This is a hard book to rate or review, because though I loved the concept and the writing style, I couldn't connect properly with the characters.

But let's start with what I did like.
And the different backgrounds from where these two kids come from was something I enjoyed - the difference between them being the thing that actually made them interact. The family dynamics were somehow complementary - while Adam should feel the warmth in his broken family, for Jo there is a lot of coldness that hardness her heart even more.

I liked that Jo stands on her own, I liked her sarcastic tone (even though she was at times intentionally mean). I also liked how Adam is the heart of the equation, the one that diffuses some situations, I even liked his awkwardness.

(Though I did not agree with them most times, I could still understand their frustrations and aches when it comes to their respective families. I won't lie, being an adult I see things in another light, but young readers might interpret things accordingly to their own beliefs and might agree with their choices more. )

There are also some very hard topics touched here, like grief, divorce, harassment, manipulation. They were beautifully woven into the storyline such that they mixed with the fun and entertaining moments. And they added several layers of depth to the story.

But then we get to their actual relationship of sorts.
And this is the part I did not enjoy that much. It seemed forced, it was a bit too much trouble, if you ask me, and I would have liked for the focus to be set on something else. I get that they are young and confused, in the yes-but-no-wait-yes-again kind of phase, but the situation was for me even more confusing because 1. I did not feel the chemistry between them to begin with and 2. I did not get to root for them the way I wanted. So I felt like there was some unnecessary drama that could have been easily avoided.

Also the pacing was a bit off. There were many slow parts when nothing seemed to happen and only their banter kept me moving. After a while my interest simply started to wither.

The story deals with a multitude of heavy topics, ranging from grief to divorce to many forms of abuse, including physical, emotional, sexual, and substance. The heaviness was tough to get through, but Johnson never made it too overwhelming or depressing at one point. Still, I found myself putting the book down many times to take a break from the numerous trials and tribulations of the characters. I could never really connect with either of the characters, although I could see where they were coming from. Overall, a very deep, probing book that I simply could not get into.

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for granting me early access to "Every Other Weekend".

I'm currently in the middle of a major move, and will definitely come back at a later time and write out a full review and rating.

Thank you so much!

Watching Adam and Jolene become friends was a real treat, even when I realized hey wow I love their friendship so much but oh no I’m only halfway through, there’s still so much time for things to break bad. There is a LOT packed into this one, including plot points that should include trigger warnings for sexual assault, death of a sibling, predatory behavior, and parental abusive in several forms, but none of which are disclosed beforehand. This one releases in January and it’s well worth the read, but I think it’s fair to know what to expect if any of those triggers would normally prevent you from picking something up (here to talk if you have questions about any of these, including severity!)
Favorite nonsense excerpt from my notes: Jolene after finding out that *spoiler* has a girlfriend now is a Whole Mood.

Adam and Jolene, the alternating narrators of this story, follow the normal trope of intrigued by one another/befriending one another/falling for one another. Their interactions are, of course, appropriately lovely and stormy depending on context. It's their interactions with others, however, that truly set this book apart. Adam's family has suffered tremendous loss, and it places a strain on each of them. Jolene's family is far more contentious, and leads her into danger in her quest to feel understood and accepted. This book will resonate with both those who've experienced loss and divorce, and those who seek to better understand those who have.

Final Rating: 4.5/5*

I've never read an Abigail Johnson book, but I clearly need to find and read of them now! The synopsis of Every Other Weekend is actually what grabbed my attention first; I was really interested to read about teens going through their parents divorces and how it affects them. But this book was about so much more: family dynamics, romantic relationships, who to trust and who to turn to when things are burning down around you. I fell in love with this book.

Excellent Dual POVs
I loved that we are given both Jolene and Adam’s point of view because it added so much depth to the story! They are coming from such different backgrounds and experiences, so it’s so important that we get to know both of them and really feel what they’re going through. Adam’s family has so much healing to do, and he is also struggling with his anger, while Jo’s parents are absolutely horrible and it’s heartbreaking to see what her life is like. I fell in love with both of them and my heart broke for them so many times while reading this.

Jo and Adam’s Experiences are Heartbreaking
There are sections of this book that are hard to read because it's so easy to picture someone falling into the exact same situation. Adam's experiences revolve around his oldest brother's death and how the aftermath has completely changed his family. His relationship with each of his parents is fractured and I really felt for what they must be going through. Jo's story broke my heart. She literally has no adult role-model to rely on and of course she looks for that caring and understanding elsewhere. But Johnson does an excellent job of never victim blaming, instead showing the immediate love and support Jo gets from those who know her.

