Let me tell you, when I started this book I expected to hate it. The characters are so outrageous and pretentious that I was having Sally Rooney flashbacks.

But then... the years go by and the characters grow and goddamnit if I wasn't having a great time. Honestly the whole enemies to friends to lovers might be my new favourite trope????

Kate Goldbeck is hilarious and perfectly balances the comedy and with the heavier emotional stuff. This really hits on a lot of hilarious modern dating issues and I thought it was super smart and witty. Read this if you like second chances, lovable side characters, and snarky text exchanges.

It’s an age old story… she’s a struggling comedian with commitment issues who only does one-night-stands. He’s an uptight asshole chef who believes in “the one” and “happily ever after.” And they both happen to be boning the same chick.

I actually can’t believe this is a debut novel. I loved it so much. The writing reminded me a lot of Emily Henry! Very witty, humorous, great chemistry, banter and tension between the mc’s with the perfect amount of depth and thoughtfulness.

Ari was so damn funny. She had me laughing out loud so many times which is fitting considering she is a comedian. Josh was a total pretentious asshole at first and by the end he was still sort of a pretentious asshole but he was also sweet and cute and mischievously dirty 😏

Initially I was kinda like “ugh it’s dual POV” because I don’t always love that but quickly I understood why and really appreciated it. Also, this really did give MAJOR “When Harry met Sally” vibes. I already want to read it again!

Thank you to NetGalley and Randomhouse publishing/Dial Press Trade Paperback for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I really wanted to like this book, but I found the characters to be so incredibly insufferable. Josh is boring and stuck up. Ari's whole personality is that she sleeps with everyone. Literally, that's it. Ask me to name another personality trait that she has and I don't think I could. All she talks about is sex. I usually love a slow burn but I could not finish this one.

A Nora Ephron inspired enemies to friends to lovers rom com for modern times. I often think the endings of rom coms aren't my favorite because most of the time the story is so quickly and neatly tied up and wrapped in a bow, but I thought the author, Kate Goldbeck did a great job with this one. It really worked for me and was a fun way to recognize how far they all had come. Overall a fun read and great for a cozy Fall afternoon. Just look at that cover, it's screaming PSL in book form!

A fun retelling of When Harry Met Sally with Reylo vibes!

I think the beginning of this was a great and unique twist on the romcom meet cute. It was very entertaining.

I liked both characters, even though they had their frustrating moments. Each has their own journey to go through and I liked that Goldbeck took the time to flesh each character out. I also liked how their friendship and relationship developed. It was believable and paced well.

I also really liked the writing. It was easy to read and very quotable.

Plus if you’re a Reylo fan you’ll definitely see this as a fanfic come to life. The two main characters definitely had the reylo vibes!

Overall very entertaining and romantic!

You, Again is a wonderful interpretation of a modern day When Harry Met Sally - full of great dialogue and snarky banter, tension, sparkling chemistry, personal growth :), and the gamut of emotions that come with falling in love. I adored it!

Ari and Josh do not have a meet cute. Unfortunately for them, they keep running into each other at various turning points in their lives. Slowly and unexpectedly, their mutual animosity turns into a valuable friendship. It seems they may both want more than friendship - but is worth the risk?

What’s not to like about a story of two people trying to become better versions of themselves while also falling in love with each other? Even though the story draws from When Harry Met Sally and enemies to (friends to) lovers tropes, it felt fresh and romantic and I was anxiously rooting for Ari and Josh from the sidelines. I enjoyed that they both had totally different careers - Josh as a chef and Ari as an improv comedian (with a plethora of side gigs). The supporting characters brought a lot of flair and laughs as well.

Thank you very much to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I started this book the moment I got it on NetGalley and didn’t put it down once. I absolutely loved You, Again. This debut made me excited for anything else Kate Goldbeck will write in the future. It’s the perfect autumnal romance. If you’re the kind of person who reliably watches You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, and Bridget Jones’s Diary the moment the leaves start to change, you need to read You, Again.

