I quite liked Begin Again. Andie Rose was a likeable lead for this sweet friends-to-lovers story. She has dreamed of attending the college where her mom went and started a pirate radio show for most of her life, and she can't wait to join her boyfriend Connor there when she transfers in at mid-year. They have been having a tough time with the long distance thing, and she is certain that everything will be perfect again once she shows up on his doorstep to surprise him. Unfortunately, Connor has done the same thing - transferred mid-year to the community college that Andie had been attending.

Andie has her life planned down to the minute, it seems, and Connor's transfer is the beginning of the unraveling of all of her plans... Will she be able to get things back on track? Will she roll with the punches and shift to a new set of plans? And what's with her RA Milo's seafoam green eyes? He seems to be everywhere.

The personal development of the characters, along with their back stories, help to make Andie and her friends engaging and interesting. I wanted to know what would happen between them, how things would turn out, whether Andie would stay rigidly devoted to her life goals or be flexible and allow for modifications on the way.

A story of love and starting over, Begin Again is a satisfying, lovely read. I would read it again, and I would absolutely recommend it to others.

*I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this story of Andie's start at her dream college and the learning more about herself and her dreams. Emma Lord writes characters and relatable situations which draws the reader in right from the start! Reading this story, brought me back to my first year at college and the complexities that came with it. Andie's friends throughout this story as those that you want rooting for and supporting each other! This book was such a heartwarming read! Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

It’s only the first day of school, and Andie Rose’s perfectly curated plan has already gone awry.

In Emma Lord’s “Begin Again,” Andie transfers from her local community college to the uber-competitive Blue Ridge State — her dream school that happens to be the same school her boyfriend, Connor, attends — only to find out Connor has transferred to her community college. Her bookish roommate, Shay, needs a to declare a major and Andie needs help passing statistics. To top it all off, Andie finds herself in a unique position giving people advice on her school’s pirate radio show — the same one her mother founded when she went to Blue Ridge.

Then there’s Milo, Andie’s overly-exhausted and over-caffeinated resident advisor, who throws her for a loop. As Andie deals with her strained relationship with Connor, her and Milo’s friendship continues to grow; they bond over the loss of a parent and their love for bagels. Both Milo and Andie are extremely family-oriented: Milo’s siblings make frequent appearances, as do Andie’s two grandmothers who raised her, which allows for the perfect balance of platonic and romantic relationships needed in a YA novel.


With a long-distance relationship hanging by a thread, a new job and advice to give, Andie learns that her usual fix-it attitude can’t fix everything in her new life at college.

“Begin Again” is a delightful and comforting read. As her fourth YA novel, Lord’s writing is consistently heartfelt and filled with delicious descriptions of food. This is her first novel to focus on college-aged characters, which is refreshing, if not relatable to everyone. Lord delicately discusses college finances and the issues surrounding financial aid that the characters confront. Milo’s passion for the lack of work-study jobs available to students at Blue Ridge is admirable. Though it’s a fictional university, Blue Ridge’s situation certainly reflects the struggling state of financial aid programs at schools across the country.

The characters in “Begin Again” are charming, especially Andie and Milo, who go through their own self-growth journeys. As a first-year transfer student at a super competitive state school, Andie feels inadequate compared to her peers, something many college students can relate to since feelings of insecurity and imposter syndrome are common in college students. Andie faces the same struggle of paying the high costs of college tuition that most students encounter, while also balancing an overwhelming academic workload with working at the local bagel shop like many working-class college students.

Fans of NPR and podcasts will appreciate the radio show aspect of “Begin Again.” The secret show on campus called “The Knights’ Watch” is where students get all the dirt on Blue Ridge. Andie faces anonymity and early mornings as the show’s “Squire” doing what she does best: helping people with their problems (while simultaneously ignoring her own). As she grapples with her mother’s legacy on the show, Andie creates a legacy for herself by creating the life she always wanted, with the support of her family and new friends at college.

Andie’s college experience won’t be everyone’s experience, but it’s still entertaining to read. With a slow-burn romance, a lovable friend group and an overarching theme of starting over woven throughout the story, “Begin Again” is the perfect book to read in the new year.

I've loved Emma Lord's books in the past and was thrilled when I got the chance to read this ARC. Unfortunately, I don't think this one was for me. I had a hard time taking the whole ribbon hunt seriously, and we spend so much time inside of Andie's head that all of the plot "twists" were shockingly predictable. Every time a question arose in the story about something, I guessed with complete accuracy the answer several chapters before that answer came to fruition. It made for a very boring read. The book fell into tired tropes, which left me taken aback. Emma Lord's books are anything but run-of-the-mill, yet that's exactly what this book was. Had her name not been on the cover, I wouldn't have known she'd written it.

