Shane is on her way to study abroad, and she's got goals. Like, be different than she was in college. Make friends. Don't sit at home. Kiss a guy she likes. Basically, her time in London is going to be a do-over. So imagine her delight when she makes friends, finds a guy she likes, and spends time jaunting off to other countries!

Only, there's a catch (or two). The guy she likes actually has a girlfriend. And, oh, yeah, she's lying to her parents. They think she's studying premed, working at a clinic, when actually she's taking classes on creative writing and working at a travel agency.

What could go wrong?

It took a little bit to get into, but I liked this book, the plot and most of the characters. I didn't like how many pop culture references were peppered through it, but it was easy enough to overlook. Mostly, I think this appealed to my travel-hungry self. I am jealous of Shane's gallivanting!

I adored Again, but Better. I loved the main character Shane and felt like I could have been in her place. She grows so much throughout the book and the twist with magic made the book so much more fun and enjoyable. I thought the story was cute and the characters were great! I'm already wanting to read it again!

Such a cute and heartwarming story. Reading it at first i didn’t know where she was going with the story so soon but I kept reading and it made so much sense and it worked really well. The characters are all fun to love and read about and the main character is such a fun character to stick with and look at through her perspective. You can see the author’s personality come through the pages and being someone who has followed her youtube channel for many years it has being an awesome ride reading this book. Highly recommend and really enjoyed it.

Special shoutout to St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book to review, all thoughts expressed in the following discussion are my own.

If I were a person that used half stars, I find that this is a book that would a perfect time to utilize them. As it stands, I don’t, and while from a purely objective standpoint this is a solid three star book, I don’t rate books objectively. I rate them from a purely subjective standpoint based solely on my enjoyment, and so I had to settle on a solid two stars.

Before I descend into a ramble I want to acknowledge that I don’t think it’s inherently wrong for an author to draw on their own personal lives for a character, in my opinion while this is a novel it does teter on the edge of semi autobiographical. I don’t even think that it’s wrong for a book to serve as wish fulfillment for an author or for a protagonist to be any kind of analog for an author. It gets into a weird territory when you can start to draw those connections perhaps, but to judge the whole of the book in that way I do believe to be a mistake. My relationship to the author, as tangential as it is as I haven’t watched her YouTube content regularly in a few years, is not universal and there are plenty of readers that won’t come to this story with the same baggage that I did. If there was anything about the self-insert, semi autobiographical nature of the book it was the use of references. For a bulk of the novel the references seemed to be used entirely to make the reader that the book was taking place in 2011, it felt more like a crutch and one that Riccio refused to abandon as the book went on. Judging by how lackluster the bulk of the descriptions we did get I can understand why the references were used as a crutch. I’m not sure that at this point the “world building” could have been strong enough without that reliance. If the second half of the novel is anything to go by, even when presented a second chance to fix some of the lackluster descriptions the opportunity wasn’t seized.

Part of the reason I felt like I needed to keep this in two star territory and not simply round up to a three were the characters. Not so much individual arcs, but I found that our supporting players were never quite utilized an any kind of meaningful way? They existed seemingly as afterthoughts, which is kind of insulting as they do serve as some of the books only “diversity”. First we have Shane’s roommates during her semester abroad in London; Sahra and Babe. Babe is described as “dark skinned and curvy”, I’ve seen at least one person label Babe as a Black woman, and if further description of Babe is provided in the book I can’t recall anything other than a mention of her hair being thick and curly. I feel like descriptions like this don’t do any service in terms of representation as “dark skinned” can refer to a multitude of ethnicities and racial identities. Sahra is described as tan, and that’s about it. Her name coupled with the fact that her family went on a trip to Lebanon at some point in the past I assume that she’s Middle Eastern, but it’s never confirmed and furthermore neither of these characters are all that instrumental in Shane’s life. There’s a throw away line about Babe becoming her best friend, but all of those sort of references are made off the page and we rarely get to see those moments. They do get to share pleasant moments of general getting along, but nothing that would make me believe they were anything ever than simply pleasant with one another. What bothered me most about these two characters specifically if they were meant to be WOC, is that both of them have moments where they are seemingly antagonistic toward Shane for seemingly no reason, both times for pure shock value.