This hit all of my buttons—smashed them, really. When Harry Met Sally with some twists, and set in the present day?? Give it to me.

Plot Setup: When Harry Met Sally, literally, just more modern
Characters: ★★★★★
Pacing: ★★★
Emotional damage: ★★★★★

Let me preface this review with an obvious caveat: I'm a huge fan of the 1990s hit movie, When Harry Met Sally. I love it. I've seen it way too many times. So when I received this early reader copy of You, Again and it said the magic words, I was all over it.

And it delivered all the vibes I wanted, plus a whole bunch of other ones that I didn't know I needed.

You, Again is a love letter to the messy ties that bind us to other people, the intricate ways we self-sabotage our needs, the fierce desire that we all have in our hearts for connection and purpose. It felt like a manifesto for the late 20-somethings and an intense mirror held up to our fault lines, our fears, and the worst authentic versions of ourselves.

It's a romance, sure, but it's more so a novel about human connection and enduring bonds. And I loved every minute of it.

When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.

Ari's a hot mess. An aspiring comedian working the roulette wheel of temp jobs, sleeping in spare closets called rooms, and guarding her emotional core with spikes made of steel, Ari's the kind of modern-day female protagonist that we don't often see in novels.... but she's real. Uncomfortably real. (I felt called out, let's be honest.)

Josh is extremely put together on the outside. He's a talented chef, he's got inherited money and is employed well. He's talented, he's austere, he's witty and sharp. He's also a tangled mess of repression and self-loathing and anxiety spiraling and—okay, yeah, he's a mess too.

And fate keeps colliding these two messes together over time. Ari and Josh meeting in an apartment. Ari and Josh running into each other at a drunken New Year's Eve party. Ari and Josh running into each other on the literal streets of New York City.

When they both meet at their rock bottom worsts, the two give in to fate. They become friends.

And then, eventually, they messily collide into versions of themselves that realize that maybe it's time they became more than that.

Y'all.... You, Again gave me emotional damage. In the best way. Heartfelt, devastating, disturbingly real, and grounded in the "now" to the point where I felt like the author was just filming this poor couple in New York in secret—this novel was everything I was hoping to find. I loved it.

Will you love it? I don't know. It's not a stereotypical romance. It also relies too heavily on the When Harry Met Sally structure for the first 25% of the novel, so you've got to acknowledge that and keep going.

But if none of the above turns you off, you've got to try it. Eagerly looking forward to more from this author, who in my head is a messier, not-STEM-focused version of Ali Hazelwood.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did not vibe with this as much as I wanted to. Truthfully, I don't think these characters are right for each other romantically - their chemistry is great as friends, always having fun with their banter and teasing. They rely on each other emotionally and it's not always in the healthiest of ways.

That's the issue for me, these characters are made to be in their thirties, but they both feel so emotionally immature to me. Josh almost felt forceful in his approach to make Ari and himself anything more than friends, mixed with Ari's complete lack of desire for commitment - it all felt a little off and a little uncomfortable. Yes, Josh realized his mistakes and began therapy (to also cope with other things), but we really don't see a lot of growth from him. Same with Ari, unfortunately. Yeah, she's no longer a commitment-phobe because she's realized she wants to be with Josh, but this realization comes after she's lost everything, and she's lonely. There's no time spent on her working through her issues. I genuinely think that these two were meant to stay friends, things get so unbelievably messy after they have sex and everything just fell flat after that.

Ari is also, not a good friend??? It's very clear that Ari takes and takes and rarely gives in any of her relationships with the side characters. Rad and Gabe deserved better from her.

The writing was good, sometimes the wording felt a little too smart for me, if I'm honest. The issue I had with the writing was the constant - and I do mean constant - name dropping of different brands, it made the characters seem super pretentious, and I genuinely do not understand why it was necessary to do this. Am I being nit-picky about this? Probably. But did it bother me every time it happened? Yes.