Some of the writing definitely sparkled; the comic moments made me smile and even chuckle at times, and Emma Lord does a fantastic job of getting to the heart of her characters. She'll always get five stars from me on that part of her writing, but for this book overall I can't give her more than three.

Emma Lord continues to bring imaginative and relatable new stories and characters to her books. One of my favorite aspects of Lord's writing is that romantic relationships are an element of the plot but not the point of the book. The main characters demonstrate personal growth and self-discovery in a way that feels celebrated and encouraged. I think this is an especially important focus for the age group her books are directed toward. I love seeing strong female characters come into their own, accept their flaws, and love themselves. It seems like Lord's protagonists come to love themselves without expecting perfection.

In Begin Again, Andie is starting out fresh. She's had a small set back when she didn't get in to her first choice college for fall semester, but after a semester of buckling down at the community college, she's been accepted as a transfer student and is ready to make her mark at Blue Ridge State.

It's not just that it's Andie's dream school. It's BEEN her dream school since she can remember. Her parents both went to this school, they met here, they had magic here, both in their relationship and in how the college made it's mark on their lives. That and her mom died when Andie was young so it feels like this is the best way for her to connect to her mom when she can't be there. She may be putting a bit of pressure on herself.

Andie meets a core group of friends almost immediately - she has a knack for bringing people together. And as the semester goes on she juggles a long-distance boyfriend, a group of new friends, classes, and what her friends have affectionately dubbed her "fix-it" problem. Because there isn't a problem that Andie doesn't want to help someone solve, she will bend over backward to help someone out and sometimes at the detriment to herself.

This only skims the surface of the depth of the novel and Andie's start to college - romantic relationships, friendships, relationships between children and parents, grief, manipulation, all of these challenges are met and tackled throughout the story. I really enjoyed getting to know all the players in this novel and can't wait to see what great piece Emma Lord puts out next.

But a perk of my recent insomnia these past couple of weeks is that I have been clearing out my netgalley. I read Begin Again a couple of nights ago and just loved it. It is the story of a college freshman, Andie, who transferred to her dream college second semester (and to be with her boyfriend) only to find that her boyfriend transferred to the community college to be with her. Once you get past that annoying miscommunication, this book was just so endearing. As Andie is at a new school alone, she makes new friends and finds her way, hitting some bumps along the way. I feel like I watched her grow up as she learned to stand on her own two feet, how to hit rock bottom and get back up, how to repair fractured relationships and how to follow her heart. It was a warm fuzzy kind of book with a witty dialogue, quirky characters scenes to make us all miss those college days and so many reasons to want to hug the book. And it made me crave a bagel….

Begin Again was such an enjoyable book to read! I don't read a lot of YA but I will always pick up the new Emma Lord! This book had me reminiscing about college and the fun times freshman year.

Andie has just transferred to Blue Ridge State which was her parent's college and where her boyfriend is attending. When she arrives on campus to surprise him she finds out he transferred to community college. While she needs to adjust to her brilliantly laid plans and struggles a little to fit in (as a transfer) her RA and roommate help her adjust.

Definitely check this one out and if you have anyone heading off to college this is the perfect book for them to read.

Also, I had to laugh while reading this because I was like umm this sounds like a UVA as the college (down to the bagel shop) so I had to laugh when I saw that's where Emma Lord went. I didn't go there but I go to my office in Charlottesville for work a bunch and my coworkers went there. Don't you love it when you're reading and you catch those little things!

That High School to College transition is a tough one and I enjoyed how Begin Again explored the complex themes of finding your people and figuring out who you are. The book doesn’t shy away from heavier topics like grief and complex family dynamics either.

Andie is a planner and a fixer, and it takes her some time to realize that desire to help others often comes at the expense of her own needs (not like I would know anything about that myself!) She’s flawed and frustrating at times, but has a big heart!

Author Emma Lord does a really great job adding fun details throughout the book, which I found really engaging. I wanted to go to some of these fun ribbon events and definitely would be down to try some of those bagels!

I didn’t fly through this book like I typically do with YA, for me it was a little slow. It does all come together and I appreciated the overall message.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Emma Lord has proven year after year that she can write a YA book that is a must-read, and BEGIN AGAIN may just be my favorite yet! Thanks to NetGalley + Wednesday Books I was given an advance copy to read and review in exchange for my honest thoughts & I LOVED it. Every year I look forward to kicking off my young adult reading with Emma's books and Begin Again had such a wonderful message and theme.

