We'll call this one a yikes and move on. It just wasn't for me. The writing felt very immature and unpractised, and the story itself felt messy, especially when it came to the characterisation.

I just think that I don't suit this author's style if I'm honest. Which is a shame as the cover is gorgeous and promises such a fun story, and it's what drew me in.

I would say this book is closer to 3.5 stars for me, because while I really enjoy Christine Riccio’s books, there are also elements that I find frustrating at times.

First let’s start with what I loved about the story. I think Siri and Jamie were a lot of fun as main characters. They obviously weren’t perfect (more on that later) but I think they contrasted each other really well. I also really loved their respective love interests, and personally I really loved the way Siri’s sexuality was presented.

I don’t think the writing style of this book is for everyone. For me, I enjoyed the characters for the most part and really loved their love interests, so I was able to look past things that a lot of readers may may not be able to, namely the heavy incorporation of slang and references to modern pop culture.

My main issue with the book was the main character’s personalities and the way they were presented. Generally speaking, Siri is the angsty teen while Jamie is the eternal optimist (which is obviously a mask for deeper insecurities), but there were time when those labels were taken to the absolute extreme, and there were also moments where Siri dropped her angsty act with no clear explanation. What I’m saying is I wish there was a bit more consistency and a little bit more depth to the characters, rather than portraying them as two extremes of the personality spectrum.

Finally I wish it didn’t take so long to get to the Freaky Friday aspect of the story. I felt that it would have made more sense if the glamour fell into place almost immediately after they were glitter-bombed.

Despite my criticisms, I did have a fun time reading this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a light, entertaining read, but when read or regarded in a critical lens, it doesn’t stack up against other YA Contemporary Romances I’ve read.

This is a spin on the Parent Trap that doesn't quite work. I really disliked the parents which made the girls' plans for revenge more palatable but I wish there had been more emotional depth to the sisters. The alternating POV became confusing because neither girl had a distinct voice and the magical elements were really unnecessary. I forced myself to finish but this wasn't the right book for me.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a copy to review.

This is a strange book for me to review. On one hand, I did enjoy the overall plot line, and I did like the characters. They were more complex than I originally thought they'd be, and I liked the bi rep. But the writing... it was cringey. Instead of cursing, Siri uses other words in their place. Like instead of saying shit, she says "excrement". Jamie is a comedian, and perhaps it just wasn't my kind of humor, because I didn't find her funny. Honestly, had I not gotten the book to review, I don't think I would have finished it. It wasn't *bad*, but it definitely was not for me, despite the promising plot.

I was so excited to read Better Together, especially after seeing comparisons between it and The Parent Trap (one of my favorite movies!). At the 30% mark though, I honestly have no idea what is going on in this book — it jumps between characters constantly and confusingly. There have only been a few pages out of the many that I actually understood what was going on (and I was helped along there by it being a direct copy of The Parent Trap). While I wanted to love this, I can’t devote more time to a book that I don’t understand, so it’s going on the DNF shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books for the digital copy of this book. Hopefully other readers who decide to pick this up enjoy it more than I did.

For lovers of the Parent Trap movies, this book is about 2 sisters who with a little help from magic, step into each others shoes.

I was provided the opportunity to review this book honestly in exchange for a free copy. I really adored Again but Better by this author as I felt a deep connection to the theme.

With a second book from a new author there is a bit of anticipation for growth in writing style that I unfortunately did not see met in Better Together. I am not posting my review on a public platform but still want to provide my feedback to the publisher as they were kind enough to reach out to me to give me a copy of this title.

I didn’t enjoy this title as I thought some of the actions of the characters were a bit inappropriate, the book was too heavy in pop culture, and I didn’t see the drive behind the story like I did with again but better. I’d like to see the author work on another book that tells a story she’s truly passionate about, but one that isn’t a self reflection. Don’t use pop culture as a crutch, and maybe try examining a different writing style. I would love to see this author write a book with the power of Again but Better, but with a more serious narration. I have hope for growth in the writing style, but did not see it here as I would have liked.

I should probably start off by saying that I read this book back in late April/early May…I think? So I’m definitely fuzzy on some details, but since I try to keep things vague and spoiler free anyway, it should still be okay. I wanted to like this book way more than I did. I did like Jamie more than Siri though, but that’s not saying too much because I didn’t really connect with either sister.

One of the sisters…I want to say Siri…didn’t curse at all, and while that could have been cute or endearing, the tame words she used instead just didn’t sound right and were a bit off-putting…actually let me be completely honest here…it was downright annoying. And I think it was Jamie, maybe, was sort of phone/social media adverse, and that was really weird for me too.

Also, is here where I should point out that Jamie and Siri basically got their names from Jamie and Cersei Lannister from “Game of Thrones”? Because honestly that knowledge made this book feel even weirder to me.

The first third or so of this book felt like telling me about the sisters and forcing them into a situation where they could meet up and have one of them come up with the cockamamie idea to swap places, which seems like a poor idea considering that they don’t exactly look alike. It’s a Parent Trap style set up except for the fact that these siblings aren’t twins; they’re a few years apart in age. So here’s where we have to throw in magic to make the story work.

While I liked that style of set-up with Riccio’s first book, with this one it just felt clanky and jarring and like trying to fit a square box into a circle hole, and it wasn’t working for me.

