I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
Andi finally transferred colleges, in part to be with her boyfriend and in part to chase a connection with her mother. Her life is laid out by a plan and she intends to follow it. Her only problem is that nothing seems to go to her plans.
I thought that this was a good book. It was a light college romance. Andi is a likable character that makes the reader root for her.

This is my favorite of Emma Lord's novels. It is a a new adult novel set at a small college. The main character, Andie, is determined to follow in her late mother's footsteps at her alma mater. I especially loved the pirate radio element and Andie's determination to help others. The secondary characters were terrific as well. Narration by Georgina Sadler was full of emotion and easy to listen to. This is a book that can be enjoyed by teens and adults.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an audio ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is slightly misleading, its categorized as a romance. but in my opinion its a coming of age tale with a slight romance subplot. I loved it. but it really wasn't what i was expecting. The main character, Andie, was able to get her grades up and transfer to her dream school. As a 'planner' I felt instantly connected to Andie. so this book was a hit to me!

I love how Emma Lord can write such fantastic YA stories. This book is like being dropped right into freshman year of college. It felt authentic and genuine.

Andie has finally gotten her grades up to transfer to her dream school, right alongside her dream boyfriend. She’s got it all laid out: major in psychology and live out her mom’s legacy at Blue Ridge State. But when she shows up, her boyfriend isn’t there and joining any of the secret societies isn't as easy as she expected it to be while balancing studying and her work study job. Add in a friendly (bookstagrammer) roommate, a cute RA, and an underground radio station and you’ve got this lovely story.

I definitely related to Andie’s character; someone who is a planner and always wants to help her friends. The romance was definitely a subplot, but it was sweet.


Recommended if you like:
-coming of age stories
-scavenger hunts
-YA romance
-advice-giving
-sassy grandmas
-coffee shops

The audio narration was so good and I loved the nod to Taylor Swift with the title.

CW: parental death (pre-book, off-page), sibling estrangement

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my review copy. Begin Again is out now!

There are not many young adult books that talk about the freshmen experience of college. While categorized as a romance, I think readers of that genre will be disappointed as the book really is a coming of age story with a romantic subplot.
Andie has always aspired to study psychology and attend Blue Ridge State. Since the death of her mother who had an illustrious college experience at Blue Ridge State and pioneered the college radio's program, Andie's goal had been set, but was unfortunately it was derailed when she put her boyfriends needs ahead of her own. After she’s rejected, though, she attends Little Fells Community College while her boyfriend, Connor, heads off to Blue Ridge. When she’s given the opportunity to transfer, she keeps the good news secret from Connor, hoping to surprise him; however, upon arriving at Blue Ridge, she learns that Connor has transferred to Little Fells to be near her.
Alone in an unfamiliar place, Andie’s has a lot on her plate: figure out how to maintain a long distance relationship with Connor, create a social circle of her own, pass a difficult statistics class, and of course meet her parents' expectations of success. In a slice of life format, we begin to learn more about Andie as she reveals her gift/flaw in wanting to make people happy. A natural people pleaser, Andie put other people's needs ahead of her own. It is her way to keep people near her. When her relationship with Connor comes to a crossroad, Andie has to decide what does she want out of her college experience?
Begin Again reminded a lot of the television show Felicity, starring Kerri Russell in which Felicity makes the impulsive decision to follow her crush Ben and attend a fictional NYU instead of continuing her journey to medical school at a university in California. What starts as a stereotypical romance leads to a story of self discovery. Andie follows a similar path. Through ups and downs, Andie does make a circle of friends who she cares about and who equally care about her. She comes into contact with her perpetually sleep-deprived RA named Milo, whom she shares similarities with and slowly starts a slow burn romance. Despite all of these subplots, the focus on Andie never wavers and I found her first year college experience to be relatable and realistic. I also really liked the subplot featuring Andie's queer friends who also have a sweet romance. While this is a worthwhile read, fans looking exclusively for romance will be disappointed and/or bored.

As the story begins, Andie Rose is a new transfer student at Blue Ridge State. Her mixture of confidance, excitement, and apprehension makes Andie instantly relatable. Even though Andie is certain of her major and career goal, she is also dealing with a lot of personal issues. She really misses her mom who died when she was young; she's frustrated with her absentee father and their lack of communication; and things get complicated with her boyfriend. Overall, Andie is a cheerful person who makes friends easily and loves to problem solve.

