I think this is her best book yet. this book was riveting, heart-wrenching, slow-burning goodness. the food descriptions weren't necessarily for me

This cute young adult novel is told from the perspective of college freshman Andie, who transfers mid-year to the college her parents attended and where her boyfriend currently goes, hoping to surprise him - only to find out he has transferred to the community college she just transferred out of. The book takes place over the next few months as Andie settles in, makes friends, and tries to figure herself out.

I loved Emma Lord’s When You Get the Chance, but this one was just not quite as special for me. It was very predictable, and definitely felt extremely on the young side of YA despite featuring a college age character. It was a cute one though, and I enjoyed the characters.

3.75 stars

What a cute coming-of-age story (those are always my favorites). Emma Lord writes YA stories that are full of such warmth and love that it feels like a big hug.

I loved the college atmosphere of this one, making new friends and figuring out classes. Dorm-living and roommates! Andie spends her days finding herself through trying new hobbies, meeting new people, and facing new challenges, just what college should be!

Unfortunately, I think this could have used a bit more grown-up angst. Even though this is technically YA, the characters are adults and figuring out life for themselves for the first time, I think the story was almost too sweet.

Beyond that, I loved all the relationships in this book and I can't wait for more from Emma Lord!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

How do you go from feeling like you FINALLY have it all...to then having to start over from nothing?  How do you even find the strength?  Andie Rose has struggled to pull herself up and bust her butt to get from community college to Blue Ridge State - where her parents went (and fell in love), and where her boyfriend is currently in school.  But the moment Andie arrives, everything just goes WRONG.  How do you make the best out of, well...the worst?

I'm a huge fan of Emma Lord...and she did not disappoint.  I LOVED these characters and loved their chemistry.  I loved the radio station backstory and how tough Andie was to shrug off the disappointment of how things were supposed to be and move on to how things SHOULD be.  Fantastic read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Emma Lord does it again - this book reminds me more of Tweet Cute (her debut and my favorite) than her other 2 books, in that it is classically sweet however there are some deep themes layered in. It has been a long time since I enjoyed a YA book - this book is set during the MC's freshman year with a few older students sprinkled in - and the slow burn romance comes second (maybe even third!) to Andie's self discovery / journey with grief and dives in to her developing relationship with her friends. The way the author discusses grief between two characters who have suffered enormous loss was very authentic and struck me as more genuine than in most books. Overall, if you enjoy YA you will enjoy this book.

#netgalleyarc This was a fun, end of school vacation read. This book follows the classic romance novel recipe but thankfully is limited in the amount of cheese factor. The characters are likable, believable and not annoying.

DNF at 35%. This is definitely a case of wrong reader and not about the book. I am going to second what my friend Katy wrote in her review and say I think this would be great for younger teens who are looking forward to college. As I am definitely not that demographic, this wasn’t as great a fit for me and that’s totally fair. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I absolutely love Emma Lord’s books, but this one was too hard to get into. I started the book three times and had to push hard to get through. I liked the start of Andie and Connor’s story, but ending up at different schools soured it for me. I loved that Andie felt connected to her late mother — but the rest of the story dragged for me. It was cringey and the problems seemed too juvenile for people in college.

Andie Rose has a detailed 5 year plan and is on a mission to help everyone in her orbit live their best lives. In fact, that very plan ends with her becoming a self-help mogul. But in order to do that, Andie has to navigate her way through a mid-year college transfer, a long distance boyfriend and a strained relationship with her father. In learning to trust her eclectic support system of family and friends, Andie realizes she must first resolve her own issues before can dispense advice to others. Emma Lord has created a realistic and relatable heroine in Andie and following her journey through her freshman year is both amusing and heartwarming.

I always find Emma's writing charming and her characters relatable. I also love university setting and the premise of this story is *chefs kiss*

3.5

I wasn’t sure what I would think of this book, since I didn’t love the other book I’ve read by Emma Lord, but I wanted to give it a try anyway because the synopsis really appealed to me. This was such a sweet story about growing up, finding true friendship and learning what’s most important in life.