After originally not getting in freshman year, Andie has been accepted to Blue Ridge State as a mid-year transfer, following in her mother's footsteps and on her way to fulfilling her personal life plan. As soon as she arrives, her plans go awry, from her long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Connor to the pressures of catching up, she suddenly finds herself as The Squire on the secret student broadcast and has to find a way to manage her schoolwork and finding her own voice.

"Anything worth doing starts with a mess."

As someone with a fix-it personality, she soon finds herself taking on TOO much and losing herself a bit along the way. With the help of her RA, Milo, her roommate, and friends, Andie discovers who she is once she gives up helping others over herself, inspired by her parent's past and the love of those around her to begin again. (SWOON!)

Her roommate SHAY was a favorite with her bookstagram and attitude, it is so rare for me to find characters with my name, it's always such a welcome surprise! Andie's friends, the families introduced, and the floormates all added to the story that made me feel like I was a part of her school experience! From the after-school activities to the events in the common room, Lord perfectly captures what it's like to be on campus and trying to find your way.

The setting truly made the book as well, the campus was so well thought out from the work-study program (if you're reading this one, prepare to NEED bagels in your life ASAP), the dorm rooms and the bar they play trivia at, to the closet The Knight broadcasts from, each location was so easy to see in my mind!

I don’t know if it’s because this is my first YA of the year, but this book just did absolutely everything for me. It kept a smile on my face the entire time, even through the rough patches. I didn’t want to put it down, which is honestly he’s for my wondering brain.

I absolutely adored Andie and Milo and of course Shay and Valeria. I loved this friend group that they built. It feels so entirely college, the way these people that you maybe wouldn’t have connected with otherwise suddenly become your whole world. It really brought me back to my own college experience. My heart has an absolute soft spot for Milo. He’s constantly grumpy and sleepy but he’s so sweet from the first moment he meets Andie. You can tell right away that he does so many things out of this genuine kindness. I also loved how much family was involved in this book, both Andie’s and Milo’s. They both have a conflict with a family member and they definitely help and encourage each other along the way. I would have loved to see more of Andie with Milo’s family at the end, but you can tell all the Flynn’s have definitely brought her into the fold.

The college very much feels like a character and it once again made me feel nostalgic for my college days. Also, the grandmas! I adored the grandmas.

STUNNING. So I have loved Emma Lord ever since I read Tweet Cute several years ago and have been luck enough to have gotten to read an ARC of each of her new books since then.

Begin Again is the exact book that I needed when I was a freshman in college. Andie thinks she has her whole life figured out, is an obsessive people pleaser, and is having the hardest time letting go of a relationship that is not serving her any longer. Milo is such a gem of a main male character and can only hope for the best for Andie!! He is so kind and the little family that is formed is so wholesome I'm obsessed with them all.

There are a few small Big League Burger mentioned (the restaurant chain from Tweet Cute) and I love that. Thinking about a world with both Andie and Pepper in it?! power couple.

5 stars, read this book. It is my new second favorite Emma Lord (TC is obviously number 1 forever)

This was such a fun young adult romcom. I loved the campus setting and Andie wanting to experience things her mother did when she went to Blue Ridge State. The beginning was clever with the miscommunication between Andie and her boyfriend Connor both transferring schools to be near each other. That’s the kind of miscommunication that works in a romance!

The best part of the book, in my opinion, was Milo. I loved his character and found him relatable as a college student. His friendship with Andie was adorable, and I just wanted them to get together the entire book. I loved how he named his family’s chickens and remembered which one was which. Milo’s character is someone I could see myself being friends with when I was in college.

This is my third book by Emma Lord and probably my favorite. I thought she did a great job of developing these characters and doing so in a funny and heartwarming way. The story was unique, and I loved that she showed how it’s not always easy to get good grades in college and figure out who you want to be at the same time.

I listened along to the audiobook while reading, and I thought Georgina Sadler was the perfect narrator to this story. She brought these characters to life in a charming way.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this as always with Emma Lord’s books! I wish that Connor would have been completely out of the picture sooner and was irate at how her dad treated her while dealing with grief. I get it, grief isn’t easy. But also your child lost her mother and then father because you were so selfish!! anyways, I devoured this one and can’t wait for Emma’s next book

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

I have loved Emma Lord's previous books but I could not get into this one. Maybe one day I'll try to come back to it but I'm not a huge fan of the FMC and the school swap in the beginning had me rolling my eyes, so I don't have high hopes for a second attempt.

