If you’ve been around the bookish pockets of the internet, then it’s highly likely you’ll have heard about popular booktuber, Christine Riccio, or PolandBananasBooks. If you’re a fan of Christine’s videos, then you’ll also know she’s been working on a book since at least 2016 which is now finally at the end of the publishing road. It’s titled Again, but Better and I was lucky enough to receive an ARC.

Who, What, Where?
Shane’s been doing college all wrong – she’s studying a major she has no passion for, has made zero friends, and her love-life is non-existent. In the hopes of changing things up, she applies for a semester abroad creative writing program in London and an internship at a prominent travel magazine. To ensure she makes the most of the experience, Shane sets herself a list of goals – kick ass at her internship, start a novel, kiss a boy, make friends, and have adventures. However, when reality begins to set in, things quickly start to fall apart. But what if, with the help of a little magic, Shane had the chance for a do-over?

Bogged Down or Too Blunt
Having watched a few snippets of Christine’s book writing videos, I know that the first draft of Again, but Better was around 120,000 words. I couldn’t understand how this could possibly be until I actually read the ARC.

Now, this is a book that would have needed A LOT of editing.

Why? There’s just so much unnecessary detail. Being able to vividly visualise scenes is great, but there’s a point where it becomes information overload. Do I really need to know every detail about every street, building, corner, and shop on Shane’s journey to the supermarket? No. You’re writing a novel, not a London guide book.

On the flip side, the chapter ends have the opposite problem. While a lot of the story feels almost gushy, the chapters always seem to end in abrupt (but not cliff-hanger-y) ways. It’s almost as though you’d expect it to be the middle of a scene rather than the end. Because of this, they felt a little jarring and anti-climactic, impacting the flow of the novel for me.

Didn’t You Realise, it’s 2011
A large chunk of ABB is set in 2011. This is fine but, for some reason, the book feels the need to remind us repeatedly. If I’d been doing shots for 2011 references, I’d have been on the floor. Shane playing Angry Birds. Shot. Avril Lavigne’s ‘What the Hell?’ plays. Shot. Now it’s Rihanna’s ‘Who’s That Chick?’. Double shot. Shane is re-reading City of Glass for City of Fallen Angels. SHOOOOOTTTTT. Luckily for my liver, the name dropping does calm down in the second half. Even better, Christine stops trying to casually (or awkwardly) integrate the references. Instead, she even manages to turn them into a fun part of the time travel experience.

Christine, is That You?
As someone who isn’t a PolandBananasBooks fan, after I while, even I started to notice that ABB’s MC, Shane has…er…well, a lot in common with Christine. Visually, they’re both white, blonde girls with slim builds who like their eyeliner. Both have Italian families, social anxiety, and dream of being published authors. Christine’s username is PolandBananas20 while Shane’s blog is FrenchWatermelon19. They like the same books and music, name their laptops, and speak in the same generally excitable, “quirky” way. I get that authors are encouraged to write what they know, but when your MC is basically you, it does mean that your writing starts sounding a lot like wish fulfilment. As a result, there were parts of this that ended up feeling just a little bit cringy – especially the happily ever after ending.

A Re-Do on Boring
Plot-wise, I enjoyed the second half of ABB more than the first. The way the book is set out is: Shane does London take 1#, short intermission in the present before BAM time travel twist, then Shane does London take 2#. The problem with take 1# is that much of it feels like an extended prologue – laying down the groundwork for parts of take 2#. While there were a couple of moments where things picked up, most of the time I found myself bored. There are a lot of mundane conversations, quite a bit of repetition, and lengthy sections involving Shane recounting uninteresting details of her day-to-day life in her notebook.

The beginning of take 2# is where things picked up. The humour was better, the writing smoother, and the plot showed more direction. Then, to my frustration, (a) it slowed down again and (b) the characters returned to making frustrating decisions. *groans*.

