Better Together by Christine Riccio

The Holiday meets The Parent Trap in this clever YA comedic whirlwind brimming with romance, and just a touch of magic, Christine Riccio's Better Together Estranged sisters Jamie and Siri are quarter-life crisis-ing: hard. With adulthood breathing down their necks, suddenly their promising career aspirations feel way out of reach, and romance — completely implausible. After thirteen years apart, on opposite coasts, the sisters run into each other at a nature retreat. Desperate for a change of pace, they decide to go home in each other’s stead to see how the other half lives. It doesn't take long to realize swapping lives might be more than they bargained for. Turns out, pretending to be a sister you hardly know can really complicate your previously non-existent love life. Navigating their new surroundings proves to be a precarious task, but turns out there’s no better way to learn about yourself than by trying to live as someone else.

2.5 rounding up
In the end, I did “enjoy” the book, but I was on the fence about that for more the 1/2 of the reading.

So for the sake of brevity, the main issue I had was the behavior and internal monologues of both the main characters. I found Siri to be whiney and Jamie to just be awful in general. However, before I continue, I want to say that there eventually became a point in the book where I felt I understood the behaviors were the result of the trauma the girls had gone through which we don't discover until later in the book.

With that said, I found the first half to be a slog to get through. Siri behaves like someone much younger than she is and Jamie displays no regard for boundaries or awareness of others which was infuriating.

Then we take the twist into THE PARENT HOOD / FREAKY FRIDAY territory, that I was not expecting. So if you love those films, you will more than likely enjoy the dramatic and often unbelievable nature of the book.

As I said, eventually I came around to the characters and the reasoning behind their personalities. I also liked the LGBTQ+ rep and especially the focus on therapy and the work required to heal trauma.

If I hadn't received this as an ARC, I'm not sure I would have finished it, but again, once I got on board (around the 65% mark), I set my issues aside to finish the ride. It just took way longer than I would have liked.

Personally, I wasn't a fan of Zafir or his creepy approach to “meeting” people at the camp. It felt very inappropriate considering he was in a position of power at a camp full of people who were there trying to heal and find direction in their life.

If I'm being honest, I found a lot issues with the book. Especially once the backstory of the girl's childhood is revealed. So when I say I got onboard eventually it's only because this fits into the genre of the teen drama that is full of problematic scenarios. Anytime people are switching places it's an inappropriate invasion of people's space and trust. If that's your thing, you'll probably like this book.

The audiobook version was good. I always enjoy a dual narration.

***Thank you to Macmillian Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

June 1st, 2021 Update: This book comes out today and I'm sooo excited to read it to see if it actually deserves its less than 3 star rating.

Should this book exist? No.

Am I still gonna buy it and read it? Yes.

I'm actually excited to read it and see if it deserves it's 2.79 average rating. Like bring it on. I'm gonna be binging it on release day.

i crave the sweet embrace of death that will eventually take the memory of this book away from me

DNF at 18% This book just did not click with me. Both of the main characters just annoyed me beyond belief. There were certain things about the plot that bothered me. I really wanted to enjoy this book because I loved the movie “Parent Trap”, as a child, as well as, the movie “Freaky Friday”. Overall, I just could not get into this book no matter how hard I tried.