The novel also includes Atticus, a gay Asian [ nothing more specific is ever given to my recollection. So whether he is Japanese or Mongolian or Vietnamese is a complete mystery to me ] and he is only ever included in minor moments of even far less significance than the ladies. Presumably because the novel isn’t from Pilot’s, Atticus’ roommate and the love interest of the story, perspective. There is a second gay character, but he is by far and away the least important character in the story and his coming out is shoehorned in at the very end of the book in a way that feels more like a deleted scene that forgot to be removed. There is a black woman at Shane’s internship, but her not getting an arc wasn’t an important to me given that she wasn’t really an important character to the story in the same way that Babe and Sahra could have been.

Now I want to discuss the plot twist of the book that happens just before 50 percent of the way through the book, without getting too spoilery. Simply put I don’t think that it was at all necessary. If anything I think that the later half, particularly the parts written between 65 - 80ish percent of the way through the book were by far and away the weakest of the novel. Not only because we were retreading ground that we had already traveled, but really at no point did it feel as though any of our characters had grown.

In the interest of fairness some of the character have an excuse for the staticness of their arcs, this was a novel that was really never interested in making those characters three dimensional and was really only interested in one of the two leads. That said even they didn’t seem to have grown in a way that I think would have made sense given the circumstances. When you take into consideration Shane’s goals the fact that she remains so static becomes even more painfully obvious.

Shane as a character herself was also really painful to read at times during this novel. Part of me feels that if you don’t fine Shane interesting and compelling by the time you get to the plot twist the second half of the book doesn’t really offer you anything you can’t assume will happen, there’s very little reward for sticking through it once you’ve reached that point. That aside, Shane for so much of the novel seemed to be pushing the blame for certain actions off of herself and onto the shoulders of various other characters. Particularly in the first half of the novel. There’s an instance where she meticulously planned and coordinated a lie and then when confronted tried to play it off like it was an accident or she hadn’t meant to do it. I don’t think that the story really ever dealt with that situation, or even what would have been the fallout following the plot twist?

Another thing I think the book failed to do was describe anything well. It never crossed into white room syndrome, I did typically have a general understanding of the layout and some of the key furniture or flooring, but there was general lack of depth. The book is set in London, but there are moments that take place in Rome, Paris, Edinburgh, and New York City. All of these cities have distinct flavor and vibe to them, that Riccio utterly failed to capture. I’m not even sure that it was a goal of the writing, and I do feel like it hurt. The setting all sort of blurred together. In terms of settings I think Riccio relied on landmarks to really do the heavy lifting without thinking through how these setting could play into the story she wanted to tell in a way that was important to the narrative.

At times I found the dialogue to be clunky. Mostly that a lot of it seemed to be 1) a reference to something or 2) something that could have been in any straight to DVD teen rom com situation. Some of the clunkier moments were when Riccio was trying to subvert a popular YA cliche. The first being a riff on the “I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding,” line that was honestly just whatever, nothing to offense. What really made me decide that it was clunky was a line later that’s an extended scene and conversation about that big romcom moment in entertainment where two love interests have a conversation that builds to a sort of iconic tattoo worthy word like “always” or the “okay, okay” moment from tfios that ends in the most ridiculous way. To be fair, it wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever read, in the grand scheme of things for some people that moment will work. It didn’t click for me, and it’s one of the easier moments to point to and not the countless conversations that obviously occur over the course of a novel that didn’t click. Y’know?

Riccio also made the decision to include postcards written to Shane’s parents and her journal entries, and while I do think that at times they help to make Shane a more well rounded character, at least more in comparison to the characters. But I found that these journal entries were another crutch to breeze through aspects of the story that honestly should have been far more fleshed out. I feel like this approach was taken to better facilitate this plot twist that I don’t think was entirely necessary. A book can only be so long, and the way that this narrative was chosen to be told, you have to make concessions and unfortunately I’m firmly in the camp that this same story could have been told without it and that the story could have even been better without it.

