Title: You, Again
Author: Kate Goldbeck
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 /5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for providing a copy of this book to me in exchange for an honest review.

Before I start… *insert giddy Anna GIF from Frozen*

The beginning or this book had my jaw on the floor! The first few chapters after that gave me Serendipity vibe and I was holding my breath for the moment when Ari and Josh would become more that people who bump into one another once every few months/years. But baby! I was not ready for what ensued 😭😭😭

So much hurt, incredible amount of care and tenderness, a beautiful friendship and a love that heals wounds and surmounts fear. It was a ride, a bumpy one, but a beautiful one! 🥹

This book was so refreshing, funny, witty. The banter in this book?! 🥹🤩😂🤣🤭🫣🥹. It was a beautiful depiction of self discovery, a push to challenge my fears and a reminder that it takes courage to say “Please love me back” 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

💬: Am I the last one who knew where Ari was going before pizza prior to her getting there? 👀🤭

Reviews posted on October 9th, 2023.

I absolutely loved You, Again. It’s funny and witty with character development that spans a few years. Friendship blooms over a bond of life mishaps that leads to feelings.

Loved the focus on life not going on how you expected it to go but also accepting that it’s okay to allow your self to be loved.

First of all, I want to thank Penguin Random House for providing me with an ARC of this novel. Now, unto the review...

If you want to read a novel that perfectly captures how raw having relationships is in real life, then this book is for you. It gave a realistic approach to romance, that it is messy and imperfect; nevertheless, it is something worth taking risks for.

'You, Again' captures how tricky it is to navigate relationships. It talks about the importance of timing and how one could have already met the love of their life without them knowing. It talks about choosing love despite their imperfections.

'You, Again' is a well-written romance with imperfect characters that eventually make them perfect for the plot. This novel is a page-turner. It is a 90s and early 2000s romance movie in book form.

So, if you're looking for a book that not only talks about romance but also talks about conquering one's fears of taking risks and "trying again," then this is the book for you!

A good book for the fall. It's billed a bit as When Harry Met Sally, and it sort of is. If you couldn't tell from the cover, the book was apparently once a fanfic or was inspired heavily by ReyLo (a ship that is apparently the next Twilight when it comes to new authors, which I don't mind at all). You could definitely still feel the Adam Driver-ness of the MMC, which is where it gets to be a bit much for me. A good read, but not one I'd rush out to buy. Add it to your library list. :)

Reading that this was going to be a gender bent “When Harry Met Sally” was enough to fully sell me on this, and boy oh boy did I have fun. Ari is the romantically reluctant, bisexual comedian to Josh’s standoffish, hopeless romantic chef and they are strictly friends who are going through their own romantic struggles, so why is there so much tension between the two of them?

I love a book with good side characters and friendships and so Radhya was SO special to me. I also really enjoyed how sincerely funny I found this book to be. There were quite a few pop culture references which I know can be hit or miss for people but I didn’t find it distracting.

I personally found the parallels to “When Harry Met Sally” charming and genuinely delightful, even as I found the grand reveal at the end to be underwhelming in comparison to the film, but that’s the risk with doing your take on a classic. Additionally I found Josh’s entitlement to Ari’s feelings to be a little irritating.

Overall kinda fantastic, thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC

I am obsessed with this book. I was smiling during the cute parts and just waiting for the next time the characters would meet again. I am still feeling this book days later.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the early access to this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I genuinely did not want this book to end. I took my time with this because it was absolutely captivating and so well written. The writing felt incredibly fresh in a sort of way that I can't place into words of my own. The author, Kate Goldbeck, does an amazing job of having her characters come to life with the way she writes their point-of-views and thoughts all throughout the book. It's so worthwhile getting to know each character as they have their own distinctive personality.

Ari, our female lead, is very easy to connect to in a way that I believe most people can understand. Although she is self-loathing and very self conscious, she is relatable in the sense that she makes humor out of it. Humor out of everything in her life. Whereas, Josh, our grumpy, dark, tall and handsome lead, is very serious and a very 'no non-sense' kind of guy.

Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite dynamics when it comes to romance and this book definitely had that and more. All of the interactions between the two of them, from start to finish, had my eyes glued to each page. I wanted more and more of them and the writer does not disappoint!

And who doesn't love a fresh new-age rendition of the 1989 movie, "When Harry Met Sally"? This book is everything.

This was an absolute blast. The tension between the characters wasn’t just palpable, but also had me cracking up every time they ran into each other. Their conversations about love felt genuine and not over-played like a lot of these when Harry met Sally sort of stories do.
A true and fun enemies to lovers tale that was a perfect read on my flight home from NYC!

I gave it about 20% and just couldn't get into it. I didn't really like either character, didn't think they had any chemistry and really wasn't rooting for them.

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck is a book I had the highest hopes for. Having just watched When Harry Met Sally for the first time, I was excited to dive into this novel. However; I found main character Ari to be unlikeable and not very funny (although she says she's a comedian). You, Again had lots of miscommunication that kept me uninterested and unfortunately, I was not able to finish my read.

Loved this debut. I loved how it was the very engaging and a very enjoyable read. The wit, humor and banter was top notch and the romance swoony keeping me hooked from the very beginning till the very end!

Thank you for the ARC! I am obsessed with everything about this book, from the witty banter to the NYC references. Highly highly recommend, my favorite rom com of the year!!!

This was an amazing debut!

Ironically, for a good percentage of the book I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to keep reading. Ari was a bit too wild and pessimistic about love for me and I wasn't sure how her and Josh were ever going to make sense together. Thankfully, Kate Goldbeck did a fantastic job of showing both Ari & Josh's growth as individuals and in their friendship and I'm so glad I pushed through.

This was an angsty, heartbreaking, wonderful slow burn romance that hit all the right buttons to make this a memorable read. I can't wait for more from this author.

A great debut romance with When Harry Met Sally vibes but make it modern! Love the NYC and fall vibes but felt it was a little long.

You, Again was a fresh modern take on the beloved When Harry Met Sally. This book was very charming and I loved the character’s banter. This is the perfect book to cozy up with this fall in my opinion! It is nostalgic and I absolutely loved everything about it! I look forward to reading more from this author!

DNF at 30%. Will an author one day write a bisexual woman who has her shit together and isn’t some quirky, sex-obsessed, hot mess manic pixie dream girl at the mature age of late 20’s/early 30’s? Please? I had to put the book down when this adult woman was running around a drug store pretending a spatula was an impact toy drunk at 2am. Grow up.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an arc of You, Again. Josh and Ari meet once and don't really care for each other, but over years their paths keep crossing. I love that this book takes place in NYC and you really feel like you are there watching it unfold. It is almost written like a romcom movie and I hope it is turned in to one.

I loved this book! It was fresh and exactly what I needed in a romance. I don't normally gravitate towards fluffy, and this was the perfect mix of everything. I love grumpyxsunshine, enemies to lovers. it was messy but i love messy!

You, Again was a compelling read, whenever I had a chance to read it, I couldn’t put it down. I simultaneously rooted for and was incredibly frustrated with Ari and Josh for the entire book. I loved the journey they both went on and laughed and cried as I made my way through it. The only thing I wish was that I had had more time to devote to it, so it hadn’t taken me so long to read! Definitely pick this one up for the cozy enemies to friends to lovers vibes that’s a great When Harry Met Sally reimagining.

I wasn’t able to finish this! I found the writing quite scattered and hard to follow, and found myself not wanting to read every time I picked it up.