My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 stars
"It's weird how we have to get a little older to realize that people are just people. it should be obvious, but it's not"
Again, but Better really captured my heart in a way that I did not expect it would. On the surface, it is a sweet contemporary story about a shy, creative and enthusiastic premed graduate named Shane Primaveri who gets a second chance to follow her heart. However, I believe the depth of this book goes so much deeper than that. For me personally, this comes from the fact that I have probably never read a book with a character who was able to capture all of my inner insecurities the way Shane did. I could literally feel all of the emotions she was feeling during her turmoils and all of her inner monologues mirrored so many of my own. Not only relatable, Shane was also just an all-around likeable character with a great sense of humor. She was not afraid of getting emotionally invested in things, even if it might have taken her courage a little longer to catch up. And yes, I am fully aware that Shane Primaveri is basically Christine Riccio emulating herself through her protagonist, but honestly, who cares? While some people may feel like Shane's personality is semi-invasive of Christine's life, I actually feel like it added an additional layer of realism to her personality and the plot.
What I particularly loved about this novel was just how memorable all of the other characters were as well. Along with having some of the strangest names, Pilot, Babe, Atticus and Sahra all had distinct personalities and little quirks which made them all very unique. Moreover, the banter and genuine warm friendship between them was really awesome and had be smiling a lot.
Something I also really liked was how immersed I felt as I was reading Again, but Better. Although not knowing much about London, I felt like I was actually there. The way Shane described herself as an american tourist coming to Europe for the first time ever (not finding enough variations of red sauce in the supermarket, being told to watch out for muggers who cut bags open, etc.) was beyond hilarious. I'm not certain if Christine was describing her own experience of visiting Europe through this story but it certainly felt very realistic.
"There are all these kinds of horror stories about how thieves in Europe carry knives and run around chopping off women's purses - the purses fall off their arms, the thief catches it, and runs. It's been recommended to me by American society (mostly my aunts, uncles, and parents) that I wear a cross-body purse to make chopping it off more difficult."
The romance between Shane and Pilot also had exactly the right amount of buildup. You could tell that their friendship was genuine and their conversations were really cute and heartwarming. Being someone who doesn't really take too well to insta-love (a common occurrence in contemporary books in my opinion), I was pleased that the connection between the two of them didn't feel forced at all but flowed naturally from both of their personalities and conversations. Moreover, Shane's inner conversations with herself were just super relatable when looking back upon my own crushes and self-consciousness around them when I was younger.
The only thing that I could complain about with this book was that I found the time "in between" Shane's two visits to London a tad unrealistic. We are told that about six years have passed since coming back from her trip and Shane was still super infatuated with Pilot and sought him out. While I'm not an expert on the matter, I find it a tiny bit strange to believe that an adult woman would still be hung up over a crush that she had over six years ago. However, since this interlude between the two times (before the "Again" happens) was semi-necessary for the plot to progress and continued smoothly into what happened after, I'm willing to overlook it. Especially because Shane and Pilot are just super cute together.
Overall, I think this book was a cute read which I would definitely recommend anyone who enjoys contemporary novels and a sweet, genuine romance to read.
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