How many times can I sneak that sentiment into this discussion?

It’s hard to talk about the cheating that takes place in this book without going into spoilers, but I’ll do my best to. The cheating aspect was one of the many things that halted me from becoming fully invested in this romance. I was also partially not into it because for at least the first half of the novel I think that it was really easy for a reader to see as very one sided. I don’t know if that’s me being a dumb bitch, or me being stuck in Shane’s head where her running commentary and anxieties. After the first 25% I was really convinced that this mutual attraction thing wasn’t all that mutual. Even when I was back on board I thought that it was very strange that Shane would continue to pursue a relationship with someone that was already in another relationship, and at one point in the novel she laments about how upset she was that the dude didn’t cheat on his girlfriend with her? It’s something that’s completely and totally irrational. I think that the narrative casually ignores the fact that after the plot twist Shane is technically not in a position to be pursuing a relationship. Ignoring isn’t the right word, it’s acknowledged, but still tossed aside in favor of resting on the fact that because of the plot twist it changes things. It’s a very nuanced situation, and one that I don’t think that this book was honestly not prepared or wanting to handle. It’s serious ethical conversation that most YA contemporary novels aren’t trying to tackle. It’s okay. Just don’t introduce them. Pilot’s girlfriend is also firmly in stock character, total plot device status. We literally get to know nothing about her. Also just not a fan of this idea that after three months you should be completely in love with someone or the relationship is a failure, like, I feel like that’s not the message. I also feel like the book send a weird message about pursuing people already in a relationship, that if you have a crush on someone that is with someone it can work out for you and you can get a happily ever after with them. It’s very complicated like I said, and honestly not the type of conversation this book is capable of handling.

I had a lot of issues with this book, if you are interested in my live reactions and thoughts about things I did livetweet it, so you can check that out here [ https://twitter.com/itsmonteprice/status/1103396499918999552 ]. I tried to keep this review centered on the larger issues that I had with the narrative. I’m almost positive thought that few of the pettier critiques I had slipped in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was more than a little repetitive.

All of that said though, I objectively don’t see this book as terrible. If nothing else I was compelled to finish the book, it was really easy to read and so it never felt like a chore to continue despite the fact that Shane was constantly annoying me and the narrative was constantly failing to utilize it’s whole cast of characters. As I’ve stated there’s nothing inherently bad about this story. Despite the fact that I’ve given it such a low rating, I do think that there are people that won’t have the same issues that I did. I don’t think that this book is for everyone, that said I think that it’s also really easy to tell if it’s not for you and even if it’s not if you do manage to get to the end I don’t think that it feels like a waste of time. As aggravated as I became that the narrative wasn’t living up to the full potential, I can’t deny that some small part of me was at least pleasantly entertained by the mess that I was watching unfold. It’s a book that while can’t support the conversations that it sparks, it does spark discussion and I think that’s certainly better than a book that exists simply as matter in the universe.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing the eARC. You guys are the best.

Well that was certainly fun. It wasn't good, but it was fun.

The first half of the book...happened. One might think it's impossible to make a period piece from 2011, but Christine Riccio proved it is very much possible, and actually turned 2011 into a year entirely alien yet familiar to me. The cringey games, music, books, all came flooding back to me. The protagonist, an obvious self-insert, was embarrassing in so many ways. She's stereotypically clumsy, and has that kind of Evan Hansen-esque social anxiety that, as someone with social anxiety myself, always comes off as a gruesome parody.

Then that time jump. I'm wondering what the heck is going on...then there's that Twilight Zone Tower of Terror elevator shit. Suddenly I understand. I went into this book fairly blind, I didn't read any reviews and had only seen the blurbs, so I was struck, but I was interested. Shane had made some dumb choices, and she got to redo them, and that made me happy. I did not however feel very invested in her redoing things with Pilot. In fact, I would've preferred if she hadn't gotten together with Pilot in the end, and had just used the redo to get that writing career started and realized Pilot was boring as hell, and very annoying.

