5/5 - Well, this is absolutely one of my favorite books of all time! I simply loved it.

A modern day When Harry Met Sally (actually!) that, dare I say, takes it to the next level when it comes to depth and character development. Despite being fanfic, this felt new and fresh and different. And I adore WHMS, so that’s saying something! This is a nuanced, awkward, honest and emotional story about two people who meet again and again - accidentally? Serendipitously? - over a period of ten years. Strangers to enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to… I can’t get into it. You have to see for yourself.

The main characters are SO good. They are messy and complicated. Josh and Ari’s quirks and neuroses are complex and funny and relatable. I loved the internal dialogue SO MUCH. And the banter! Epic! Even the side characters were so freaking fun and the dynamics between everyone - unparalleled. Meaningful and purposeful side characters can be challenging but Goldbeck crushed them.

I’m a sucker for a love story set in NYC and this was no exception. Despite the present day timeline it still feels nostalgic and emotional. I can’t imagine any other backdrop for this story. So much of who Ari and Josh are as individuals and as a couple comes back to this unique and chaotic place.

My only bugaboo was that the book is in third person. I just reaaaaally like dual POV in first person, it feels more intimate.

Read this book!!!! Also the Author’s Note! You won’t regret it. Thank you to @netgalley, Random House and Kate Goldbeck for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you like reading about mid 30 year olds act like 17 year olds then this book is for you!

If you like books that claim to be like When Harry Met Sally, but are not even close then this book is for you!

If you like books that are longer than they should be then this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

“Maybe being in love is knowing that you’d live it all over again—every part, suffering included—to get right back to the place where you’re standing.”

this story reminded me of the movie When Harry Met Sally, which I loved! While it reminded me of it with the time jumps and a slow friendship, it still had its own unique storyline. I enjoyed the story and I liked the characters, however it did take me a while to get through it. It was a little bit too long for me personally. I would definitely recommend this one for a fall romance read. It was cozy and heartwarming and funny!

The only way this book is a re-imagining of When Harry Met Sally is if the point is to stip away all the charm, banter, wit, and sense of the movie. The story and the characters have nothing to do with the movie. Meg Ryan and Billy Cristal are extremely charming as Sally and Harry, we believe in their friendship and we see their chemistry. We follow how their friendship grows. And more importantly they are likeable. This book had none of that.

I don't think I read a book this year with a main character as obnoxious, annoying, and self-righteous as Ari. The only other characteristcs that she has is that she likes sex and to get high. And she doesn't change throughout the whole story. She is exactly the same person that she was in the beginning of the book. Her character is supposed to be this ground-breaking woman, who is so foward thinking and progressive when she's really a tired cliche at this point spewing Twitter (sorry, X) talking points with no depth. Josh wasn't as annoying, but he sure wasn't likeable nor charming. He didn't even have a personality aside from wanting to step out of his father shadow and that's it.

Their relationship was so childish. They decided to hate each other in the beginning just because. And had the most immature and cringe conversations. Then they decided to become sort of friends just because. And decided to fall in love just because.

I hated everything about this book and I just finished it to be able to review it. But I'm still mad about finishing it.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

I DNFed this book. I tried several times, but nope, I just couldn't do it. I didn't care for the main characters. They were so unlikable. I'm shocked people are comparing it to When Harry Met Sally, because it doesn't even come close.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Random House for the E-ARC

This book was super cute and thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC!
 
You Again takes place over a large span of time (I forget the total lol) and follows Ari, a self-proclaimed commitment-avoider, and Josh, a self-proclaimed monogamist. After their initial run-in where Josh is dating Ari’s roommate (who Ari also happens to be sleeping with), they keep bumping into each other over the next couple years (oooh a Harry Met Sally retelling!!). The bulk of their story ends up taking place after Josh’s break-up with his long-term girlfriend and Ari’s divorce after her wife left her. They bond over feeling alone and unsuccessful and become each other’s support system. Watching the two of them navigate this new friendship is wildly entertaining. I love both characters and loved how they stayed true to themselves and managed to grow throughout their book.
 
I really enjoyed this book and am so happy to have gotten an advanced copy. If you’re a fan of When Harry Met Sally, I think you’ll enjoy this book!

As someone who admittedly counts romantic comedy as a "guilty pleasure" genre, I am often disappointed by the many one note romances, all with similar covers, that I have to choose from when I want to cozy up with a feel-good book. There is always something I feel is missing in popular books of this genre. It's easy for the emotions of the characters to feel flat as you inch towards an inevitable ending. As a romance author, that is no doubt the most difficult part of writing a believable story. You must pen two compelling characters who /choose/ to be together. In a good romance, the inevitability won't feel merely fated. It will feel chosen. In life, there is no inevitability. There is only muddy choice, and that nuance is what gives true romance its profundity. Without it, the romance falls flat.

It was for these reasons, when I read the summary for "You, Again" and saw its comparisons to Nora Ephron's "When Harry Met Sally", I had high hopes that it might fill my romance gap. I hoped it might contain satirical social commentary ala Austen, charismatic and more profound explorations of connections and relationships, and the things that solidified Ephron's romance as a classic.

I am elated to have not been disappointed. More than a romance, this book is an exploration. It's fun, curious, more than just two people inevitably falling in love. It's easy, in a romance, to simply write two characters "in love", believing that the reader will fill in the blanks of what love means. Perhaps its safer, as an author seeking to define something that is so deeply personal to every human, to err on the side of generic so as not to alienate.

What sets "You, Again" apart is that its characters boldly choose to explore and define what love means to them, and make decisions based on the minutiae of their worldview. The characters jump off of the page, real people with everchanging and subjective ideas about what it means to be with someone else. The novel includes the perfect level of corniness, yet still feels unflinchingly fresh. This is the best romance I have read in a long, long time, and I am grateful to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

LOVED this book! The trope use was amazing and it was so much fun to read a book playing on When Harry Met Sally. This was a great romcom that I will remember for a while!

