“An addictive, sexy read that you can’t help but devour.”- Anna Todd, author of the After seriesHe makes the rules. She breaks them all.A new start. It’s the only thing keeping Allie Harper going, when she packs up her life and moves across the country to Woodshill, Oregon. She’s about to start college, desperate to leave the ghosts of her past behind her. Even if that means never talking to her … behind her. Even if that means never talking to her parents again.
Now the hard part – finding an apartment before classes start. Just when it seems she’ll have to live out of her car, Allie visits one more place. It’s beautiful. With one exception: can she stand being roommates with campus bad boy Kaden White? Sure, Kaden is sexy with his tattoos and careless attitude, but he’s also an arrogant jerk. With nowhere else to go, Allie moves in.
The first thing Kaden does is make a set of rules. Either Allie obeys, or she’s out:
1. Don’t talk about your girl problems.
2. Keep your mouth shut if I bring someone home.
3. We will NEVER hook up.
Easy enough, thinks Allie. Who would want to get involved with a brute like Kaden? But the more she gets to know him, the more she sees beyond his gruff facade. He, too, is harboring some painful secrets. For Kaden and Allie, it gets harder and harder to ignore the sparks between them. And the lines between the rules start to blur …
Begin Again is a beautiful romance that shows us just how possible it is to start over. To find freedom in heartbreak and love in the most unlikely places.
About the Author
Mona Kasten was born in Germany in 1992. Before devoting herself to writing, she studied Library and Information Science. She lives with her husband, cats, and countless books in northern Germany. She loves all forms of caffeine and taking long walks in the woods. Her favorite days are the ones when she can block out the world and just write. Mona loves to interact with her readers on Twitter @MonaKasten. Her website (in German) is www.monakasten.de
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Este fue un audiolibro que disfruté bastante, ya que me tomé mi tiempo para terminarlo pero las narraciones hicieron que valiera la pena la espera. Me encanta tener la posibilidad de encontrar libros así en un servicio que recomiendo mucho llamado Storytel.
Begin Again es la Historia de Allie. Ella toma un rumbo completamente alejada de lo que conoce porque quiere encontrarse y ser libre. En su camino se muda a un lugar diferente a lo que ella está acostumbrada por lo que busca todas aquellas experiencias de una adulta joven, que se le han negado. Conoce a nuevos amigos, entra a la Universidad y se topa con un roomie fuera de lo común. Aquel que puede poner su mundo patas para arriba.
Este libro explora el viaje de Allie; sobre cómo se topa con nuevos retos que la hacen tambalear pero que conforme va encontrando su equilibrio se re-descubre así misma y comienza a vivir sin el temor del qué dirá la gente. Donde la amistad y el amor, son dos factores muy importantes que te acompañarán, siempre y cuando sepas elegir a las personas correctas.
ᴇɴɢ
This was an audiobook that I enjoyed. It took time to finish it but the narrations made it worth the wait. I listened to it on a platform I 100% recommend called Story Tel
Begin Again is Allie’s story. She takes a path completely away from what she knows because she wants to find herself and be free. On her way she moves to a place different from what she is used to so she seeks out all those young adult experiences that she has been denied. She meets new friends, enters college, and runs into an out-of-the-ordinary roomie. One who can turn her world upside down.
This book explores Allie’s journey; how she encounters new challenges that shake her up but as she finds her balance she rediscovers herself and begins to live without the fear of what people will say. Where friendship and are 2very important factors that will accompany you, as long as you know how to choose the right people.
Desperate to find a place to live before school starts, Allie agrees to a rules that arrogant roommate Kaden has setup. She initially finds him to be a bit obnoxious, but tries to ignore it because she really needs a place to stay. Slowly, but surely, Kaden starts to soften towards her, but does his damnedest to deny it to himself. They eventually start hanging out a little bit, and Kaden starts to get a little protective of her. Through getting to know each other, they each have their hang-ups, but manage to confide in each other which only brings them closer to one another.
This is a great love story that builds slowly as you watch these to two fall in love with each other, even though they didn’t expect it themselves.
3.5 Stars
Begin Again is a story that New Adult readers will connect with, finding strength in Allie’s desperation to strike out on her own and succeed without the help of her parents. She’s left behind pain, she’s left behind fear, and she’s left behind the girl she used to be. This version of Allie has short hair, eats what she wants, makes friends with who she wants, and…lives with a boy. Not just any boy, either, but the boy on the top of nearly every girl’s “I Want” list. Kaden is tattooed, attractive, and neat, he’s the sort of roommate anyone would want, except for the odd rules he makes for Allie.
1. Don’t talk about your girl problems.
2. Keep your mouth shut if I bring someone home.
3. We will NEVER hook up.
They form a strong bond as roommates, later as friends, and eventually as something more. They lean on one another for comfort, deny the attraction they are feeling, and find meaning in their lives together. These rules were made to be broken.
I enjoyed Begin Again, the heart of the story is one that anyone can connect with, that feeling of wanting to be yourself and wanting to figure it out on your own. Allie is a sweet girl who, despite all her life experiences, is still a bit naive. She’s so desperate to be on her own though that she makes it work and her effort is believable. Kaden, of course, is the bad boy we all love and yet want to fix. There’s a reason behind his jerk-ish attitude and mood-swing like personality. What starts as a attraction turns into the two getting to know each other, working through the good days and the bad days, and ultimately revealing their true selves. Begin Again takes place at a beautiful, wooded campus, there’s the usual college parties, and of course, there’s lots of friend interactions. I really liked the secondary characters more than I even liked Kaden and Allie, I could see how Mona Kasten could create a series with them.
Kaden and Allie make a cute couple, but they’re almost too driven by their lust. As readers we are told their friendship has blossomed, but the interactions we see, at least until later in the book, are surface level interactions. Allie, who at first seems very courageous, turns out to have incredibly bad habits and thrives off drama in a way I didn’t expect. The partying, the way she spends money, and the lack of character development over the course of the novel is ultimately what turned me off of Begin Again. I wanted to see Allie become her own and instead she reverts back into dangerous ways and then suddenly things are fixed. So much more could have been done with this.
Begin Again is a traditional New Adult novel that will appeal to NA fans and NA aged readers. It’s sweet, relatable, and a fairly easy read. I didn’t find many issues with the German to English translation, but there could be some. If you’re looking for a standalone series featuring college aged characters and romance, Begin Again just might be right for you.
She was timid, different and desperate for a place to live. He was not into relationships and didn’t want a woman for a room-mate until he had no choice. Hence the rules. Together they grow and learn and make mistakes, rescue each other and somehow, someway they heal. But it isn’t easy. This author takes a story about two college kids and makes it into a riveting story that keeps you hanging on every word and nuance. Even with the emotions and feels it is a great story. I have never read this author before but I like her style, nothing was lost in translation and I look forward to enjoying more of her work.