This was an anticipated read for me, as I was very into Christine's videos back in middle school. I did not have high expectations and they were just about met.

AGAIN, BUT BETTER is a contemporary full of old school YA love, travel adventures, all with a dash of magic.

I'm sad to say I wasn't much of a fan. Everything felt very shallow and glossed over, especially early scenes of Shane bonding with her new friends in London. There would be long info dumps and write-ups of how they spent their days instead of really placing us in the moment.

The plot was nonexistent. When a story beat did crop up, it was very heavy-handed and obvious what they were. A big issue here was the lack of tension in every scene. Nothing was ever tangibly at stake. Characters didn't have differing goals. All the characters were one dimensional and lacking nuance when they'd act, but some of them had interesting motives like Pilot and Shane's father. It's just a shame this nuance was only in their backstory and not in their interactions with other characters.

And the elephant in the room--this book is one big self-insert. Fans of Christine's book tube will probably adore this, but I doubt it'll do much for anyone outside her viewership. The other big thought flashing through my mind while reading was how close this was to Anna and the French Kiss (girl leaves home to study in foreign country, girl is very shy and awkward and inexperienced, girl meets cute boy, boy has girlfriend and is scared of change and doesn't want to break up with her even though he has feelings for main character, girl joins friend group with boy, boy distances himself from her after Romantic Moment [Thanksgiving in Anna vs Paris trip here], boy has family woe, boy eventually makes romantic gesture). It had a lot of similar story beats and tropes, and didn't do anything different with them.

There were some moments I enjoyed, but on the whole found this derivative, tensionless, and easy to skim.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary arc of Again, But Better by Christine Riccio in exchange for my honest review.*

Okay, so this was a wild ride. I had some good times, and some not so good times.

I’ll start off that within the first few pages, it screams rich girl privilege, she tricks her parents into paying for a study abroad trip to Europe to start all over, with a new major and to make friends and begin her college life over again.

I totally understood what it’s like to have the first year of college not go how you expect, and want to reinvent yourself the following year. I had to. My freshman year was rough and I ended up with only two friends that weren’t super close (but I live with one now!), so when I came back sophomore year, I joined new clubs and really had to push myself out there. So, I really understood Shane there.

And I thought it was cool that Shane mentions never being kissed at 20, I have friends in college who have never kissed anyone and others all along the spectrum. Both are great rep for the college age girls who may feel weird or different.

While the characters weren’t all my favorite (mostly not caring for Shane and the love interest) I loved the drop ins of college like the forever “what’s your major and plans after” conversations and the internal struggle of are we friends enough for photos and generally feeling awkward and overthinking it all. There’s a telling similar to “real-life proof that i’ve made real-life friends”, and that’s how I felt as I slowly made friends my sophomore year.

I really liked Babe, Atticus, and Sahra (even through we don’t get a lot of them, mostly Babe which I did enjoy). There was a moment when they all first ate together and decided to go somewhere on the weekend, and created a toast. I thought this was really sweet, and like those fun and shocking moments of new friendships.

Now let’s go get onto the not so good things. Sometimes I liked Shane, others I didn’t really care. AND IM TIRED OF THE TROPE WHERE THE BOY IS UNATTAINABLE BECAUSE HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND AND THE “NICE GIRL” LIKES HIM. NO JUST NO. It starts off nice with Shane and Pilot, flirting and building a friendship. Then we learn about his girlfriend of 3 months and Shane just keeps hoping since he’s “not that invested” he’ll just break up with his girlfriend for her. Excuse me? Like there is so many other options to keep them apart. Shane never turns the girl into an enemy per-say, but I’m just sick and tired of that and that continuing to be taught to people that “sense he/she/them are the one it’s okay”, ITS NOT.

And honestly, we don’t really get to know Pilot. Like their funny together, but more like a friendship than real chemistry? He ditches her and she holds onto this crush for 6 years.