A Bit of Positivity
At this point, I feel like I’m crapping all over a young author’s debut novel. So, with that in mind here are a few of the things I liked about ABB:

- The book does have some genuinely funny elements e.g. Shane’s war with the flat’s dining chairs and her recount of the way she spent her spring break. Basically me.
- Despite having issues with them as separate characters, I did root for Shane and her love interest, Pilot, to end up together. They have some nice interactions, especially in take 2#.
- While the ending was rushed, unrealistic and corny, I couldn’t help finding it very cute. Stupid swoony heart, you’re supposed to be a cynic! Must be the magic of Taylor Swift.
- *spoiler* There’s a really lovely moment during take 2# in which Shane helps out her cousin who is struggling with coming out. Super sweet.
- I’m sure there will be people out there who can relate to Shane’s anxiety issues, and she does have a couple of panic attacks during the novel.
_________________________________
While I hate to say it, I wasn’t much of a fan of this one and probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t a big Christine viewer (because it has her written all over it). Again, but Better has its brighter moments, but unfortunately, they’re often overshadowed by the novel’s lower points.

2.5 STARS

*** ARC received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I really really really wanted to like this book. I am SO happy for Christine and I know she put so much work in this book. I read 40% of it and I don't think I can continue. Right off the bat, the shear amount of pop culture references started to grate on my nerves. Usually, I don't mind a few here and there but explaining the brand of cell phone (LG Voyager, in case you were wondering) was just excessive. It feel like she was name dropping brands or something. The character names felt like they were all trying too hard. Each one was more hipster than the next. Atticus? Okay, MAYBE some parents love To Kill a Mockingbird. Fine. Pilot? Weirder still but okay. Sahra? But pronounced Sarah? come on. BABE?! Are you serious? Each name pulled me more and more out of the plot until I was totally distracted. At one point, I got the impression that Sahra was possibly Asian but the way Shane described her wasn't in a favorable light and then I was distracted for a few pages while I tried to figure out if that was the case or not. The obsession the main character has with Pilot is really offputting as well. I expected her to back off when she found out that Pilot had a girlfriend but if anything, she's just even more obsessed with what Pilot is doing at all hours of the day. The main character seems to totally disregard a relationship that someone is in. Finally, there are places in which every single minute of a morning is described and it becomes tedious trying to get from point A to point B. I do appreciate that this could be evidence of Shane's anxiety because it did read that way to me at certain times. Finally, because we know Christine so well through her youtube channel, the self-insert is abundantly evident but this honestly doesn't bother me. I hope that through writing the book, Christine was able to revisit her own experiences.

Normally, I would not rate a book that I DNF because the ending could have an influence on the rating, but for the purposes of Netgalley, I have to include a rating. This rating reflects ONLY the first 40% of the book.

Today, my review is going to be a little different than normal. I had the pleasure of buddy reading this book with my friend Debby @ alwaysbooking. My review will be comprised of 5 questions we both answered about Again, but Better. You can check out her review here.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

1. What was your favorite thing about this book?
Oh, boy. This is a hard question to answer without giving too much away. The second half of the book was my favorite part of it. It's not because I loved it. There was just this period of truths that were important. Without those truths, I would have hated this book. Those truths were my favorite things about it. I guess I did have one other favorite thing. I loved the banter between Shane and Pilot. It was quirky, but cool.

2. Who of all the characters mentioned in the book was your favorite?
I honestly don't think I had a favorite character. There were a few small moments of liking certain ones. Atticus and Babe both seemed like good friends. They had that going for them. Pilot made some decisions early on that I ended up thinking were super smart, but will probably make other readers mad. Wait! Let's go with Shane's cousin, Leo. He can be my favorite. (Which says A LOT, if you end up reading this book.)

3. Cover love or no cover love?
I think the cover fits the book. It's unique. I wouldn't say it calls to me specifically, but I like it.

4. Did you find the character developed well throughout the book or were you left wanting more?
Oh, geez... Shane was a freaking mess. She was obsessive and self-centered. She was supposed to be like 19 or 20, but acted more like a 16 year old. Which, I have to stop now and mention that this book is categorized as YA/Teen. I'm thinking that's because the topics seem to be pretty juvenile at first. I don't know that I agree with this, though. The characters are college age, so it should be NA. It doesn't feel or read like a NA book, though. I would probably just throw it in the general fiction category. It's doesn't even read like a true contemporary romance.

