***ARC received for an honest review***The cliched outline of a "romance" involving - a controlling jerk, frantic pacing, more drama than a middle school dance, mommy issues and a doormat heroine. First words exchanged between the hero and heroine "'What the hell are you doing here?'"Kaden is upset that the person interested in renting his spare room is female. Because he lives in a magic land without rental applications or background checks. Or, apparently, manners. After deciding Allie can mov...

5 out of 5 stars! ⭐️ I think I might have found a new favourite author to add to my ‚favourite authors‘ list. MONA KASTEN is unbelievable... I loved this book so much to the point that I had goosebumps, cried, laughed out loud and just felt very very happy all at the same time! What the romantic novel is about: Er stellt die Regeln auf -sie bricht jede einzelne davon. Noch einmal ganz von vorne beginnen - das ist Allie Harpers sehnlichster Wunsch, als sie für ihr Studium nach Woodshill zieht.

1.5 StarsUnfortunately I had a lot of issues with this book. While the premise sounded interesting, the execution was poor. Underdeveloped characters that had too many inconsistencies in their personalities grated on me and the fact that the author has never visited the US shone through. Some of these issues may have been because of an inadequate translation (originally in German), but I feel that even with a better one this book still would have fell flat.

2 “Listen to your friend” StarsARC via NetGalley.Thank you!I can see Begin Again being big during the NA golden years a while back. It had the key elements: young people going to college and making dubious choices, lots of drama, bad boy hero and a nice girl heroine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for me now.I’m not saying I’m over New Adult. I’m not. I read two NA books this week alone that I absolutely loved, but they didn’t feel as stilted as Begin Again.I understand this book was initially w...

3.5 StarsI read this book in one sitting. It draws you right in at the beginning when Allie and Kaden meet. Things don't start off so well and their banter was pretty funny. I hardly ever come across a good 'A-Hole I love to hate' kind of book that pulls it off as well as this author did with Kaden. This dude was a piece of work and I didn't love him by the end. I did really like him though. But lets get to what I really did enjoy about this book. The friendships. Dawn was your ride or die kind

*Thanks again to Bastei Entertainment for sending me an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.* I’ve been meaning to read ‘Begin Again’ by Mona Kasten for a very long time now. This book was originally published in German and so I’d already heard a lot of positive things from my friends and other German book bloggers. The only reason I actually never picked it up is because I don’t really like reading German books even though I’m German myself. Sounds weird but tha

I received this arc via Netgalley for an honest review, and I'm all about the honesty!I struggled with this one a tad. The book was written in German and translated to English and I think the dimension of the characters kinda got lost in the translation. I found them to be rather flat and one dimensional. Even Kaden, who was supposed to be a total jerk couldn't pull it off.The story was full of NA clichés and drama, which is what I expect in a NA book and was happy to read that. Again, this wasn...

English Few books reach me as much as this one did. And to think that I hesitated when reading it because of its bad reviews... Never, never get carried away by that, because thanks to not pay attention I discovered this marvel of a book that completely caught me.Well, okay, it's no wonder. It is an ordinary book, but what do you want me to tell you? I fall in love. I got to the heart and the books that I live this intense end up charming me and they earn a little hole in me. This, without a

3.5 stars. I did enjoy this. Fast read for me, I was drawn into the story fairly quickly and ended up really liking this somewhat angsty college drama that had endearing friendships combined with witty banter plus one A-hole male "jerk". I was a little surprised to find out that it was translated from German as it was so clearly set in the U.S. The initial meet between Allie and Kaden was plenty entertaining, they clearly got off to a rough start as roomies but this enemies to lover's story was

“Not broken, just bent.” Well, well, well. I tried this as an audiobook for my train rides, despite New Adult being like my least favorite genre ever. I find the books to be the same pathetic story. Still I've heard great things about Begin Again and it's always nice to 'read' something that's been originally written in your mother tongue. Unfortunately I've been quite disappointed and felt like this was the classical New Adult romance book. I did enjoy the writing style very much but the charac...

Wow, such a powerful NA-book! I loved the story, it seemed really authentic and sweet. The issues that were battled in this book seemed more real and genuine, and i loved the ending. Also i did not get annoyed by the main character, Allie! She was a brave and selfconfident young women who did not turn into a clichee because of the love intrest. That's what i liked most about the story. Kaden was really cute and super-hot, and the way things progressed between him and Allie made me fall in love w...

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review.5 stars!! I wish it hadn't ended it was so good! This book is why I love reading. The angst, the worry, the swooning moments. It had everything. To start, Kaden is a jerk, an absolute jerk. Giving Allie rules for being a roommate, being utterly rude, getting in her face. Everything I love in a hate to love Hero. Allie is feisty and strong, not taking his crap; all of which makes for a lot of fun moments. The book develops natu...

I didn’t enjoy this book. I liked their friends Dawn, Spencer, Ethan and Monica more than I liked Allie and Kaden. Kaden runs hot and then freezing cold. He puts up rules that then he himself breaks. Going into her room while she sleeps is not romantic, it’s creepy. He also takes her hiking, and nicknames her Bubbles. He doesn’t want to know her personal drama but he still asks about it and forces her to open up about her problems. I also didn’t like Allie’s defeatist attitude. Allie has an over...

Before starting this book, I had been in a bit of a book slump the day before. I had tried three books and could not get into any of them. I remembered the following day that a friend had just read this book and she was enjoying it. I figured I would give it a go. I am glad that I did as I enjoyed it. Begin Again had a few of my favorite things from the creation of new identities to edgy issues and angst to roomies/ enemies to lovers storyline. Allie has just moved to a new college and town, she...

REVIEW 2021, rereadRereading Allie and Kaden's story felt like being welcomed home. In this case, it really was what I needed after finishing the two remaining books of this series, Hope Again and Dream Again. I just wasn't ready to say good-bye to Woodshill yet. I never expected to love books of this genre this much, but I ended up being more invested in these characters that I would wish to admit. So instead of saying good-bye, and hoping for more installements in the Again-series, I wanted to...