There was some time jump stuff which was weird and unexpected. Honestly you may be into it, there were some things I thought were funny. Like the mention of how did we ever not carry water bottles back then and like backpacks versus side bags.

So, to end off. I loved the college components, the random ways friendships begin, the conversations that surround college students, the major you want, and regrets you have in that time. LOVED THAT. The main characters and plot? Just wasn’t super for me. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t for the overdone trope and //tw for cheating (emotional and a kiss)//, but it was fun to see the shift between 2011-2017. It was unexpected.

I didn't love this. It started our promising but the constant banter and meandering made for a slow read. I had a hard time not imagining the author as the main character and I wish there weren't quite so many pop culture references. The references took disturbed the flow of the story sometimes for me.

I was so excited to read it,it was one of my most anticipated read of the year and I was so happy when I got the earc.


I liked it,not at first ,at first I tougbt it was okay nothing much,then I got a little bored and then finally I started liking it again.

The writing style is pretty good,I like the main character ,Shane,but I dont care about pilot much even if he had some nice moments that I liked .
3.5 stars

This was really great for a debut novel! I loved Shane and Pilot as characters and they were so sweet and adorable together. I liked the friend group, but in the second half even though supposedly Shane gets to know them better you don't see as much from them and it seems like you missed out on that. There were also times mostly in the 2011 part where it was obvious that the author was trying to force the fact it was not current time, for example using Angry Birds seemed really forced and awkward, and sometimes song references seemed unnecessary but were added to emphasize the time it takes place. Other than that I thought Shane was super relatable and I loved her so much, she almost seems like a role model for younger girls or girls in high school.

Again, but better 3.5⭐️
Shane is me. Literally me. Socially awkward, needs lists and goals to try and accomplish anything and did I mention awkward.
This is full of humor and life and no more kiss blocking.
Shane is on her way to college, abroad. Ooh fancy and she has the goal to have a life and have fun and she is trying, really trying but do it better.
Right when everything is going great, her internship, friends, almost kissing Pilot... her parents show up find out she was lying to them. She is not here for premed. Finally we understand why she cant send any of those postcards. She is forced to go back home to New York leaving what she hoped would be a start of her new life.
Then we take a 7 year jump and her life seems to start again with a second chance with Pilot. To do it again but better this time.
I found myself drifting from the second half of the story. I liked that Pilot and Shane connected again but I felt disconnected with them and the they which was disappointing.

Overall I instantly connected with Shane and her journey. There is also something so satisfying about the main character trying to write a book or loving to read and write. It connects the reader more with the character, well it does in my case because I want to publish a book one day.
The characters were also very realistic and believable in the first half but sort of got away from real in the second. In most contemporaries there is always a character or two that is just too perfect and too wonderful and everything falls into place but this didnt have that. And it was so refreshing. I felt like i jumped into Shanes life and got to experience London with her.
I also liked that not only are we following Shane but we are seeing her journals and her entries for her internship. It gives the story another view while staying on track and getting to the point faster than explaining everything. But that being said I wanted less of the notes and little entries and more story. Yes more things can happen but at times it felt like I was just rummaging through someone’s desk drawer pulling out old notes.
I liked Shanes excitement for her internship but I wanted to see more of a story and dialogue of her working there and what was happening not just little notes.

My favorite line:
Demon, demon. Too close to my face.

Thank you so much to St Martins Press via netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of Again but Better by Christine Ricco . This will be released on May 7 2019.
All opinions are my own.