Anyways... Back to the actual question. Shane let a possible relationship with a guy take over her life in only the way a teenager can, but it was super weird because there wasn't much to build that obsession on. She basically decided to make him her life after minutes of meeting him. I didn't like Shane and honestly didn't care if she got the guy or not. Well, actually, I didn't want her to get him. I just wanted to give her a good shake and tell her figure her stuff out. It wasn't until almost the end of the book that I felt Shane's character truly developed. Something gave her that shake I wanted to, and then I found myself saying, "FINALLY!"

So... Yes, there was character development. It came in fits and spurts. I think I was happy with it at the end. Honestly, I didn't find myself wanting more at the end. I was just happy it was over. Brutal, I know. Sorry.

5. Would you attempt another book by this author, seeing as it was her debut book?
That's a tough question. I want to say yes, that I would give this author another chance because it was her first novel and I didn't think the writing was horrible or anything. The reality is that I probably wouldn't unless the blurb was something I felt incredibly drawn to or I read reviews by trusted blogger friends that said it was a must read.

And that's it for my review. If you have any other questions for me about this book, leave them in the comments section.

Again, but Better focuses on Shane, who’s entire life has pretty much been mapped out by her parents wants and aspirations for her. They have her on the fast track to becoming an aspiring doctor. But all Shane really wants to do is read and write and has aspirations of her own to becoming an author; but she doesn’t want to let her parents down. Shane ends up being able to study abroad in London as a part of a writing program and becomes an intern at a travel magazine and for once in her life, she can get away from her parents overbearing expectations.

This novel is also told in two different parts. The first being in 2011, during Shane’s study abroad program in London when she’s 20. The second part being in 2017, when Shane is 26 and trying to get a start into her career. I for one, really enjoyed this because we got to see Shane at two completely different points in her life. It was great to see how she evolved, changed and grew in that time period as well.

Shane is awkward, she’s quirky and she’s relatable. But at times, I did feel like she was a little ‘too Christine’. If you’re familiar with Christine from her videos and her channels, then you’ll easily pick up on the similarities between the two of them. And I’m sure plenty of reviewers will hate that for whichever reasons; but I didn’t actually mind it too much. And as the story developed Shane quickly came into herself and the similarities between her and Christine escaped my mind.

I love love love, how even though there is a romance in this book and this is a romance book. It is still first and foremost a story about finding yourself and learning to live your life for yourself. Not for other people. It’s about becoming comfortable in your own skin, doing things that may scare you and just being happy with your own choices. This is a concept that even I have a hard time learning and living with; but it’s something that everyone needs to know. So I was happy to see it in writing.

Something else that I’m sure would probably annoy others; but what I really loved was all the references to some of Christine’s favorite tv shows and books. I was living for the Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments references sprinkled throughout this novel. It was fun.

I think I’m going to end this by talking about the relationship in this book. Because yes while it was cute as hell and I found myself smiling like an idiot most times. A big part of it didn’t sit well with me. Shane and Pilot, (yes as in a tv show’s first episode) were totally adorable together. And I loved how they were friends first and it developed into more. Their banter was A+; especially when it dipped into flirty banter. I just love these two together. But I also feel guilt about that because of the grey-area cheating in this book. That is just a huge problem and doesn’t sit well with me and I can’t exactly be okay with their relationship because of how it started.

Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book and I’m excited to eventually read the finished copy and see if anything is different. While, this book does have his faults, you can tell just how much hard work Christine put into it and I’m excited to see future works from her.

3.25-3.5⭐️

I really liked the beginning of this book. I liked all of the characters and the comical situations that Shane got herself into. The second half of the book fell flat to me. There were way too many references to Harry Potter; it became annoying.

This was a cute, okay read. Probably perfect as a summer read.

