man. with all books that were fanfiction, especially for a relationship i didn't like. this was hard to enjoy. maybe i would be happier not knowing anything ever

I loved the synopsis, the setting and the cover of You, Again and it got off to a promising start. However as the novel progressed I found the writing style irritating and was unable to connect with the main characters. It’s a very slow paced novel and there was not enough happening to hold my interest.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
2.5 stars

This was a very sassy, sarcastic, emotional and angsty book and those are straight up my lane - my favorite type.

I love me a good complex romance in New York City - it feels like jumping into a movie and this book did not disappoint. Other things that I loved about this book - enemies to lovers and grumpy/sunshine. It is the perfect recipe for a book I'd like and I definitely enjoyed the book!

The story follows Ari, an aspiring comedian (with plenty of side gigs in a way) and Josh, an aspiring chef. Their story is a lot of "right person, wrong time" for a while there and it's quite chaotic and messy, even at their fourth meeting, where they cling to each other, develop a good and strong friendship and then some more!

I appreciate Ari's sexuality being a big part of the story and I loved the relationship our MCs developed. It seemed realistic and raw at some points.

I definitely would recommend this book!

This book has a good plot in theory but it did not work for me unfortunately. It was too slow-burn for my liking, and I got very impatient and bored by 50% and could not continue reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher/author for accepting my request to read and review this book!

I loved the sound of this book, enemies to lovers with a slow burn, a shared ex trope, AMAZING!

But at 51% through the book there has been ZERO romance between our love interests …. zero….

Add in some bizarre writing choices, even more bizarre dialogue, and I’m left feeling like Alice down the rabbit hole.

Perhaps this book would improve in the second half but the first half is so utterly boring and repetitive that I don’t foresee myself actually finding the ending worth trudging through a couple hundred more pages for.

I, like many people here, heard the comparison between this book and When Harry Met Sally. Sadly, these comparisons were not evident to me. I found both characters to be completely awful, and didn't enjoy reading either of their points of view. This was a book I truly looked forward to, but I DNF'd about 15% in.

When I heard this compared to When Harry Met Sally I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately it did not live up to expectations. Both main characters were unlikable and I just couldn't connect with the story.

I loved this so much. It was surprising and original and made me actually laugh out loud so many times. It was a heartwarming story with beautiful writing that sucks you in and doesn’t let you go. Read it!

I loved this one! Somewhat unexpected as romance is not my genre at all. But I really loved the development of the characters and was really rooting for Ari and Josh by the end. Just loved ❤️❤️ only sight slight criticism - maybe 40 pages or so too long?

I really liked this book so much. So full of angst and longing and a good happy ending. Characters were well rounded, story was paced really well, and very well written. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a good romance. Definitely see the comparisons to when Harry met Sally.

You, Again completely surprised me and definitely made my list of top romance/romcom books of the year!

It did take me a shortwhile to get used to the characters. Both Ari and Josh are not perfect and are not 100% likable all the time. But that ended up being one of the things I loved about the book. These characters just felt so real and fleshed out.

Josh is a hopeless romantic (emphasis on hopeless). Ari, on the other hand, comes across as having a 'gives no f's' attitude when it comes to love. However, in reality, all she wants is to be and feel loved. She just doesn't feel worthy of it.

I absolutely loved the journey of Ari and Josh going (so very) slowly from strangers, to 'I hate you', to 'we're just friends', to 'I can't live without you'. Seeing them start to unconsciously develop feelings for one another was everything!

When it started veering into the 'no longer just friends' territory, I felt all their emotions while reading. Their first kiss scene is probably the best one I've read in a very long time. I was proper holding my breath. It felt so real, as if I was watching it play out in a movie.

