I am an unabashed Emma Lord fan, but I'm not sure most of her novels make a lot of sense if you think about them too much, so I am sort of regretting writing this review. This one was great, very entertaining, but felt like it could have taken place any time between about 2011 and now. Which I think is why a lot of people like her books! It's kind of ephemeral. I also think there were a couple places where there was almost too much plot, and we had to be debriefed on scenes that hadn't been shown, because they weren't crucial to the main plot, but then had me wondering if I had missed something.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

Five stars! I absolutely love every one of Emma Lord’s books. This one was so good. Explored the growing pains of a college student being in a new place. I loved it!

Emma Lord has a way with words. I liked this one a lot. I feel that any teen on their way to college will like this one too.
I got hints from once she moves into the dorm and we meet Milo that something might happen between them. Don't want to spoil anything.
I liked the ribbon search, and how it helps Andie become more herself.
The relationship she builds with her father and her new family is really great too.
Like these descriptions are so engrossing and keep me wanting more.
"It's sweet and chaste, the kind of kiss that leaves me feeling more exposed than the first one, the kind that defines what we are to each other more than words ever could."

Takes me back to my college years and the first kisses shared with someone.
Such great writing!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

What a cute read! I really loved this trip down memory lane of college where Andie faced many of the same situations and pressures that I did. It felt overwhelming at times and I think that was very accurately portrayed in Lord's writing. I would really love to see this book as a movie or tv show as I would love to watch Andie and Milo fall in love. Lord's description of it was so perfect I could almost picture it!

Definitely recommending to all my students!

Emma Lord has clearly found her niche as an author, and Begin Again proves to be another entry in her line-up of cute if somewhat predictable fluffy young adult romances. There are certain story beats that one can count on her to hit (something she seems to indirectly comment on in one particularly self-aware moment in this book), and this book does not fail to deliver. Endearing characters, cozy setting, and just the right amount of bitter angst to really bring out the richness of the sweet romance.

While I greatly enjoyed the characters' youthful explorations and adventures, the setting felt a little lackluster at times, taking this large college setting and reducing to only a small cast of friend/family and a single professor teaching a single class. As one looking back nostalgically on my own college days, the lack of classes and other collegiate events in our characters' lives broke my suspension of disbelief and made the events that much more predictable. I mean, even on a quarter system, a freshman will be taking at least a couple of classes, right? There were other small inconsistencies that pulled my attention away from the core of the book, making the book feel less polished and 'real' than some of Lord's other works. Nevertheless, I found this a very fun read, consuming most of it in an evening.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this scrumptious ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Begin Again so much. I am officially an Emma Lord stan! Everything about this books was enjoyable.

Andie was super relatable with her need to “fix” everything, Milo is someone I wish I met in college, and Shay and Valeria were best friend goals.

I laughed. I cried. I cringed. Following Andie on her journey of self realization and watching her blossom with the help of her friends and family was a great time.

Begin Again
By Emma Lord

If you love a good YA romance, put this one on your TBR’s! Out January 24th 2023

Small Summary:
Andie’s plan is coming together; she’ll be with her boyfriend, at her first choice of school, getting her psych degree, and get into the secret society her mom was in.
Or is it? Her boyfriend, Connor, transferred to her old school. She is struggling dealing with her mom’s loss in a place that was such a big part of her life. To top it all off, she failed her first stats test.
How will she Begin Again?

My thoughts: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I think this is Lord’s best book. And yes, I’ve read them all. 😂

This is a rom-com, but it is way more. Andie and all of the side characters are finding themselves and where they fit in. The book deals with loss of a loved one, and betrayal from people you are close to. All while setting up a cute romance.

Found family is big in this one. Shay, Andie’s roommate, immediately accepts her and goes to events with her on campus. Val tutors her in stats and gets pulled into the group via trivia night.

And then there is Milo❤️. Just read it, you’ll love him.

Thanks to Netgalley, Emma Lord, and Wednesday books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a book set on a college campus, and I love one with a good little story even more. This one focuses on Andie. Andie transfers from community college to where her boyfriend is which is also her mom's alma mater. Only thing is, her boyfriend transferred to the community college. On her own, Andie finds her way to the pirate radio station her mom founded long ago. It's a way she can connect with her mom who died, but it's also a way she starts finding a place to fit in. This was just a delight. I also like a college-based read that focuses on a niche area of the campus experience, and this was very much that. I also dig that it focused on Andie finding herself. Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this 2023 release!

