The author said this book isn't a retelling of When Harry Met Sally, but a homage to it. And yes! This book had a lot of heart to it and the characters felt very genuine to themselves yet so human? I'd say they were pretty unlikable for the first 40% of the book. I could see why this book may not be for everyone or can be frustrating because of this. They were characters growing up and making mistakes and you actually watch their growth through the years with themselves and each other. This felt very on par for friends to lovers done pragmatically. The dialogue to me was actually such a strong suit in this book with the banter done so well between the two. It's so fitting that Ari is a comedian and I loved the Bi and Jewish rep! The NYC setting was impeccable with all the details, especially the end of the book with the NYC list Kate added to it. I'm actually going to The Strand Rare room tonight!

This romance was very different in regards to pacing and time jumps than what I've usually read. The time jumps moved quickly, but even in Harry Met Sally, they were quick encounters until they met again with major life changes. It took me a week to finish this, which isn't my norm for romances. I usually want to get right back into it. I even watched When Harry Met Sally in between reads during this week. That is to say, I did feel this book was a littttttttle bit too long for me personally and could've been cut down shorter. I loved the ending and think Kate is a phenomenal writer. And yet I think about it and I could never write something like this so well and expressively like she did.

If you like books featuring…
Enemies to lovers
New York City as a character
Time jump stories & epic meet cutes

Great for fans of…
When Harry Met Sally
You’ve Got Mail
All things Nora Ephron

I mean, can anyone resist that glorious fall cover???
If you're a fan of When Harry Met Sally and New York romances, this book is for you. Read if you want an emotional, angsty, enemies to lovers and grumpy/sunshine romance. You get to see the couple fall in love (and they don't, right away) and find yourself rooting for them more and more after every period. Perfect fall romance enjoyed with a cup of PSL.

Josh and Ari keep meeting in the most bizarre ways. At her apartment when he came to see her roommate... that they were both sleeping with. In a restaurant where her best friend works for him,etc... These two despise each other yet when they come together, they can’t help but lean on each other during dark times.

Josh is a grumpy person who also believes in soulmates and his person.
Ari is a serial “dater” who doesn’t believe in monogamy.

I didn’t love or hate this book, but I could not connect to the characters. Josh has been handed every opportunity in life and still hides himself away from everyone after ONE failed attempt at something. Ari is the definition of hurt people, hurt people.

Read if you like:
You like multiple chance encounters
Enemies to lovers
A Harry Met Sally retelling

*Thank you NetGalley, Random House & Kate Goldbeck for my copy to review.*

I am 100% in the minority but I sadly decided to DNF’d this one. The characters were unique and full of personality, but for some unknown reason I couldn’t get into it.
It does give When Harry Met Sally though!

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck is a modern telling of When Harry Met Sally. You have two very unlikable characters, Josh and Ari, and somehow they work together and deliver a comical romcom. The banter and messy relationships had me intrigued but the writing was off and on. Sometimes it held me and other times I had to skim to get past parts. I guess I was wanting more and not to get aggravated with the characters as much as I did.

I tried, but this book just isn't for me. The characters are so unlikeable I'm putting it down at the 20% mark

I’ve never watched When Harry Met Sally, so I’m unable to draw that comparison here. What I DO know is enemies to lovers and this is exactly that. This is so messy and angsty and HOT and I’m already thinking of rereading it. I loved how they absolutely hated each other .. until they didn’t. I cannot believe this is a debut. It was that good.

Josh and Ari get off on a very bad foot and continue to meet over years. I don’t always love dual POV but it was completely necessary for this book. Ari was such a hilarious mess and Josh was so serious and lost without someone to take care of.

If you like : enemies to lovers, SLOW burn, ANGST, real-life messy problems - this sex-positive love story is for YOU!

Five huge stars from me! Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC!

DNF at 20%

I just cannot make myself get through this book for the sake of reading it. I really don't understand where the story is going to go from where it is because it jumps from place to place and relationship to relationship and the two MCs just happen to run into each other at the most random places. I don't find either MC likable, which is probably the main reason I don't want to continue the book. There's no real love story or plot that I see really working out in a favorable way. Not my cup of tea, which I'm really sad about because the cover gave all the Fall vibes.

A When Harry Met Sally retelling for the modern era. I was pleasantly surprised by this! The banter was as witty and enjoyable as promised and I really loved the annoying strangers to friends to lovers aspect of the story. Bonus was all the New York and culinary references!

A lot of the conflict was more internal for the couple and they each had their own issues that they needed to confront and deal with in order to be open to a healthy relationship. While I really liked that aspect and the exploration of feeling like a failure in life or struggling with intimacy issues, the "third act breakup" felt more like the two characters losing their complexity and getting reduced to stereotypes of their relationship-centric issues in order to create enough reason for them not to be together.

That being said, the story does make an effort to really explore the reasons behind the characters decisions and it's not a quick fix and the conflict conveniently resolved. Overall, I thought the story was entertaining and endearing.

While I've never watched When Harry Met Sally I felt like this was a very cute love story that gave vibes of This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens. The pairing of Ari and Josh felt refreshingly unique and organic, with a slow burn complex that felt very believable.

