I was intrigued by this story as a When Harry Met Sally fan. However, I should have known that a story like that - drawn out over time - burning that slowly - would be a really tough sell to my greedy little romance loving brain.

On top of that, I struggled a bit with the 3rd person narration of the story. This voice is something I either connect with or I don't and there is no in between. I can't even put my finger on why it sometimes work and other times it doesn't but in this one - it didn't work. It made me feel outside of the story. That said, i do think it's well-written. The style just didn't vibe with me.

Finally, I really struggled with LIKING the characters. They didn't resonate with me and combined with my other issues - it ultimately resulted in a DNF.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to read and review. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

Witty and sharp, this will they or won‘t they, enemies to friends to . . . was a little infuriating and a little wonderful. I hung in there but it was touch and go-she was pretty crass and he was pretty awful that I nearly DNFed this one. I‘m glad I finished it, the pay off was worth it. Part of me wanted this to be more polished, but in the end, the messiness was part of its charm. Release date: 9/12/2

This book is if When Harry Met Sally and The Bear had a baby, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wouldn't exactly call this a romcom; it was heavier than that. The characters are flawed, messy, and live with the consequences of their actions. But they're also likeable and grow into better people the more they're on the page. I could have used a little more scene setup in the first chapter, I feel like I got pushed in really quickly. But once you find the footing this book is really wonderful, and a great retelling of a Nora Ephron classic.

I was already familiar with the writer's work, and had been anticipating this book since she announced it. As a fan, I still felt a touch of cold feet, but this went beyond my expectations. Both leads felt real to me, and I loved Radhya too. The emotional hurdles were reasonable and handled appropriately; love the growth each of them gained by the final act.

I also knew from the jump, when the author mentioned Eastern Parkway and a tiny bedroom, that I was fully onboard. I'm so tired of Brooklyn-based novels with leads who live in Cobble Hill or Prospect Park. My beloved Strand Book Store having more than a cameo was also very cute. It's clear that this city holds a special place in the author's heart. I don't want to go on too long about time spent in different neighborhoods, but I am a fan!

Recommended for fans of Emily Henry and Kate Clayborn

“What would Nora Ephron write if she were telling this story in a world without paper rolodexes?” That is the question Kate Goldbeck set out to answer with You, Again and she does a damn good job at it. Despite living in a city of millions, Ari and Josh keep running into each other and having the opposite of meet cutes. Eventually, they run into each other at a sex shop and bond over the demise of their long term relationships. Neither one of them is at their best. Josh is judgmental, unemployed, and feeling sorry for himself. Ari is hiding from comedy, her friends, and her own emotions. Yet the two become friends. They learn to love each other (platonically?) at their worst and inspire each other to be their best. Ari and Josh are not perfect. They each frustrated me deeply at various points in the book but that is the point. People are flawed but that doesn’t make them unworthy of love. Humans are stubborn. We get depressed. We sabotage ourselves. We make rash judgments. We hide from the emotions that make us uncomfortable. But we also change. We grow. We find people who love us at worst and push us to be our best. Ari and Josh reflect all of that. Their flaws make them feel so real. Like you could walk past them in Central Park. That is what makes their love story so incredible.

A slow burn romance perfect for those who love grumps and angst! While this was clearly based on When Harry Met Sally, it also gave me some Reylo fanfic vibes with the main male character's similarity to Adam Driver. A great read and I highly recommend for any one who loves classic romance inspired by their favorite classic rom com movies (especially those from the '80s)!

I love a grumpy angsty slow-burn. He’s a grumpy chef she’s an aspiring stand up comedian.

When Harry meets Sally with a hint of Reylo fanfic

Stayed up way to late reading this, couldn’t put it down.

I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

This book is outstanding on every level. The timeline so perfectly mirrors When Harry Met Sally but it's perfectly unique with original characters and a modern, sex positive, inclusive, irresistible love story. The writing is outstanding even on the line level. Seriously, the author crafted each sentence with intention. The Jewish rep was spot on. The love for and knowledge of New York City was apparent. I am astonished that this is a debut. And, please, if you are a fan of When Harry Met Sally, DEFINITELY read the acknowledgments.

You, Again surprised me in the best way! When Harry Met Sally definitely sets some high standards, but I think Kate Goldbeck did a great job using the structure from that near perfect movie and infusing it with something unique, new, and incredibly romantic. As Goldbeck mentions in the author’s note, Nora Ephron’s genius is in the way her characters fall in love just through a series of conversations, and Josh and Ari do the same in this book. Their chemistry is electric from the first page, and I was kicking my little feet every page over the dialogue. The book is just so much fun! I will say that the ending felt a bit rushed, skipping over a year in 30 or so pages after spending the bulk of the book focusing on a three or four month period, and there are some characters that felt like they could’ve been more fleshed out. But I cared about these characters so much through out their whole journey, and their romance was easy to root for. I found a lot of emotional depth among all the banter, and honestly I’m so happy I picked this book up. It probably won’t be my last time reading it.

