Hey book lovers! I'm here with a book review for Better Together by Christine Riccio. I'm going to be upfront here, the first third of this book was wishy-washy. I didn't think I was going to make it through the entire book. HOWEVER, I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. It's not a 5-star read for me, but a fun, easy, read for the summer that will leave you with a smile on your face as you pick up the phone to call a sibling, family member, or friend. Do people still use phones? I do, but, hey, I'm old.
bet-ter:
1. of a more excellent quality
2. to make more complete or perfect

to-geth-er:
1. in one place or group
2. connection, union
I read a digital advance reader's copy from Netgalley.


About The Book 📚
Title: Better Together

Author: Christine Riccio

Publication Date: June 1, 2021

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Suggested Reader Age: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Sisters, LGBT, Retelling, Realistic Fiction

Rep: bisexual

Triggers: child neglect, absent parent, anxiety, divorce

http://www.laurenhannah.net/book-trigger-list/


About The Author
Christine Riccio

"Christine Riccio has been on a quest to encourage more humans to read since the third grade. No one really listened until she started making videos about books on Youtube in 2010. Now her channel PolandbananasBOOKS has over 390,000 book-loving subscribers. She makes comedic book reviews, vlogs, sketches, and writing videos chronicling the creation of her own novel. She’s also one of the three YouTubers behind BOOKSPLOSION. Originally from New Jersey, Christine graduated from Boston University in 2012 with a degree in Film and TV and now lives in Los Angeles, CA. Other hobbies include hot yoga and oatmeal."
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...


My Review
› Jamie and Siri's parents divorced when they were 6 and 4 years old. Their father left with Jamie, seeking a better life in California, their mother stayed with Siri in New Jersey. Siri's ballet career that she worked for her entire life is gone down the drain after a back injury. She's too independent, too shy, too set on having everything perfect, she enrolls in a "Rediscover Yourself" retreat. Jamie lives in California. She dreams of being a successful stand-up comedian. After bombing her first real show, she's encouraged to sign up for a "Rediscover Yourself" retreat...And then, the sisters run into each other - literally. Siri is baffled. Here, in front of her, is the Jamie that her mother had convinced her was an imaginary friend. Yes, their mother told HER CHILD that she had imagined her older sister, Jamie. Siri attended therapy for YEARS to learn how to let go of this "figment of her imagination".

After getting to know each other, they make a "Parent Confrontation Trap" plan. They change each other's hair and clothes to look more like the other. Siri will return to their dad in California, Jamie will return to their mother in New York. While on a hike in the woods the day before their expected departure, a trail leads them to a cabin with a magic box glitter bomb. They wake up the next morning in each other's bodies! Now they can do a "Freaky Friday" and a "Parent Trap" all in one!

As they get to know more about the opposite parent and the other sister's life, they learn more about themselves while also developing a cute romance. Siri crushes on Jamie's best friend Dawn, and Jamie lets down her walls to let Zarar in. Everything builds up to the moment where they reveal themselves to their parents, and deal with the fallout.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 6
I'm not a fan of Siri as a person's name, but the character development is pretty good. There's definitely strengths, flaws, internal and external conflict. The main characters have backstory and motivation, however, I would have liked to see more development of the side characters.

› Atmosphere: 4
I could never picture myself in any setting. There is a lack of description, world-building, emotion and mood.

› Writing Style: 3
The writing style drove me up the wall.
"intercourse this" instead of F*^& This. And "excrement" instead of S*$! WHY. And why do it like 100 times throughout the book?!
"sigh escapes my lips" - why, was it locked in there?
Unbelievable dialogue from a flashback of four-year-old Siri. I'm an Educational Assistant, I've worked with children in many capacities since I was twelve, and no four-year-old has ever spoken that well. My son is identified as gifted, and he didn't speak like that as a Kinder.

› Plot: 4
The plot is predictable, the climax was boring. The ending was okay. Definitely not a page-turner.

› Intrigue: 7
Although it was not a page-turner for me, I did still want to keep reading.