I loved this!! It was absolutely adore and such a fun read. I loved the way the characters interacted together, their traveling adventures, and how it was told in two separate parts. Thank you for letting me read this title early. I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

I want to start off by saying that I am so proud of Christine for writing this book. I watched her whole writing journey on her YouTube channel and I'm so happy I got an ARC of this book.
This book follows a girl named Shane who she decides to study abroad in London. Her life has been predictable in college and she has wanted to do it right this time. While studying abroad, she learns with courage and some magic that she could accomplish her goals.
I really loved Shane in this book. She was such a relatable main character and I connected to her pretty much immediately. I found that her voice was so distinct and she constantly made me laugh. I always wanted to know what Shane would do next. I found her to be a compelling main character and I loved her growth so much.
The story overall was really intersting to me. I have not read anything like it, especially in contemporary. That being said, I do want to say that I am not a huge contemporary reader. I really liked what Christine did with the story line of this book and found myself really interested in the plot as well. The chapter titles in this book were also so fun to read. I won't say here what Christine did but I really enjoyed it.
The reason it's only got four stars is because I did feel there was some technical glitches and like sometimes things were a bit too easy. It didn't have that totally special feeling that a favorite book gives me either. I was intrigued by the plot but not enough to be thinking about it after I put the book down for the day. I really enjoyed the plot a lot but I need a plot to suck me in. Christine did say that she wanted people to laugh and feel good after leaving this book and with that, she succeeded with me.
I thought that this was a fantastic book for Christine's first book. I am interested to see what she is going to produce in the future. I really enjoyed this boo and I would definitely recommend picking it up.

I sort of adored this book. Like, a LOT! Even the ending...which was not my normal cup of tea. The twists were exciting and the characters were interesting and I enjoyed the pace of the book. I also, oddly enough, felt like the right things were examined closely , while the unnecessary things were sped past exactly as I wanted them to be! Not sure how the author knew I would want that to be the case, but thanks, Christine Riccio for intuiting that so perfectly for little ol' me!

Oh, and the settings were spectacular! Descriptions that were clear but not so gushy as to be off-putting...and just cool. It was just a cool read. I dug it. ☺♥

From the description, I thought I would like this book. I've read several books entailing a study abroad romance and have enjoyed most of them. However, this one just didn't work. It was too unpolished, if nothing else. I realize I received an ARC that is still being edited, but I don't foresee that the book will change the way it would need to.
The overall plot was fine. Shane is in a study abroad program, finds a boy she has a crush on, blows it with him, then there's a big dust up with her parents, and then we're several years in the future. She realizes that she messed up when her current boyfriend proposes and just happens to be in the city where her study abroad crush now lives. They meet up for coffee in a magical cafe, and get the chance to redo their time together in Europe. It's cute, and the turmoil that Shane faces in deciding whether or not to hit the reset button seems realistic. However, little else does.
I've been to college and was very much an introvert. I pursued a sensible major, tried to make friends, and finished up my degree. I never did the study abroad thing, but I can almost guarantee that the London/Europe escapades would not have occurred in the same fashion. College programs have RAs and planned outings for groups. I would think that would be doubly so for students in a foreign country. I also imagine that an internship would not leave time for playing on a phone or texting. There would have to be set paramaters so that the student in question would earn the grade, even if it is a pass/ fail course.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this novel, aside from the simplistic nature of its writing, is the entire portion where Shane manages to lie to her parents about the entire program. In my experience, parents who are that concerned with your future would also be doing their own research, looking through the literature you print, and would likely do more than just pay the bill without checking behind the student. The entire "I made a brochure with a premed program" plot does not seem feasible.
So, if you're in the mood for a semi-unrealistic book about study abroad, check it out. Otherwise, I'd check out something else.

I absolutely adored this book, and it kept surprising me as it didn't follow the normal YA troupes. This story was not what I expected, it was even better. I'm going to be talking about this book for years and years to come, and giving copies to all my friends. This was more of a complex, emotional story that surpassed other travel stories you'd like are similar to it.

I studied abroad for a semester in London in 2014 and started college in 2011 when this book was set. The author captured what it was like to be in college during that year *perfectly* and it is so similar to my own experiences and insecurities that I think she and I should be best friends.

