Oh boy. Where to begin.

I don't mind Christine Riccio. I've watched her Booktube videos and I think she can be very funny sometimes. I wanted to read this because I was curious to see how someone who is forced to be critical about the books she reviews would write a book of her own. She can be insightful sometimes, so I hoped that Riccio would learn from other author's mistakes and publish a good debut.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

Let's start with the things I liked: "Again, But Better" has a great setting. Stories in Europe are great, and I love being able to live vicariously through the characters since I've never been able to experience any of these great locations. Riccio infuses lots of fun, nerdy things and makes references to shows, movies, books: Lost, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Vampire Academy, etc. Some of the dialogue was also very clever and sharp, and I appreciated some of the banter between characters, particularly Shane and Pilot.

Which brings me to things I didn't like. You see I mentioned a character named "Pilot" above? That's his actual, given name. One of Shane's roommates is named Babe. Again, not a nickname. And there wasn't even a cool story as to why they had these strange, unique names? Oh, and then there was the guy that Babe had a crush on, "Chad", who's your stereotypical jerk who says "yo" a lot.

While I did enjoy some of the dialogue and banter, there were other parts that felt clunky and awkward. Some of Riccio's phrasing was weird to me and didn't make for a flowing, easy read. I had to reread a few paragraphs to understand what exactly was being said.

I'm not even going to get into the odd subplot with the spirit guide? This didn't add to the story and frankly, made this book so much more cringe-y.

I feel I would have liked this book more had the characters acted their age. These were supposed to be college students studying abroad in Europe, but they read like 14 year old brats. I hoped this would feel less like YA given the age of the characters, yet there was really no change in the way they spoke or acted.

I do hope that Riccio takes some of the criticism of her debut novel and uses that to improve, because I'd love to see her succeed. "Again, But Better" just wasn't imaginative or polished enough.

An e-copy of this book was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This was such a great debut novel! I love Christine's writing and easy flow narrative - this read quickly and smoothly. The main character was beyond relatable and I think so many girls and young women will be able to see themselves in her. I will say however that the romance wasn't my favorite, as it did somewhat normalize cheating. It's real life and happens often, so I see why the author may have included it, but personally i can't support a romance that begun like that.
Overall, it was super fun and enjoyable, and would totally recommend it to friends and family of the young adult age range - especially anyone going into university or going abroad for study!

Ok! So the cover incredible, the author, hilarious, the synopsis misleading. The little blurb on the back of the book that provides some insight on what the book is about made it sound incredible but I thought the book fell a little short of that.
I feel like because the book was written by a girl obsessed with books like the rest of us that she included too many references to other books such as Harry Potter and shadowhunters, the story was kind of all over the place and somethings were left out and I felt it was kind of messy.
I did enjoy parts of it, however the parts I didn’t enjoy outweigh the ones I did I like

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC.

The premise of Again, But Better is great. It’s not completely original but it’s fun and could have been an enjoyable light read. The execution, however, missed the mark. The unlikeable characters, the pacing, and the odd style of writing made this a difficult read. I rarely give books two stars but alas, here we are. The good news is that at about 15% then 20% then 30% in, I was certain I would abandon it, but I did manage to finish, albeit, it took me a REALLY long while to do so. It rarely takes me more than a week to read a book, but I just kept losing interest.

The pacing and story structure made it such a slog to read. While studying abroad *is* interesting and exciting, every chapter fell into a monotonous routine. It took more than half the book for the major plot twist to appear, and then I had to relive the whole first half of the book all over again with characters I just didn’t care enough about.

Another area that was frustrating as a reader was the hyper focus on the time period. There’s something about a sense of timelessness that I appreciate as a reader. This book couldn’t go a page without the constant reminder in some kind of pop culture reference that the year was 2011. It pulled me away from the story and distracted me. It felt like a very novice move.

My biggest issue always boils down to whether I like the main characters or not, and I not only couldn’t connect with Shane, but I really just didn’t like her. This may seem minor, but lord have mercy, Shane has more run-ins with falling, toppling, clashing, flipping, clanging chairs than anyone on the planet, so much so that it becomes a running theme and she actually says in one scene, “Evil chairs are out to get me, falling every five seconds.” And in another scene, “I can’t win with these stupid-ass chairs. Even when I get up carefully, it’s like it doesn’t matter, they still flip over just to piss me off.” In my lifetime, I’ve never met a person to have such difficulty sitting and standing up, especially one who eventually becomes a doctor on one timeline.