Andie's always dreamed of attending the same college her parents graduated from. She wasn't accepted for the first semester, but she was able to transfer in the next. Better yet, she plans to surprise her long time boyfriend who's also studying there. But Andie discovers that dreams & detailed plans don't always work out in real life. Her boyfriend transferred to her old community college to surprise her. The classes are on a higher level than she's ready for. And she really shouldn't be focusing so much of her time on extracurricular activities. Freshman year comes with a lot of challenges and upheaval, but with the friendships she builds and the work she puts in, Andie may just pass the semester.

This was a great book. Emma Lord has a way of bringing the setting and characters to life. I could feel the pressures of college classes and the freshness and stresses of new friendships and dorm life. I was drawn into Andie's emotions as a nervous freshman, a young woman making new friends, a person eager to help others, and her journey through an emotionally turbulent and stressful college semester 

Andie was a vibrant and upbeat personality. It was a pleasure to read from her perspective. I loved the way she made and built her friendships and drew everyone together, changing their lives. It was also interesting to learn about broadcasting, and to read a story from a radio show host's perspective. It was nice to watch Andie progress from the voiceless email responder to the show's Squire. She had some really good character arcs.

Andie loves solving others' problems. It's so much easier than dealing with her own issues - her estranged relationship with her father, who's seriously dating and wants to build a family after years of ignoring his own daughter. Her relationship with her boyfriend and his family. And her battle to pass statistics, where the numbers are not in her favor.

There was a lot I liked about this book, not the least of which was the food. I wish I could try Eternal Darkness coffee. And is cookie dough cream cheese really a thing? Where is this bagel store hiding?? But mostly, I loved the friendships and the way Andie and her friends were there for each other, the way they became like a family.

Emma has done it yet again. I love all of her books, and Begin Again is no exception. The fun and the serious blended so well together that somehow I ended up crying for most of the last 20% of the book. While I did root for Milo and Andie to be endgame, I especially loved watching their friendship blossom, and the way they helped each other become more grounded and open to beginning again. The characters in this book truly had my heart, and while the plot itself was interesting, the characters, especially the side characters like Shay and Valeria, really made the book shine. Overall, this book didn't disappoint in the slightest, and I'll never get enough of Emma's fantastic storytelling.

I started 2022 with a Emma Lord book (it was Tweet Cute), and I started 2023 with one of her books as well. I might stick to that tradition for the rest of my life because Emma's characters bring SO. MUCH. JOY to my fluff-loving heart. 🥺 And therefore, to no one's suprise, reading Begin Again was absolutely delightful!
Begin Again made me forget about all of my academic troubles (for a little while) & gave me a chance to escape to a beautiful story just at the perfect time.

• Begin Again highlights:
- story set during freshman year of college
- the MC's roommate is a bookstagrammer!!
- friendships that will LITERALLY melt your heart
- anonymous identity and advice columns
- radio station feature
- fun college traditions and events + entertaining scavenger hunts
- the story is full of the author's signature wit & charm
- the storyline follows the lead's dream of following her mom's footsteps :')
- the plot showcases the MC's journey towards finding her own place in the world.

Andie was such a remarkable character. Seeing her grow throughout the story, especially by finding comfort among her new circle of friends made me so happy. Her thought processes were so relatable! I think a lot of my Type A book friends will connect to her greatly! And MILO. MILO. MILO. I will run out of words if I start sharing how much I loved him. So, please do me a favor and read the book ASAP. Begin Again is guaranteed to move the dark clouds from your life away, atleast for a little while. 💜

Andie Rose is so excited to transfer to her first-choice school, really her only-choice school, midway through her freshman year. She had worked so hard to get there, and that first semester at the community college gave her a good foundation for the academically challenging Blue Ridge State. Plus, it means she’ll finally be at school with her boyfriend Connor. She’s so excited to surprise him when she shows up at last.

It turns out that she’s the one surprised, when Connor calls her to let her know that he’s transferred to their hometown community college to be closer to her. Suddenly, Andie’s idea to keep her transfer a surprise doesn’t seem like such a great plan. But she’s at Blue Ridge State now, and she’s not leaving. This has been her dream her entire life. It’s where her parents met, where her mother ran an underground radio show as the original Knight, and where they joined a secret society. Andie’s mother died when Andie was young, so following in her mother’s footsteps is incredibly important to her.

Andie has her future planned out. She’s going to study psychology, write a memoir, and then get her own television show. But first, she has to get through the class that is the gateway for the psych program—statistics. Andie also has to go to the ribbon events—in order to get into one of the secret societies, she has to collect ribbons at a series of events set up by the student committees. The details for the ribbon events are announced every day on the underground radio show by the current Knight. Andie knows all about the show, and about the Knights, because the original Knight was her mother.