If you liked this book, I'm super happy for you. I did not. I'm still incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read this as an ARC, but this isn't a book I'll recommend.

There's a lot to love about this book. Witty banter. Enemies to lovers and friends to lovers all in the same book. Characters that feel like real people. The spice is at the just right place that tends to really work for me in romance novels. If I had any complaint about this novel it would be the length ... I did find it to be too long for this type of book and I found Ari's negativity and sort of nonsense, failure mindset sort of exhausting, which was tough to read for so many pages. It's funny, I didn't particularly like Ari OR Josh but I enjoyed reading about them because they felt real. Even when they annoyed me (and they did, a lot), my only issue was that it was a bit too much of them with the length - the characters themselves, I appreciated. Overall this is the type of romance novel I can really get on board with - the messiness is front and center but you know that there will be that happy ending no matter what happens throughout the book.

For nearly ten years, the universe keeps pushing Ari and Josh together in the same social circles. They're opposites in every way - she is a free-loving and spontaneous comedian and he is an exacting and particular chef. The start of their relationship is rocky but years later, when they are at their lowest, they strike up a friendship. When that friendship slowly begins to turn into something romantic, things get complicated between the commitment-phobe Ari and her romance-loving friend.

This book snuck up on me in the best way. The first half of the book was good. Not much happened between Ari and Josh romantically and although I usually like the romance to develop earlier in a book, I was just along for the ride, waiting to see what would happen. I came to realize later that the scenes in the first half were really important in setting the stage for Ari and Josh's deepening relationship to come. There were many layers that would be peeled off as their relationship evolved and those the first half of the book was pivotal in developing those layers.

The second half of the book was a deep dive into feels not only because of the love story between Ari and Josh, but also because of the complicated nature of their relationship. They became each other's person when they each needed someone the most. When they finally crossed that line, I could not have prepared myself for the complexities of the situation. That first sex scene between Ari and Joshua was PERFECT. And the emotional roller coaster after that scene had me frantically turning pages to see how their story would pan out. What an all-consuming JOURNEY they went on!

This was a fantastically impressive debut novel. The writing was *chefs kiss* and the dialogue was fresh and witty. I felt like I was entrenched in the characters' lives and minds and I was wrecked by the heartache each of them experienced. Ari was one of the most unique characters I've read in a long time.

This is a 2023 must-read!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥½
⚠️: death of a parent, divorce

This gem of a novel is out today! You, Again is whip smart, messy and chaotic, with witty banter and a love story that spans a decade. This didn’t feel like just a love story between two people, but a love letter to New York City as well.

Ari & Josh are complete opposites that have a meet disaster and instantly dislike each other. Throughout the span of a few years they run into each other a few times, and finally when they are both at their lowest, they decide to get a drink. A beautiful (if not complicated) friendship forms between them that blossoms into something more.

A play on When Harry Met Sally, I was hooked on the relationship between these two messes. Ari & Josh are such layered and complex characters. While I didn’t agree with all of their decisions, I could see how someone would act in such a way. My one gripe is with how the third act breakup played out. Other than that, I enjoyed this book immensely.

I LOVE THIS. THE BANTER. THE SASS, THE BALANCE BETWEEN CHARACTERS. This is an all star booking with all star writing and I am just completely in love with it.

I couldn’t help but make comparisons to When Harry Met Sally as I was reading this novel. Ari and Josh literally run into each other at different points of their lives over about 10 years. Despite Ari’s job as a comedian and some witty conversation it didn’t have as much humor as When Harry Met Sally, but it had just as much of an emotional hit. Over those 10 years both of these characters change so much and even though they seem to make unlikely friends, when they finally get to that point of needing each other the reader is just really ready for that relationship to evolve. From that point forward the pace speeds up just a little but Kate Goldbeck held back that happily ever after until just the right moment. I felt wrung out by the delay but it was really worth the wait.

