'Begin Again' by Emma Lord

 5 stars!

Book Blurb:

“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.”

My Review:

It has been an absolute joy to get lost in this world with these relatable, easy-to-root-for characters. As always, I love Emma Lord's writing style and will gladly read anything and everything she ever writes.

'Begin Again' is a coming-of-age story in which we follow Andie through Spring semester of her freshman year at college. She arrives at the school of her dreams with a boyfriend, a plan, and a ton of determination to make everything work. This college is where her parents met and where they left their mark, and Andie is determined to become part of the secret society that her late mother belonged to. For Andie, it's personal, it's about connecting to her past, and she has a plan to achieve it all.

Immediately, her careful plans start falling apart. But her roommate Shay becomes her BFF and their grumpy, coffee-addicted RA helps connect her with a much-needed Work Study job, and Andie discovers fun and found-family in places she wasn't expecting.

'Begin Again' is a heartwarming, fun read and it gave me all the feels. Highly recommended YA Contemporary read.  Grab a copy by January 24, 2023!

#NetGalley - I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

'Always the Almost' by Edward Underhill

5 stars

Book Blurb:

"A trans pianist makes a New Year's resolution on a frozen Wisconsin night to win regionals and win back his ex, but a new boy complicates things in Edward Underhill's heartfelt debut YA rom-dram, Always the Almost.

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Miles Jacobson has two New Year’s resolutions: 1) win back his ex-boyfriend (and star of the football team) Shane McIntyre, and 2) finally beat his slimy arch-nemesis at the Midwest’s biggest classical piano competition. But that’s not going to be so easy. For one thing, Shane broke up with Miles two weeks after Miles came out as trans, and now Shane’s stubbornly ignoring him, even when they literally bump into each other. Plus, Miles’ new, slightly terrifying piano teacher keeps telling him that he’s playing like he “doesn’t know who he is”—whatever that means.

Then Miles meets the new boy in town, Eric Mendez, a proudly queer cartoonist from Seattle who asks his pronouns, cares about art as much as he does—and makes his stomach flutter. Not what he needs to be focusing on right now. But after Eric and Miles pretend to date so they can score an invite to a couples-only Valentine’s party, the ruse turns real with a kiss, which is also definitely not in the plan. If only Miles could figure out why Eric likes him so much. After all, it's not like he’s cool or confident or comfortable in his own skin. He’s not even good enough at piano to get his fellow competitors to respect him, especially now, as Miles. Nothing’s ever been as easy for him as for other people—other boys. He’s only ever been almost enough.

So why, when he’s with Eric, does it feel like the only person he’s ever really not been enough for...is himself?"

My Review: 

This is a lovely coming-of-age story in which Miles, our main character, finds queer joy with the help of his piano teacher, love interest, and his friends.  He begins the New Year with two goals; to win upcoming piano competitions and to get back together with his ex-boyfriend.  Readers follow his narration as he learns more about what makes him happy and what music means to him, all while stumbling through messy friendships and relationships, as all teenagers do.

Highly recommended LGBTQIA YA Contemporary read. Out February 14th, pre-order here.

#NetGalley - I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.