Readers can depend upon Emma Lord for an engaging and thoughtful story, witty banter, likeable characters, and interesting storylines. I am always relieved to see a minimum of profanity and closed door romance (although there is more profanity in this story than her others).

I appreciate Andie's unique personality, her authenticity, her reflectiveness, and her determination.

Some parts of Andie's college experience perplexed me. For instance, her grandmothers drop her off at the curb on the first day of classes with one suitcase. No orientation week? If she's living on campus, where's all her bedding, etc. for dorm life? She rushes off to her first class the day she arrives (why would classes start on move in day?). She's late to class and the professor has locked the door to the lecture hall and proceeds to reprimand her and embarass her publically for being tardy. I never remember a big lecture hall (or any classroom) being locked and no one was singled out in college for walking in late. These are not huge concerns but they did distract me from the story.

Andie is a bit quirky which I always enjoy, but using descriptive food items to replace profanity becomes a bit tiresome and childish. It did up the cuteness factor but it caused me to think of Andie as immature.

There's a lot going on in the story from college life, competitions, parental relationships, dealing with the loss of a mother, betrayal, concerns about a major and your life's work, complicated friendships, and slow-burn romance. Young adults can be dealing with a lot at this age but all the issues pull the reader in many different directions.

Thoughtful themes include friendship, supporting others, coping with grief and loss, father/daughter relationship, finding your purpose in life, and reconcilliation.

Although Tweet Cute remains my favorite Emma Lord story, fans of the author will find lots to love in this heartfelt coming of age story.

Thanks #NetGalley @MacmillanAudio for a listening ARC of #BeginAgain upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Content Consideration: loss of a mother (in the past), grief, some profanity

Absolutely loved this one & flewwww through it! From the scavenger hunt to the fun supporting characters to that college feeling of failing a class that most of us can relate to, this was sooo good. I honestly feel that YA romances teach us more life lessons than adult ones. A big big fan of this one and highly recommend!

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@manymerrybooks) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

This book was so sweet! I loved Andie and her journey made me feel so many emotions. I love found family stories, and the found family in this story was such a nice connection to read about. I also really enjoyed the Night’s Watch radio station/secret society angle; such a cool way to weave in college life with family history.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Did this remind anyone else of a college-aged Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks? No? Just me?

Frankie—sorry—Andie is an expert at a few things: school, bagels, breaking caffeine addictions, and giving advice.

That’s the only place the book derails for me. I don’t understand advice columnists? Skepticism aside (just tell me WHY I should trust you. WHAT ARE YOUR CREDENTIALS??), this was a cute read.

Think Fangirl, but with a radio station instead of fanfiction. If the book had been set in the ‘90s (or anytime pre-iPods, honestly) the premise of a famous college radio show could have been more believable, but still. Very cute for a typical YA romance.

Tropey. Filled with Unrealistic Weather Occurrences©️, Unacknowledged Pining, Unrealistic College Experiences a la Gilmore Girls, and Anti-Coffee Propaganda.

3.5/5 stars. Cute. Would recommend to my teen students who are itching for a new romance read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read (and listen!) to this one early. Genuinely a fun time 💜

At first I thought this book was gonna be about Andie following her boyfriend to college and that made me want to stop reading but I pressed on and was so happy it was about her learning that she was too good for him. I loved her friends and how her eventual romantic relationship developed. The romance wasn’t the only thing I cared about, which I appreciated. Emma lord managed to make me care about the friends, the mom, the dad, the grandmas, and milos entire family. Glad I pressed on and I would recommend this to other people.

I thought this was a really cute YA contemporary romance. YA books are hit or miss for me. I love them but I like them better when they’re on the more mature side. I felt like this was on the younger side, considering the main characters were in college.

I found Andie to be a fun character. I loved her food name substitutes for swearing. I also enjoyed the fact her roommate was a bookstagrammer, that was awesome. I also really wanted to try all the different bagel types they mentioned, there was some that sounded so good!! This book also had some hard lessons to overcome. Overall, I really did find it cute! I think it would be perfect for younger adults going to college soon.

