After recovering from difficult times with her family, and first heartbreak, Adelaide Buchwald is spending her summer walking dogs for money, and trying to catch up on her school work to fix her failing grades. She meets Jack, and immediately feels a spark between them. The difference in this story is that we see several different versions of meetings, texts, conversations, in order to show how they would have worked out - the multiverse theory. This happens on a smale scale throughout the book, then also the larger story is split into two large versions. It took me a while to fall into a rhythm with this book, due to the style it was written in. The best thing about Again Again for me was the storyline between Adelaide and her brother Toby, a recovering drug addict. I really felt Adelaide's anger, disappointment, and sense of grief at the relationship with her brother she has lost, while trying to have compassion and start a relationship with this new brother.

Firstly, I'd like to thank the team at Readers First and the publishers at Hot Key Books for awarding me an ebook copy of Again, Again by E. Lockhart. It's great to be able to read something new, especially during these very strange times. When I was in my final years at school, and even when I was in college, I often read books from others who were compared to E. Lockhart. Often, at the end of some of my favourite YA books, there would be a page saying "if you enjoyed this, you'll love..." followed by a photo of Lockhart's latest novel. I had always been drawn towards her titles but I always failed to pick up one, so it was interesting to finally read one - especially now I am not necessarily the target audience. Again, Again follows Adelaide Buchman as she spends her summer at boarding school after being dumped by her first love. As her heart starts to repair, Adelaide finds herself trying to rebuild herself but soon stumbles into another romance. Pairing her desire to be loved, and her obsession with loving others, with the haunting history of her brothers' drug overdose, Adelaide struggles to keep everything balanced. Lockhart's writing in Again, Again is extremely poetic and incredibly poignant. Adelaide is a very sad character, and it is interesting to see how she continues to unravel throughout the story. However, I feel like Again, Again and all of the characters, followed the same note throughout. There wasn't really a lot of growth in structure as the story progressed. Sure, there were some heartbreaks along the way, but they weren't necessarily unexpected and didn't project as a tremendous blow to me whilst reading. One thing I really was in awe about with this book was Lockhart's writing style. It was a mixture of verses, tied with 'ordinary' structured paragraphs. It really helped break the story up and ensured the flow was nice. I also found that the ending was sort of unsavoury for me. I was ready to read another chapter, to see Adelaide progress further, but things seemed to be wrapped up pretty neatly as she continued her own private path of finding herself beyond the reader's journey. Overall, I enjoyed Again, Again enough to finish it in one day, but being in my twenties I am not necessarily the target audience for this YA contemporary novel. However, my age and current genre-preference didn't make this book unbearable.

Adelaide Buchwald has a brother who is an addict, and has overdosed. She and her father are living separately from her mother and brother - Adelaide's father is a teacher and has taken a job at a boarding school to pay for Toby's treatment, Adelaide has gone with him to attend the school. The book takes place over a summer, which Adelaide is spending at the school with her father, who has taken an extra job in Admissions, to earn extra money. Adelaide has a summer job walking some of the teacher's dogs whilst they are away on holiday. We spend the summer with her whilst she deals with Toby's 'illness', catching up on work she didn't do during the school term, a breakup, falling in love with different people (in different universes), and her relationship with her brother. This book had potential; instead of living up to it, it attempted to tell multiple stories in multiple universes and it just doesn't work. There is a decent story in here somewhere, just not in its present form. Adelaide is a likeable character, but there are points where her and her friend Stacey just feel a bit too self indulgent. The different universes are repetitive and muddled; you find yourself reading the same passage of text over and over again, with just little changes to the outcome. Adelaide's broken relationship with her brother is well written, and frankly could've been more of a central point of the book. Ditch the self indulgent teenager bit, and focus on a book about a sibling relationship broken because of drugs, and how it begins to repair into something new. It is a shame, because this story had real potential.