was really moving while remaining realistic, especially with her father
-she’s the ultimate you’re on your own, kid
-emma lord has a way of having such poignant moments of self reflection in otherwise silly experiences for the characters
-the writing was really great and the cast of characters were lovable
-i thought the pacing worked well even though there were some smaller time skips (which i’m normally not a fan of)
-really enjoyed the book as a whole, it was very charming