Wonderful Storytelling
I honestly couldn’t put this book down! There is a slow build towards the climax, but I loved all the different facets of Jo and Adam’s lives that I wanted to follow them around forever! Johnson has done a wonderful job of creating characters that go through real life issues in a realistic way. I wish we'd gotten to see Jo at school and in her "other life" a bit more, just to give us a comparison of what her life on the weekend is compared to the rest of the week. We're given a fuller picture of Adam's life (school, weekends with his mom, etc), and it definitely helped build his character and story arc. I thought Johnson did a beautiful job telling this story.

This was such a wonderful book! I'm so excited for it to come out in 2020 because I've already been recommending it to people and I can't wait to talk about it with them. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys character-driven YA contemporary novels or those who have enjoyed other stories by Abigail Johnson, Rainbow Rowell, or Morgan Matson.

Wow, this is way of too angsty, heart wrenching, emotional and gripping story for my taste. Some parts depressed me so much, I feel and hurt for those young beautiful characters have been going through hell in their personal lives.

Unfortunately nobody can have a chance to choose their family. If we have those chances, all those shitty parents feel more pissed off because they cannot find a person to blame for their miserable lives and they cannot find any other person to abuse… They always use the kids to leave invisible scars could never get healed at the end of their lives!

And yes, Jolene and Adam are also suffering from their own parents from hell, so they have been pushed to be grown up faster and punched by life’s harshest consequences because when life deals you a shitty hand, you may leave the table or you learn how to bluff to change the situation for your own leverage.

Their slow building not enemies but unlikeable fellows to friends and lovers relationship warmed my heart. The weekends turned into their small escapes from their compelling lives.

Some parts of book really made me sob so much and so many people stopped me to make sure I was all right ( My advice for you friends: do not ever read a tear jerker, ugly crier books when you’re at the public places. I did it when I push my shopping cart when I bought my groceries. The market security guy got so worried about me and as I told him about this book’s plot, he also started to cry. I thought this book brought out his worse childhood memories. A few other women who eavesdropped our talking also joined the hysterical crying movement. One of the worst things, when I tried to calm the cries down, the ice creams I bought already melted! Yikes!)

CHARACTERIZATION is good, realistic, well-rounded. The story line was upsetting, frustrating. I wanted to scream at the author to give a break and stop torturing those beautiful characters!

Only bad thing a little irritated me was too book’s longevity. Maybe a little reduction would be better for the pacing. The readers need to take a break from sniffing, crying, sobbing and other turmoil they have to endure during their reading. Just because of all those long pages push me lower my star points.

Special thanks to Netgalley and HARLEQUIN TEEN for sharing this beautiful, emotional roller coaster with me in exchange my honest review!

I looooved this book. So much more than I thought i would. I just really loved Adam and Jo and how they fell together and how much fun they had and how they became best friends first and how they meant more to each other than anyone else in their lives. I just really loved them falling in friendship love with each other before anything romantic happened.

I adored Adam and what was complete gentlemanly sweetheart he was and how he always wanted to help Jo and how he wanted to bring his family back together and how he just always wanted the best for everyone everywhere.

I loved Jo and how she remained so great despite everyone in her life being so awful. I loved her banter and how she never lost her spark and how she remained good despite her parents beyond terrible. I loved her relationship with Mrs. Cho and how Shelley tried to be there for her.

I loved Adam and Jeremy coming together to get their parents to talk and work things out. I really loved the slow, beautiful process of their family coming back to one another after Greg’s death. It killed me how great their older brother had been and how all four of them were grieving in their own ways and how they finally found a way to move forward together.

I died over what happened with Jo and Guy. Because you could see it was wrong and he was being manipulative and awful and it killed me because she had seen the same kind of thing happen with Cherry and her boyfriend, but she just couldn’t get herself out of the situation and it just destroyed me and I want to hug her and I love how Adam and Jeremy neat Guy up. That was grand. And I loved how Shelley was there for Jo.

I really adore how the two of them are going to continue to see each other and how he encouraged her to go after the film program and how they went to prom together and the pictures they took and how they would spend their whole weekends together and how perfect they were. They are my heart and soul and I adore them and this story was just amazing and had so many important things going on and I just loved every second of this wonderful book.

my review in 3 words: too much language.

Okay, so the cover is CUUUTTEEE. And the synopsis made it sound like a super fun read, and yeah. It draws. you. in. The quirky, imperfect main characters kinda attract you from the beginning—two people from sorta similar situations who might just find some common ground. BUT…. I had to DNF. I was super disappointed, because I was SO. EXCITED. to read this book. And then I started reading it, and I found something out. Relatable characters aren’t the only thing you find in the beginning. You also find unnecessary language. And pLeNtY of it. I am not in any way trying to say the person who wrote this is a bad author or this is a bad book. I’m just trying to warn you that if you like to steer clear of inappropriate language, don’t read it.