Emma Lord consistently delivers excellent stories with a lot of heart and continues to write well developed characters that you root for the entire time.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

Emma Lord is back at it again with a cutesy, feel good YA romance that will make the adult readers that pick it up wish that they were back at a younger time in their life (me, I'm the adult reader I'm referring to). Set in the winter/spring semester of the main character, Andie's, freshman year of college, this story was full of heart, challenges, and for me, all of the university nostalgia.

Andie is a "fixer" for everyone in her life - always trying to take her friends problems and help them solve it in a methodical, logical way. She loves big and wears her heart on her sleeve, so much so that while in high school, she wrote a very popular advice column for the school newspaper. When she struggles with her grades her sophomore year of high school due to her using all her free time to help her boyfriend succeed, she doesn't get into Blue Ridge State, both of her parents alma mater and the school she's pictured herself going to her entire life.

After a semester of pulling her grades up at the local junior college, she transfers to Blue Ridge State, where her boyfriend Connor has been since the previous fall. She keeps the transfer a secret so she can surprise him - only to find out that he transferred to the junior college to be with her. Amidst the chaos of her joining a new school, dealing with the challenging academics, and trying her best to connect with the place her parents met, Andie is pulled into helping solve the problems of all of her new friends that she makes - again, letting herself slip through the cracks, starting a domino effect of so many things in Andie's life seemingly falling apart.

I really enjoyed the college setting of this book. It felt cozy and full of life and the feeling of figuring out just who you are in those early university years. Milo, Shay, and Val are the lifelong friends that everyone hopes to make when they're 18. The entire book really captures the ups and downs of what early college is truly like - challenging, fun, and full of life lessons.

While I enjoyed the setting and the supporting characters greatly, I found myself a bit bothered by Andie. She felt extremely naive and at times, aloof. For someone who loves to give others advice (and seemingly GOOD advice), she really could've used some "get your life together" instructions for herself. The book being written in first person made it a bit challenging for me to really get away from her traits that irritated me, but all in all, the storyline was strong enough that I kept on going and eventually finished. And I'm not mad that I did!

I think this book will land really well along the YA audience that it is targeted at, and is a sweet, inspiring story of a girl really figuring out who she is in the big world outside of her small town she grew up in.

i just really love andie and milo and how he is heartbroken and angry but still kinda floats to be with andie even from the beginning he goes out of his way to just be kind and give her what she wants and you could tell he didnt really want to like her at first but then you could tell that he did and andie you could tell how much she was crushing on milo for a while cause the way she gravitated to him and i loved that their chemistry was so good and how the story ended with him not leaving and it was good the entire thing was so fun to read and i couldnt put it down

It has been an absolute joy to get lost in this world with these relatable, easy-to-root-for characters. As always, I love Emma Lord's writing style and will gladly read anything and everything she ever writes.

'Begin Again' is a coming-of-age story in which we follow Andie through Spring semester of her freshman year at college. She arrives at the school of her dreams with a boyfriend, a plan, and a ton of determination to make everything work. This college is where her parents met and where they left their mark, and Andie is determined to become part of the secret society that her late mother belonged to. For Andie, it's personal, it's about connecting to her past, and she has a plan to achieve it all.

Immediately, her careful plans start falling apart. But her roommate Shay becomes her BFF and their grumpy, coffee-addicted RA helps connect her with a much-needed Work Study job, and Andie discovers fun and found-family in places she wasn't expecting.

'Begin Again' is a heartwarming, fun read and it gave me all the feels. Highly recommended YA Contemporary read.

Emma Lord has done it again! I loved Tweet Cute, and I loved this book, too. Will definitely be recommending it to the teens at my library.

I have read and will continue to read everything Emma Lord has written. And it's not just because we're kindred theater spirits (When You Get the Chance was everything I ever wanted in a book).

This one was a little tricky because it did have a crush happening while there's still a relationship in place. Now, I've said this before in YA that I've reviewed. I am much more okay with "am I serious about this relationship or do I like this other person?" in YA because it's YA and I was 18 once and crushes exist. That being said, without giving anything away, those kinds of situations have to resolve themselves and they usually do in a stereotypical way that you see coming from a mile away. And that's what happened here. So that felt tired and I didn't love it.