Overall, this book attempts to be a YA rom-com but is riddled with so much cutesy, cliched, time-stamped monotony, I just couldn’t fall into the story.

Listen, I don't know much about Christine Riccio but let me just say...this book needed a LOT of work. There was so many parts where I stopped reading because the sentence was just so bad and/or it was cliche. I didn't enjoy this book as I expected. I liked the concept of the book but it wasn't the best written.

DNF at 27%

I tried. I really tried. And I’m sorry but this book was a mess.

When I requested the eARC of this book it was because I thought it sounded interesting. But it’s painfully obvious this is coming from an inexperienced author.

The way I can explain the writing is with these four words: choppy, clumsy, sloppy and clunky. There’s really no other way to explain it. It’s rough and poorly edited.

The main character, Shane, is meant to be 20 years old, but she reads like she’s 15 <i>at most</i>.

I do know that some people have really enjoyed this, so if you feel like you might want to pick it up, then I recommend you read a sample of it beforehand. I only made it to chapter 3 when I started feeling like this was a chore to read.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 stars

"It's weird how we have to get a little older to realize that people are just people. it should be obvious, but it's not"

Again, but Better really captured my heart in a way that I did not expect it would. On the surface, it is a sweet contemporary story about a shy, creative and enthusiastic premed graduate named Shane Primaveri who gets a second chance to follow her heart. However, I believe the depth of this book goes so much deeper than that. For me personally, this comes from the fact that I have probably never read a book with a character who was able to capture all of my inner insecurities the way Shane did. I could literally feel all of the emotions she was feeling during her turmoils and all of her inner monologues mirrored so many of my own. Not only relatable, Shane was also just an all-around likeable character with a great sense of humor. She was not afraid of getting emotionally invested in things, even if it might have taken her courage a little longer to catch up. And yes, I am fully aware that Shane Primaveri is basically Christine Riccio emulating herself through her protagonist, but honestly, who cares? While some people may feel like Shane's personality is semi-invasive of Christine's life, I actually feel like it added an additional layer of realism to her personality and the plot.

What I particularly loved about this novel was just how memorable all of the other characters were as well. Along with having some of the strangest names, Pilot, Babe, Atticus and Sahra all had distinct personalities and little quirks which made them all very unique. Moreover, the banter and genuine warm friendship between them was really awesome and had be smiling a lot.

Something I also really liked was how immersed I felt as I was reading Again, but Better. Although not knowing much about London, I felt like I was actually there. The way Shane described herself as an american tourist coming to Europe for the first time ever (not finding enough variations of red sauce in the supermarket, being told to watch out for muggers who cut bags open, etc.) was beyond hilarious. I'm not certain if Christine was describing her own experience of visiting Europe through this story but it certainly felt very realistic.

"There are all these kinds of horror stories about how thieves in Europe carry knives and run around chopping off women's purses - the purses fall off their arms, the thief catches it, and runs. It's been recommended to me by American society (mostly my aunts, uncles, and parents) that I wear a cross-body purse to make chopping it off more difficult."

The romance between Shane and Pilot also had exactly the right amount of buildup. You could tell that their friendship was genuine and their conversations were really cute and heartwarming. Being someone who doesn't really take too well to insta-love (a common occurrence in contemporary books in my opinion), I was pleased that the connection between the two of them didn't feel forced at all but flowed naturally from both of their personalities and conversations. Moreover, Shane's inner conversations with herself were just super relatable when looking back upon my own crushes and self-consciousness around them when I was younger.

The only thing that I could complain about with this book was that I found the time "in between" Shane's two visits to London a tad unrealistic. We are told that about six years have passed since coming back from her trip and Shane was still super infatuated with Pilot and sought him out. While I'm not an expert on the matter, I find it a tiny bit strange to believe that an adult woman would still be hung up over a crush that she had over six years ago. However, since this interlude between the two times (before the "Again" happens) was semi-necessary for the plot to progress and continued smoothly into what happened after, I'm willing to overlook it. Especially because Shane and Pilot are just super cute together.

Overall, I think this book was a cute read which I would definitely recommend anyone who enjoys contemporary novels and a sweet, genuine romance to read.