I know there were other characters in this book that helped make our heroine and hero real, Josh’s sister, Ari’s best friend, and a couple of other friends who meandered in and out over the years, but the real heart of this story was Ari and Josh that I now can’t even remember the side characters names in order to give them a shout out. All I remember was how I felt as our two main characters fell in and out of like and love, and as they got older seeing what used to be important to them change and become not so concrete. I liked the realness of this plot. We are not the same people we were 10 or 20 years ago and it’s natural to shift our perspectives or bend for a good friendship. How Ari and Josh evolved then fell in love was not easy but it was really rewarding.

You, Again was not the book I expected to read when I read the plot, it was a lot more. It has a bit of humor, yes, but it was the emotional depth in these characters that took me by surprise and kept me interested. At times it wasn’t easy to read and I was a little uncomfortable but those are the best kinds of books aren’t they? This one made me think while reading it and that is the sign of a really good book.

𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙.

I am in awe of this book. It was the most raw, real, and thoughtful depiction of modern dating. It’s like a warm hug but also will have your heart in a vice grip at parts. The witty banter and angsty emotional journey are a match made in romance heaven.

What to expect:
🍁 Hate to friends to lovers
🍁 NYC
🍁 Meet Ugly
🍁 Slow burn
🍁 He falls first
🍁 Sassy FMC
🍁 Broody MMC
🍁 LGBTQ+ rep
🍁 Witty Banter
🍁 Delicious Angst
🍁 Trauma/Healing
🍁 Mental Health Rep
Be sure to check the TWs.

You, Again is one of the best things I’ve read this year and the perfect fall romance — I will not hear otherwise. I could not recommend this book more.

𝘏𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

The author mentions in her notes that she was inspired by the classic romcom, When Harry Met Sally. I was 27 and deep in the throes of big city dating life when that movie was released and for me at least, while the author nailed the sarcastic tone and the dating angst, she kind of missed the mark on the humor.

Sally/Harry is still one of the funniest romcoms I’ve had the pleasure of watching. You, Again was quite angsty and nailed the enemies to friends to lovers trope, but it wasn’t particularly witty or funny, which is all the more surprising since Ari, the FMC, is a struggling stand-up comedian. She was sarcastic and angsty, but we never really got to know why she was so commitment-phobic and never saw her actually working at her craft. It seemed like all she did was struggle, working at random odd jobs to (barely) pay her rent. She talked about the joy she felt from making people laugh, but it was all telling, no showing. Josh, the MMC, was a rising chef at the beginning of the book and he at least got to occasionally show his skills in the kitchen, although he also spiraled downward after he tried and failed to re-invent his dad’s iconic restaurant.

I liked that Ari and Josh kept meeting randomly over the years, like the universe kept trying to throw them together, but they weren’t listening. Then, when both were at their lowest points both professionally and personally, they finally opened up enough to become friends, then lovers, although a relationship between them didn’t stand a chance at the time given both of their mental states. They both still had more growing to do. I’m not entirely convinced about they were right for each other in the end, but there is no denying their connection. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

You, Again follows Ari and Josh. Both of them have met several times throughout the years, and although not always leaving the best of impressions of each other, they finally meet again and have a chance to form a friendship strengthened by their broken hearts.

I will start with what I liked about this book.

1. The writing! I REALLY enjoyed how this story was told. I found myself really enjoying the writing style.
2. The story, dislike to friends to lovers, is very hit or miss for me, but I loved how they continue to meet through out 30-35% of the book, and despite their lives getting intertwined by heartbreak I found them quite fun and endearing.
4. The banter, I really loved the banters between Ari and Josh. They were very open and playful with each other, and right before they get together, their communication was great.

Now, although I was really enjoying the book, the last 75% lost me. They were great at communicating before they get together, then everything becomes messy. The miscommunication was STRONG and not in a good way. I don't want to get into spoilers, but both of them needed to grow up, heal from their pain and actually be better if they wanted to give the relationship a fair shot. Maybe later I will go into details, but since I want to keep this review spoiler free, lets just say the third act break up...too much for me! I understand their fears, specially Ari's but I just can't get behind the whole "I'm not good at this" but lets have sex and not communicate! Josh tried, and although he came on a little bit too strong and he needed to get his act together, at least he was trying.

