A big thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me an e-ARC of Emma Lord's "Begin Again". All opinions are my own and uninfluenced.

Imma be real - Emma Lord has my heart and soul entirely. I have been a fan of her titles since "Tweet Cute" and each book since has only solidified that. However, there is always that teeny tiny bit of terror that her newest title would be a flop and affect how I see her. Thank god, "Begin Again" is not that title. This adorable coming of age story remixes Jane Austen's "Emma" into a modern day story of growing into your own and learning to do things for yourself. This story hit me in the guts over and over again, and I cannot wait to hold a physical copy of "Begin Again" in my hands. 5/5 stars.

Emma Lord does it again. Begin Again was a sweet, fun coming-of-age story about learning to put yourself first. Andie was an endearing character, and I devoured her story of grief, trauma, and about overcoming her reliance on her boyfriend as a result of those things. Following along as she began building her own legacy and bonded with her dad was the perfect read. Milo, Valeria and Shay were perfect supporting characters (and of course, I loved the Bookstagram reference).

Highly recommend this to any YA fan.



Thank you to Emma Lord and Wednesday Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

emma lord has written yet another feel-good YA romance AND I LOVE IT.
andie is such a lovely main character and you simply can’t help but root for her and want her to succeed in everything. her love interest milo is equally as wonderful, and the romance and dynamic between the two is slow-building yet so sweet and pure. begin again also has the incredible found family element that emma lord is a master at writing and incorporating in her books.

overall, this was an extremely enjoyable read (and all the taylor swift references were simply just a huge bonus.)

the publisher kindly provided this arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first EMMA LORD book and It’s absolutely worth it. Will be reading more of her works in future.

This one was wonderful❤️

this book was such a wonderful read!!!! it had me giggling and kicking my legs, which is the thing i always desire most in books!!! i absolutely loved it and i can’t wait to force all my friends to read it

Once in a while I like a good fluffy romance and this was definitely one of those. Emma Lords books are always an immediate buy for me because I do enjoy her writing a lot. Other than the use of 'cute' words as a substitute for swearing I did not have much of a problem with this book. I think if its a college story there is no need to play that safe. But to each their own I guess.

Whenever I think Emma Lord’s books can’t get better, she writes a new one that takes the #1 spot. Begin Again is packed with characters you can’t help but root for, a heartfelt story that was more than a little relatable and the humor we’ve all come to expect from Emma Lord books.

From Andie struggling to make uni feel like home and achieving all of her goals to other characters figuring out their major or how to juggle work and assignments - the highlights and (many) struggles of studying at university are not only very relatable but also seamlessly interwoven with themes such as friendship, love, family and grief. Begin Again is written with so much heart and humor that I found myself both crying and laughing at many of the wonderful scenes. Seeing platonic and familial relationships get as much page time as romantic ones always makes me so happy. I truly loved all of the characters and the way they were developed. Begin Again has so many elements I love in coming-of-age novels but also manages to be very original and a book I won’t easily forget. It’s a book that feels like a warm hug and I highly recommend checking it out!

I've read two of Emma Lord's books, each one different from the other. Begin Again is a sweet college romance, with current themes and a nod to the past.

It's perfect for a rainy day, because you can burn through it very quickly. It's almost too cute at times, and although the ribbon scavenger hunt forms a central tenet of the book, I'm not sure that it really 'works'. However, adding in pieces of Andie's mom, and her life at the school, neatly pulls it all together.

An enjoyable read, and one that I will recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Loved this Emma Lord book! Life isn't always what you plan. When life doesn't go as planned, you must sometimes, "Begin Again."

Emma Lord never disappoints. I really enjoyed this story and fell in love with the characters within the first few chapters. The themes of loss, belonging and found family were perfect for the setting of a young person's journey leaving home for University. I would put this up there as one of my favorites by Lord!

Great feel-good romance. Andie and her boyfriend Connor have a misunderstanding which puts them at separate colleges. With the help of her roommate Shay and her RA Milo, Andie finds herself at the pirate radio station founded by her now-deceased mother who Andie idolized and discovers who and what truly make her happy. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Family legacies, forever friends, making light when things go wrong. This book had everything from college vibes - including secret societies, scary professors, and making new friends - first loves, and family betrayals. Everything screamed growing up and letting go of childhood ideals, done in a way that feels like an adventure of bagels and coffee, ribbons galore, and an epic dance party in the quad.

I wish I would've read this when I was first starting college. Andie is the perfect role model of the kind of attitude you should have when starting at a new school, meeting new people, and fulfilling your dreams while also helping others make theirs come true too. With Andie's positive and peppy personality, her lifelong goal of following in her mother's footsteps comes with a lot of well-thought-out plans that go completely wrong. It's a tale of figuring your way through paths unseen, and with the right people and honest conversations, you could find yourself somewhere much better than you ever expected.

There's so much to love in this college rom-com. The relationships, both platonic and romantic, display true loyalty and authentic affection. Familial relationships are also difficult and full of grief but with room for healing. The aspect of a secret podcast host pushing activism for a community where the institution is failing them is grounding and inspiring. The journey that Andie and her friends go on is funny, hopeful, and refreshing. Spewing individualism, living up to your own expectations, and starting over even when it's hard, this book will resonate with everyone who has been to college or has felt daunted by big life changes.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of Begin Again by Emma Lord. This is the third book I have read by this author and she is an author I enjoy. In this book, Andie, one of the main characters must face some difficult truths about the people she knows and about her history. These truths set her free from the guilt and anger she didn’t necessarily know she had. The ability Emma has to start over, to meet new people, is one she needed and the author does a fabulous job showing all of the characters’, especially Andie and Milo’s vulnerabilities. There is no question that parts of the book were predictable but it didn’t take away from the story at all.