I wasn't expecting the serious tug on my heartstrings in this book, but Ari and Josh stole my heart with their emotional and dramatic shift from enemies to friends to lovers. I love the writing style and the way we see the progression of their feelings over the years. I love the way they just fit together. I also love Kristen DiMercurio's narration in the audiobook. This book is everything I want in a romance and in a listening experience.

This started off really engaging but the characters and pacing ending up falling flat for me. I think there was a lot of potential but the overall execution didn’t deliver on the depth and roundedness I was hoping for.

I knew I had to read this book the moment I learned that it had echoes of When Harry Met Sally; one of my all-time favorite romcoms. The nods to the modern classic film were definitely there, but there were so many unique elements to the story that it never felt like mimickry or a retelling. It felt fresh, fun, sexy, modern, and romantic. I also loved that although the primary story arc was following the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers journey of Ari and Josh, we got to see love in many different forms. There's parental love, past love, ride-or-die friendship love, and love of profession, in addition to the romance. Josh and Ari were both flawed and frustrating, but totally loveable...and it was a joy to share the journey with them. The delightful side characters, the backdrop of NYC, and enough delicious sounding food to fill an Instagram feed round out this beautiful and complex tale of modern love.

Content warnings: divorce and associated grief, depression, drug and alcohol use, loss of parent.

Also note:
* Slow-burn but open door
* Lots of food and cooking in this book. It WILL make you hungry so plan ahead and have snacks handy 😀

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for this review copy. All opinions are my own.

The reylo fanfic to contemporary romance pipeline strikes again. YOU, AGAIN will make you laugh, cry, swoon, roll your eyes, and everything in between. I had a great time! Ari and Josh are so frustrating but I loved them. I love messy people! Also, I can't wait for my physical copy to be here so I can stare at this stunning fall cover for the next month and probably low-key use it as home decor.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for the ARC. This is definitely going to be THE book of fall!

Fair warning: you will want to pause this read and immediately watch When Harry Met Sally (which is exactly what I did).

This was a very interesting trope with our two future lovebirds currently sleeping with the same person 🤔. I was immediately drawn to this book based off of that alone. It was well written, and the characters were well-developed and FUNNY. It remind d me of long ago dating days when everything is new and fun. This was a fun romance with a little LGBTQ sprinkled in! Best of all it was unique and well worth the read.

-Modern love story ❤️
-LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈
-NYC 🗽

this book was so messy but that’s definitely the vibe it’s trying to give. i loved the when harry met sally vibes of it so much. but sometimes these characters just annoyed me, and that’s okay! it was still a solid rom com and i definitely recommend, especially if you’re looking for a book with flawed characters and a flawed love story. most people don’t have a storybook love story and this book definitely shows what real relationships can often look like.

thank you to random house - dial press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review! this book is out now and is perfect for the fall!

This book was not my cup of tea. I went into this expecting a romance that rivalled the classic 90s rom-coms that I adore, and I’m sad to report that it did not deliver.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars

This book was a struggle to even get through. It was claimed to be like When Harry Met Sally, but it was a stretch to me to find the parallel. I found the characters very annoying and I really didn't care what happened to them.

I had to really think about how I felt about this book for a couple of days. Ari and Josh are two of the most complex characters I have ever read about in a rom-com. I found both of them to be abrasive but also entirely relatable. I often found my opinions about the two of them to be ever-changing. In one chapter, I would hate them, and then in the next, I would cheer them on, praying for their happy ending.
Ari is the kind of person you meet, and you either instantly like or despise them. She is outspoken, has trust issues, and is, if I’m being honest, far too immature for her age. But at the same time, she is just like the rest of us, trying to make it in a world that grants little to no forgiveness.
Josh is also a tough character to love. I say this because of his quiet desperation that slowly grows louder and louder the further Ari pushes him away. He is also rude to many, if not all, of the people in his life, and yet by the end of the book, I just wanted to give this broken-hearted man a hug.
These characters felt so incredibly real. They are deeply flawed with tons of baggage, but that is why they are good characters. They are fleshed out and raw. You feel what they feel because they experience so much of what the average person goes through. It isn’t whimsical or fluffy because that’s not what life is.
This isn’t going to be the book you grab for a pick-me-up, but instead to find comfort in characters who know the pain that you feel. This book will also not make you forget all your worries, but it will remind you that you are not alone in having them. It is for those reasons that I think that this is a great book.

I wanted to like this story. When I read the blurb, I thought this would be something I'd enjoy. I've come to the realization that this book is very much not for me.

The time jumps throughout the book, especially in the beginning, make it hard to get into the story. Just as you start to get interested in their relationship, we jump forward three years, and you have to start all over.
About 18% of the way through, once we stayed in one timeline for the majority of the book, it became way more enjoyable. I read through that part of the book 800x quicker than the beginning.

Another problem is that the characters are so unlikable. I actually got joy from their suffering. They are the exact type of people I would never associate with. I actively disliked them.
They're both arrogant, self-centered, entitled, rude. The list could go on. I started to only really focus on the dialogue at the end, because I didn't care at all about their thoughts.

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I always say in my reviews how much I love an enemies to lovers; and while a lot of people dislike that trope in contemporary romance, I am a SUCKER for it. I love this book so much.

A perfect fall read! Josh is neurotic and Ari is my worst nightmare but my god I could not love these two more. A “This is me at my lowest” which is really “I’m finally just being myself because I can’t find enough f***s to give”… new to me, I’m obsesssssssed.