The first half of this book felt so similar to my own study abroad experience I started crying from happiness and surprise as I found a way to relive some of my favorite memories and feelings while reading. The story is about Shane who takes a risk going to study abroad so she can be brave in a new place since she hasn't out figured things out at home yet. That's all I expected the story to be. But then the second half of the book is a twist on the time travel troupe which itself is a twist on the travel/road trip troupe. Shane gets a second chance with the guy she hasn't stopped thinking about since they were abroad and missed their shot to express how they felt. I loved reading as both characters I loved from their initial rush of witty banter and chemistry get to have the greatest ever life redo and find how to be the best version of themselves that had been possible all along. It is about choosing yourself, choosing your relationships, and making big moves.

I would've loved it for the empowering unique story it is on its own. But it will forever be a special story to me because I identify so strongly with the setting both in college in 2011 and the cities they traveled to while abroad. This is the most authentic story on how it feels to travel and study abroad that I've had the privilege of reading.

As always thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to receive a copy. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it. I really did try liking this book. I felt as I was re-reading Anna and the French Kiss but with a mid plot twist. I did not enjoy the writing and it took my a long time to read this book because I just could get into the story. I was extremely disappointed.

I LOVED this book. I haven't loved a book this much in a while. This was my in flight read for my flight back to Dallas from an amazing vacation in New York City with one of my best friends today. I loved the book so much that I have to write about it today...after a very jam packed vacation and being completely exhausted because I love it *that* much. The first part of the book was cute and I enjoyed the references to some of my favorite bands and tv shows, but it was part two that made me completely swoon. I would describe this book not as a young adult novel, but as the book version of a rom-com. I love everything about it! Shane is a relatable character as she faces early adulthood and college and finding her own place in the world, something that is scary for most people, and I am head over heels for Pilot. If you are in love with love stories, like to laugh out loud, enjoy a book that makes you swoon or delight in references to alt rock bands from the late 90's/early 2000s, read this book! You can purchase your copy in May or pre-order it now on Amazon.

I struggled between a 2 and 2.5 stars for this one, so I think I am going to round down.

Fun fact! I actually met Christine years ago, and I had no clue she was a prominent figure in the book community until people kept running towards her. We were at the Cassie Clare midnight release party for City of Heavenly Fire in NYC, and she was three people in front of me in line.

I only realized who she was later when Alexandra Bracken posted a screengrab from a video they did together, and I was shocked.

Honestly, I think her personal journey is amazing, and she has opened a lot of doors for the book blogging community. It is great to see such a unified following, and I am so happy to celebrate her successes even if I do not watch her channel. (Though now that I’ve read her book, I am considering about it!) However, this preface was not just to tell my anecdote, but also to explain that I do not know Christine as a person. A lot of people had very different experiences than me because they follow her, but I think my view is a little different compared to her fans who recognize Christine in parts of this novel.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin!

Shane has lived her life contently for the past two and half years, though she hardly has any friends and she is only studying something that would make her parents happy. And though she had to lie to her parents in order to get into the creative writing study abroad program, this is finally her chance to get a fresh start.

She hopes that she’ll finally make friends or kiss a boy. She dreams of doing all the things her social anxiety kept her from, and this is the opportunity she has been waiting for all along.

But maybe the fresh start doesn’t go exactly as she wanted it. When the chance to relive the whole study abroad experience comes six years later, will Shane go back to fix her mistakes? Or will she live complacently with the regrets she still has years later?

This book is a love letter to bookworms everywhere who aren’t always the most social or brave creatures. In fact, I saw myself in Shane constantly – including her inability to stop talking our favorite boy named Harry – and as someone torn between the practical part of her brain (I’m a biomedical engineer!) and the creative part, Shane's character arc really resonated with me. It is here that I think the novel shines brightest because it is easy to feel stuck until you finally have that one defining moment that says ‘this is how my life is going to turn out’.

Good thoughts:

*YES, ALL TOO WELL BY TAYLOR SWIFT HAS ALL THE FEELS. This got mentioned once in the book, and I haven’t been able to turn this damn song off since then. It has ruined me.