Admittingly, it took me a bit to get into the story, but once it did I could vividly imagine these characters come to life in my mind. I loved the bisexual rep, Jewish rep, as well as the mental health rep within the pages. The time jumps gave that believable progression of two people falling in and out of love, and ultimately concluding with a satisfying ending. This was a lovely debut by Kate Goldbeck and I'm intrigued what she opts to write about next!

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 is one of my all-time favorite movies so when I heard there was a book reimagining of it, I knew I had to read it.

Like the film, 𝗬𝗢𝗨, 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 is a love letter to New York City (Veselka! Odessa!) and has a grumpy-meets-sunshine, enemies-to-lovers storyline. A person in love with love and a commitment-phobe meet and don't like each other and re-meet and still don't but eventually become friends who become lovers which ruins their friendship until the relationship-averse one realizes their mistake and professes their love in a grand gesture. So I should have loved it. But I didn't.

I did appreciate the Jewish and bisexuality rep but the time jumps that work in the movie were jarring in the book and the characters weren't all that likable. Lots of people have loved this one but I guess like Sally, I just want it the way I want it.

Thanks to Dial Press for the copy to review.

Thank you so much for this wonderfully fresh, absorbing love story! Described as a modern-day When Harry Met Sally, this is a very true and apt expectation going into the book. With very witty banter and the experience of two individuals falling in love through chance encounters in New York City, this book has me hooked from page one. I also loved that New York City itself was such a vivid and important character in the book. I can’t wait to read anything else Goldbeck will write!

The best retellings capture the heart and soul of the source material in a fresh, unique way, and You, Again was the perfect combination of When Harry Met Sally and Josh and Ari's love story. I loved everything about this story and how it was written.

It took me until 29% in to get like I wanted to keep reading. But after this slow start, once we were at a point where Josh and Ari actually start talking and interacting more, it got really interesting. The writing is very pithy, and the banter was relatable and entertaining. After a slow burn, their relationship gets serious very quickly. Letting them struggle for awhile was torture but very realistic and dramatically effective. The grand gesture is very fulfilling and climactic, and of course very "when Harry met Sally."

When I first saw this book pitched as a modern retelling of When Harry Met Sally, I had two thoughts. 1.) Is When Harry Met Sally old enough for a "modern" retelling? 2.) I needed this book in my hands immediately. Add a fiery bisexual main character and there was a recipe for something really special.

I love books that span years and focus on the main characters at various points in their lives. By extension of being a When Harry Met Sally retelling, you're going to have to do the whole "over multiple years" thing otherwise there's no way to do the story. The love has to grow over years of encounters where a mutual dislike turns into something else. I think this book and Kate Goldbeck did an excellent job of having an interesting progression in the relationship of the two characters. It added humor as well as what felt like a realistic timeline to the relationship.

For no real reason, this book didn't end up working out for me despite all the checks it had in the pro column from me. I think it ended up boiling down to odd pacing and what felt like no real tension or chemistry between the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the whole opposites attract where and kind of reverse grumpy sunshine. The time jumps were sometimes a little abrupt, but didn’t hinder the storytelling. I also enjoyed the fact that this was a more realistic take on a not so meet-cute. The conflicts were more relatable and their responses reflect that. Although, I also think that some of the decisions made were a little to chaotic and the miscommunication was a little much.

I am eternally grateful to @thedialpress for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc. I fell so incredibly hard for this story and these characters, I couldn’t help but savor my time as I read it.

Josh is the classic grumpy guy who has family trauma that has sunk into his bones.

Ari is a carefree soul who can’t get too attached or else.

The beginning of their situationship is pure toleration and slowly but firmly turns to more. And the journey is quite the ride.

I love when characters have intense changes of the heart when they meet their “one” and especially when it’s a grumpy character who turns soft because their person.

This story has a full circle moment between a side character and the MMC and it’s so wholesome.

As this book was heavily influenced by When Harry Met Sally (one of my faves), the entire story flew by and I yearned and rooted for these characters so much. I haven’t had a book grip onto me so tightly like this one where I needed to read it or I would essentially d*e (joking).

As @kategoldbeck’s debut, I need her to write more and I need those words injected into my bloodstream.

I loved this book. Ari and Josh were so real and messy and it genuinely made me feel better about the chaos that is my love life. I can't wait to read more from Kate Goldbeck. I know she will be a hugely successful author in the near future!

My only qualm (and the reason I subtracted one star) was the take on third person perspective. I had a hard time following who was in the scenes sometimes, especially during my re-read on audio - but this was something I was willing to move through because I loved the story so much! I would love to see a first person perspective from Kate!

It’s not you, it’s me. Except maybe I think it’s you this time.

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck just really fell flat for me. I always struggle with the lack of communication trope and to me, that’s all this book was. I wanted to jump through the pages and shake Ari and tell her to grow up and get rid of the massive chip on her shoulder. I might be in the minority with that opinion, but I felt like that the whole time I read this book. I definitely think there are people out there who will love this, I just wasn’t one of them. 2.5 stars because I did feel compelled to keep reading to see when something would actually happen.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this digital ARC.