Book Review: Again, but Better by Christine Riccio

**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Genre: YA, Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: May 7, 2019 
Description:

"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."

As excited as I was to read Christine's debut novel, I'm going to have to say that this, unfortunately, was a miss for me. Even though I am one of her subscribers, I will not be biased when reviewing this book. 

First off, I was not a fan of Shane. Sure, she's relatable with her anxiety driven personality (because girl, same), but her perspective wasn't very enjoyable. Upon reading the very first pages of the book, Shane seemed like a carbon copy of Christine (as much as I tried to not think of it). Like the parallels are uncanny. Yes, it's Christine's first book, and yes it's easier to create a character based on one's self, but it made Shane very unoriginal. Like there wasn't anything I didn't already know about her even though I just started the book. Secondly, the tone of Shane's perspective seemed too busy. The number of thoughts that ran through her mind and her detailed accounts of her surroundings and actions. Detail is good, but too much is unnecessary and overwhelming, which is how I felt a lot of the times.

Next, the plot of the story wasn't what I expected it to be. The plot had a slow start and it picked up in the middle, but then fell flat. Overall, it felt uneventful. I didn't read too much of the synopsis since I wanted to go into it pretty blind, but I was not expecting the fantasy element of the story. Since we're on that topic, I will like to say that the fantasy aspect was not that well written. I was very confused to the point where my interest began to drop (so basically everything post time skip, which seemed like a mess). Although there was a little hint of it occurring throughout the first half of the book, it kind of just hits you in the face unexpectedly. 

Now onto the romance. I don't like insta-love stories, so I wasn't surprised when I didn't enjoy the romance, which happened a lot quicker than I expected. Pilot (also not a fan of "quirky" names that are just exclusive to main characters/important secondary characters) was an interesting guy who clicked well with Shane until you learn that he kept an interesting fact about himself from her. After that, I didn't like him. Even in this new light, it irks me that Shane is still hung up on him after 6 years (time skip) even when she later gets a boyfriend. Like, why didn't you confront him again before getting a boyfriend and why wait so long? It just didn't make much sense to me. Without spoiling anything major, I felt that both Shane and Pilot were selfish when it came to romance. Not a good quality to have in a romance novel my friend.

An extra tidbit that I also did not enjoy was the 2011/2017 (time skip) references that were shoved in almost every page. Like I get it. It's 2011/2017. STOP. REMINDING. ME. That was also when Christine's self was popping out of the pages, as Shane's/Christine's obsession with the TV show Lost was reminded time and time again. As great as that show was, I got annoyed. Especially since it made no contribution to the plot nor character. This goes the same way with Christine's favorite book series that were coincidentally also Shane's favorite book. Oh, the parallels. 

Overall, I didn't really enjoy Christine's debut novel but not every author is successful with their first work. This is also only my opinion so it could have also just not have fit my reading taste. Plus, that also means that there is plenty of room for improvement, which I'm sure there will be in her next novel. In the end, I still applaud her for even writing a book, as it's not easy and requires a lot of work, especially for a new author. 

Overall rating: 2/5