However, the depth of Andie (and her friends. We love a good friend group for our MCs!), her relationship with her dad and grandmas, and the journey she goes on over basically an entire school year (I'm a sucker for a book that covers a long amount of time instead of a whole bunch of growth happening in a week) was delightful.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book and so glad I got an ARC! :)

Begin Again was definitely cute and charming. Andie is a planner and a problem fixer who gives too much to others and doesn't ask for much in return. Andie and Milo meet at Blue Ridge State, and they have more in common than they realize at first - including some healing they each need to do. I can see Andie being quite relatable to a lot of people; I even saw parts of my past undergraduate self in her. Although she did the cheesy thing of saying names foods instead of cursing, I liked her as a character and enjoyed seeing her growth. Milo, the coffee addicted R.A. with green eyes. I love you, Milo! He comes off as a bit grumpy, but he is witty and has such a big heart. I like the way Andie and Milo understood each other, supported each other, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop.

One of the book's strengths was its cast of fun characters, especially Andie's confident and bookish roommate Shay. I did lose a bit of interest halfway though, and some of the book's events felt more high school (like maybe a boarding school) than big state college. Overall though, this was a fun ya contemporary with genuine friendships (the found family trope is the best) and a sweet love story.

Oh. My. Gosh. This could not have been more perfect. Thank you so much, NetGalley, for the ARC!

Lately, I've been totally missing college, living in a dorm room, staying up late, grabbing ice cream with friends and totally being carefree. Emma Lord's "Begin Again" brought me that feeling again and I am SO HAPPY.

Begin Again follows one of my favorite and most relatable characters to date, who is obsessive with problem-solving and helping her friends. As the problem solver of my friend group, holy crap did I relate to her and how she felt. Her conversations were always relatable and authentic, the dialogue was funny, but clever.

It didn't even bother me that this was YA, I actually felt like anything more would have been out of place. I found that this was a perfect weekend read and just brought me all of the warm fuzzies. I found myself getting excited to know what happened next and I can't wait to see what success Emma Lord has next!

I thought it was unique having a storyline focused on not just college, but specifically college transfers. It showed another side of the college experience and was done in an engaging way. Andie had many sides to her backstory. Not only was she trying to fit in as a transfer, but she's dealing with things personally across a variety of people who are close to her: her dad, her mom, her boyfriend... even herself. I like how despite all the different storylines and things Andie had to deal with they were taken care of in an organized fashion so you didn't feel like one topic was left out in order to complete the rest of her issues. Everything was also connected in a way that developed Andie's character for a stronger person at the end.

Milo, the male lead, is a dreamy guy both literally and figureatively. I liked reading about his interactions with Andie and see what type of person he was through his actions towards others and the school.

The story had so many other amazing side characters that really completed the college setting. I appreciated how each of them experienced development and progression of their own throughout the story.

Overall, Begin Again was a nice read. It was easy to like the characters and you definitely want to cheer them on as they go through college and all the growing pains that come with finding yourself there.

Emma Lord has written several books ("Tweet Cute" and "You Have a Match") that I really enjoyed, so I was excited to see that she has a new book coming out! In "Begin Again", college student Andie Rose has transferred to her deceased mom's alma mater and is ready to follow in her steps. However, her plan isn't as easy to accomplish when she has to juggle a long distance relationship with her boyfriend, classes more difficult than she expected, and an estranged relationship with her father. Fortunately for Andie, she is surrounded by a fantastic group of friends: Shay, Valeria, and Milo. And what will happen when she finds herself growing increasingly separate from her boyfriend and closer to her cute dorm RA, Milo?

This was a sweet and thoughtful novel, and I greatly enjoyed all of the relationships that Andie was juggling as she had to learn how to handle them all. I enjoyed the sweet chemistry between Andie and Milo, and was incredibly grateful that nothing occurred between them while they were in other relationships. Finally, I really enjoyed this quote from the author, "He is the steady pulse of something known, something understood -- not a person to build your world around, but a person to build one with."

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was the perfect chic-lit read that I needed. I haven't read any of Emma Lord's books before, however I have heard nothing but great things and was so excited to be able to read this one.

Although college feels like a part of my distant past (lol) I was still able to easily connect with the characters. Even though this is definitely a story of coming into ones self, this is not something that only caters to a younger audience and I feel people of all ages can relate to what Andie was going through. Milo was adorable and I definitely felt that SLOW burn. I also loved all the food descriptions and felt constantly hungry throughout the entire read (which normally wouldn't be a bad thing, but I'm on a diet!)

My only complaint is that Andie walked a fine line between not cheating/emotionally cheating on her boyfriend. However, I get that she is young and still figuring things out, so I have to give her a pass on this one. No one knows what direction their life is headed or what the right decision is to make when they are that young. It just made me feel uncomfortable rooting for her and Milo when she was still with someone else.