I was provided this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
#netgalley

I just finished Again, but Better by Christine Riccio and it gets 5 stars! I have a hard time with the YA genre, because I find they usually try to be edgy and end up coming out ridiculously over-the-top and cheesy. I found this one to be so relatable. It was so nice that it wasn’t trying to force sex, drugs and partying down my throat and try to normalize these behaviors like I find other YA books do—which I don’t think is good for teens to be reading. I found the main character, Shane to be completely relatable. I am going to miss her and wish she was a real blogger “for realsies” so I could keep tabs on her and her life.
I found the way this was written, heavy on dialogue, lots of postcards, blog posts and journal entries to move quickly and smoothly and I truly enjoyed it. I found the way Shane communicated to be super endearing and I was rooting her on the whole way through.
Trigger warning: There is some partying, (but legal), an almost sex-scene and some cussing.

Unfortunately, this book isn't for me. I made it 10% through on my kindle. I found the writing to be good, but the characters really got on my nerves. The main character, Shane, was awkward almost to a painful point. I also didn't like some of the names the author chose, like Pilot Penn. The more I was reading, the more I was not liking it. And based on some other reviews I've read about the book, it seems like these things don't improve. Therefore, I'm going to put the book aside. Thank you for the chance to read this book.

I liked the idea of Again, But Better. However, I had a hard time feeling invested in the characters and plot. The characters fell flat for me, causing me to skim over some parts. I did love the descriptions of the study abroad setting and hearing about the Shane's travels! I enjoyed reading the second half of the book more than the beginning. I would have liked for some parts of the plot to be more developed, like her relationship with her parents and Leo. Overall, this was an okay read for me. I would recommend it to fans of Christine Riccio's Youtube book reviews.

If you could do things differently – with the knowledge you have now – would you change your past?

Shane is not happy with how her college experience is turning out so she decides to apply for a study abroad program and try something different! She will be bolder – she will follow her dreams of being a writer and she will kiss a boy she likes. Things don’t go as planned and she is left feeling worse than when she started. I don’t feel like I can say any more without giving away major spoilers.

One thing I loved is that it is filled with fun pop culture references and other little gems from 2011 that will any bookie or fandom lovers will appreciate. It takes place in the UK but also New York and Paris and Rome so it has lots of fun worldly and travel references. There are so many fun pieces of this story that it truly feels like a coming of age rom-com that I would love to see on the big screen!

The author of this book, Christine, is also a Book-Tuber that I subscribe to and quite enjoy. I found that I had trouble separating the character of Shane with the Youtube persona of Christine! Not that it is a bad thing! Shane (and Christine) would definitely be a fun person to hang around!

Violence: None

Sex: Yes – this is a book about young college students, it isn’t graphic but it is present.

Substance – minor drinking

Language: Coarse language is present.

I would categorize this book as a new adult book vs a young adult book primarily because they are in college vs being in high school. It is appropriate for ages 16 plus.

I received this ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

GoodReads Review:
From one of the most followed booktubers today, comes Again, but Better, a story about second chances, discovering yourself, and being brave enough to try again.
Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal—but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that?
Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change—there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!
Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.
Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic—the possibilities are endless.
Review:
I was very kindly provided this ARC via NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review. I’m an avid BookTube watcher and Christine is one of my favorites to watch. She’s just so full of energy and personality. I was very excited to see that she was coming out with a book.
Christine’s personality is very much present in this book. The main character Shane is definitely someone that reminds me of Christine, from what I know of her as an outside perspective. It also sounds like some of this was taken from her own experiences of studying abroad. This kind of annoyed me in the beginning, but I kind of enjoyed it by the end of the book. Shane was very young and even sometimes a little annoying at times in the first half of the book. She was quirky, but almost too much so. She definitely made me laugh a few times. And I really understood the struggle with her family. But I thought she had a little too much annoyance for her cousins and I’m glad of how she amended that in the later half.
I was surprised by the second half of this story. It went in a direction that I certainly did not expect. I really liked the second half. Everything about it was better. Shane had grown, the writing was better. It was just all around more enjoyable.
I’d say this was an average debut novel. I’ve already preordered it and I’m happy to support Christine. I’m excited to see her writing grow and get better the more that she writes.
Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