I was apprehensive going into my reading of this book. I am often skeptical that the written work of a popular YouTuber/Booktuber will actually reflect the support and hype they receive from their many followers. I will admit that I am one of Christine’s forever followers. Like so many other book-lovers, Polandbananasbooks was the very first YouTube/BookTube channel I ever subscribed to, back in 2014. I tried to stay as objective and unbiased as possible when reading this, especially given that it’s an ARC.

My warning to existing fans of Christine’s that read Again, But Better, is that you will likely be unable to separate the main character (Shane) from the author (Christine). You will read this book with her voice in your head. It is completely understandable for this to happen to the reader; the levels of meta happening in this book are off the charts. I mean, Shane’s blog name is FrenchWatermelon19. Shane’s looks, career aspirations, favorite books, movies, and music are all direct reflections of the author’s. The similarities are unfiltered and obvious.

My biggest issue with this book is that parts of Shane’s personality were less fleshed out than they should/could have been. Not enough time was dedicated to her relationship with Leo, her flatmates, or her anxieties. They are talked about in the beginning when Shane first arrives at London, but then never gone into detail after that. And maybe this is because Shane overcomes her anxieties in her journey of growth, but that was never made clear. I can’t help but feel that a part of the reason I knew so much about Shane, despite not actually being shown anything, is because I am familiar with the author.

I was also not a fan of the way I was hit over the head with references. I would rather get to know a character through their thoughts, actions, and conversations than with references to pop culture. These allusions were so specific to the author and her actual likes & lifestyle, I feel like readers who randomly pick this book up and don’t know her from YouTube will be either confused, irritated, or underwhelmed; and that is the main problem with this novel. Fortunately, I understood all of the references, and they definitely gave me a laugh.

My favorite aspect of this book was the actual coming of age part. In particular, Shane coming to terms with being an individual and finding her happiness, and the repercussions she faces with her parents as a result. Shane basically has to gain some courage and work hard in the face of uncertainty; maybe even harder because of that uncertainty. This was encouraging and definitely a lesson that young readers need to be exposed to: check in with yourself and pursue what makes you happy. Work hard at what you want because you want it. Do not be afraid to love your “nerdy” stuff unabashedly.

There were parts where it felt like she got me individually. For example, there is a line where Shane says, “I expel the giant breath I’ve been very aware of holding the past thirty seconds.” I immediately started cackling and showed that to my husband, because he knows that one of my biggest pet peeves in books is the cliche “I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding” line. It really seemed like she was totally calling out those authors who use it! It was glorious.

There were certain story elements that came out of left field for me, but in a good way! It kept the book surprising and kept me turning the pages. The “big twist” was an incredibly creative way to move the plot and Shane forward. I would tell you more, but… spoilers!

I had such a fun time reading this. It didn’t drag in any way, the writing was accessible (if a bit immature and cutesy) and I was invested in Shane’s well-being. I loved that that she wasn’t in high school, it made her coming of age story different from that of other YA novels. Shane’s actual adventures were also super fun, and I felt like I was living vicariously through her. I haven’t had the opportunity to travel much due to some life circumstances, so this made me long to be her age again so I could see more of the world too.

Overall this was a quirky, unique, and binge-worthy read that was simply adorable. I can’t wait to see more from Christine, as I’m sure she will write a book soon again, but better (see what I did there?? Do you see??).

Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book was literally what I've expected, sadly.
I didn't even know who Christine Riccio was until I googled her name.

That's beside the point though. I found major issues in the writing style. I didn't connect with that nor the characters.
Honestly, I didn't care for this book at all unfortunately since I couldn't wait to end it =(

Oh boy there is a lot of things wrong with this novel.
First of all, it is completely self-insert. We have this main character, Shane, who is socially inept and wants to be a writer with an Italian name and a quirky handle online (FrenchWatermelon19). I am extremely not impressed by this, because when critics and reviewers and editors say "write what you know" they do not mean this. Christine Riccio is an avid reader, as evident by her own youtube channel, she should know better.
The writing style is also severely underdeveloped. She writes like she talks - very stream of consciousness, with a lot of redundant anecdotes about pop culture and references to books and tv shows. It dates the book so much, and it makes it basically unreadable say 20 years in the future. At least the grammar is good.