As Andie struggles with stats and getting to her ribbon events, she’s also making a splash at the dorm. Her RA, Milo, is addicted to strong coffee and walks around like a zombie. But her roommate Shay is a book-loving influencer who can’t pick a major. She gathers everyone up for game night with promises of fun and an assortment of snack cakes, which is a huge success until Milo shows up asking them to respect the dorm’s Quiet Hours. She gets a job at the local bagel shop, and continues to write the advice column for her high school newspaper.

Andie is naturally sunny and prone to giving helpful advice, so others are drawn to her energy. Mile, addicted to his Eternal Darkness coffee blend, is reluctant to join in her orbit. But then she accidentally stumbles into his big secret—he’s the current Knight—she can’t help but see her mother’s photo, as the original Knight, in a place of honor and feel drawn to stay in the old office they use as the recording booth. And when she sees all the emails to the Knight that no one has answered, she uses her high-school advice column experience to start answering.

The weeks roll by, Andie collecting her ribbons and spending time with a stats tutor to try to make some progress in her worst class. She’s making friends, eating good food, and putting her best advice into the emails that come in for the Knight. In fact, her advice is getting pretty popular, and they even try taking some phone calls, with Andie typing up an answer Milo can read on the air. They try to get her to go live herself on the air, but her fear holds her back. She knows she could never live up to her mother’s legacy, and she’s pretty sure that it’s only because of her mother that she was allowed into the school at all.

When Milo oversleeps one day, in part because Andie replaced his Eternal Darkness with a caffeine-free version, she has to step in and take over the radio show. She finds that she’s able to get past her nerves for the most part, but she still feels inadequate to take on a role behind the mic. She blows her stat test, finds out that some of her advice has backfired in a way that’s damaged a potential relationship for Shay, fallen into the frozen lake, found out Connor’s been lying to her, and inadvertently announces a major secret to the entire school body. Will she be able to recover from all that to finish her first semester at Blue Ridge State strong, or will she just walk away and find somewhere else to start over?

Begin Again is the latest young adult novel from Emma Lord, whose books continue to entertain and inspire. Her characters are well drawn, with complex personalities and histories and goals. Her books are dense with story lines, creating compelling plots that unfold naturally, with lots of fun and sweet surprises along the way. This is her fourth novel, and she just keeps growing stronger as a writer.

I was thrilled for a chance to read a new Emma Lord book, and I was not disappointed in anything at all (except maybe for Andie’s father’s choice of bagel). Begin Again sparkles with wit and warmth, from the named chicken to the experiments Andie and Shay do to help Shay find her major to the bagel schmears. There is a playfulness to this story, but underneath that, Lord deals with serious topics like grief, relationships, forgiveness, and finding your own path.

Ever since I read her first book, Tweet Cute, I have expected her books to be dense. They feel twice as action packed as a typical ya book, and Begin Again is no different. There are so many subplots that there is always something happening. It’s hard to put the book down, even to get some snack cakes, because there is so much going on, I never want to stop reading, from page one to the end, so be sure to set aside a hefty block of time, get your snacks ready in advance, and settle in for one of the best books about college underground radio for a good purpose and indeterminate fruit flavors that you may ever read.

Egalleys for Begin Again were provided by Wednesday Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

If you’re a fan of a college romance Begin Again by Emma Lord will not disappoint. When Andie Rose doesn’t get accepted to her dream college, Blue Ridge State, and her long-time boyfriend does, she somehow manages a mid-year transfer from her community college only to find that her boyfriend has also transferred to her school. What is she going to do?

Andie’s parents met at Blue Ridge State and it’s been her dream to attend as long as she can remember. Her boyfriend has been fairly absent all year and being apart has been hard. He swears he’s trying to transfer back. In the meantime, Andie becomes fast friends with her roommate, her RA, and stats tutor. Together they attend the many social events at Blue Ridge State that can help Andie earn society ribbons just like her Mom. Andie’s Mother died when she was young and started the underground Blue Ridge State radio show that lives on. The only way that she can find out what social society her Mother joined is to earn ribbons at the social events. Andie is always trying to help others. Maybe a bit too much. When a secret between her new friends presents her with an opportunity to help others with their problems, Andie reluctantly agrees to help and finds that she can put her need to help to good use, and she’s really good at it.

Will Andie and her boyfriend end up together or will she end up becoming more than friends with someone new? This book is a look at families, love, friendship, and finding where you fit.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.