I couldn't get enough of this (and simultaneously felt very old reading it....)
In this 'so slow it goes into reverse' friends to lovers story, Ari and Josh first meet when Josh comes to her apartment to cook her roommate dinner. They get off to a bad start; and then again months later when Josh is working in a restaurant with one of Ari's best friends, and treats her appallingly. They couldn't be more opposite if they tried, Josh's boy next door image clashing against Ari's devil-may-care approach to life.
At their third chance meeting, things go a bit better between them and slowly the two get closer and start to become more important. You're willing them to get together whilst feeling that it might be a Very Bad Idea indeed.
The story is told from both their perspectives and you can taste the frustration and tension between the two of them. They are funny, entertaining, full of life and real emotion - and when the moment finally arrives, its well worth waiting for
A well deserved 4 stars

The evolution of the characters from the first chapter to the last is one of the most realistic I've read in a romance. This isn't like your usual enemies to lovers. There's the tension, yes, but you -like they- don't know they're meant for each other. At one point I was entirely convinced they shouldn't be together.

The time skips make the book all the more realistic and made me more invested in their love story. What's more real? What feels like it will last? A romance that has its HEA after 1 month or a love that takes 9 years and many missed chances to get to the end?

The book is happily sex positive. Not once is our female lead shamed (at least that I noticed) for being the prolific lover of sex she is. Whereas some books seem to force a sexuality onto a character to fit some quota of doing the part to make it inclusive this was one of the first books where I believed it just fit. It made sense to who she was, to who the many lgbtq characters were. There was no arduous talk about how they knew they were gay etc -it's not a queer story, but rather a story where there happens to be a queer person as the lead.

The present tense and the change of the close third person narration was a little jarring to get used to but eventually you get consumed in the narrative so you don't notice it as much as you go along.

There were brilliant examples of tropes written well in this book so if you're a fan of any of the below then this is a book for you:
-Enemies to friends to lovers
-Slowburn
-Right person, Wrong time

It also had an Adam Driver MC Lookalike and a Bisexual, sex positive lead who I loved.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House for this ARC!

This was a lovely read, especially for those who have a soft spot for 90s rom coms. This book was inspired and a reimagining of the romcom: Harry met Sally and I really felt it was done to justice.

The book has some really sweet moments with bisexual and Jewish representation.

This book reads like a romcom it will have you smiling and laughing and rooting for them.

Thank you again for this ARC, it was great!

Unfortunately I really didn’t enjoy this book and after reading over half I had to DNF it, I found the 2 main characters to be unlikeable for me and that really made it hard for me to root for any of them and the whole story just didn’t flow the way I wanted it to. The writing felt clunky in places and overall I just didn’t enjoy the story. I really thought I would love this one as well because of the comparisons to When Harry Met Sally one of my favourites films ever but sadly I didn’t see a connection between the story and film. I think if someone would like a story set in New York with a very alternative writing style then I would give this a go but other than that maybe give it a pass.

I liked this story, it was definitely different from what I was expecting but that’s not a criticism, I think I enjoyed it more because of this. It did feel a bit long though and think it could have been tied up a lot sooner, but it was an enjoyable read

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A romance that didn't really engage me.

I felt like this was too all over the place. There were many explicit scenes solely there for the wow factor and some heavy issues were discussed and not in the best way. I did like the writing and the characters, but it just wasn't for me.

But having said that, if you want a fresh take on a romance story, check this out!

I had high expectations for You, Again because of the comparison to When Harry Met Sally, but this one just wasn't for me. For one, I didn't see the connection between the book and the movie and, also, I just couldn't connect with these characters. The other big problem I had with it was that I thought it was way too long. It's over 400 pages and while I don't mind reading long books, I didn't think the length was justifiable in this book - it could've easily been 100/200 pages shorter (hence my rating)


Thanks to Penguin/Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really disliked this story, and couldn’t gel with it at all. The main characters, particularly Ari, were extremely unlikeable, and the writing seemed very repetitive. Why make Ari’s whole character about her drug taking and sexuality, which in the way it was put across made her seem immature and more if a woke fantasy than a character you could sympathise with the emotions of, mainly because you never learnt more about her than those things. There was seemingly no desire by the author to let you get to know the characters, which left them as the petulant, unlikeable people you meet in the beginning. This was a DNF for me

I honestly struggled to get into this book. I am going to be frank and say that I believe that the writing was amazing and I think I'm going to try and read this again in the future, or I will also probably try and read other books from this author. I just honestly did not feel a connection with the characters. And having the lack of fondness for the characters of this book is important to me.

Again, I believe this book is amazing. I just honestly did not click with it.