#EmmaLord #BeginAgain #Romance #YA #Fiction #ContemporaryFiction #Truth #Lies #StartingOver #FollowingYourDreams #CreatingNewDreams

This was another great book by Emma Lord. I was so excited to read this and it did not disappoint. Andie Rose has a plan and the first step which is transferring mid freshman year from her community college to Blue Ridge State is successful but the moment she arrives the rest of her plans go to the wayside. Her boyfriend Conor transfers back to community college to be with her not knowing she wasn’t going to be there and since she kept it a secret that she was transferring in case it didn’t go through, her roommate Shay needs help figuring out her major and her RA Milo is disrupting all her ideas about love and relationships. This was a really great story and a fast read. I loved how much Andie figures out about herself and her mom who is the reason she wants to go to Blue Ridge and that she needs to branch out from her comfort zone and challenge herself and the ideas she has about her life. That change is good and that she needs to forgive her dad for abandoning her with her grandmothers after her mom died and she needs to let herself breathe and just enjoy the experience for herself not for anyone else. Just really great read and I loved Shay and her friendship with Andie, Valeria who is Andies Math tutor but ends up being her friend as well and Milo and his family who were all great. Andie was so afraid she wouldn’t have any friends when she goes to Blue Ridge but she made her whole dorm floor friends where before she got there nobody was really very sociable together.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

This was my first Emma Lord novel, and it did not disappoint. It was cute, it had depth, and the characters were unique and well-rounded. Solid 4 star YA Contemporary novel.

Told in 1st person, I loved that Andie was a freshman transfer. It's uncommon (especially at this school where apparently she's the only ever freshman transfer?), but since this was my college story too, I was so happy to see it. And it was done really well. I wasn't as outgoing and commanding as Andie was, but being a transfer midyear is hard, and Emma Lord captured the struggles really well. The ribbon cash was so cute, and I loved it as a plot. I loved how real the YA characters felt.

Andie was a little annoying with her "I fix things!" schtick. It was harped on in that YA way where you know what's going to happen, but you also really don't care that you know what's going to happen. Shay was a great side character, and I'm only a little jealous that a fictional character got a better roomie than I did. Milo was precious, but I didn't understand the whole "I can't like you because I'm your RA" thing. First, there would've been more than one RA in the building. Secondly, I've never been an RA, but is that a real rule???? Connor is a jerk, and I'm happy he didn't get a redemption arc. I'm also happy Andie didn't take him back/try to befriend him/attempt to rationalize that sometimes people use people, even those close to us, and sometimes people drift apart. I was happy she woke up to how he'd used her and how that wasn't the love she thought.

Irritants: like I said, her "I fix things!" schtick even when she's just stinking met someone. Also, her not-cussing cussing. It was just... yeah.

I LOVED that this is solidly YA even though it takes place in college and that it was clean. YA can take place in college. And YA can be clean. And still be a great story. (And now I'm spending the rest of my day pondering if NA is just smutty YA set in college... It's not. Well, it's not fully that, but now I'm ponding it.)

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I really thought I was going to get rejected for this ARC, but I was so excited to be able to read it!

Even though this is the lowest I've rated a book by Lord, I still consider her an auto-read author. But this didn't quite reach the usual levels of charming that I've come to expect. And mostly, and I'm bummed to say it, that's because of the main character, Andie.

Strike one : her way of non-swearing by instead using cutesy dessert names. Nope. Strike two : her over-fixating on everyone's problems but her own. Strike three : the romantic drama that any hints at would mean revealing some spoilers.

While I liked the supporting cast, barring the one we aren't supposed to like, I wish they had been fleshed out a bit more. So much time was spent on various elements like the advice plotline, the ribbon plotline, the parental issue plotline, and then all the love interest backstory drama plotline.

Maybe I'm just in a mood and maybe I would've liked this more had I read it another time but the whole thing just tried too hard to feel rosy and charming and sweet without authentically being that way. And I'm used to feeling that authenticity from this author so I'm bummed. But that's okay. There was enough for this to be still somewhat enjoyable but it did take me way too long to push through during those draggy bits.

Despite all this, I will continue to pick up and read Lord. While I'm sad this wasn't a win the odds are definitely in her favour (and mine!) for future releases.

2.5 stars

I mean who doesn't love a start over story. This read was super cute and Emma knocked it out of the park.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book. This book was a perfect story of discovering yourself in the midst of all the crazy that adulthood brings. Andie transfers to the college of her dream only to find he transferred out to her community college. Now navigating this unfamiliar, yet so familiar world, she struggles with this nagging desire to fix everything for others while putting her needs on the back burner. As the book progresses, she finds herself and learns to put herself first. This book had so many things I personally related to, a psychology major, a bookstagramer, and a resident assistant, which made it all the better.

This was such a lovely book about family, loss and finding yourself. The writing was so lovely and I really loved all the relationships in this book.

Thank you Wednesday Books for the eARC!

3.5 Stars

This was a cute college campus story - I loved the dorm setting, the found family, and because this is an Emma Lord novel - the random food descriptions. Lord's books aways have so much heart and this one was no exception. I appreciated Andie's character growth, the relationship that developed with her father, and Milo... oh Milo, was a cutie! Unfortunately I probably connected the least with this novel of all of Emma Lord's novels. For me it was probably a 3.5 (it pains me to give her less than a 4!!). I may have even rounded down to 3, but 1) I just couldn't bring myself to do it and 2) I do think this is one of those instances where as an adult reader, I may have just not been in the mood for a YA story and that's not the book's fault! I think my hangups were around the relationship with the boyfriend back home that felt a little drawn out (and the far-fetched lack of communication that led to them being at different colleges) and the entire concept of the ribbon collecting just never really clicked with me for whatever reason... I think I needed a bit more structure around that.