The story did get a little more interesting after they swapped places and started actually getting involved in the lives of each other. Jamie’s best friend Dawn actually might be my favorite character from the whole book, and I liked seeing her and Siri interact, especially after the switcheroo was revealed.

But this book just couldn’t keep my interest, sadly, and I felt like I was forcing myself to read it and just feeling annoyed by the story and the characters. Considering how much I loved Again but Better, I was expecting another great story, and unfortunately this one fell into the sophomore slump category.

…Then again, I will also just go ahead and say that I was heading back into a reading and blogging slump when I read this book, so there is a chance that my opinion was affected by everything else going on in my life. So maybe I’ll pick this book up again some other time and give it another try. If it sounds interesting to you, then by all means, pick it up, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Okay this was bad. I uploaded a full review to my Youtube channel, but I thought I would summarise my thoughts on my blog as well since, well, I'm supposed to be a book blogger.

I read Again But Better when it came out a few years ago and I didn't enjoy it. I certainly didn't hate it, but I felt like it didn't live up to my already low expectations. I went into Better Together thinking that the author would have practised her writing and ironed out some of the issues I had with Again But Better. That was not the case.

In this book, we have the same issue with the quirky characters who were clearly written in line with their draft character sheets. They each had one quirky thing about them, one interest, and that was it. That was their personality.

I didn't like the romance either but to be honest I had already checked out by that point.

Siri and Jamie couldn't be less alike. Siri wants to be a pro ballerina and Jamie wants to be a stand-up comedian. When their paths cross at a retreat centered around re-discovering yourself, they will find they have a lot more in common than they thought.

For this one I listened to the audiobook and the narrators did an okay job. Now let me say I knew this was going to be a familiar storyline since the tagline was "Freaky Friday meets The Parent Trap" but there was just SO MUCH happening in this book. At almost 13 hours of audio, this book was WAY too long. I would expect 13 hours of audio from the first installment in a YA fantasy series, but not a YA "second chances and finding yourself" story. I did appreciate the inclusivity found within the storyline, but was really distracted by all the different aspects of the story. I don't feel the POV swaps were done as well as they could have been in the audiobook. The two narrators sounded too similar in my opinion. Overall this was an okay read.

A cute YA read! I really enjoyed this one, which was a pleasant surprise as I didn’t love her first novel. But I thought this one was funny and sweet, so I’ll definitely check out her next one!

A fun retelling of the Parent Trap and Freaky Friday.. The journey you go on with both sisters is a refreshing story. Jamie is the spunky sister, while Siri is the quiet reserved type. When they decide to switch lives they get to see that there's more to each sister than what they think. This heart whelming story will make you appreciate your sibling. I really enjoyed how each sister grew and found love. I also was glad that everything didn't get a perfect ending with their family. It makes it more relatable and helped make their sisterhood stand out.

Oh, another Riccio book where I went in expecting something lovely from the premise and was instead met by poor characterization, swiss cheese storylines, and references that were way too much to handle. Do not recommend.

I was excited to read this book and it’s twist on some of my favorite childhood movies. It started out great ans I thought I was going to be invested in Siri’s struggle to find herself after an injury sidelines her ballet career. Unfortunately, this book overall was just not my favorite. Didn’t work for me.

Literally what was this book. I hated it. The writing was so basic and boring, the plot wasn't good and I didn't care about the characters. I didn't even care that Siri was queer (which says a lot because I usually love to see that). The author was trying so hard to be quirky I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Don't do excrement like that mom! What the underworld?".... no, just no.

DNF at 18%. I honestly could not connect with this book. I wanted to get into it, but once I put it down I wouldn't think about it and want to pick it back up. Siri as a character made my cringe for not wanting to curse and the words she used as a replacement was really immature. Jamie is a stronger character, but not enough to keep the story interesting for me.

This book looked and sounded really fun, but unfortunately I had to DNF it pretty early on because I just could not get over the writing style, which was cringy to say the least.

This did not work for me. The characters were abrasive and not at all enjoyable. The magic switching seemed to make things worse rather than more fun. The more interesting parts of the plot didn't get any focus or development. The one character's substitute swear words got old really fast. This was just not the book for me. (Language, LGBTQ+)

This was such a fun read! I had a hard time putting it down at points throughout the story because of all the drama and chaos that was taking place.

How do I start to describe this book? It is clearly inspired by both The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. We have sibling switcheroos and a bit of magic. Siri is 18 and working in the NYC area as a professional ballerina until a back injury wrenches her from that career path. On the opposite coast, Jamie is an aspiring stand-up comic who has stage anxiety. Both girls families convince them to go to a Re-discover You retreat in Colorado. There, the girls discover each other and find out they are lon lost sisters who were separated when they were really young by their paren't messy divorce. The sisters hatch a plan to switch places and return to eachother's homes for a few days to try to get their two parents to meet up. And THEN, something magic happens and the sisters are glamoured by magic.

This was realistic fiction with a twist of magic. I am a Parent Trap fan (original version, thank you very much) so knew the basic storyline. I found some aspects of the plot to be problematic in this book and had a hard time looking past them. The parents are just awful parents and how they were portrayed was too one-dimensional to me and just bizarrely handled. There were aspects of the story I enjoyed more, like the alternating perspective between Siri and Jamie. I also felt like the book was too long and certainly could have used some more editing. The source of the magic is never quite dug into which left me wanting more.