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.
Emma Lord hits it out of the park again, readers! If I didn't know it by now, she is definitely an auto-buy author AND one of my favorite YA contemporary authors of all time.
THE PLOT:
Andie transfers to Blue Ridge, her college of choice all along, and decides to surprise her boyfriend who is currently a student there only to find out he's transferred to her old college hoping to do the same. Now at different colleges, Andie must reevaluate and focus while doing the long-distance thing with Conner. Shay, her dormmate is a bookstagrammer (a girl dear to my heart!) and has had trouble choosing a major, and Milo, the coffee-addict RA (resident advisor) becomes her close friends. In the midst of this upheaval, Andie has to balance the loss of her mother and her estranged father and his new life.
THE CHARACTERS:
Andie was instantly likable and I connected with her straight away. She wants to follow in the footsteps of her mother but soon realizes she must pave her own way. Shay and her bookstagram stole my heart. Milo was definitely Jessie Bradford from Bring it On in my head and nobody can change my mind. He's a grump (me) with a penchant for coffee (also me). I could not have asked for a better romantic interest.
THE STRENGTHS:
The romance was definitely one of this book's strengths. It's a slow burn and it's sweet as pie.
The writing was also descriptive and clear, and there were no plot holes to be seen.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
This is my favorite Emma Lord book so far. I cannot wait to own a copy for myself.
Thank you to Netgalley for the e-galley.