I really enjoyed Tweet Cute and was very excited to read this book. However it fell flat for me. Although the book is set in a college setting it was a little too childish at times for my liking. The main character replacing swear words with food very annoying.

Thank you Wednesday Books for a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was YA perfection and I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s cute, covers heavy topics in a way that still made the story itself feel light, and was full of so much heart.

I went into this expecting a cute college romance but this book delivered so much more. Andie is a perfectionist who is constantly aiming to take care of others, even at the expense of her own goals and dreams. When she transfers to her dream school of Blue Ridge State she expects to surprise her boyfriend, only to discover that things aren’t going according to plan. Enter Milo, her dorm’s moody, coffee loving R.A. who Andie is increasingly drawn to over the course of the semester.

Andie and Milo are both in need of personal growth and healing. They find each other at the exact right time and they support one another through their personal journeys. I loved seeing their relationship grow almost as much as I loved seeing both of their individual character growth.

This is a cute YA romance that covers a variety of coming of age topics. If you’re looking for a college romance with the friends to lovers and grumpy x sunshine tropes then this is the book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

I have not stopped thinking about this one since I read it! I have loved all of Emma Lord’s books but this one is definitely my favorite! If you enjoy books set on college campuses, bagels of all different kinds & flavors, the sweetest albeit slightly grumpy RA and the girl who is trying to make the most of every day, you’ll love this one! Easily 5 stars & will definitely be a re-read for me in the future!

Emma Lord, you have done it again! I absolutely loved this book. Reading this felt like a warm hug. A perfectly wonderful coming-of-age rom-com that deals with grief, transitioning to college, making new friends, and personal growth.

I love that Emma Lord's characters feel realistic in that they're your typical charming, romantic leads, but they still have very human flaws. Both Andie and Milo are so likable and you just find yourself rooting for them. The banter between the characters is so fun to read and had me giggling so much. I think Emma Lord did a wonderful job at encompassing the experience of your first year in college. There were definitely many aspects of Andie's experience that I could relate to my own first-year experience.

The ribbon hunt and the Knight's Watch were my favorite parts of this book. Andie Rose, I will protect you with my life. The title of this book being the title of a Taylor Swift song just makes it so much better. Overall, this book was such a cute, lighthearted, and heartwarming rom-com and I absolutely loved reading it.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Begin Again follows Andie and her life at her new college, the one she transfered to because her boyfriend goes there and her mom went there. The same college at once she arrives at she finds tha that her boyfriend transfered from to go to the community college Andie was previously attending. Andie then must find her own way while trying to balance the shadow of her mother's legacy and memory around this scavenger hunt. Andie goes through trials and tribulations during this time, finds good friends, and finds more of herself along the way. I thought this book was cute but moved a little slow for me. I was annoyed by the "cute language" in place of swear words. Milo was adorable and I enjoyed Andie's roommate Shay too.

This was such a cute book about beginning college life, trying to fit in, trying to find yourself and first loves. It also dealt with grief of a parent and handling difficult familial relationships. All that to say, I wasn't sure about this book when I first started it. I didn't know if I would care that much about a girl that transferred half-way through her Freshman year to a college where she thought her boyfriend was at. I have LOVED Emma Lord's other YA books, but they took place in high school and something about the angsty-ness of high school dramas had me hooked. So going into this one, I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into, but I really enjoyed it!

