This was angsty and sarcastic and emotional and fun. It definitely didn't have anything unique compared to other romances but it was just an entertaining time.

This is absolutely my kind of sassy, smart, sarcastic, extra emotional, and angsty, yet entertaining, unique, modern love story that takes place in my all-time favorite city in the world: New York! Did I mention it also includes my favorite tropes, including enemies to lovers and grumpy meets the sunshine (or a pretentious chef meets a gamophobic comedian suffering from commitment issues)?

The story follows Ari, a quick-witted, direct, smart, sassy, and sunshiny aspiring comedian who moves to New York. However, instead of performing, she mostly serves drinks, babysits children, works as a cashier, or takes assistant jobs, while working with an improvising theater team in her spare time. Josh is an aspiring chef who wants to take over the culinary world with his ambitious plans, including finding the love of his life to prepare breakfast for every morning. His father owns East Village’s famous kosher deli, Brodsky, but Josh has no intention of working in the family business. He has bigger plans!

Two of them meet in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Ari plans for an uneventful night with an appointment to her vibrator, she receives a text from her roommate Natalie, whom she casually hooks up with, saying that she is stuck in traffic and needs her to welcome her special visitor. Ari realizes the visitor is the same Tall Sweater Nightmare Man who rejected to make a donation for bobcats and argued with her in the middle of the street on the same night. The same guy enters their apartment with his grocery bags to cook a special dinner for Natalie. He insists he’s Natalie’s boyfriend, even though Ari and Natalie are still friends with benefits! Of course, loathing at first sight eventually blooms between them after Josh’s condemning attitude and Ari’s smart-ass comments. The night ends with a disastrous argument.

A few years later, they meet again, and as expected, their fight ends as Ari says the last word (let’s rephrase: she takes the last unforgettable action).

The third time is not a charm. But at least they don’t kill each other.

A few years later, they meet at their lowest points and cling to each other to keep their heads above the water. Their long phone calls, texts, and movie marathons slowly turn into a special friendship. And even more, but both of them still suffer from their worst breakups. Could they heal, destroy their own emotional barriers, and give a chance for happiness?

This is a fantastic debut! I laughed so hard! I fell in love with the cover, especially the male character’s resemblance to Adam Driver on the cover, which is a marvelous detail. If this book is adapted into a Netflix movie, it will be one of my classics that I watch more than five times, reciting each line (of course, Adam Driver would be a great choice as Josh, and Selena Gomez might be a great Ari; at least, the girl on the cover looks like her!), crying and laughing out loud at the most powerful scenes. I know I’m rambling, but when you find something special, you want to talk about how it makes you feel, and honestly, this book made me ecstatic! My emotions are all over the place! Thank you, Kate Goldbeck, for writing this book!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dial Press Trade Paperback for sharing this amazing book’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A great "When Harry Met Sally" modern re-telling. The `~enemies~ part does drag a little, where the conversation does seem to antagonize the other person past the point of wanting to respond. I think my biggest qualm with the book is that it's very long, and the long chunks of chapters and text makes it a little difficult to get through. Other than that, the plot points parallel to the movie, making it an enjoyable read.

It has been a long time since there has been a book that I couldn't put down and read almost entirely in one sitting and You, Again by Kate Goldbeck was one of those books. From the start it draws you in following Ari at one of her odd jobs, trying to drum up support for bobcats conservation, while Josh, the male lead, is just trying to get away. She goes home only to find out that he is her roommates boyfriend and he is making dinner for her.

What follows is a years long tumultuous acquintanceship that slowly turns into a friendship. If you think we will be missing out on romance, however, we do get to see a peek into their romantic lives outside of each other and how they are coping with their significant others.

What I loved most about the book was how three dimensional the characters were. They felt like fully fleshed out people, and someone that I would want to know. The only thing that seemed off was that we never see Josh with any friends, just family or Ari and her friends. I kept expecting someone to pop up at one point, but there wasn't anyone. Ari's friendships, however, were always fun to see and reminded me of the ones that I have with my friends were you know each other so well you can be honest with each other and tell each other the truth even if it might hurt a little.

The different dynamics of the book are fascinating to see unfold, and it is like the best roller coaster that you never want to get off of. I am sure you will enjoy the ride too.

4 out of 5 stars
**Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review**

I’ve always been a person who feels too much, I guess that’s why words have always been a solace to lean back on and let it wash over me. Always a handy tool to express feelings too big down on a piece paper. I guess that’s why books will always be a main stay even if the rug is pulled out from under me.

So when I received an arc, hunkered down and got lost in the pages of Josh and Ari’s story — everything felt like a movie projector of my own life passing by. I immediately found refuge in Josh — this convoluted man who wants to idealize love in its purest form. To protect its essence that calls any two people here on Earth to seek the flexibility of its shape around the life they can supposedly build together. To chase a dream and not pay mind to the stubbornness of a parent whose affection was probably a little too severe than all consuming growing up.

Then Ari, who takes the details of my life of being a New York transplant, chasing a dream in a far away island that wasn’t originally home. Skating by, making the best of living situations that will inevitably price you out until you look for another fix.

All these details culminated in the best way, in the most heart rendering way to peel the layers of what so many of us are afraid to see with eyes open wide. All of our failures, our hopes, what they mean in the aggregate of a world where hustle culture is packaged as the most updated cruel joke of bootstrap theory.

Kate’s voice sells it like no other. She captures and envisions it with memorable dialogue, breath defying scenes that musters all the squeals and laughs. She does it ten times over and leads you to the finish line with a hydrated drink in hand, wishing you a job well done. This cast and crew of characters with Ari and Josh leading the charge will stay with me, calling me to open a dog eared page in the middle of the night when I’m lonely or cynical, exasperated from the trenches of finding love — and realize it’ll be worth it. Finding your person even if it takes several chances. Because in the end when you realize… I’ll let you finish the sentence.

Thank you so much to Random House, and to Kate for sharing her lovely words with a world that need it most.