There were quite a few things I liked about <i>Again but better</i> but what really got my attention were the themes - overcoming social awkwardness and choosing your own path. The main character, Shane, “had been doing college all wrong.” Well, even though there really is no right/wrong way to “do “college, I understood and admired her self- driven awareness and attempts to change and grow. Gave Shane credit for moving in new and different directions and following her own interests/career path. As a YA title, I think readers will relate to these themes. At the same time, it seemed a bit far-fetched that all of her goals seemed to fall into place upon landing in London – it’s just not that easy.

The story also touched on a number of other current issues and underlying moral challenges that many YA readers will identify with even if they are not fully explored or resolved in the novel. One example is honesty, or lack of, in Shane’s relationship with Pilot as well as her parents (and vice versa in both cases.)

Overall, this was a light, entertaining read but not up to par with the best YA authors. But room to grow is not a bad thing and is to be expected from a new(-ish) author.



FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to start off with the most important part of this review -- I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Yes, in capital letters with extra exclamation marks. I'm not usually the kind of person to nearly keyboard smash when it comes to a review, but Christine did an amazing job with this book. I was unsure going in, but by a quarter of the way through I was hooked. I had to know more about Shane! It was heartwarming and heartbreaking and totally relatable all at once. You can bet I'll be buying a physical copy of this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Here we have the debut novel of BookTube star Christine Riccio, "Again, but Better". The novel follows Shane across Europe as she takes a semester abroad to study creative writing, her true passion despite her parents' pressuring her to become a doctor. She meets someone special, but when the planets don't align for this star-crossed couple, it takes a few broken rules of physics and reality itself for Shane to become the woman she was always meant to be.

First things first, I've been following polandbananasbooks for years, since midway through high school. Now I'm a college undergrad, studying by day and reading fantasy by night. I adore Christine for her bubbly personality and willingness to share all about her life, but her distinctive persona was almost a detriment to her book. Something that immediately stuck out to me was how Christine essentially repackaged her own life story into this book. Shane's experiences and personality are almost perfect mirrors of Christine's, from the way that Shane's roommates got a new housing situation without her—which prompted her to study abroad in London in the first place—to her blog name. She has the same obsession with Taylor Swift, Lost, and YA books. Knowing this, I couldn't really take this book quite as seriously, since it was essentially self-insert fiction.

To be entirely fair, I just don't think that romcom YA contemporary is for me. I found myself rolling my eyes at all of the cheesy dialogue, where so many conversations were dedicated to geeky humor with very little substance for the most part. It's not my personal cup of tea, but I suppose I'm not really the target demographic for this book. A lot of the characters weren't very memorable, and I really had a hard time telling Shane's friends apart. I was also deeply uncomfortable with how much cheating goes on in this book. The love interest has a girlfriend when he and Shane are falling in love, for crying out loud.

Still, there were a lot of very relatable aspects of this book, particularly the sections where Shane's parents really pressured her into doing a more lucrative degree (premed) rather than what she was truly interested in (creative writing), that did resonate with me. I'm a college student myself, trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and ultimately I can empathize with Shane a lot as she goes through those same struggles. I felt that the overall resolution of this conflict was rather unsatisfactory, however, since we are never shown the progression of how Shane mends the relationship with her parents after they find out the truth about her "premed" program.

