I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
❥ The plot
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.
❥ My review
Again, but Better was one of my most anticipated releases of 2019. I have been watching Christine’s booktube videos for years and have been waited for her book to come out ever since she announced she was working on it in 2016. Seeing her working that hard and being so passionate about her book was making me even more excited and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Obviously when I learned I would receive an e-ARC of it I was the happiest.
I read it in less than 24 hours and gave it 3.75/5 stars, which is a really great rating for me. It means that I really liked it and would recommend it, but that it didn’t blew me away.
What I mostly loved about this book was the first part. Again, but Better is divided in two parts, one happening in 2011 and the other one in 2017. The first one was so sweet and funny, it truly was everything I love in a contemporary. It was so easy to read, though not a lot of things were really happening. I also really loved the main character, Shane, who was extremely relatable. I absolutely adored following her adventures as she was studying abroad in London.
The first part was also here to show the reader when everything went wrong in Shane’s life. I absolutely adore reading about bad situations, when you can slowly see everything starting to take a dark turn. It may be weird, but that’s something I like, and I was happy to see it happen here as well. It really ended the first part perfectly and I was really happy about the book at this point.
My main problem was then the second part. It wasn’t awful or anything, I still enjoyed it and thought it was entertaining, but I felt as if it was lacking of something or as if it needed more work on it to be able to fully link it to the first part. Compared to the first part of the book in which everything was slow, this one was extremely fast and everthing happened all of the sudden. It kept me from truly caring and to really understand everything. It was all rushed and I wish it would have been a tad different on this side.
In the end I had a really great time reading this story and was happy to see how Christine decided to add a little magic twist to it. I knew it would happen and it felt like watching a Christmas movie when the twist finally arrived.
The whole book was really entertaining, the writing a tad simple but still cute and enjoyable. It was a sweet and funny story that I would recommend if you want to read something quickly during the summer.
❥ Where to buy it
The book is out today!
- Amazon
- Book Depository
- And don’t forget to support your local library!
Love always,
Clara
Clara 
Wonderful review, Clara! I’ve been feeling so on the fence about this book! I think I might borrow from my library at a later date! I’m glad you enjoyed it, even if it didn’t quite blow you away. I do like the idea of a little magic twists to the story, since those can sometimes be my absolute favorites! ❤
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Thank you Kelly, you are always the sweetest! ❤ I hope you’ll like it if you ever pick it up!!
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Clara, this is such a great review, and I found myself agreeing with a number of your points! I unfortunately didn’t enjoy Again, But Better as much as you did, but I’m so glad to hear that you liked it for the most part!
I 100% agree with you that the second part felt a little lacking. In my opinion, I would’ve really loved to see more of a development between the characters rather than going through everything so quickly, like you mentioned. Even though we already saw a lot of the second part in the 2011 part, I would’ve loved to revisit those scenes with an older Pilot and Shane!
Lovely post! 💕
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Thank you so much, Lauren! I’m so sorry you haven’t quite loved the book but I can totally see why! It’s a very particular book which could have been worked on more – I wish, as you said, the characters had a real development through out the story!
Thank you again for your comment! ❤
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