› Logic: 4
A few things didn't make sense, and I had to re-read parts because they were confusing. The thing where their mother convinced Siri that Jamie was a figment of her imagination! WTF!!! This was not dealt with properly in my opinion. That is TRAUMATIC!

› Enjoyment: 7

Average 5

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• Inspired by The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday, Better Together is about sisters getting to know each other, themselves, and confront their parents in an attempt to unite their family.

DNF and it’s the first time I say that happily. I have no idea what was happening, where this was going.. it was a mess. Save yourself and skip this monstrosity.

I liked this book. A lot.

Christine’s writing has improved tremendously since she first published Again, but Better. Where the main character of her debut novel was an obvious Christine insert, Siri and Jamie in this book were both unique, each with interesting and distinguishable storylines. It made both of their POVs equally engaging, although I admit, Jamie was more fun to read about, mostly because I couldn’t take Siri’s cursing seriously.

I also really enjoyed all of the side characters, especially Zarar. He’s too good for this world and now I too want a ‘meet cute’ that I can tell my grandchildren about!

Plotwise, this is a mix of The Parent Trap with Freaky Friday. And yet, it wasn’t a copy of either of those. The story took different turns and implemented many different elements that I didn’t see coming. The story also looked into the individual traumas that the sisters had endured at the hands of their parents. I felt especially bad for Jamie who was literally erased by her mother.

Speaking of the mother, she was a horrible person. The dad too, but the mom really spent 14 years gaslighting her daughter. That’s why I am so glad that this wasn’t a Parent Trap situation about bringing the parents together because it is clear that they don’t have a good relationship. This was more about the girls and them reconnecting and learning to become both friends and sisters after being apart for so long. It was also about each of them learning how to be individuals and find true happiness.

Overall, I really liked this one. I think Christine has grown so much as a writer and I can’t wait to read more of her stories in the future.

But, before I go, let me just say something because I can’t just let this go. The amount of negative reviews written of this book from the moment it was announced is just sad. The moment it was announced people were leaving one star reviews. If you don’t like Christine, that’s fine. If you didn’t like her previous book, that’s ok. If you read this book and hated it, that’s entirely valid. But people need to stop sinking people’s books before they even read them, just because you have a problem with the author or something.

And for all the comments saying that it was because they had ARCs. There have been negative reviews since day one. Since before this book even had an official title. This also isn’t just me being mad about it happening to this book. It’s all books. I hate to see rants and one star reviews on books people haven’t read.

Ok, that is all.

DNF at 15%

I couldn't bring myself to keep reading this book - life is too short and time is too valuable to suffer through a poorly written book. The summary/blurb seemed like it had potential and like a cool plot, but I can't get past the writing itself. Emma Lord did a "Parent Trap" style book and it's better. Sorry not sorry.

I had to DNF this about halfway though, so my rating is only given on the first half of the book - which was alright, with fun characters and an interesting plot. Sadly, the writing just didn't do it for me at all. Still, it's not a bad novel per se, just not the right one for me at this moment : it could be a nice read for a teen in your life this summer!

4.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Y'all this book was SO MUCH FUN! The short chapters combined with how peppy and quirky Jamie is as a narrator worked so well for me.

This book is basically a parent trap retelling. Jamie and Siri haven't seen each other in years, but they meet up unintentionally at the Re-Discover Yourself Retreat in Colorado. Siri's first reaction to finding out who Jamie is, is to have a panic attack because her mom had convinced her that her sister was completely made up. So yeah, these parents already are not winning any awards. As the two get through that whole situation, Jamie decides they need to switch places at the end of the retreat and go back to the parent they haven't seen in 10 years for closure/answers.

I really loved seeing these two sisters come back to each other and working out things that happened with their parents. There was a lot of miscommunications and several almost disasters, but overall this book was super adorable. I loved the relationship that developed between Siri and Jamie as they bonded--they truly are better together. And I was a sap for it.