A BIG, very subjective tangent here: this is a personal belief of mine, simply because of the way I was raised, but I felt extremely anxious about Shane's decisions throughout the novel. At one point in the novel, it's stated that her parents pay $50,000 per year for her to attend university, which is an extremely large sum of money. As the daughter of immigrant parents with broken English who came to America living off of whatever scholarship money the university program gave them, I was implicitly taught that the humanities were a "worthless" pursuit. My father came from a poor province and studied his ass off to get his master's in software engineering. My mother studied literature all throughout undergrad and grad school, and it is still her greatest passion today. But she could not find work, and so she got a master's in library/database sciences in order to raise our family. I will never stop being grateful to my parents for putting 110% into making sure that my sister and I can live comfortably, but as a result, I myself feel deeply uncomfortable about the idea of pursuing a degree that so often sends people back to school looking for a more technical major with a higher salary. In the story, I found myself really sympathizing with Shane's parents, because I absolutely understand their fears. They're the same fears I have. I don't condone Shane's father's harsh language, but I 100% understand where it's coming from.

I'm not so ignorant as to say that a humanities degree is useless, because there are plenty of jobs looking for people taught those critical reading and writing skills, and you can always go on to become a professor such that you can research those topics for the rest of your days. Society without the colorful touch of the arts would be painfully bland (I'd die without books!). Still, I personally am still struggling to come to terms with my own biases based on my upbringing. For Shane, the decision was very much all or nothing, without any safety nets. She dove in headfirst, and that just sent my anxiety into overdrive. Perhaps if Christine had explored this complex issue more thoroughly, I wouldn't be left with this maelstrom of conflicting emotions. I'm not a fan of the theme of "chasing after your dreams recklessly because everything will be okay as long as you work hard" because that's not how it works in real life. It hasn't worked out for so many of my peers, and it just deeply unsettles me.

Oof, sorry if that sounded really cynical! I have a lot of opinions regarding higher education, but they're by no means law. Overall, I just wasn't a huge fan of the style and plot, and while some of the themes were interesting, they weren't explored as deeply as I would have liked. I imagine that I'm just not the sort of readership that Christine is hoping to target with this, simply due to my own life experiences making me a pessimistic downer haha.

3.75/5*

Received this ARC from netgalley. **

While I’ve heard of Christine Riccio all over from YouTube, i was definitely intrigued when she was writing this book.

My thoughts without spoilers of course.

I found that the writing style was very interesting. The first part was told in 2011 and the second was told six years later. While i did find the second part unexpected, it did added a bit more of a mystery aspect of it to the story and thus more of the plot thickens.

I did find the characters enjoyable. Each of them had their personalities about them and there were a few i had a bit of a love/hate relationship towards a few in particular.

The plot. While i did love the travel, adventure and dab of romance, there was some of it that had the typical drama (family, relationships, etc) i felt that it was a bit over dramatic at times but aside from that, i did feel that i was actually traveling through Europe and seeing how it all folded out at once.

Overall, i did enjoy this book and would definitely recommend this to those who love travel stories with a touch of magic

I did not enjoy this book. It was not well put together, the main character was very annoying, the plot had some serious holes (especially when it came to the time travel) and I just didn't enjoy the story. It read more like a fan fiction than a cohesive novel and I don't think it has much in the way of character development or a clear message.

This book is all about a girl named Shane taking a semester to study abroad in London. She's been doing college all wrong and now has the perfect chance to do things better.

The writing is pretty bad if I can say that in the nicest way possible. It's really cringy, super awkward, and immature. In no way do these characters seem college aged (or mid 20s later on in the book). The pacing is also off and entire events were summed up in a few paragraphs sometimes via journal entries and sometimes even not. Most of the book was just Shane going on trips every weekend to different countries, taking selfies, and making idle banter to the love interest and her roommates. Repeat repeat. I'm pretty sure this book was also supposed to be funny and cute but I didn't laugh or smile a single time. Even parts that were supposed to be emotional just fell flat because the author didn't know how to do it realistically. And ALL of the dialogue in this book was so weird and no one speaks like this, anywhere.

The characters just weren't fleshed out, besides maybe Shane. And the only reason Shane was fleshed out was because she was exactly Christine herself. I get the whole "write what you know" thing but this was excessive. Shane was also super clumsy and she flailed, flopped, and floundered too much. It honestly didn't seem like Christine tried to make a character at all, instead just insert herself in the story. Everything Shane likes whether it is music, tv shows, books, and even clothes is Christine. There are so many references to Cassandra Clare's books and Harry Potter was mentioned even more. Don't get me started on how many times The Beatles were name-dropped while they are living in London and acting like clueless Americans. Half of the book was TONS of pop culture references of Christine's real life favorites and I cringed every single time. A lot of this book takes place in 2011 and Christine is going to be damn sure we get that from all these useless name drops.

