I rated this book four starts, because I had some issues with the characters of this book. Overall this book was okay. Thanks to Netgalley, for this free copy. My opinion was my own.

This book was fantastic. I was a little unsure because all of the reviews I read were positive and I didn't see how everyone could love the same book but I was surprised. This book has everything I've really be into lately. It starts out with out main character down on her luck managing to get a new apartment. The only problem is her roommate, he has a ton of rules and a very hard outer shell. As a reader you could tell from the beginning that the two characters were going to get together if not for anything else but the cover of the book. The characters in this book were fantastic, very well written and I liked Kaden and Allie's relationship. How it started and you got to watch it slowly emerge into something more powerful even though both were reluctant to admit it to themselves. One thing that I really enjoyed was there were only the two main characters, Kaden and Allie. I'm so used to books where there are millions of main characters and a ton of sub characters but this one was nice. Just the two main characters and a handful of secondary characters, just enough to keep the story moving. I don't think I've ever seen a book written like that and it was a nice change of pace. A perfect love story that doesn't go over the top in cliches. I think that Kaden's character was the best there was just something about him that made him super interesting. I think that he will go down as one of the best "book boyfriends" ever. Great read and I'm glad I got the chance to check it out.

Begin Again is Allie and Kaden’s story. I thought I was going to love this book but sadly, I did not. This plot of the unassuming college girl managing to catch the eye of the hottie player on campus and change him into a committed boyfriend is just so overdone. I liked Allie but Kaden’s back and forth was giving me major whiplash and I really didn’t feel connected to a lot of the secondary characters - especially her best buds. I feel like I’ve read this book before and it was better the first time I read it.

Thank you to Netgalley and be-ebooks for the digital copy.

A coming of age story, “Begin Again” is about finding freedom your own way. Without saying, “nothing is free in this world,” author Mona Kasten showed that Allie and Kaden had to fight for their independence every step of the way. Nothing was given to them. They had to work for it.

But, it is not just teen angst, “Begin Again” is also a beautiful love story. Please be aware that this book is YA, so some of you who are more used to faster pacing might find it a bit slower than Fast & Furious. There is a rhythm to it that makes you continue reading, just not at neck-breaking speed.

“Begin Again” is Rated T for Teens. Parental guidance is strongly advice due to some adult situations.

4.5 Stars
This was such a great book! I almost rated this one 5 stars and i am a star snob! lol . This is the story of Kaden & Allie. I was pulled it right from the beginning and loved every minute of it. The characters were developed really well. This story is multifaceted and was written so that i felt like i was immeresed in their lives. I wasn't ready for their story to end. :) Pick this one up....you wont regret it!

This is a story that has been written a hundred times before, same storyline as half the NA books out there. The female is a new college student who is tough and independent trying to make it on her own, yet cries at every opportunity. The guy is the typical womanizer, hottest guy on campus, covered in tattoos asshole. They get together. Surprise. The guy is an asshole and they split up. Surprise. The guy does a complete 180 and is now the sweetest and romantic dude ever and they get back together. Surprise. I just saved you from having to read the book.

Begin Again tells the story of Allie and Kaden. Two very different people who end up living together much to Kaden’s annoyance. Over time they develop a friendship and it becomes clear they are both fighting their own demons. Neither of them is dealing with particularly light issues and this shows in their destructive behaviours, more so with Kaden. Over time their walls fall away, and they develop a deep romantic connection.
I love a good “enemies to lovers” read and I would say this fits that category, though they did fall into an easy friendship fairly quickly it still had that element. It was somewhat predictable in how things ultimately played out, but this doesn’t really detract from the enjoyment of the read because things work out how you want them to. Kaden is also pretty unlikable in some scenes however this does make more sense throughout the book and I’d say he redeems himself. I particularly loved Spidey who we meet at the end, and I found his introduction adorable.
*Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for opportunity to review*

I really liked this story!