Also I loved the romantic relationships in this. Especially between Siri and Dawn, it was just so fucking cute and I ship them so hard. Besides navigating romantic and familial relationships, Jamie is trying to get back into stand up comedy after a bad show, and Siri is trying to figure out what to do with her life after an injury stops her dance career. I really liked seeing Siri try various options and finding something else she loved. Jamie on the other hand, had to learn to let people in and give herself another chance regardless of whether she succeeded or failed.

Overall, I really liked this book. I'm definitely looking forward to Riccio's next book.

I unfortunately did not enjoy this book at all. The writing felt very juvenile, the characters were irritating, and the plot felt so ridiculous I couldn't immerse myself in it.

DNF... I could not suspend my disbelief long enough to enjoy this. The plot was just a bit too ridiculous.

The dialogue in this one made it very hard to read and so I DNFed at 31%. I know it’s supposed to be parent trap like which is why I wanted it. The Parent Trap was one of my favorite movies growing up. However this one missed the mark. In the very beginning I was done with the use of excrement instead of shit or hey even crap would have worked. Excrement did not. Also with Jamie being 18, I just couldn’t get behind her mom sending her to camp. Whether it was to rediscover herself after a ballet ending injury or not. This just wasn’t for me.

I thought this book was pretty okay. The overall idea of Parent Trap mixed with Freaky Friday would have been more interesting if the characters didn't already have similar faces and were already switching places essentially? The magical glitter idea of them switching bodies felt kind of wasted in my opinion because of how similar the characters already looked, also it didn't seem to make a difference that they switched bodies because Jamie never commented on Siri's back and Siri didn't say anything about it either. Another thing that really bothered me was how opposite the two girls are supposed to be so far as not swearing or even saying "crap". Instead the word excrement was way overused. If it had only happened once or twice I wouldn't have been as annoyed with it. I haven't read this author's first novel but I'm pretty sure there was a cameo of characters from that book which I thought was pretty cute and added to the world building Riccio is creating.

"Better Together" was a fun take on The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. When Jamie was six and Siri was four, their parents divorced and their dad (Grier) took Jamie to Los Angeles, where he became a Hollywood producer, while Siri stayed in New York with her ballerina mother, Mara. So far, so typical. There has been no communication between Grier/Jamie and Mara/Siri since the Grier left with Jamie for California. Moreover, unbeknownst to either Jamie or Grier, Mara convinced Siri that her sister Jamie was actually an imaginary friend, which resulted in years of therapy for Siri. Fifteen years later, Siri and Jamie are both struggling. Siri was on her way to a successful ballet career when a back injury derailed her dreams. Jamie wants to be a stand-up comic, but she cannot complete a successful ten-minute routine. They are both drowning in anger, which Siri bottles up and explores through the music she listens to, while Jamie, who seems happy-go-lucky and outgoing, looks at every situation as something she can potentially put into her act, which focuses heavily on making fun of herself or others. Their respective parents are career-driven and largely absentee parents.

The "Parent Trap" aspect is that Siri and Jamie are pushed into attending a weeklong retreat in Colorado to help them find themselves respectively. Hilarity ensues for the reader when Siri and Jamie bump into each other, literally, and Siri is convinced she is seeing a ghost and losing her mind. Making it more comedic is that despite the age difference, and despite very different styles in hair and clothes, Siri and Jamie look a lot alike, making other people at the retreat question if they are twins. However, things are not so funny for Siri and Jamie, whose lives have been turned upside down. After a tense week, Jamie proposes that they impersonate each other so they can confront the other parent who abandoned them and then arrange to bring their parents together, reveal that they know about each other, and convince their parents to pay for a sister-sister bonding road trip. There is also a "Freaky Friday" aspect to the story, but I will leave that to the reader to discover.

