Again But Better By Christine Riccio Review

Overall Review: 3.75/5 stars

“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.”

Goodreads

Non-Spoiler Section:

Again But Better is popular Booktuber Christine Riccio’s (also known as PolandBananaBOOKS) debut young adult novel. The story follows our main character, Shane as she realizes she’s doing college all “wrong”. She’s a pre-med student with spectacular grades, but has virtually no friends or social life. To change this, she packs up her bags and travels to study abroad in London. She tells her parents that she’s there studying pre-med, but she’s actually signed up for the creative writing track, which is her passion.

I love Christine and she’s one of the first BookTubers I ever watched, so of course this made Again, But Better one of my most highly anticipated reads for 2019. I think overall, Again, But Better wasn’t at all what I was expecting it to be, but that’s not a bad thing. It was a fun contemporary with a twist. There were lots of pop culture references, so if that’s your thing you will be pleasantly surprised. I gave Again, But Better a 3.75 out of 5 stars (which for Goodreads purposes rounds up to 4 out of 5!)

This is your SPOILER WARNING! If you haven’t read Again, But Better by Christine Riccio and don’t want to be spoiled, Stop Reading Now! (Of course come back after you’ve read so we can discuss!!)

Plot (B):

The plot was definitely interesting. From the very beginning, Shane is traveling. We see her on a plane on her way to London. I enjoyed this part and felt that it was a good introduction to Shane as a character. I mention this later, but I was pretty disappointed in the execution of London. The pacing here was a little off. I wish we had gotten to see more of Shane experiencing school and classes rather than everything being solely about her and Pilot.

The twist… I LOVED THE TWIST. I think partially because I wasn’t expecting it but I thought the twist when they go back in time from 2017 to 2011 in the second part was super interesting. Personally, I didn’t like how there was virtually no explanation for this though. At first when that “lady on the plane” started commenting on Shane’s writing when looking over her shoulder I thought, “What? That’s weird, would anyone actually do that??” But when it was revealed that this “lady” was what Shane would later call her “spirit guide”, suddenly, it made a lot more sense. Again though, I really didn’t like how there was absolutely no explanation for the magic that occurred in the story. I have no idea if Christine is actually planning this, BUT if she did decide to do a spin-off, I think focusing more on the magic/fantasy aspect could be extremely entertaining.

Characters (B+):

Shane: Shane is extremely similar to Christine (in a good way of course). She’s quirky, funny, and loves pop culture and books, and of course, writing. I definitely think that writing a character that was so similar to herself allowed Christine to make Shane more 3 dimensional and realistic as a college student. (Side note - finally a YA book about college aged characters, we don’t get too many of those.)

Pilot: Now, I have no idea if this next opinion will be a popular one or a controversial one - I really didn’t love our male lead, Pilot. At first, he was fine. I still didn’t love him, but I actually started not really liking him in the second part. He came across as…. a jerk. I know, I know… he did change towards the end of the second part, but I just didn’t love him as a character. I’ve definitely read a lot worse male leads but Pilot was just not one of my favorites.

Babe, Atticus, and Sahra: As for the side characters, I loved Babe and Atticus. Whenever they were in a scene I felt like they added a lot. Atticus at first seemed like the funny best friend character but later on, when he had that serious conversation with Shane, it added so much more depth to his character. Babe was a really fun character to read about and her quirkiness played really well off of Shane’s. I just really wish we had gotten to see them more because we would go long stretches without them being there and I think had they been there more and gotten more character development from them, I would’ve enjoyed the story a tad more. Sahra we didn’t really get to know. A lot of the time when we saw her she was somewhat cold. I didn’t hate her but I didn’t like her all that much either.

Shane’s Family: Shane’s family played a big part in the story. At first her cousins were very annoying up until the very end. Leo gained depth when we find out he is gay and struggling with his identity, but we don’t hear much about what happens to him after. Her parents were...how can I put this… absolutely awful. In the first part of the book, we see them treat Shane terribly when discovering she’s in London. In the second part, we see them act just as horribly… and then we know that in the epilogue things seem to be okay-ish with her parents...but how did they get there?

Setting (D):

When I found out that Christine’s book was going to be set in London I was sooooooooo excited. I love books that are set in England. However, I was a tad disappointed with the execution of the setting. There was loads of potential in the beginning. I loved when Shane and Pilot went grocery shopping and Shane noticed all the differences between the US and the UK. When Shane forgot to look the right way when crossing the street, I thought it was a very clever way to show how out of her element Shane was.

I do wish a lot more was done with the setting. I felt that a lot of the time we saw Shane at her internship, which was a typical office setting, or we saw the characters in their flat (or dorm). I think London was a fantastic place to set this story, but I wanted more from it. I wanted to see the characters travel and experience more new things that they aren’t used to in America. When they did go outside their normal places, very little was described. I love when the setting becomes almost it’s own character in the story, but here, this story honestly could have taken place anywhere.

Aesthetics (A+):

At first, I misunderstood the title of the book. I thought Again, But Better referenced how Shane was going to London to get a fresh start and redeem her college experience. But, I was clearly wrong. I love how the title ties into the plot twist perfectly. It’s a really cute title and Christine uploaded a video on her YouTube channel about how she came up with this perfect title for the book. I’ll link it here.

ALSO, the cover!!! I am in love with this cover. I love covers that use colors in a clever way. For this one, behind Shane is entirely white, while in front of her is all in color. Not only is this super pretty but it shows how Shane is leaving the bland boring aspects of her life behind to journey into new meaningful experiences, hence the colors. I also love how the red and blue look together.

SIDE NOTE: Thank you to Christine Riccio, herself, for being the absolute sweetest and signing my copy of Again, But Better on the spot at BookCon 2019!! (See picture below!)