I took far too long to read this, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. I really loved seeing Andie’s growth as a character, and I felt like she was a very likable main character. I adored her friend group and reading about their college experience was so fun. I expected more romance, but what we did get was really sweet🥹 I felt like I could see a little bit of myself in each of these characters and I think that’s what really moved the story along for me, since I just loved reading and learning more about them so much.

I did feel like this story got a little slow at times, but that honestly could just be me not wanting to read it at that particular time because I’m a mood reader🤪

Overall I really enjoyed this story and I personally liked it much more than the other book I’ve read by this author. It felt more mature, I loved the found family aspect, and I found myself much more interested in the storyline. It wasn’t a 5 star read, but I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a heartwarming story about a group of friends navigating those first years of adulthood and finding their paths in life.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Begin Again by Emma Lord was such a fun read! I started this one in the evening and almost read the whole thing in one sitting. Alas, one must sleep.

I love books that almost feel like a "coming of age" movie. Loved the writing. Loved the characters. Loved the plot execution. This book makes me want to go check out the rest of Emma Lord's backlist.

The main character Andie transfers to her boyfriend's university (also her mom's alma mater) so they can be together only to find out that he's transferred to her campus. That mini-synopsis was enough to have my rom-com loving self hooked.

Andie could very well have been set up like a "not like the other girls" type of girls but she wasn't and I'm sending a hershey's kiss to the author for that. Andie Rose is a perfectionist, she's sunshine incarnate, she loves people and she loves helping. Andie Rose is also a volcano waiting to erupt with a host of mommy issues, daddy issues, boyfriend issues, falling-in-love-with-your-RA issues and identity issues all wrapped up into one. The way each of her issues is explained and resolved unraveled so naturally that I have no complaints and I usually have a lot of those.

Not to mention her friends felt like real friends. They got screen time and character development. Her love interest Milo is her friend before anything else. And this kind of friends to lovers just hits. He was there for her every step of the way and the level of supportive this man was????? Where is my Milo, huh???

I really enjoyed this book and the only reason there's 1 star off is because I wanted to see more of the main couple be a couple after getting together. Not everyone cares about that but it's just something I like before we get the epilogue.

Anyways, I loved being extremely right about the bf. I'm glad my red flag sensors are still working great.

As always, thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Andie transfers mid-year to Blue Ridge State at the same time her boyfriend transfers OUT to go to her community college. What could possibly go wrong?? :) Emma Lord does it again - writes a YA book with heart and a big dose of real life too. Her coming of age stories always have a big dose of reality but also often has wonderful community. We all go through hard things but when you have people who are there for you, it makes those hard things much more manageable and that's what is at the heart of this story. It did feel a little long at times but there's a lot going on so it didn't feel like it dragged, just felt long. It was wonderful on audio and perfect to have on all day as i was lightly doing other things around the house. Another solid YA hit from Lord!

Emma Lord is the reigning queen of the young adult romance genre, and I was really excited to see that "Begin Again" straddles the line between young adult and new adult. Her books are fantastic for readers of all ages and I'm thrilled to think that she might be finding a wider audience with "Begin Again," because this is a book that deserves to be read widely. It is so well written, so honest, and so relatable for anyone navigating those tough years of finding your own path, learning what it means to be an adult, figuring out how high school romances will fit into your "new" more adult life, and ultimately discovering what it means to be true to yourself.

Andie Rose has always been the girl with a plan, and her first year of college has been no different. She busted her butt to be the only freshman transfer accepted at Blue Ridge State after being denied in her first round of applications. She's thrilled to be taking the first real step on her path to becoming a lauded self-help guru.

She didn't anticipate, however, that she might be the one needing help as she jumps both feet forward into her new school and life. Her relationship with high school sweetheart, Connor, has transferred out of Blue Ridge State to the community college she was previously attending, her classes are more difficult than she anticipated, and she's found herself paralyzed by the prospect of following in her beloved mother's footsteps at her alma mater. Andie's mom started a pirate radio station, and now in the wake of her death, Andie feels duty-bound to live up to the legacy she's left behind.