The book is full of humorous moments, especially if Jamie is involved, but also some rather poignant moments when Siri and/or Jamie are discussing their struggles and how their parents divorce and behavior post divorce have shaped their personalities and lives, as well as when they finally confront their parents with what they have learned. The author has created a great supporting cast, especially Dawn and Zarar. Game of Thrones fans will likely appreciate the names of the sisters, as well as other ways that GoT is involved in the story. One of the funniest aspects of the story is that Mara does not use "curse" words, a habit that Siri has adopted as well, and instead says the word that the profanity represents, so when upset, Siri might say "intercourse that" or "excrement." There is lots more I could say about the book, but I want to leave lots of surprises for other readers.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Billed as Parent Trap meets Freaky Friday and it delivers that plus some. Separated at a young age by their parent's divorce Siri and Jamie are as opposite as opposite can be. Jamie is an aspiring stand up comedian living with her dad a famous film producer in California. Siri is a former professional ballerina who just recently suffered a career ending injury who's living with her mother in New Jersey. After both suffering some intense setbacks professionally both sisters go on a retreat in Colorado to figure out what's next for them. What ensues is nothing short of chaos. When both sister's agree to switch places and get to know the parent they grew up without. Assisted by a bit of magic not only do the sisters switch places but they basically switch bodies forcing them to fully immerse themselves in the life of the sister who's place they took.

A cute, easy read especially if you're familiar with Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. It was nice to see this type of story told with young adults because the stakes of a life swap are more compelling than two young children. Having the main characters be able to explore not only the relationships with there parents but how to move forward in their careers and with their romantic relationships was a good take a concept a lot of people know. At times it felt a bit far fetched with Jamie and Zarar's relationship. Mainly him just being conveniently around in New York and being okay with how she talked to him was a bit weird for me. Other than that it was cute book and I think anyone who enjoyed Parent Trap would love this book.

Better Together is the Parent Trap meets Freaky Friday. It follows two sisters who didn’t know they were sisters until they meet at a camp and decide to switch places. However, while at the camp, a mysterious magic helps them to better look like their sister to others who see them.

First off, I want to say, there were a lot of similarities in Better Together and Again, But Better beyond just the titles. If these were things you didn’t like about the first book, then this one may not be for you.

1. A strong emphasis on family.
Just like her debut, this one had a lot of family drama and some tough love from the parents. And this time around, instead of parents holding the main character(s) back, they were hiding secrets.

2. It’s a contemporary but with a little bit of unexplained magic
In Again, But Better the bit of magic was probably my favorite part and it really felt like the author was able to better write the rest of the story after the magic bit. And I felt the same way here too. The first 20% or so was a draaaaag, but after we got to the bit at camp, it was better. Also, just like in her previous works, the magic is mostly unexplained (which I was okay with).

3. The characters are maybe a bit too quirky.
Just like in Again, But Better the main characters are maybe a little too quirky. This time, we have two main characters and one is adamantly against cussing and uses words like “excrement”, and the other is just a little too chirpy?

4. The parents are still evil
In Better Together one of the parents tells their daughter that their sister is a figment of their imagination.

5. There’s a romance
Something I really enjoyed about this one was the main character Siri’s romance. It felt pretty natural and I liked how even though there was a bit of instant attraction, it was done in a way that felt right and not forced.


I think this could have actually been a really good book if a couple things would have been fixed. One, getting rid of the whole “imaginary” concept, and the scene where the main character attacks her sister because she thinks she’s imaginary. There absolutely could have been another way for her parents to tell her as a child that her sister is no longer there. Two, editing, editing, and more editing. This book was just way too long for what happened. And it’s mostly due to the author’s writing style (I think) where she over-explains things. If these two things were done, this might be a much more enjoyable book.

Also, I really liked how at one point, we got a surprise appearance from some characters from her other book.

DNF. The book started off strong at the summer camp when the girls meet each other, but as it moved into the switching places part it started to drag for me and I couldn't stay interesting.

3 1/2

Better Together by Christine Riccio opens with Siri visiting her doctor after week’s of physical therapy, certain that all of her hard work means that she will be able to resume her career as a ballerina, a career she’s dedicated her entire life to. When he tells her that she will never be able to return, she’s beyond heart-broken. What is she going to do now? Against her will, her mother signs her up for a retreat in Colorado where she’ll be able to try to find a new future path.

