In ‘Again, but Better’, a college student and creatively-driven Shane enrols in a university in the United Kingdom to fulfil her dreams of becoming a writer. Previously a medical student at a university in America, she makes the move unbeknownst to her parents, who have insisted she pursue a career in medicine for vicarious reasons. Shane makes the move, and is soon swept up in the magic of London and is indoctrinated into a new group of friends. But when she meets Pilot–a guitar-playing, Beatles-loving college roommate, she thinks she’s finally found her place in the world. But as her parents discover her true academic intentions, and she discovers more about Pilot’s life, her niche corner of the world falls into disarray. It isn’t until she’s given a chance to redo everything that went well that the truth about her deepest desires comes to light.
As a book-lover, I seldom find a novel that keeps me thinking about it constantly. Again, but Better is everything and more for my acquired reading palette, and I can surely say that I devoured this 374-page novel in less than a day. I read late into the night, much to my homework’s disappointment, and I sat in awe of the ending for quite some time after reading the final line on the last page. For those who are unaware, Christine Riccio–Again, but Better’s author–is a YouTuber whose channel has amassed 400,000 subscribers. Christine, under the account ‘PolandBananasBooks’ exhibits a flamboyant demeanour and shares her love of all things bookish on her channel. Again, but Better, according to Riccio, is loosely based upon her own life, and I couldn’t help but notice the way that Shane reflects the Christine I have been watching for many years. Even without this backstory, Again, but Better serves everything a reader might want–hilarity, heart and a character who exhibits the quirky and introverted qualities that many heroes of popular novels seem to lack. Her funny one-liners, which are met with charming characters and a powerful punchy plot, create a seamless novel that leaves readers speechless. I cannot say enough good things about Riccio’s debut novel and know that it will forever sit upon my favourites shelf by my bed. I do not know how Riccio was instantly able to build a rapport between her characters and her readers, but I will forever be in awe of such a polished, refined and mesmerising first novel.
Scythe is a dystopian young adult novel by Neal Shusterman, and it tells the tale of a futuristic society in which all forms of death have been eradicated, and the only way a human can die is by being ‘gleaned’, a word which is synonymous with murder. However, only a few selection of trained individuals–known …
The Graveyard Book, published in 2008, is a work of Neil Gaiman’s that instantly appeals to readers of the macabre and strange. The novel follows Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens through his experiences of living with a cohort of ghouls and ghosts within a cemetery. The Graveyard Book chronicles his life throughout the graveyard and the places …
The Wishing Spell follows twin siblings Alex and Conner Bailey, who grew up with fairy tales read to them by their grandmother. But when Alex and Conner are magically transported inside their grandmother’s fairy tale treasury, they will be thrust into a world where all their fairy tale characters are extremely real. The two will …
The absolutely electrifying Australian crime novel ‘The Tell’ by Martin Chatterton weaves a wickedly satisfying tale of Raze Tanic, an upper-class Sydney student whose family-run an illustrious crime ring in the heart of the Australian city. Raze has everything he could ever want, except the relationship with his father, who has been jailed in a …
GHOST BIRD follows the tale of Aboriginal twins Laney and Stacey, who grew up in their lower-middle-class rural Australian town. Their idyllic life, however, is thrown for a curveball when Laney mysteriously goes missing after going out with her friends. Through a bizarre series of premonitions that fringe on the supernatural, Stacey becomes obsessed with …
In the first book of a fantastic new middle-grade series ‘Tilly and the Boookwanderers‘ we follow Matilda ‘Tilly’ Pages, an eleven-year-old book lover who is cared for by her loving grandfather and grandmother in the five-storey London bookshop Pages & Co. Tilly has lived with her grandparents for as long as she could remember, since …
Book Review – Again, but Better by Christine Riccio
As a book-lover, I seldom find a novel that keeps me thinking about it constantly. Again, but Better is everything and more for my acquired reading palette, and I can surely say that I devoured this 374-page novel in less than a day. I read late into the night, much to my homework’s disappointment, and I sat in awe of the ending for quite some time after reading the final line on the last page. For those who are unaware, Christine Riccio–Again, but Better’s author–is a YouTuber whose channel has amassed 400,000 subscribers. Christine, under the account ‘PolandBananasBooks’ exhibits a flamboyant demeanour and shares her love of all things bookish on her channel. Again, but Better, according to Riccio, is loosely based upon her own life, and I couldn’t help but notice the way that Shane reflects the Christine I have been watching for many years. Even without this backstory, Again, but Better serves everything a reader might want–hilarity, heart and a character who exhibits the quirky and introverted qualities that many heroes of popular novels seem to lack. Her funny one-liners, which are met with charming characters and a powerful punchy plot, create a seamless novel that leaves readers speechless. I cannot say enough good things about Riccio’s debut novel and know that it will forever sit upon my favourites shelf by my bed. I do not know how Riccio was instantly able to build a rapport between her characters and her readers, but I will forever be in awe of such a polished, refined and mesmerising first novel.
RATINGS:
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
OVERALL: 10/10
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