Name: Bria's review of Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson
Item: Every Other Weekend
Rating: 4
Author: Bria

Abigail Johnson

Can life begin again...every other weekend? Adam Moynihan's life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a home life so perfect that it could have been a TV show straight out of the 50s. Then his oldest brother died. Now his fun-loving mom cries constantly, he and his remaining brother can't talk without fighting, and the father he always admired proved himself a coward by moving out when they needed him most. Jolene Timber's life is nothing like the movies she loves--not the happy ones anyway. As an aspiring director, she should know, because she's been reimagining her life as a film ever since she was a kid. With her divorced parents at each other's throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love she's starving for. Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, the boy who thinks forgiveness makes him weak and the girl who thinks love is for fools begin an unlikely friendship. The weekends he dreaded and she endured soon become the best part of their lives. But when one's life begins to mend while the other's spirals out of control, they realize that falling in love while surrounded by its demise means nothing is ever guaranteed.

Every Other Weekend

Heartbreak brought them together...will love tear them apart? Adam’s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a perfect home life. Then his oldest brother died. Now his mom cries constantly, he and his middle brother can’t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired moved out when they needed him most. Aspiring director Jolene’s life is nothing like the movies she loves—not the happy ones anyway. With her divorced parents at each other’s throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love she’s starving for. Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, the boy who thinks forgiveness makes him weak and the girl who thinks love is for fools begin an unlikely friendship. The weekends he dreaded and she endured quickly become the best part of their lives. Have Jolene and Adam found something real? Or is their connection doomed from the start? They’ll find out...every other weekend.

cathy

Romi

Bria

This is such a teen book. It’s not too adult in any way. Like it’s truly a TEEN book. I love it.

Ena Kalkan

it was good but i think i just kind of lost interest in the book towards the end and i’m not really sure why either?

2.5 stars.

AHNA

CW of the book: Gaslighting, Emotionally Abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual Assault

Wow. And I thought it was going to be an easy ride. Complicated, but easy to get through. It was not. Part of the reason I think it's because I've read books that have talked about these kinds of issues but were poorly executed. This book was, successfully even, taken every part of my vulnerability and turned it against me. This book's topic is one I relate to and I didn't even realize at first how it exposed me. The fact that I can relate to Adam's anger toward his dad, the fact that I can relate to Jolene's resignation to her father's absentee. And, oh, my heart wrecked after 70% into this book. It gets stronger and heavy after every second. 

The only thing that's in a way of me rating it 5 stars is due to how the author build Adam and Jolene's relationship. For me, it seems a bit unbelievable how easy for them to get along. It was all went too well, too good to be true, so at first, I felt wary and terrified some big storm was about to come.

A good book, truly. You just have to prepare your heart for every fluff and heartbreak.

Victoria

Contrary to what a lot of people are saying (or that one blog post that I read was saying), YA books are filled with a lot of immaturity. This one started out with a lot of those.

However, halfway through the book, there was growth; there was a glimpse of maturity and I was satisfied by it all. But in between those was a gripping tale of pain and heartache and longing. I was so heartbroken for Jolene and I was extremely sad for Adam.

I love it. I absolutely love every part of this book, I can't even begin to describe the intensity of my love for this.

Fair warning, though, there's a trigger point: sexual assault. So tread with caution.

celene

this was beautiful. stunning. heartwarming. quite a tear-jerker. funny. fluffy. definitely this is in top reads this year (:

Maegan Kennedy

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.
Unfortunately I was unable to finish the book as it was not capturing my attention. I found the writing style to be a little boring and moved too slow. And the storyline did not go the way I was thinking it would. Overall I did not finish the book and it was fully on me. I believe this book would be liked by a lot of other people, it just wasn’t for me.

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Inkyard Press for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.



Okay fam. Again with a book that made me cry because of the plot and content. Again I have characters that I can relate to in some aspect and it brings back up memories of a time where I wasn’t as happy as I am today. Again, I’m so freaking happy that I had the opportunity to read another great book as part of a blog tour because I swear FFBC has never let me down before.

Let’s start with Adam, shall we?

The straight A student? Check.

Friends? Check.

Perfect home life? Semi-check but I didn’t know better.

While I am so thankful that I’ve never had a sibling die – I could not imagine but my cousin did pass away when we were younger and the aftermath of that really left his siblings broken – I understand the grief surrounding that kind of change. It’s such a huge shift in life that comes so unexpected and usually without any sort of warning. And then, how do you even react to something like that and move forward with your life?

Then we have our other main character: Jolene.