Jamie has just suffered a stupendous career humiliation, the kind that involves bodily fluids on a stage in front of a crowd due to performance anxiety–the comedic kind. She’s also lost her apartment and must move back with her Dad, but under his conditions, which means signing a contract. One item on that contract is to go to a retreat in Colorado. While it’s not her first choice, Jamie doesn’t really have any choices so she goes.

In the pre-camp scenes, Siri was tolerable, but once she arrived at camp she became a whiny, sullen, self-centered brat that I found myself disliking more and more intensely. I did, however, find her substituting non-slang for cuss slang like excrement for sh*t and intercourse for f*ck to be really funny and might start yelling “INTERCOURSE!” when I’m really, really mad. Books really do provide us with gifts.

In direct contrast (and probably purposefully), Jamie is a hoot. She has faults, many due to bad parenting and bad relationship examples, but she comes across as self-aware, certainly aware enough to begin self-fixing.

Budding romances for the two sisters are handled well and are very cute and probably equate to some of the most enjoyable scenes in the novel.

There are some cringe-worthy scenes with the parents, but the one thing that holds me back from giving it a really high review is that it just tries to do too much and ends up being too long for what it is. The novel is 448 pages with some passages being a bit long-winded.

This one’s a toss up, a familiar cute story well done but too long.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book had an interesting storyline. I liked that each character felt real. They had flaws and frustrations, and sadness. I liked that this was a parent trap twisted retelling, that's one I haven't seen done a lot, so it felt fresh!

Overall I enjoyed the storyline, and I would recommend this for YA readers!

An improvement from the author's previous work. This book had an interesting concept even though I'm not really a huge fan of magic in contemporary settings. I recommend giving this book a shot!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's (Wednesday) for this ARC.

I must say, going into this one, I had high hopes. As a fan of Freaky Friday and Parent Trap, I was already prepared to get sucked into this story. However, I DNF'd this one.

The writing style just wasn't for me, and the use of "excrement" as a swear word was just too cringe for me.

Again, I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't unfortunately. Maybe I'll try and pick it up again in the future.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I kept trying to read further, but I really couldn't get past the poor writing quality. To me, this read like a very early draft both in writing quality and the overall poor plot. There was no nuance or subtlety to this book - it really whacked you over the head with everything. I found both of the sisters to be unbearable (both in personality and dialogue).

<b>I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.</b>

Siri lives in New York with her mother. She is struggling after a bad accident ruins her back and her career as a professional ballerina. At 18, Siri has already peaked at her dream career and is stuck.

Jamie lives in California with her father. Jamie has been struggling with stage fright and can’t seem to get through her sets. After being kicked out of her apartment, she is forced to move back home with him. She’s forced to sign a contract with stipulations for her being home, one of which involves going to a camp or therapy. She chooses the week long camp.

At the “Rediscover Yourself” camp, Jamie and Siri literally run into each other. Jamie immediately recognizes Siri and tells her she’s her sister. Siri doesn’t believe her, Jamie isn’t real. Her mom put her in therapy because she imagined her. Over the next week, they reconnect and come up with a plan to get back at their parents. Before they leave camp, they’re hit with some magic and look like each other. They each spend a few days with the parent they don’t know, with the intention of meeting up in Las Vegas.

With all the hurt and feelings of abandonment, how do they heal?

<i>Better Together</i> was a really great idea. It took the Parent Trap and put a spin on it, but I found myself pushing to finish. The first half of the book I struggled to get through and my initial thoughts were that this was going to be a 2 star read. The very beginning was confusing and hard to get into. I grew to love Siri and Jamie, but the beginning was just very weird to me. Once they got to the camp, I felt like things were moving very slowly. I found myself dreading to pick up the book.

The latter half definitely saved this book for me. Once the girls switched and had to “walk in the others shoes”, it definitely picked up. While their parents had no idea they had switched, they definitely noticed a difference in their girls. The emotions Siri and Jamie go through are very real and it was great to delve deeper into their feelings. In order to heal, sometimes you have to dig further into the pain.

Personally, I won’t be rereading this book. It’s just not a favorite of mine, but aud would definitely recommend this for someone who tends to like deep emotions and slower stories with a lot of detail.