Shane has multiple roommates and they all have strange names, and they are all kind of interchangeable. Her love interest is named Pilot Penn and she decides she wants to call him Pies. The romance was also super lackluster, insta-lovey and didn't even make any sense. Plus he had a girlfriend for most of it while still flirting and even kissing Shane. A few times they just stopped talking for months while pretty much living together and that was really weird too.

I'm not going to spoil it but there is a magical element that is just so extra quirky and silly. The book was already pretty bad but it just made it worse. Maybe it would have been good if it was done well but it wasn't.

The ending was also super obnoxious and very wish-fulfillment as well but alas. If you are a super fan of Christine, I'm sure you'll love it. Sadly I value better writing, better characters, and a better plot over Youtube videos. A big miss for me but congrats to her for getting published.

I received an ARC from Net Galley. I wish I had finished sooner, but with school and stuff, that was near impossible.
Anyway, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I thought it was cute and fuzzy, and pretty surprising. I thought the second chance was the internship the first time around, but I enjoyed the supernatural/science fictiony aspect of actually taking the second chance.
I was a little irked at Shane in the second take that she spent so much time thinking of Pilot, but she really surprised me when she took a step back and decided to focus on her. I thought that was such a brave and awesome thing for her to do. Of course, it was sad about her and Pilot, and I am glad that they got their happy ending, and that they reformed their relationship to focus on themselves as well as each other. They’re very dorky.
I related to Shane a bit. I haven’t named my computer or anything, but her wanting to represent Lost in a subtle way is like me with my fandoms. I actually got a “Sherry, Niles” shirt because I love Frasier, and needed it, even if no one has commented on it. Lol
Because this was an ARC, there were jarring transitions, especially during the two Paris trips, where all of a sudden they are with Babe and Chad, but I’m sure that’s been fixed. There were some grammatical errors, too. But, of course, that’s been fixed too, I’m sure.
Some critiques: they snort way too much. Like, Shane snorted like six times in one chapter. I don’t remember getting a physical description on Shane until she’s in Scotland, and that’s just her hair being frizzy. We get a lot of her feelings, but not always in places where I think it matters. When she goes into the Elephant House, she has a tingly feeling, but that’s it. I want more of a physical description of the place, and more of her feelings. Does she feel overwhelmed? Excited? What does tingly mean? And in the second take, Atticus is never around. He’s always doing something, and I really liked him, so it was disappointing not to see him.
I also would have liked more with her parents, especially what happened when she got back the first time and the second. How did she mend the gap?
I loved seeing Shane be more assertive in the second take. I loved her actually talking with Leo instead of retreating into herself, and her relationship with Babe is super cute.
All in all, cute, funny, enjoyable story!

I have to start by saying I was totally into the premise of this book because I also went to London in college and met my husband there. So yeah, I was hooked and loved all the reminiscing I did with the character. However, with out my personal experience would I have liked this as much, probably not . However, if I was a teen reading this story I would probably get sucked in to it. So I will purchase this for my library. And I am sure it will circulate among teens.

I enjoyed parts of this book. I liked the concept of what happens in the middle. I liked Babe. I loved the travel. But other than that the book was a bit of a mess. Shane’s klutziness was beyond a YA cliche and I detested that. I hated all the lyrics and talk about books that I don’t like. Not including HP of course. Love those. And she used cackled over ten times and that grated on my nerves. This book just wasn’t for me. It could have used some editing and smoothing as I did like the concept. But too many YA cliches stuffed into one book.

After reading the synopsis I thought this would be a really good book to read. However, I had to stop reading after getting 25% through the book. I am sorry I just couldn't get into the writing style. The dialog was making me cringe.