Andie's joined by roommate Shay, who desperately needs to choose a major, RA Milo, whose caffeine addiction borders on concerning and who, if she's being honest, gives her butterflies she has never felt with boyfriend Connor. As she starts her tenure as "The Squire" assistant to The Knight on the still-running radio show her mom founded, Andie will have to give herself some of the same hard advice she doles out to her listeners, and maybe, just maybe realize that the best-laid plans may not be the right path forward for the paths we find ourselves taking.

A must-read for fans of the romance genre, and a sure-fire hit for middle and high school libraries, "Begin Again" is already a contender for the favorite romance of the year! Recommended for fans of Sophie Sullivan, Emily Henry, and Talia Hibbert. Special thanks to NetGalley and to Wednesday books for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Begin Again" in exchange for an unbiased review.

this book is a story of finding ones self and I really like how are main character stood up for her self and went for what she wanted did she get scared yes did she think about running yes but with the help of her new friends she stick it though and i would love to see how she keeps making a name for herself

I thought this was a really cute YA contemporary romance. YA books are hit or miss for me. I love them but I like them better when they’re on the more mature side. I felt like this was on the younger side, considering the main characters were in college.

I found Andie to be a fun character. I loved her food name substitutes for swearing. I also enjoyed the fact her roommate was a bookstagrammer, that was awesome. I also really wanted to try all the different bagel types they mentioned, there was some that sounded so good!! This book also had some hard lessons to overcome. Overall, I really did find it cute! I think it would be perfect for younger adults going to college soon.

this wasn't as much fun as her other book Meet Cute, but it was still pretty cute. I love a good YA romance story, hope to keep reading Lord's books!

Begin Again is messy in the way only a good book knows how to reflect real life. Things do not always go as planned as Andie finds after not being accepted to her dream school. After successfully transferring from community college, her plans are further derailed when her boyfriend is not on campus for her to surprise him.

Lord successfully tackles so many things with this book including the grieving that never dissipates after losing a parent and trying to find a sense of belonging during a transitional period like the college years. Andie is a complex character who is trying to make the most of an experience she’s been planning most of her life. I was sent back to my undergrad years as Andie struggled with her insecurities including fitting in and being able to fill her mom’s shoes.

Luckily for Andie, she finds kindred spirits in Milo (her RA), Shay (her roommate), and Valeria (her tutor), who are facing similar struggles. All three were developed side characters, especially Milo. It was hard not to love him when he was grumpy but always had time for her.

Pick up Begin Again if you are a fan of
✨️the college experience
✨️realistic fiction
✨️new adult/YA romance

“Getting a new start doesn’t mean you have to wipe the slate clean. Just pick up the pieces. Begin again.”

Though I own several of her books, this one was actually my very first Emma Lord read. Did I enjoy it? That’s quite the understatement! This book was cozy, fun, and charming. I loved Andie’s grandmas and her new friends (especially Milo)! I should also mention that I caught myself humming Taylor Swift’s Begin Again more than once.

I discovered Emma Lord last year, and quickly fell in love with her writing. Her characters are always so loveable, and this story is no different.

This was her first book where the characters are freshmen in college rather than high schoolers. It was a fun change of setting. I enjoyed reading about the unique social culture of the campus, and loved the plot line of the radio broadcast. The author does a great job of bringing in heavy topics that are important for young readers to have access to, and she always includes a diverse set of characters.

Although the characters seem very “PG” compared to many early college experiences, I enjoyed reading about the main character, Andie, navigating a new space and finding her place in it. With the main Andie’s mother dying of cancer when she was young, her trying to make her mom proud (at the college her mom went to) and her life after her mother’s death are main themes of the book. I think Andie’s journey of self-discovery is a bigger theme in the book than romance, but I also loved the romantic interest in the story.