Parents divorced? Check.

Feeling used by at least one of your parents? Hella check.

I felt for Jolene in the sense that she just wanted to be able to make her life into one of the happy ones that she sees in movies, and wants to create in her own movies. I get that feeling because why would we choose to live in a world filled with pain and heartache? If we had the power to change how we live, wouldn’t we take it?

I just had a bunch of feelings okay? I need to lay down. I’m so glad I can read this one over and over again because I need to see this when I get in a mood to have some emotional alone time. Not to mention the friendship that spawned between Adam and Jolene is one of my favorites, and I’m glad that they were able to be there for one another on the weekends they got to see each other.

Tiffany Engler

TW: parental abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual assualt

I just had to pick this book up as soon as I bought it. I’m so glad I did. I loved this book. I adored this book.

Every Other Weekend has to point of views. One is from Adam, his family is separated due to not being able to handle their grief. The other is Jolene, her family is separated because her father cheated on her mother who is basically Cinderella’s step mother’s twin.

They meet one night on their balconies at their father’s apartments. At first, Adam is put off Jolene. She seems to be a bitch to every one and he doesn’t understand why. They eventually get to know each other and their friendship blooms into something beautiful.

What I love most about this story is that two kids who are suffering two different things get together and make each other happy. They both have their own baggage and they work through it.

I loved the writing style. I’ve read a book previously by Abigail Johnson and rated it like two stars. I almost didn’t buy this book! I’m glad I had a change of heart!

4/5 Stars

this book is one of those books where you just want to feel the pureness of first loves and being loved. this cliche love story follows two teenagers that are “broken” in two different ways and find comfort from each other. this book will make you smile and give you the nostalgia of pure cliché love

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL COPY VIA THE PUBLISHER FOR THE PURPOSES OF A BLOG TOUR. THIS DOESN'T AFFECT MY OPINION*


How does anyone expect me to project my feelings on this book after what I just went through READING IT?!?!?!

I've no words. It was simply amazing, is all I can really say in a shortened version.

Our main characters—Adam and Jolene—are both so different and so unique that it really made them stand out within the story. That's something I feel a lot of characters lack in most books nowadays; they're all ordinary and following after some "typical" character ideas that are so overused, it's hard to connect to them in ways we want to.

In this story, though, we're able to connect to these characters, and we're able to truly feel their emotions through their words and actions.

Something that was a big part of this story was the negligence and abuse from Jolene's parents. Her father hasn't seen her in person for nearly two hundred days, and her mother gets physical whenever she doesn't comply to her wants. It's a situation many of us either can't completely relate to or understand way too well. And maybe this book could be the stepping stone to someone's understanding or someone's savior. I fully believe that this book could be something that reaches someone out there and tells them you aren't alone.

The only problem I faced with this book was how slow it was. For sure, this is a complete slow-burn story, and it took me a little by surprise. I feel like it killed a few of the scenes that were meant to 'wow,' which really disappointed in the end.

All in all, though, this book did really blow me away. I wasn't expecting the ending, and I loved that not all the ends got wrapped up in a neat, nice present like some books try to do. For that, I rate EVERY OTHER WEEKEND 4.5 stars.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | You can find my review here.


  As always, a copy of this book was provided by the authors in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way. 


Sometimes I am fortunate enough to pick up a YA novel and it feels like the very sort of book I'd flock towards as a teenager. In those moments, it is like I'm rediscovering what makes me love reading. When this happens, it is because the story is full of heart and soul.  It is a story that makes you soar high above the clouds but also just as easily leaves an ache of emotion. I felt this way immediately with Every Other Weekend. 

This novel was stunning and painful. What else can be said about Every Other Weekend beyond this? If you want a shortened review it's this: I cried a lot during this novel and it was totally worth it. 

At its core, this novel packed a serious punch and Abigail Johnson holds back absolutely nothing. It is written somehow both smoothly and bluntly; easily navigating the tricky waters of angst and heartbreak. Every Other Weekend is definitely the sort of novel you'll want tissues on hand for. Johnson coaxed more than a few emotions from me by hand of her poignant prose and there's really no escaping that. 

Readers will feel straightaway that they are in Every Other Weekend for the long haul. It is a novel they won't soon forget. Jolene and Adam are destined to join realistic fictional characters that make long-lasting memories on their readers. Because of its emotional turmoil and the ride we're taken on for the duration of Every Other Weekend it goes without saying that this won't be for everyone. 

But for many, this book will be everything. And utterly unforgettable.

Romi &
Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson

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Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson