My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Begin Again

Author: Emma Lord

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 1/23/23

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult, New Adult, College

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

As usual, Andie Rose has a plan: Transfer from community college to the hyper competitive Blue Ridge State, major in psychology, and maintain her lifelong goal of becoming an iconic self-help figure despite the nerves that have recently thrown her for a loop. All it will take is ruthless organization, hard work, and her trademark unrelenting enthusiasm to pull it all together.

But the moment Andie arrives, the rest of her plans go off the rails. Her rocky relationship with her boyfriend Connor only gets more complicated when she discovers he transferred out of Blue Ridge to her community college. Her roommate Shay needs a major, and despite Andie’s impressive track record of being The Fixer, she’s stumped on how to help. And Milo, her coffee-guzzling grump of an R.A. with seafoam green eyes, is somehow disrupting all her ideas about love and relationships one sleep-deprived wisecrack at a time.

But sometimes, when all your plans are in rubble at your feet, you find out what you’re made of. And when Andie starts to find the power of her voice as the anonymous Squire on the school’s legendary pirate radio station–the same one her mom founded, years before she passed away–Andie learns that not all the best laid plans are necessarily the right ones.

Filled with a friend group that feels like family, an empowering journey of finding your own way, and a Just Kiss Already! romance, Begin Again is an unforgettable novel of love and starting again.

Content Warning: grief, death of a parent

I am a fan of Emma Lord ever since Tween Cute! I think it’s safe to say she’s an auto-read author for me. Here’s what I thought about Begin Again:

+ I feel like there isn’t enough books set in college and I loved that this one is, with Andie entering her dream college as a freshman transfer. So she didn’t get in right away, worked hard to get in and did it on her own merit which is admirable. And we watch Andie try to keep up with classes, class activities, have a social life and she struggles, which is so relatable. It reminded me of being in college and the struggles of being away from home, old friends, making new friends and enjoying college life.

+ Andie is an interesting character because she is grieving her mom, has a strained relationship with her father, and was basically raised by her awesome grandma’s after her mom’s death and things fall apart. She’s a capable young woman, who wants to make her mother proud but is struggling to find her own way. She’s a “fix-it” person because she hides from problems she doesn’t want to face but I found that relatable. The other characters like Milo, Shay and Valeria were wonderful.

+ So Andie has a boyfriend she’s known since childhood – they have a close bond until college happens. Andie meets Milo, her RA, and their friendship grows while Andie is learning more about herself and her relationship with her boyfriend, Connor. On the other Milo is dealing with his own heartbreak and family drama. I like how their friendship grows into something else – it’s very sweet. They make a good couple.

+ Things got emotional for Andie and her father at the end of this book and I almost cried. I love how it’s more than a story about a girl going to college and wanting to honor her mom’s memory. I could feel her emotional struggles, and it was so nice to see her make friends who had her back and how in the end a conversation with her dad really helps heals some festering wounds between them.

~+ The only thing that maybe would bother some readers is how Andie has a boyfriend but starts falling for Milo. Honestly, having been in a long distance college relationship before – I related to her feeling 100%. How do you quit someone you’ve known your whole life and made future plans with? And yet…how do you not if it means being happier with who you are? I’m glad it’s a realistic situation.

Tropes: first year in college

Why you should read it:

• sweet romance between Andie and Milo
• set in college, first year transfer student, realistic situations – challenges, making friends, falling in love
• emotional story about Andie, her mom’s memory and healing with her dad

Why you might not want to read it:

• Andie does have a boyfriend but I think things stay pretty friendly and innocent between her and Milo until she ends things with Connor.

My Thoughts:

I loved this one! I just liked seeing Andie grow and shed the things that she didn’t need to hang onto (Connor) and try and find herself at the college of her dreams. Her meeting Milo was icing on the cake because how amazing is he? I love that they both had their own issues to deal with and they do before coming together. There was an emotional scene between Andie and her dad that almost made me cry. I think this had a little bit of everything, a character with growth, new friends, college fun and struggles, family issues and romance. I will continue to read whatever this author writes!

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