Emma Lord does such a good job at writing characters and character development. The main character, Andie Rose, grew on me and she has my heart, although I was slightly annoyed at her using foods as curse words, ha! Andie, transfers mid-year to join her boyfriend at his college but when she gets there she realizes that he transferred back home. She has to stay and make the best of the situation and while she's there, she discovers herself. This was such a sweet book and by the end I was sad it was over! I was definitely rooting for Andie to cheat on her boyfriend with her cute RA, HA! I just loved how she wrote Andie and Milo's friendship and growth. This was a great YA/new adult romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Begin Again by Emma Lord is a delightful and engaging YA romcom about finding yourself. Andromeda (Andie) Rose is excited to start college at her parent’s alma mater, even after discovering her boyfriend transferred from there to the community college she moved from. Sounds romantic? Think again! Andie has much self-discovery to go through, including learning about the true nature of her relationship with Connor. Some discoveries are exciting, and others quite the bitter pill, but she must go through it all to come out on the other side, the person she was always meant to be.
Actual Reading Experience:
I just loved this story! I could relate to Andie’s college experience and empathize with her pain over her parents. I even shed a few brief tears at one particularly poignant part in the story when Andie comes to terms with her complicated feelings of self that she tied together with her grief. When she looks at her mom’s picture as her self-awareness becomes clear, it gives me all the feels.
I also loved the secret society/ribbon hunt plotline in the story. It is a great deal of fun and made me wish I had something like that to do when I was in college. I wouldn’t have minded if it had played a more significant role in the story as I wanted to know more. I love puzzles and games.
The writing is highly engaging and paints a story that feels authentic through and through for me. This is my second book by Emma Lord, and based on the writing I experienced in both stories, I will continue to look for her books as they come out. She takes me to a place where I can reconnect with my younger self and remember the fun and heartwarming aspects of my teens and college years.
Characters:
Andromeda (Andie) Rose – Andie is a fixer. She lives to help others solve their problems no matter what they are. And she always has a natural knack for finding just the right suggestions to offer. But she often hides behind her fixer persona, not dealing with her grief over her mother’s death and the anger at her father for leaving her in the care of her grandmothers when he moved to another town for work.
Connor – Connor and Andie have known each other forever – literally. After one semester at Blue Ridge State University, he transfers to the local community college, surprised to find that his girlfriend Andie is not there anymore. She is now at Blue Ridge. I had Connor’s number from the first moment he was introduced in the story, and that’s all I have to say about him.
Milo, Shay, and Valeria are the wonderful friends she makes at Blue Ridge State. They help Andie discover who she is and support her when things go wrong. They are a wonderful heartwarming group, full of personality and unique qualities that speak to their extraordinary character development.
Narration & Pacing:
The story is told solely through Andie’s POV in first-person narration. She has a quirky way of using her favorite foods instead of profanity and a bubbly, outgoing personality that is infectious. I’ve never used profanity, even during my college years, so I was okay with that detail, though I understand it is irritating for some readers.
The pace is quick and can be described as medium to fast. I found that the book went very quickly for me – a one-sitting kind of read that I didn’t want to end.

Setting:
Blue Ridge State University is the setting for this fun yet poignant story. The story is about college life and finding yourself, so the location is significant. The fictional college was true to real life. The partying aspect was downplayed A LOT, but that wasn’t the main character’s thing, nor the people close to her.
Read if you like:
• Coming-of-Age stories full of heart and personality
• Stories about college living and learning
• PG-rated YA romantic comedies

4.5/5 stars

Begin Again is my fourth book by this author. It is YA contemporary fiction/romance.

The narrator is 18 year old Andie Rose (1st person POV). She transfers mid-year from community college to the prestigious Blue Ridge State. This is the school that her mother attended (her mom died 7 years ago).

Andie has always known what she is good at, giving advice. She's had a life plan for herself. And she loves helping friends and even strangers.

There is so much that I loved about this book. I really enjoyed going on Andie's journey starting at a new school. I loved seeing her meet friends. And I was invested in her relationship with her dad.

Her grandmas were so funny. And The Knights' Watch radio show was epic. I really liked seeing her at her work study program and was fascinated by everything that happened in her statistics class.

There were a few things revealed that were a bit too obvious. And I really wish that somehow I could have been surprised. Or else I just wish that everything had been spelled out sooner. Also I think that everything to do with her high school boyfriend Connor should have been dealt with much earlier in the book. And I would have liked the book to have had more romance.

Overall, I absolutely loved Milo, Shay and Valeria. I really did enjoy this book. Andie was such a great heroine. And I really loved her story.

Emma Lord has killed it again with another book. This adorable YA book was filed with friends, adventures and lots of snack cakes. When the main character transfers to her parents alma mater and also the school where her boyfriend currently attends. Andie has a plan in mind and it quickly goes awry. I adored Andie and all the other characters in Andies orbit.

Andie transfers to Blue Ridge State, her dream school which is also coincidentally where her boyfriend attends, mid-semester to find that he's transferred back to the community college where she had been studying the previous semester. Andie finds herself a community at Blue Ridge State in her roommate, grouchy RA, and stats tutor while trying to collect enough ribbons for both her and her boyfriend in a campus-wide ribbon hunt to join a secret society. Though of course, everything doesn't go according to plan.

