Title: Begin Again
Author: Emma Lord
Genre: Contemporary YA/ Romance
Publisher: MacMillan
Pages: 352
Release Date: 19 January 2023
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Hello fellow book lovers, I hope you've had a lovely January so far! Today I'm sharing my review for Emma Lord's heartwarmingly romantic new coming of age YA, Begin Again.
Synopsis
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.
Review
This was such an adorably sweet read with an amazing, slow burn romance and early 00s teen rom-com/ Taylor Swift vibes that I couldn’t get enough of.
It does delve into themes such as grief, love and (as the title suggests) new beginnings, which were at times incredibly emotional in scope, and yet, I still wasn’t expecting my first foray into Emma Lord’s work to be soo satisfyingly soothing—especially given the deeper themes and emotions explored (and which had me tearing up on more than one occasion.)
I really liked Andie, our cinnamon roll of a protagonist (and sole POV) throughout the book. She’s such a ray of optimism, hope and general selflessness, always trying to solve everyone else’s problems despite her own struggles, which is what really endeared her to me (I mean, she uses the names of her fave foods instead of swear words, how could you not love her!)
And my love for her is probably why I liked Milo (Andie’s RA, friend and love interest) soo much, as he manages to get through to her in a way no one else does despite dealing with some pretty big issues and grief of his own. Their interactions with one another also felt so wonderfully (and emotionally) intimate. And,as a sucker for slow burn romances, I utterly adored that delicious will-they-won’t-they tension that we see build between them.
Andie's long distance boyfriend on the other hand was trash and despite not being physically present for the majority of the book, he sure was incredibly easy to despise.
There's plenty going on narrative wise as well but for me, it was the uber secretive pirate radio show, The Knight's Watch that was the most intriguing (besides Andie's emotional development and the romance of course) and I loved how it seamlessly connected soo many of the characters we meet.
Speaking of characters, the supporting cast were soo entertaining and adorable—especially Andie's grandmother's (who were both utterly hilarious) and Blue Ridge’s resident bookstagrammer Shay, who definitely helps to bring Andi out of her shell, as does Valeria (fellow student,statistics tutor and budding novelist.)
Overall, an incredibly heartfelt YA romance that will definitely appeal to anyone who loves rom-coms, coming of age YA or the found friendship trope.
Also, a huge thank you to Macmillan Kids UK for the finished copy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
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