Plotwise she has written Anna and the French kiss except in London, with a touch of magical realism, and I am not a fan at all. This is not an original idea, the characters have no personality and the plot is basically "quirky girl goes to London and falls in lust with the first guy she sees". Literally, he is the first guy she sees through a window. This is not how good writing works. This is not how plot works. They go on to have these adventures in foreign countries (Italy and France), but we don't really get a sense of the cultures either. Saying you're at the Eiffel Tower doesn't make it Paris.

I don't know. I was not impressed. I dnf'ed it at about 50% because things were getting next level ridiculous.

This book being by a "Youtuber" should have been my first clue. It reads 100% like YA and the main character doesn't read like a college student, but the most immature high schooler I can think of. Not only does she name her laptop, write hokey little "never been kissed" lists in her journal and have sophisticated innermost thoughts like "my sometimes blue eyes flash gray today," but the premise and cover BOTH pointed to a much more mature book. The premise sounded really interesting to me and I'm disappointed, ultimately.

I would say this is a 3.75/5 for me. I think it was a bit of a slow start. However, it did pick up and we did have a twist which was unexpected but reminded me too much of an abc family Christmas movie (before it became free form). Even though the dialogue was quirky and a bit awkward sometimes I enjoyed it and I also enjoyed just how relatable shane’s life is

This book was such a fun read. The concept was amazing and so much more than I thought that it was going to be. A lot of things happened that I did not expect to happen and it made the book amazing. This is not your typical contemporary young adult novel. It is filled with some great modern references that I really enjoyed. I loved all of the characters and thought that they were perfect. I have been watching Christine's YouTube channel for years now and I can see Christine in this book. You can literally read her personality in this book and I love it. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and I can't wait to buy a finished copy!

The description of “Again, But Better” enticed me because it sounded like a fun and relatable read. Shane is a college student studying abroad ready to “redo” her college experience. The cast of characters were interesting, and you get experience Shane’s journey with her while seeing the impact of certain decisions on her life. There are some parts that are a bit of a stretch, and some “magical moments”. Overall, the book was cute, but I just didn’t feel fully immersed in the plot and 100% connected to it.

This YA novel was OK and enjoyable enough; I’d probably give it 3.5 Stars. It definitely has that touch of charm. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I will admit that my initial interest in this book was because of the author. Christine has been talking about this book and her journey in writing it for a long time now, and I was really excited to get the ARC. I thought that the story as cute and that it was a solid debut, but there we some aspects of the plot that irked me and left me a little confused.

Again But Better is the story of Shane, who feels like she has wasted her entire university career by spending her time studying something she isn't even sure she wants to do for the rest of her life. She decides to take a risk, and goes off to university in London with the intention to put herself out there more, make more friends, write more and maybe find a boyfriend. Soon she meets her flat mates, Babe, Atticus, Sahra, and Pilot and quickly becomes friends with all of them. In the semester that follows learns a lot about the world, love, friendship, and following your dreams no matter what the cost.

The plot of this book a good, but it didn't blow me away by any means. There were a lot of cute moments in this book between Shane and her love interest, Pilot, and great friendship moments as well. I enjoyed reading about places they travelled to, having been to quite a few of them myself, and all the adventures they had while exploring. There were some lulls in a few parts, and I found the ending kind of abrupt and resolved quicker than I expected. I didn't really love all the emotional cheating involved in this one, and it made me like the main romantic plot line a little less.

I really did like the arc Shane went through in this book and how much she grew as an individual. There were parts, however where I found her to be a little much and little too much like the author. Pilot was a solid romantic interest, but I never felt that attached to him. The same can be said about a lot of the characters. Although we learnt a bit about them, I never really felt all that attached to them individually, which took away from the plot for me. I also wish the parent characters and plot line had more to it as well, especally when it came to their relationship with Shane..

Overall this was a quick and entertaining read, but there was a lot of things I wish where explained or fleshed out more.

Again, But Better is a coming of age romance, set during a study abroad summer in London. The premise itself was enough to hook me on the book and I was sucked into the drama from the get go.

Shane, Pilot, Babe, and all the characters were so relatable and lovable. Their development over the course of the book was honest and emotional to the point of bringing me to tears. The difference in character arcs in Part 1 versus Part 2 of the book really connect the title to the narrative itself. I love the thematic continuity with the character arcs. It showed some really complex and detailed planning and consideration for how characters would behave and how the needed to be seen as real people. This made me connect to them as realistic entities whom I would have loved to meet.

