I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! Easily my favorite read of the year!

I do think, however, that comparing it to ‘When Harry Met Sally’ is doing it a disservice (and I love that movie), because they’re not even on the same wavelength.

YOU, AGAIN is so genuinely real. Two real people who really need to work on themselves, but also really love each other and really want to see it through, and really, is it fate??

I just love this story so much, it checks so many of my boxes, and I couldn’t put it down even if I really wanted to; let the author know they can keep it coming!

“Maybe there’s no such thing as soulmates, but I think you’re my person. And I’m yours.”

Ari and Josh. She’s a commitment-phobe and he’s a hopeless romantic. The only thing they have in common is their mutual dislike, but that changes when they develop a close friendship because their love life is not all that great anymore.

This book was so entertaining! I loved that they kept running into each other every few years—like they were connected from the start. It was so cute that they’d watch movies together while on the phone!

🍂READ IF YOU LIKE🍂:
- dual POV
- she’s a commitment-phobe, he’s a hopeless romantic
- frenemies to friends to lovers
- slow burn
- opposites attract
- witty banter, lots of bickering
- comedian x chef
- when harry met sally
- jewish & bi rep
- constantly running into each other
- new york setting

cw: depression, anxiety, grief, death of loved one, divorce, cheating

Thank you to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the advanced copy! You, Again is now available!

I am so thoroughly enamoured with this book and these characters!

The pacing of You, Again was absolutely perfect. I loved how the author really grounded Ari and Josh in each timeline so that we were able to get a true sense of the entire scope of their relationship. I also loved that she really did make them friends first - I believed in their friendship so strongly. The subtle shift to lovers could have been a stronger for me, would have loved a little more tension, a little more will-they-won’t-they!

This book is beautiful in its messiness. These are relatable characters doing stupid things and figuring shit out as they go. It’s falling in love and getting scared and running away and big realizations and dramatic airport runs. It’s perfect fall vibes and delicious bingeability and I highly, highly recommend!

The perfect fall read 🍂. This book is inspired by When Harry Met Sally and was giving all the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers vibes!

Witty, angsty, full of banter with NYC as the perfect backdrop! This was done so well on audio too! This is definitely a slow burn to get to the romance, but I enjoyed all the side characters and the journey to get there. I love seeing more diversity in romance reads and this one has great Jewish and Bi representation!
Edit Review

Books with funny witty dialogue and dual pov's are some of my favorites and this book really delivered. I absolutely devoured this book and am was so excited to get approved for an arc. As soon as I heard this book was a modern retelling of When Harry Met Sally I knew it was a must read for me and it did not disappoint. This book is charming, funny, and has some spice. I think this book is going to be everywhere.

This book was so good! The development and the two main characters, Ari and Josh, is absolutely riveting, organic, raw and mesmerizing. I read this book in two days because I simply couldn’t not put it down. The course of their relationship was so emotional and so well written. Described as a “reverse when Harry met Sally” it details the progressive friendship/relationship of Ari and Josh over the course of several years and through many personal trials and triangulations for each character. I did not want this story to end!!

This was a fun read. I liked the book spanned around 9 years but it was cohesive. The two main characters were unlikeable at times but ultimately I was routing for them. Despite the cover this is not an autumn book. It spans all seasons with New Years Eve being highlighted over multiple years.

This was a DNF for me I love RomCom movies, but have never gotten into romance books. Since this one said it was for folks who love when Harry met Sally, I thought I would give it a try, but I just found it trying to hard to be crass. Hooking up with the same girlfriend, meeting again at a sex toy shop just isn’t very relatable for me and I felt like the author was appealing to a demographic that isn’t me.

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck is a delightful romcom with the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope. Ari is a struggling comedian, and Josh is a serious chef. When they run into each other after not seeing each other in a while, they become friends. And then they become more. But can they get past their egos and turn it into something serious? I really enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I'm going to make this quick, but I adored this book. I loved the When Harry Met Sally references SO MUCH. I loved Ari and Josh. And omg…the vulnerability?! The ANGST?! The growth?! Like, did this book need to make me cry so hard? Also, it’s funny. And sweet. And open. Hard topics are tackled. Inclusion is present. Space is given.

I’m low-key so happy to have my very own Dust Daddy (lol, the device) because that entire scene was everything.

From the immediate dislike (or is it a spark??) that they experience with each other at the beginning to the adorable, swoony end, this is a definite must-read romance.

Say hello to one of my favorite romances of 2023!

As someone who saw When Harry Met Sally only once, I wasn't in it for the retelling. And I think that's what allowed me to be pleasantly surprised.

Not only was this super cozy, it was also very angsty. I rooted for Josh and Ari as soon as they met and cheered when it finally happened (even though it took them forever to figure it out).