When Harry Met Sally at his girlfriend's place as her lover...

𝘠𝘰𝘶, 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 follows Ari and Josh who met several times for bare minutes over the years but never got the chance to connect, until years later, when they finally form a tentative bond over the worst sort of heartbreaks.

- ~ -

The author did a great job of writing raw characters and not caricatures of every typical rom-com (don't get wrong, they're all loved equally) where the girl is sunshiney and the guy's grumpy and through the will of flowers and storm (exaggeration!) they get together.

Ari was, indeed, a little sunshiney and Josh, grumpy but above it all they were people with messy lives who didn't figure it out in the span of a few months, no that took months and multiple failures both in respect to their love lives and career.

Ari brought a little smile into Josh's life and he bought peace into hers. And their relationship built off friendship is the one that withstood the test of time despite the many many c̶̶u̶̶r̶̶v̶̶e̶ Matzo balls thrown against it.

- ~ -

4.01 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

The “When Harry Met Sally”-inspired witty banter, the tension, the personal growth - it was all perfect. What an amazing debut that absolutely lived up to the hype.

This book wasn’t for me. It has some aspects I don’t agree with personally. Which is my fault for requesting in the first place without checking the tags. Aside from that though.. I didn’t find either MC very likable. What was supposed to be banter often felt more like insults & jabs. Also, the length of time the story plays out over (years) just didn’t do it for me. It felt long and slow and I just didn’t enjoy it. But, I probably my have the unpopular opinion here. Definitely give it a try. We are all different and others have given this glowing reviews.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
Loved Josh. I really didn't like Ari for a lot of the book but she showed growth throughout the story. I thought this was too long and I lost interest in the middle but it redeemed itself in the end. Great ending. Wonderful debut. I'll watch for this author's' future work.

I wanted to read this one based on the Ali Hazelwood blurb. :) It took me a little longer than I expected to get into it - I wasn't convinced in the first half Ari would ever come around to being ready for a relationship. Second half picked up, and I enjoyed the story overall.

I am blown away by how great You, Again was. The novel stars a comedian and a chef so I was expecting a few laughs, but I LOL'd on many occasions. There's a particularly good joke in chapter 10, if you're looking hard enough (Kate, thank you so much for putting that in). I loved the bisexual representation in our heroine, Ari. I appreciated that there weren't comments from other characters questioning her past relationships. As a bisexual woman myself, those stereotypical quips drive me nuts and I'm happy to report they don't appear here. The book features a dual POV, and I liked how it's represented by emojis, allowing the POV to change mid-chapter. I'm a big fan of reading from the MMC's POV, so that was a treat.

My favorite quote: "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."

Highly recommend checking this out if you're a fan of "When Harry Met Sally", NYC, genuinely funny jokes, and reading about two losers (I say this lovingly) falling in love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for sending me an early review copy!

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck is a refreshing, witty, and utterly romantic read that resembles a modern rom-com classic in the making.

I was very interested in picking up You, Again by Kate Goldbeck because it's described as a When Harry Met Sally retelling and I'm so glad and grateful to have gotten the opportunity to read it. It was so perfectly cozy and perfectly Ephron. I savored every single page of this book and actually laughed out loud at certain parts. It's a nearly perfect romcom and I cannot wait for everyone to pick this up and love it, too.

The bi and Jewish rep in this was so GOOD. Gah, I can't get over it. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.

I can't wait to pick up a physical and audiobook copy of this book when it's released.

I worship at the altar of Ephron, and I am very reluctant to grant a comparison to just any romcom off the street. But within a few pages of YOU AGAIN, I knew--I knew the way you know about a good melon. Ari and Josh are Harry and Sally reincarnate, with all the delicious late-Millennial woes and hangups that Ephron so perfectly captured for the forgotten micro-generation at the ragged end of the Baby Boom. The dialogue! So snappy, so perfect, so self-conscious of its own wit. The romance! A slow burn that still had me shrieking. The sex! Good LORD. I'll have what she's having for REAL. All of the updates re: gender and sexuality were so timely and charming. The side characters were total gems. I want to read this book every fall, just like how I watch WHMS every single year. An instant classic!