I loved how in the second part of the book more detail was given to aspects and relationships that weren't given much thought. I loved how Shane and Babe's friendship gets stronger and how Shane's effort to communicate with Leo really shows how much simple human connection really changes the emotional dynamic between family members. This motif of communication and reaching out instead of isolating oneself really manifests beautifully through character relationships.

The romance balanced with self growth was something I found to be really important not just as a narrative tool but also as a life lesson for me, the reader. Shane and Pilot grew apart and together as characters which really strengthened their bond as main characters for me.

The added element of unexplained magic was not as unexpected as I thought it would be. I expected to want answers for why these strange moments were happening but I was okay with not knowing. The book was written in such a way thatI was more emotionally invested in the character development than the world building.

I did find issue with a couple of cause and effect moments with how the characters reacted to certain events. Due to the abbreviated timeline, certain reactions from Shane seemed blown way out of proportion and unreasonable, in part due to how they were written and in part due to the unnecessarily massive fallout of the conflict.

Other than that this was a really stellar and enjoyable book. This was a fantastic debut from Christine Riccio and I can't wait to get my hands on her next book!!

I really wanted to love this book. When I read the description, it sounded like a fun, relatable read. And for the most part it was, but I had trouble connecting to the story at times. Again, but Better tells the story of Shane, a 20 year old college student who always does what's expected of her and she never goes out of her comfort zone until she decides that she wants to study abroad for a semester in college and we follow her story to see how the experience goes for her. One thing that frustrated me is that there were so. many. pop culture references, that I felt distracted from the story. Normally I love pop culture references, but at times it felt like the book was built around them instead of having them enhance the story. Additionally, there was a plot twist that I didn't see coming, which is great, except I don't think I liked it very much or the direction the story took after that happened. I don't read a lot of contemporary, so this could definitely just be me, but this book seemed to just miss for me. I still enjoyed reading it and there were some really great and funny moments. It just wasn't completely for me. I did appreciate the social anxiety rep and the diverse cast of characters (although the main characters were straight and white, their friends were of different races and sexualities).

All the feels. This is the perfect "I need a break from thrillers with something upbeat, light, and fun" book. The story was uplifting and just left me smiling. Shane was a character I think most people can relate to, especially when thinking back on their college years. On second thought, I really think all of the main characters in this book are incredibly relatable. Made me think back on my time studying abroad and the amazing experiences and people I met. I highly recommend this book!

The only criticism I have it that in the beginning Shane is described as being so awkward and not being able to make friends, yet she easily falls into these great friendships in like 5 minutes after arriving in London. That part felt a bit of a stretch, but not enough to take away from the overall beauty of this book.

I received an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

I received a copy of this book  NetGalley in exchange for an honest Review.

Okie, I was seeing this book everywhere and didn't hope to get it, But luckily Netgalley granted my wish which happened only twice which is way too rare as compare to I got the wish option on 90% books( Yes I am a suffering International blogger).

So I didn't know it is written by a booktuber and It was a hype one.

I like a boy. He has a girlfriend who isn't me, and it's the worst.

This sentence summarizes 50% of the story...This book is divided into 2 different years, 2011 and 2017. Shane a smart student and obedient student decided to go to London, by lying her parents for creative writing course which doesn't even come close to her major but her passion.

Pilot(Seriously I can't still digest his name) who is resident of her neighbor room and love interest, he is fun. There are many minor characters which were developed really interesting.

So Let me talk about the story, I loved the first part it was all goofy, quirky and cheesy, you expect from a YA...But the second half *sigh* don't ask about it, It was boring, sudden change of genre isn't my kind and the events turn around were cringe-worthy and the character development almost made me DNF it. The teenage version of characters was smarter and reasonable but the older selves...Guys where did you spent those 6 years???

Okie I get it, It is written by a book lover but those trying so hard to calmly mention a book with authors name casually here and there...No Dude It is not me.

And those overloaded references of the TV season, HP, Dan Brown seemed too forced to me....and How can I forget that Shawarma obsession, It was out of the hand...I personally loved Shawarma but this obsession was so annoying.

I also think the book was dragged too much.

I did not enjoy the book very much. I had high expectations for this one perhaps. The writing style was a bit off that I did not enjoy the story.