Again, but Better

By: Christine Riccio

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

This program includes an author's note read by the author, and a bonus chapter.

From one of the most followed booktubers today comes Again, but Better, a story about second chances, discovering yourself, and being brave enough to try again.

Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents...sounds ideal - but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance...what’s that?

Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change - there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!

Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.

Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination, one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic - the possibilities are endless.

©2019 Christine Riccio (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Again, but Better is a fantastic debut novel! Entertaining, clever and impossible to put down." (Colleen Hoover, number one New York Times best-selling author)

Love love love

I absolutely fell in love with this book especially the plot twist!!!!! All the feelings.

I knew I was going to like the book!!

As soon as I read the description I knew I had to read it, even though it took me a while to decide to read it. I like these types of stories in which the protagonist tries to overcome certain things or set challenges. I was not fond of some things or rather I predicted them and it lost its charm a bit, but I liked it.

perfect narrator is perfect

narrator captured the characters' voices perfectly and you can 100% hear the authors voice coming through

Absolutely loved this book

This books kept me hooked the entire time. I don’t think I have ever finished an audiobook so fast. You will not be sorry for getting this book!

AHHHH! (It was really good)

Okay so this book was really good overall I loved it so much but there where a few things I didn’t really like.

CONS

I am very book savvy when it comes to the writing style, you could tell the writing was a little amateur. It was nothing that seriously impacted the book though. Secondly, everyone in the reviews says Shane is extremely shy, but she is really only shy at the very beginning of the book. It seems like the author wanted to have a shy character but didn’t know how to follow through, since we see Shane yelling at people across restaurants and dancing in huge crowds on multiple actions. My final complaint is the character development, especially with her love interest. From him all we really see is his love for Shane, there were other people in the book which I really wanted more from as well.

PROS

Now let’s talk about how amazing this book was. I seriously connected with Shane, there were so many moments in the book were I was full on beaming. There’s a part in the book where everything starts to go down hill, it had me sobbing at three AM. You think you know exactly what the book is about and then she goes and throws in this huge plot twist! Yes this is a love story, but that’s not all it’s about. It’s about a girl who is spiraling through life and finally finds still ground. Ultimately it’s not any else who finds that ground for her, she found it on her own. This book makes you happy, sad, in powered, basically I’m trying to say is that this is such a great book and you should totally read it.

A Fun Surprise!

I fell into this book from the very first page! With some Fangirl vibes, and the author’s uniquely entertaining voice, this story took me by surprise! I loved the awkward MC and her circuitous path to the life she was meant to make for herself. While I enjoyed the romance, which was sweet and awkward and a bit rocky, I loved that the MC’s self discovery was the real focus of the story. It’s so easy to lose yourself in the whirlwind of early adulthood expectations, and Riccio captures that beautifully. Then she sprinkles in some magic with a mid story twist (that I didn’t see coming) and rewrites the rules of her MC’s reality. This is the book I wish I had had in my late teens and early twenties! Definitely worth picking up!

Great Story

I loved the plot, few mistakes in the audiobook but overall a great reading experience.

Not dealing with emotions.

The book is cute but I would not have been able to get through it if Brittany Pressley's narration wasn't so calming. It's hard to explain without going into spoilers but the whole book kind of felt like one of those unhealthy fantasies you have about how things could have worked with an ex if only you had done something different.

This Book Brought Me Joy

I absolutely loved this story! It was adorable and relatable. It was different in a way that I was not expecting and was apprehensive of at first but ended up really enjoying. It made the story so much more than it could have been. It was nice to read a coming of age story that wasn’t set in high school or focused around a 16 year old saving the world. I can’t wait for more from this author.

Moving and amazing

So now that I finished, I can fully say that I love it! It made me cry a lot for many different reasons, happy as well as sad. I'm in a rough patch right now and this book reminded me to hold on. I thank the author for, not only an amazing read but also a story on resilience that I know is going to help many people get through hard times. If you've followed Christine for a while, you can see a part of her soul poured into this book.