With just a few pages I found myself being held captive by the storyline, I was so intrigued by it. As I started reading it and getting to know the characters in the story I fell more and more in love with them. Kaden and Allie are such opposites but the one thing they share is a pure heart and the need to live their lives like they want to. Even though they make some mistakes along the way, that made me want to smack them in the head, I loved them because of how real they were portrayed. They are not perfect. They don’t have perfect lives, and they both have baggage to deal with. Pasts they need to reconcile with and a future to fight for.

But even when there are some deep emotions involved, there are also so many light moments that will have you holding your stomach because of how much you will laugh. Other moments that will make you hold your breath because of how beautiful and intense some moments between these two are. Moments that will have you all giddy and excited for them, others that will manage their way to your heart to give it a hug.

And you will fall in love with the rest of the characters. Kaden and Allie are amazing, but their group of friends are just as awesome.

Heartwarming, sweet and fun.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A woman starts college in a new town and ends up falling in love with her roommate.

*Sigh* I probably should not be reading New Adult romances with the same premise back-to-back. I read this novel right after Colleen Hoover's Ugly Love and J. Lynn's Wait for You, both featuring women in a college setting falling in love for the first time. While Begin Again is not a badly written story, it just contained too many similarities to the other two novels to make it unique or interesting.

Allie and Kaden, the two romantic leads, are individuals attempting to overcome - wait for it - traumatic pasts. Their individual journeys of self-growth and self-discovery provide some depth to an otherwise generic premise. While I occasionally enjoyed some of their romantic moments, I think it would have been more enjoyable if the story had focused on their friendship over their romance.

It comes down to this - I'm no longer interested in "commitment issue" plot lines and/or "traumatic past" character arcs. Give me the story about students working their asses off to attend college. Give me the story of characters overcoming their homesickness or making friends or living in the college dorms. Give me those stories because too many of these stories already exist.

tl;dr A generic and overly done plot mixed with some satisfying character moments make this an uneven novel.

This was the first book I read of this author and it will definitely not be the last. I have been wanting to read a collage romance for a while and this story had everything I enjoyed about collage romance. This as a definite must read for fans of collage romance reads,

It took me awhile to get into Begin Again. I don’t know if it was just me or what, but I just had a hard time connecting with this book. The writing style was great, but the story fell flat for me in quite a bit of the book.

It’s a beautiful story, well written that makes you want be in the characters world and befriending them. I love the way that the author makes us feel opposite emotions to the same character. The storyline and the past of the characters are reveled throw the book and are sad but a beautiful story of overcoming issues that are so overwhelming in that characters life. Mona Kasten should be very proud of this book because it’s amazing.
Ps.: This book was given by the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

This was such a good book! I’ve become a big fan of the NA genre and Begin Again had everything I look for in a NA book! I loved the friendships, the setting, the romance and the drama. I liked all of the main characters and enjoyed the relationships they formed. Kaden was rough around the edges but I really liked him anyway. Allie was so strong and had been through a lot, I was rooting for her and her freedom. Overall it was a great book and I look forward to reading more by this author!

Good story, a little too young adult. But good characters.

I really enjoyed reading the book and it was such a quick read. ‘Begin Again’ has a great plot and it’s a book you can easily read in one sitting because it will captivate you. It made me laugh a lot and I’ll definitely add it to my list of books I reread when I just need something that will make me happy. I also immediately fell in love with the two main characters, Kaden and Allie, but also really loved some of the secondary characters like Spencer, Dawn and Scott and hope we will get to read more about them in the sequel.

If you're aged 15-20, this is the ideal immersive love story for you. Allie is a sweet character, richly written with a heart of gold. Kaden is an odious, down-talking disrespectful alpha male whose motivations and past become clear as the story continues. Both main characters have interesting back-stories which inform their characters in the present and help the reader understand why they are who they are. They move in together as roommates and, as predicted, clashes and sexual tension ensues.