Nora Ephron fans unite! Kate Goldbeck's You, Again is the perfect enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract romance you need this fall. Ari and Josh couldn't be more opposite. Ari moved to New York to be a comedian, and while she works toward her big break, she does all the odd jobs she can. Josh is a chef who is looking to make his mark on the culinary scene. He has a plan and wants everything in order; she is more carefree and lets the universe guide her. When they have a not-so-meet cute on the streets of New York and mere hours later when Josh buzzes her apartment, their second meeting goes just as poorly. Through the years, they continue to have awkward run-ins with one another that seem to cement their destiny as enemies. But when they're both at their lowest, they somehow reconnect and build a friendship. Will it be more? Could it be?

I want to thank #PenguinRandomHouse and #netgalley for providing me with a free ARC of #YouAgain in exchange for my honest review.

One of the best books of the decade! You, Again has immediately rocketed to one of the best novels I’ve read. Period. It’s the sort of book that is unputdownable and has you clutching your chest with tears in your eyes at 1am unable to go to sleep even hours after you’ve finished it.

We follow our two main protagonists; Ari a bi-sexual aspiring comedian who also happens to be the poster-girl for dating apps, serial non-monogamy, and hookup culture in general, and Josh a neurotic control-freak with a naïve romantic streak that leaves him open to hurt as he tries to step out of the shadow of his father’s famous New York delicatessen and make a name for himself in the world of fine-dining.

These two characters are developed so well that reading their internal narratives feels like sinking into a late-night conversation with long-time friends. This novel doesn’t shy away from hard conversations surrounding the disillusionment that most modern day singles feel with romance or how detrimental hook-up culture and technology have been for encouraging a healthy view of love and commitment in today’s era of instant gratification. Nor has it glorified the overly optimistic, Disney-princess, naivete of the past as seen in Josh’s character. In fact, one of the things that Goldbeck has done so expertly is to show these opposing points of view exactly as they are, warts and all, then gradually explore both dynamics. Through the characters misadventures in love, family, loss, grief, and pursuing their individual dreams we as readers see them inch gradually towards their own realizations about how they must change and grow in order to build the healthy relationship they both crave.

The diversity inclusion in this book reads a little paint-by-numbers, which didn’t bother me as I appreciated having a non-heterosexual main character. Though at times her sexuality read as an after-thought instead of a part of who she is and side characters read a little stereotypical and at times almost ‘cartoonish’. I would’ve liked to see this fleshed out with nuance, but understand that the narrative accomplishes quite a lot in terms of personal growth for Ari’s character and this inclusion could have been too heavy to support the main plot.

Genre-flipping the stereotypical commitment-phobic man and hopeless romantic woman trope worked so well that it really endeared me to both characters, making them easy to root for both individually, and as a couple. This dynamic highlighted certain traits in each character that redeemed them through all their missteps and manic fights making them both easy to get second-hand embarrassment for, be frustrated with, and want to protect with your whole heart. While Josh comes off as a grade-A asshole, through this internal narrative we see the tenderness that he doesn’t often show to others. With Ari she comes across as an absolutely closed off, cold, unemotional mess but readers get to know the fear and anxiety that keeps Ari’s heart walled off from others.

This book starts off fast-paced, the first several chapters spanning many years and many terrible interactions between Ari and Josh. It’s hate-at-first-sight and the tension is *chef’s kiss* delicious. When the narrative finally slows down we find Ari and Josh meeting yet again, but this time they’re both firmly entrenched in their individual rock bottoms. One brilliant part of this novel is how easy it is for them to form an unlikely ‘friends in misery with absolutely no benefits’ relationship at this juncture because when you’ve only ever been on the wrong foot with someone it’s easy to let them see the broken, miserable, messy parts of you. Meanwhile, it’s incredibly hard to show those same things to the people you care about who are worried for your wellbeing while you struggle to make sense of your life. It’s in this part of the novel that Goldbeck’s writing really shines. The nuance and subtlety of the slow burn friends-to-lovers romance is nothing short of masterful.

There are enough tropes and squealing-into-your-pillow moments in this novel to satisfy almost any reader, but personally I adored how this captured the spirit of an 80’s or 90’s Rom-Com while setting it so effortlessly in the modern era. Inspired by the classic When Harry Met Sally, this shouldn’t be such a surprise yet is still pleasantly surprising nonetheless. This novel is a new modern classic love story that is primed for a faithful film adaptation, and I’ll be the first one to buy a ticket for opening night if that happens. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you’re a fan of enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn romance, happily ever after's that give you butterflies, romantic comedies, or just want to read something that will make you feel seen . . . then this is the book I recommend.