Again, but Better by Christine Riccio Review

Hey guys,

Today I am very excited to review my most recent read, Again, but Better by Christine Riccio!

I honestly didn't know that I was going to love this book so much, but what should I have expected with a book written by a BookTuber that I have watched for years and have mostly enjoyed similar books to. Christine was actually the first BookTuber that I ever came across, way back when. I am so glad that I picked up this book. Now .ets get into the reasons why...

Let's begin with what I saw from the beginning. Reading the inside flap of this book was an incredibly major call-out to me and my life. For reference, I'll put it here:

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.

I have spent the majority of my time in college with the absence of friends, spending time getting the best grades possible and completely lacking a social life. Hell, I never even got offered to eat lunch or dinner with anyone until the end of my freshman year. With that being said, it did get better and I have since been invited to meals with other people. Shane loves to read and has a passion for writing even though she is in a STEM field. A bigger difference is the love life aspect. Unlike Shane, I am, and have been, in a very happy healthy relationship with the love of my life, but I still hard-core related to those first-time butterfly feelings that she gets with Pilot. It actually makes me miss those times. Don't get me wrong, I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I see Nick, but it's definitely different than a brand new love of "OH my GOD did he just touch my hand? Was that on purpose or... is he gonna kiss me?!" Because of all of these reasons, I found this book be one of the most relatable ones I have ever read which is probably the reason that I loved it so much. 

It was just so easy. So soft and happy for the most part, I couldn't help but smile and giggle and do little yelps with glee as I sat around the campfire with my parents reading this. The writing voice really makes it feel like you are there with her, experiencing it all. I feel like I fell in love with Pilot with her and had my heart broken when I found out he had a girlfriend and had pure rage running through me when that batch Amy read her Horcrux #9. 

The way Christine tells the story mostly through the traditional method in writing but also with the journal entries and the postcards that she writes to her parents was an excellent way to break up the story and the writing.

This book holds me so close, and I didn't even realize it would happen. Its been sitting on my shelf for a while now and I didn't even know I would love it this much.  Because those adventures... I want to climb the Vatican and rush to the balcony. I want to find a cute Beatles shop in London and get playing cards to use with my flatmates. More than anything I want the friendship love that Shane has in this book. I want a Babe. Reading about all of their adventures together let's me live vicariously through the characters. 

The moment that Shane and Pilot finally kissed for the first time was a moment of triumph that I wanted to scream, and then fell shortly after with the thought that Pilot is still with Amy in this time and in the future 2017. I hated Amy actually. I hated her. She read Shane's journal. She kept Pilot on a leash for years and was never truly happy. She kept Pilot from Shane. What a bitch! 

When Shane and Pilot finally ended up together I was so happy, which was why it was upsetting that she basically broke up with him after she realized that she wasn't herself anymore. Like I guess I get it, but you've literally been waiting for this moment for years and then you get it and give it up? It was for a good reason, I guess, but I wouldn't have had the strength to do it for sure. It made me so happy that they were back together in the place that they had always planned to go, Edinburgh. 

Is it enough to say that I loved this book? 

If you have made it this far through I thank you, every person who ever reads anything on my blog means a lot to me. 

Isn't it obvious?

Five out of five yellow roses :)

🏵🏵🏵🏵🏵

Thanks for reading,

Delaney M.