This story is about Allie and Kaden. When Allie moves to college, she’s looking for a room to rent but can’t find the right one until she checks out the spare room in Kaden’s apartment. The problem is that he actually doesn’t want to live with her but Allie is very convincing and Kaden lets her move in anyway and they start to develop feelings for each other.

I really enjoyed reading the book and it was such a quick read and it has a great plot. I read this in one sitting which normally doesn't happen but this book captivated me so much I couldn't put it down. It also made me laugh and I fell completely in love with the two main characters, Kaden and Allie along with most of the secondary characters.

All in all, I really liked this book and am glad had the chance to read it. Can't wait to read more from this author

Begin Again is a drama-filled NA romance.

Allie has moved to a small town to start over. She's left her incredibly distant (quite frankly, worthless) parents behind and has changed her name from Crystal to Allie. But, she needs a place to stay while she attends her new university. That's where Kaden comes in. He's advertising for a roommate but when Allie shows up he tells her to go away. Their very first meeting and Kaden's a complete d bag?! And that's why I never grew to like him. Throughout almost the entire story he's so hot and cold with poor Allie that she must have been suffering from whiplash. He's a complete d to her never really redeems himself, even at the end when he's in grovel mode. One stretch of sweet behavior can't erase an entire book's worth of bad behavior, at least not in my eyes. In Allie's eyes, though, that's a different story.

I liked Allie and felt for her. Her parents were worthless excuses, not even what you could call parents, perhaps biologically speaking, but in all the ways that count, nope. Still, Allie persisted, moved, and grew into herself, and for that I loved her. And her amazing friends like Dawn, Scott and Spencer? They're the kind of friends we all wish we had. If only the "hero" had been worthy of Allie, but unfortunately, he didn't even come close. Yes, he went through something pretty upsetting, but it's no excuse for the way he treated Allie, both in the beginning and toward the end when he kicked her out of his apartment and his life. Yes, that's right, he kicked her out during an incredibly unpleasant childish temper tantrum. And the rest of the time he pushed and pulled and messed with her poor heart and mind, and it just made me want to junk punch him. He's the sole reason for three stars. If he had been worthy of Allie, I definitely would have rated this 4 stars, because she's pretty awesome. As it's written, though, I just can't go higher for Begin Again.

Cheesy and predictable romance books are not to everyone's taste, but I devour these books in one sitting as they are my guilty pleasure!
If you're a fan of CoHo books without quite so much heartache, then this is the book for you. A troubled female MC, a macho male shoulder to cry on and a typical love story. I must admit at times, I found the main guy, Kaden, to be slightly annoying or too domineering. But overall he was sweet and fun and the banter between Allie and Kaden was hilarious.

I enjoyed the mystery to Allie's background, clearly there is anger towards her family and feelings of betrayal but the reasons for this are kept a secret until you are more invested into the wellbeing of the characters, so that when the secret is revealed it is dealt like a fatal blow to the heart. Allie is a headstrong female who makes her own decisions, she wishes to stand on her own two feet and this I could relate to.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I read the majority in one sitting. I would only recommend this book to lovers of prediactable romances and not to a anyone who prefers a more unique story.

3.5 stars.
I did enjoy this.
Fast read for me, I was drawn into the story fairly quickly and ended up really liking this somewhat angsty college drama that had endearing friendships combined with witty banter plus one A-hole male "jerk".
I was a little surprised to find out that it was translated from German as it was so clearly set in the U.S.
The initial meet between Allie and Kaden was plenty entertaining, they clearly got off to a rough start as roomies but this enemies to lover's story was powerful and resonated deeply with me.
Dawn was the "perfect" loyal best friend Allie or any other girl could hope for and Spencer was a "dream" guy that that was willing to put himself quite literally "in the line of fire" to knock some sense into Kaden. Ethan, Monica, and Scott were fabulous characters also.
There was also off the charts family drama involved here, Allie's mother was a nasty piece of work and pretty much morally bankrupt in terms of feelings or integrity.
Overall a pretty great and entertaining read.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.