I've now read all of Emma Lord's books, and they are all very cute YA contemporary romances. I particularly liked the college setting of this one because it really brought me back to my days at university. I thought there was a good cast of characters and of course I liked her kooky grandmas who were obsessed with Ryan Reynolds. I found myself rooting for Milo the coffee guzzling grumpy RA the entire book as well. I found the whole ribbon getting process a bit confusing, but loved all the bagel and radio talk. I think the book was a quick read and I think it will find it's home with a lot of people pleasers like Andie.

[Really liked it] - I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, quick read. The narration of the audiobook was great and the storyline flowed well. If you love YA reads that’s set in college, you’ll enjoy this one.

Sweet rom com with themes of dealing with loss, friendships and of course, what love "really" is. Vintage Emma Lord!

Andie Rose has a plan as she always does. She wants to transfer from community college to the more elite Blue Ridge State. She will major in psychology, thus beginning her quest to achieve her dream of becoming a self help guru. She has lots of hurdles to cross to make it happen, but she knows she can do it.

Plans go haywire as soon as Andie gets on campus. She is supposed to be at the same college now as her on and off again boyfriend, Conner, but she quickly discovers he has transferred out of Blue Ridge State to attend her community college. What!?

And then things really do get complicated.

But sometimes, when life gives you lemon and vinegar, you find out what you’re made of. Nevertheless, Andie dives right into college life, keeping up a long distance relationship with Conner. She finds her niche in the role as the anonymous Squire on the school’s legendary pirate radio station. This coincidentally is the very same station her now deceased mom founded. She builds new relationships and the distance between Andie and Conner widens.

This is a novel of love, lost love, new love and the power of starting over.

I truly enjoyed following Andie’s growth , but thought the story dragged on a little too long. I felt the language a bit strong for some YA readers,

Very good narrator.

The quintessential college coming of age story with just the right amount of romance. Author Emma Lord gives Andie such a relatable voice that so many readers can find aspects of their own college experience in hers. And narrator Georgina Sadler provides Andie with the perfect combination of naïveté and young adult confidence.

Taylor Swift songs: “Jump Then Fall (TV)”

This was overall a pretty cute coming of age YA Romcom!! If you want a very clean, heartwarming, quick/easy to read Romcom, Emma Lord is for you. It was pretty much in between the other two Emma Lord books I’ve read, with “You have a Match” being my favorite and “Tweet Cute” being my least favorite (with this one in the middle). This one did have some good character development and dealing with past trauma/healing (trigger warning but not spoiler: grief from parent’s death). It was nice to see Andie grow as a character, learning who she wanted to be instead of who everyone expected her to be, as well as what things and/or people were helping or harming her. Also, the romance and friends/found family in this book were super sweet and heart warming. I really liked all of the main characters and their dynamic as a group.

The ages of the characters was slightly older than the other books (in this one, they were 18-20, or freshman and sophomores in college rather than 16-18) but the maturity or content level stayed the same. Emma Lord’s books are definitely better suited for a younger audience, probably 12+. At some points, it could be a bit cringey and juvenile to me (as a 20 year old). For example, the main character “cussing” by saying her favorite foods as her own different form of exploitive. However, since it is suited for a younger audience, this choice makes sense. I think Emma Lord is on the better side of YA romcoms, because while she makes a Romcom suitable for a younger audience, she still adds a lot of depth and growth to her characters and plots. While there are other YA authors that I think suit my age ratings and preferences more, Emma Lord is still an enjoyable author to read, and I will continue to read her books.

The only thing I didn’t really like was that this book was kind of advertised as a Swiftie book, but there was one mention of Taylor at like 88%, so I feel a little disappointed about that.

Age rating: 12+ (slight language, but no s*xual content)

Begin Again is a cute story that doesn’t demand much from its readers. It’s like many ya romances and follows the pattern set my many books that have come before it. The audiobook was entertaining enough to keep me engaged during my commute but not compelling enough to keep me actively seeking for other opportunities to listen. If you’re looking for a light read that can keep you entertained while out for a drive or waiting for an appointment, this book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley.

Author Emma Lord has become such an auto-buy/auto-read author for me! I have enjoyed so many of her previous books, written with such heartfelt storylines and great characters, and I was so excited to add BEGIN AGAIN to my anticipated new reads of 2023.

It was the most heartwarming read, and I loved it! With themes of self-discovery and coming-of-age, it was both charming and engaging. I listened to the audiobook, and loved the narrator choice to voice MC Andie Rose.

*many thanks to Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio and netgalley for the gifted copy for review

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. The narrator was fantastic. 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!