I love the trend of YA books about college that aren't as sexually charged as New Adult titles are, but this book reads like it's college as written for people who have never attended college (aka high school students). From weird contradictions about Blue Ridge State and a blatant FERPA violation to the fact that Andie only seems to be in one class the setting lacked realism. The plot ended up being predictable and Andie felt over-the-top in a way that made her hard to be sympathetic too. I liked Milo, but otherwise this novel was a no for me.

Begin Again
Andie always has a plan. And when things don’t go the way she planned, she makes a new plan. For instance, now she has to transfer to Blue Ridge State, not an easy feat mid-year, considering it’s never been done before. There she will major in psychology, after collecting as many ribbons as possible to join one of the three secret groups, just like her mom did. But from the moment she arrives her plans start to go sideways again, starting with her boyfriend who surprise transferred himself to the hometown college she transferred out of. Her incredible roommate needs a major, and her grumpy R.A. keeps trying to ruin her ideas on love and relationships, as does the school’s anonymous pirate radio hit-Knight, a program her mom started years before. When Andie finds out the Knights secret identity & that of his helper, she accidentally falls into the identity of the Knight’s Squire one ill-fated morning. But maybe this secret identity was what she needed all along.

I loved this story. It’s filled with the whit, sarcasm, and quips I’ve come to love from Emma as well as some personal heartbreak. Andie was an easy character to relate to, having been a fixer myself and her friend-family even more so. The struggles she faces to fit into college and dorm life, two separate things mind you, are so relatable to so many people. I would highly recommend to seniors getting ready for their first year at college. Shay was also a really relatable character in her struggle to find a major. You really have to think about what you’re good at and what might fit for you and Shay portrayed that struggle well. Milo was an easy character to fall in love with, with his green eyes, coffee addiction, and how much he cared for his friends. I wish Andie would have ditched Connor sooner, but I did like her, not quite struggle, but taking a beat before breaking with him to process everything. With the kind of relationship they had and how deeply she cares for people it made more sense. Anyway another perfectly lovely story from one of my favorite authors.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author via Netgalley and Wednesday books/St. Martin’s press in exchange for an honest review

This terrific book is set on a college campus, with a transfer student figuring out her life as everything around her changes. There are so many meaningful storylines from relationships with your parents, to first loves, to building your own relationships, to figuring out what you need in life. It's a lovely story that comes together in the most satisfying way.

This was such a fun and cute book. It had a beautiful story about finding yourself in college and learning to love again.

This was such a relaxing read. I've had a lot of anxiety lately and this book helped me to relax and center myself.

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC!*

Emma Lord has become one of the authors that I will read without knowing anything about the book. This book was no exception, and it has turned out to be absolutely fantastic, unsurprisingly. Begin Again is a lovely story about the journey to becoming an adult, finding out who you are, and making your own way in the world for the first time.

Andie was a wonderful character to follow through this story. She reminded me very much of myself when I started college, so I was easily able to picture her and her various struggles. I loved getting to watch her learn about herself and grow as a person throughout the book. She begins the story very excited about her new adventure, but incredibly cautious and more willing to help others with their problems than acknowledge that she has any of her own. #relatable

The supporting characters were all so fantastic! I loved Milo and Shay. While the romance in this book was wonderful, I feel that the friendships in the story were the real shining stars. The friendships you make in college are, at least in my experience, some of the most important in your life. The “found family” trope is one of my favorites, and Begin Again does it exceedingly well.

I also really enjoyed seeing Andie’s journey with her biological family. Her grandmothers were a hoot, and I love them to death. Seeing her relationship with her father change as she personally changes was bittersweet and a joy to witness. Even her relationship with the memory of her mother grew as the novel progressed, which I really enjoyed.

Begin Again has all of the warm, fuzzy feelings you could want from a contemporary romance, but it is about so much more than that. It is about finding who you truly are, and being willing to begin your journey again once you figure it out.

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave Begin Again 5 Stars!

There were aspects of this story that I didn't exactly vibe with, so I DNF it. I just wasn't in the right headspace for this story. When I'm feeling up to it, I may finish it and update my review.

This was such a treat and a delight! I knew right after reading TWEET CUTE, but I am even more certain now - Emma Lord is one of THE authors to watch out for in the YA contemporary space; if you see her name on a cover you simply know it's going to deliver.
I loved every aspect of this story - the tender and exciting journey of a found family coming together, the healing from childhood trauma and being able to grow into a more adjusted adult with those who've been at your side all along, the closure from chasing the traces left of a lost one, and the wholesome, heartwarming romance. Andie was the kind of character you just want to take to the side, tell to take a break, give a hug and a hot chocolate. She was such an endearing golden retriever over achiever people pleaser and I couldn't not root for her journey of learning her value and asking those around her to respect who she is and what she needs.
I am also one to enjoy a grumpy x sunshine romance, and there is something very comforting about a love interest pretending to be grumpier than he actually is and the way they balance out such a high energy pretty protagonist.
I LOVED this and can see myself recommending it often!