I do appreciate the ending, and how everything wrapped up! It was cute and I found myself smiling while reading. But honestly the conflict between them...and the miscommunication that developed AFTER them being great at talking, made me rate this book lower than I was expecting.!

Again, thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for honest review.

3.5 stars

Warning: Both MCs are depressed for the middle 59% of the book

You, Again is a dual POV romance book about two young upstarts in NYC who run into each other over years and months (I love time jumps in romances). Ari and Josh are north and south poles. Josh is NYC culinary royalty with a loving well of family. Ari has no relationship with her parents and moved to NYC during her adult life to purse being a comedian. It has great LGBT+ rep. The novel is a shockingly realistic love story. Ari and Josh definitely do not have it together, if this maybe definitely sounds like past, present or future you make sure to give this novel a try. It was a great debut.

Why I personally did not vibe with the novel is how long we spent in their depression era and then it just sped past everything after that. I think they, especially Ari was not okay by the end, and I can't confidently say they're getting better because we don't see their healing journey, we do hear a bit about Josh's. If I'm seeing not one but two character's low point for more than half the book, then I also want to see their healing in that same depth. Some of the chapters were so long too, one of them said 26 minutes to read, which I think is excessive for any book but especially for a romance.

Thank you to Dial Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random house for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Ari and Josh as they navigate their young adulthood in NYC. This is an opposites attract enemies to lovers romance. It's an updated, gender swapped When Harry Met Sally.

I found the writing very engaging and read the whole book on just a few days. I really like the characters, although Josh needs a full character arc from entitled rich a-hole to empathetic human. I was kinda worried he wouldn't make it. Ari is the quintessential manic pixie dream girl, but she's trying to be her own person too.

Such a fun book!

#YouAgain #NetGalley

Some books you just know are going to be a reread that you’re going to love instantly. Thus began my love affair with You, Again. Kate Goldbeck’s angsty, can’t-get-out-of-their-own-way 8 year love story had me savoring every snarky quip, heartache, and swoon-worthy moment. This is a book I just didn’t want to end and I felt like Josh and Ari were real breathing characters whose story I was sad to leave by the time I finished reading.
A somewhat modern retelling or re-imagined version of Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally, You, Again is smartly crafted to remind the reader of the famous film, without being too on the nose. Ari is struggling to make it as a comedian, working extra jobs to make ends meet and living on sofas and with friends all over New York. As heir to a delicatessen that’s a NY institution, Josh has fought to rise from the shadow of his father and become a world class chef. When Ari and Josh meet, they could not be more different and initially strongly dislike one another. But in a city of 8.8 million people, Ari and Josh keep running into each other over the years and find that oddly enough they can talk to each other and eventually form an unlikely friendship.
This is a rollercoaster for sure, but I loved every minute of it. Anxiety and depression play key roles in connecting Josh and Ari; they find themselves in similar situations and become an ear for the other. Text messages are a key component to their relationship and there is so much humor written through their communication. Some of THE HOTTEST scenes had me gripping my kindle as I read their texts and although there are only approximately three intimate scenes, Goldbeck had me in the palm of her hand with every minute. [The first kiss is off the charts cinematically swoon-worthy]. This book also has one of the sweetest, funniest endings I could have imagined, solidifying this angsty rom-com as a favorite. I would recommend You, Again to anyone looking for a little pain with your romance, humorous banter, amazing queer representation, and plenty of musical references (I would strongly recommend listening to songs mentioned in the book while you read—or see Goldbeck’s social media for her playlist). I can’t wait for more readers to meet Ari and Josh and I know Goldbeck will be acquiring a huge fan base with this debut. Next stop: a When Harry Met Sally rewatch. I received an advanced copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.