*Shane is a strong female character. She has dreams and aspirations, and she is unwilling to let anyone stop her (even if it takes her a while to get to that point!). I physically whooped at one point in the book where she realizes that it is up to her to figure everything out. And she takes time to get her life in order before launching herself back into the dramatic up and downs that come with YA problems! I loved that.

I had a few issues with this book:

* the names – I’m sorry, I tried to get over this one, but I can’t. I can’t take the romance seriously because the love interest is named Pilot Penn and goes by Pies. Don’t get me wrong, the obscure name thing is a classic YA trope that is seen all over the place, but this novel is a repeat offender. Our supporting cast is rounded out by Babe (we don’t find out her real name until much, much later), Sahra (pronounced Sarah?), and Atticus (this one I support because I love How to Kill a Mockingbird).

* the dialogue was very unrealistic – even when they are supposed to be much older. You are telling me they didn’t mature at all in those six years? I am twenty-four, and I almost feel like the main characters were geared more towards being 17 instead of being 20/26 (especially in part two).

* Pilot dates someone for SIX YEARS and then the day after he breaks up with her, goes on a weekend date to Paris with someone else? After he was so against it? Also he technically cheated on his girlfriend during parts of the novel? I could not bring myself to cheer on this ship simply because of that.

Plus, his ‘girlfriend’ was the most one-dimensional plot devices I’ve ever seen.

* the writing tending to pay more homage to references than the actual story? Even though the characters were in their twenties, I felt like I was reading middle grade. I physically cringed *so much* during this book. My poor roommate kept getting interrupted while she was reading Sarah J Maas so I could quote parts of the dialogue to her.

Also, the author compared Pilot’s eyes to green olives at least four times, and I could not handle it.

All in all, I thought this was a quick read, and I did find it fun (when I wasn’t physically cringing over the ridiculousness). I think Christine’s fans will like the book, and that’s awesome! Personally, I think there are other contemporary YA books out there that are much easier reads, and I would recommend those books over this novel :).


Thanks to Wednesday Books at Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was lucky enough to have been selected for an eARC copy of Again, but Better from Netgalley! I’ve been following Christine on booktube for years and so this book was up on my TBR anyway. But I’m so happy I got to pick this up earlier, and I’m still going to buy this book when it comes out.

Christine has been really mysterious with her writing and I get why – it’s special when it’s just your own creation and it could change so much in the drafting process. My novel is not even the same story when a friend of mine read it five years ago. But because Again, but Better was so mysterious, I had no clue what it was about – except that it was ‘contemporary’. If anyone follows my dusty little blog still you know that I read mostly fantasy so I wasn’t slated to love this book. BUT I DID.

What’s it about? Well, the book's synopsis is actually stellar for once in giving you a run down. For the most part. I’m hesitant to give spoilers because if you’re a watcher of Christine’s videos then you know you can’t mention a certain thing because then you’re waiting FOR THE THING. IT RUINS THE THING. Maybe that was even too much, if you get it.

Anyway, this book is great for those who are bookish. Shane calls her notebooks Horcruxes, she talks about her love for Cassandra Clare books, Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code. Her love of books and writing really shines through with this novel. The writing itself feels like how Christine talks in her videos. It’s definitely a book to pick up if you’re an avid watcher of her channel.

All I’m gonna say is, it’s not your average contemporary novel. And I don’t mean it in that sensationalising way headlines use to rope readers in. Again, but Better is about a character struggling find her dreams, who wants to discover herself, love and live her life to the fullest with all the struggles that come with that. She starts off at the age of twenty and we also see her life later at twenty-seven too. It’s full of quirky jokes and shows Christine’s own love for Cassandra Clare’s humour. It’s a cute, fun read and if you love contemporaries and perhaps a bit more, then ADD IT TO YOUR TBR!

Lamppost. (You’ll know what I mean on May 7th when this book comes out!)

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Also here's a non-spoiler-y quote that shows off Christine's humour:

"I jump around, baptizing everyone in the vicinity with my drink."

Shane goes to a club and dances and this quote tickled me. I hope you guys enjoyed the review and it was informative but not too spoiler-filled. :) Happy reading!