While I've enjoyed every Emma Lord book I've read, this was my second favorite after Tweet Cute. I just loved the small college vibe (side note, more books need to take place at college) with quirky college traditions and Andie's attempts to follow in her mom's legacy while carving out her own place at Blue Ridge.

This was so close to a perfectly done love triangle. Andie's complicated relationship with Conner felt realistic, especially since so many college students go through similar long distance struggles. What would have made it better is if one part of the love triangle could have been eliminated with just acknowledging that they didn't work together, rather than villainizing that character.

Overall, solid YA / NA contemporary. If you liked Emma Lord's other books, you'll definitely love this one!

First of all, I want to say thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Second of all, I wish I could read this book for the first time again. After reading and loving Emma Lord’s debut novel, Tweet Cute, I decided to request this book, and I’m so glad I did. Lord has a way of writing books that I want to go back to and reread.

The more I read on, the more attached I grew to this friend group that Andie was a part of, as well as seeing myself in parts of her. The book tackles the fear of failure stopping you from doing things, feeling the need to live up to a parent’s legacy, and struggling with the distance that your parent created. It all hit me so hard that I was hooked. The desire to create your own found family at college was something that was instantly relatable. She’s a transfer student, so her first semester there is the spring semester. Not being there when everyone else in her residence hall moved in doesn’t deter her from trying to bring everyone together and make friends. As a commuter student who started college during the pandemic and is more of a shy person, reading how Andie created this family of hers made up of her forever people was so sweet to see.

Reading this book was comforting in a way as we follow Andie on her journey of finding herself and recognizing what she wants and coming to a conclusion that so many of us struggle with: you are enough. The friendships she formed were wonderful, I love how each of the characters were given depth, and the open honesty they all had was refreshing. Were there misunderstandings at times? Yes, but it wasn’t overdone, it made sense, and it was not drawn out. The romances were sweet, and I can’t imagine any of the couples ever breaking up. Some readers might not love Andie’s way of swearing, which is replacing curse words with foods, but I don’t think it took away from the story. Ultimately, this feels like it could be a comfort show I could watch about Andie, Shay, Valeria, and Milo navigating college life.

The way that grief was tackled in the book is something that I have to note. Lord did an amazing job of describing how the loss of a loved one is hard enough, but then the way people behave around you afterwards changes. That change, while not with bad intention, worsens the pain. And with that grief comes the desire to keep certain things to yourself because they were only for you and the people who knew the person like you did. And this kind of loss could be what changes everything, from your confidence to the path you want to take in life. I think she did a great job at writing Andie’s complicated relationship with her father and how her mom’s legacy has affected her, as well as getting to the root of why she is the way she is. At times, it did feel like Andie came to these conclusions rather quickly, but I realize that it was more that deep down, a part of her was aware.

So, I'd recommend settling into a comfy chair with a warm blanket as you enter Blue Ridge State University with Andie Rose. Overall, I give it 5/5 stars!

Emma Lord had proven once again that she is a great writer. This book was great and made me realize that I need to pick up YA books more often because I always enjoy them!

It was about a college student named Andie who always had a plan for her life. But after transferring to a super competitive school and experiencing some relationship troubles in the process, her entire plan seemed to fall off the rails. What I loved was watching her grow throughout the story. It was genuine and she was really able to find herself.

The book had a really great cast of characters. The friends that Andie made at school were all unique and well thought out. They became her found family and I loved the way they all interacted.

And her new love interest Milo...what a sweetheart and actual nice guy! They were really great together and I loved the slow burn will they, won't they, just kiss already vibes! My only complaint is that I wanted more Milo and less of her ex boyfriend Conner who was a big jersey! We needed to get him out of the way alot sooner.

If you've enjoyed the author's other books or love a good YA romance, definitely pick this one up! Worth the read!

Thank you for the advanced review copy. I liked this except I really didn’t love the boyfriend aspect of it. If you’ve read this, you know what I mean. If not, there isn’t any actual on page cheating. But the romance plot felt a little icky even though the guy was a total jerk in the end.