Also, this hit surprisingly close to home. I saw myself reflected in both Josh and Ari, for better or worse.

I flew through this book in less than 12 hours, so that's saying something!

I absolutely loved it and cannot wait to read more from this author.

I wanted to love this book, but I think I wasn't the target audience. The main characters were a bit grating in the first half of the book which made it difficult to read. That being said, the writing was good and the plot was interesting. Since it's just a case of differing tastes, I still give it 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4.

I loved this book. The characters were… awful a lot of the time. But that’s what made it great for me. Their decision? Atrocious. But like, the decisions felt real. The banter? Perfect. The angst? Extra perfect. The slow build up? I was dying it was so perfect. It felt like a homage to 90s romance. And a love letter to NYC.

Thank you Kate Goldbeck and NetGalley for giving me an e-arc of You, Again. This was such a sweet read that got me in the cozy fall romance mood.

You, Again is told over multiple timelines and has a dual POV between Ari (a comedian) and Josh (a professional chef). Ari is the sunshine to Josh's grump and the commitment-phobe to his helpless romantic.

Ari and Josh seem to only run into each other when they're at their lowest. When they finally see each other again, after both are going through terrible breakups, they find that they're able to hate the world together (while still hating one another too much to be anything more than friends). As their friendship grows and they become closer, the lines of platonic friendship start to blur. But Ari still has trouble with commitment, and Josh still needs to find his confidence in the kitchen.

You, Again felt like reading a modern day telling of When Harry Met Sally. Josh and Ari test the idea that men and women can be platonic friends without wanting anything more (until someone wants something more). Both characters have to overcome internal struggles, and the other can only stand there for support. That led both characters to having major development arcs, which I love so so much. (so much that I cried for both Ari and Josh at one point during the book) The side characters were also a joy to have included and added to the overall story!

A messy, imperfect love story told over many years. You, Again is the story of Ari and Josh, who met for the first time because they were hooking up with the same girl. Years later they bond over heartbreak and build a friendship that blossoms into a reluctant romance. Kate Goldbeck did such a great job painting these slightly toxic characters who are just trying to find direction in life. The prose was witty and script-like. I felt like I was watching a movie that follows the characters over a great chunk of time. The tension and build up was unreal and Ari and Josh were simply hilarious together. I really enjoyed this!

4.5

What a mess Josh and Ari made of themselves (and me) time and time again.

They drove me CRAZY!!!! In the best and worst ways!!! I enjoyed this book A LOT and found myself thinking about it and the characters even when I wasn’t reading which…does not always happen when I pick up a book.

If you want to know if you should read You, Again listen to Champagne Problems (but the characters have a happy ending…happy beginning? happy continuation!!!) and take it from there.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the free review copy!!!

Regrettably I've never seen the inspirational movie When Harry Met Sally, but that did no stop me from really enjoying this novel. The first review I saw really set an accurate expectation up for me and is what ultimately let me to read this novel: Two really shitty people go from enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to lovers. There was good banter, some heavy self loathing, and a little bit of spice.

This book started off a little rocky for me. I really disliked both of the main characters and thought they were fairly terrible. They continued to be terrible throughout the book, but somehow they endeared themselves to me and I wanted to see what would happen. I really just wish that characters in books would TALK to each other..... it would solve so many issues. This ended up being a 3 star read. It may have been higher if it was 100 pages shorter.

I loved this homage to Harry Met Sally. This one starts our a tad slowLy but wow does it pay off. This was a slightly edgy take on a romantic comedy. The love interests were cynical, jaded,prickly, grumpy and flawed like real,people. The elements of the romantic comedy were there but not in an over the top way. In fact, the romance was actually endearingly, charmingly awkward. My heart broke for both Ari and Josh at times as they just couldn’t get out of their own way, The references to WHMS were perfectly executed with new twists.This was such an enjoyable quirky, slightly odd, edgy and ultimately satisfying

I tend to flow between literary fiction and contemporary romance and YOU AGAIN was the first romance novel I’ve read in a while. I really enjoyed it. The characters and storyline felt very real, which I appreciated in this genre.

One of the things I loved was the female MC Ari’s vulnerability. This is not a romcom with a happy-go-lucky leading lady. We see Ari move through multiple phases of life, including a depression that makes her time falling in love more complex than most romance plot lines I’ve read. There were parts when I yearned for just some straight up happy love, but I really appreciated how realistic this made the relationship feel.

This book has become known as “the romcom based on when Harry met Sally” and while the structure is absolutely there and Ari’s post-break up mood feels Harry-inspired, these characters are all their own. Read this for the fresh, complex take on romance, the really great text banter, and also one of my all-time favorite first kiss scenes. It was written just *chefs kiss* impeccably.