Witty yet poignant story of love in a hopeless place

Perfectly developed story about a pair of teens from broken homes who meet at the crappy apartment complex of their fathers, who have custody of them every other weekend. Both teens have heavy issues they are dealing with in their personal and family lives. They find escape, comfort and joy in being together when they would otherwise have nothing to do.

Jolene Timber is a rich kid from the city whose parents broke up because her father cheated on her mother. They had a personal trainer, named Shelly coming to the house regularly and Shelly became friendly with Jo in order to get closer to her father. Jolene’s mother then was caught them in bed together.

Now her father works so much Jolene never sees him and his lawyers demand that he gets custody every other weekend, which is just a way to get back at her unloving and sometimes abusive and alcoholic mother. So Jo is stuck with Shelly when she comes to the rundown apartment he rented in order to hide assets from her Mom.

Jo meets Adam on the balcony next to hers on his first day coming to see his father who s living in the apartment next to Jolene. Adam thinks his father is a coward for leaving his Mom and he shows his animosity to his Dad every chance he gets. His family didn’t break apart due to cheating, it happened because of a loss and he he feels like his Dad left during their time of need.

Jolene is a filmmaker and Adam wants to reassure his mother that he is doing fine at his father’s so he asks Jo if he can take a picture of her to send his Mom in order to say he met someone. They quickly become friends and thereafter spend just about every minute of every other weekend together. Jolene has a quick wit and is always teasing Adam, who blushes like nobody’s business. The book has more than it’s fair share of laughable moments.

As these two get to know each other on their “Dad” weekends and text during the week, they develop feelings for each other. The book is sweet, nostalgic, heartwarming and also deals with some tough issues such as personal loss, grief, abuse, neglect, and more. It was well written with great characters and supporting characters such as Shelly, Adams brothers Greg and Jeremy and Jolene’s friends Cherry and Gabe. I really enjoyed the story and the nostalgia of first love.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin TEEN and Abigial Johnson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Look, are you going to be around a lot?”
“Every other weekend.”
He hung his head. “Me too.”
I didn’t bother with a fake smile. “Yippee.”

Every Other Weekend, my second Abigail Johnson novel I’ve read, was almost unputdownable for me. Not because it was a thrilling page turner, but because I was so invested in these characters I needed to find out what was going to happen next. I even had to put it down a few times so I wouldn’t cry on an airplane – and if you know me, unless it involves animals, I’m probably not going to cry. So there, you win A.J. Stupid dry airplane air.

EOW follows two perspectives: Adam Moynihan and Jolene Timber. Adam’s life has recently been turned upside down: His parents are recently separated, in no small part due to the death of their eldest son. Adam was super close to his oldest brother and he was the calming force between Adam and Jeremey, Adam’s other brother. Adam is struggling to adapt to his new life and blames his father for the marriage falling apart. But as part of this new life, he and Jeremy are forced to come to his father’s apartment every other weekend.

It’s here he meets Jolene, who has been coming to her dad’s apartment every other weekend for years. However, she never actually sees her dad while she’s there. He’s always giving excuses and making his girlfriend, Shelly, parent Jolene in his absence. As horrible of a relationship as she has with Shelly and her father, Jolene’s relationship with her mother is extremely poor too. Her mother wants Jolene to spy on her father, because she believes his hiding money from her. She is physically and emotionally abusive to Jolene and has a substance abuse issue as well.

So both Jolene and Adam are in pretty low places when they meet, but that doesn’t stop them from instantly connecting. Adam is drawn to Jolene’s enigmatic and confident demeanor. She’s an aspiring filmmaker and quickly ropes Adam in to help her with her movies. Soon, they actually look forward to their awkward weekends at the apartment, where they ignore their families and find comfort in not feeling alone.


If I wasn’t half in love with her before I read it, I was after. Except there was no half anything with Jolene.

It was a love story. Not romantic exactly, but the kind of love that maybe lasts beyond passion and heartache. It was a story of friendship, with all its possible laid out in front of it. That’s what Adam and I had.

As with Even If I Fall, I adored almost all of the characters in this book and really appreciated how real and grounded the various storylines were. There were obviously themes of families (both good and bad), the trauma of loss and change, friendships, breakups and makeups, sibling rivalry and complicated relationships with parents. There is also the trauma of a sexual assault and dealing in the aftermath. It’s a lot of heavy things, but there’s still a lot of joy and light to be found. I loved Adam and Jolene’s complicated relationship, as well as Adam’s love of his family. Even when he is furious at his father, deep down it’s clear it’s coming from a place of love and loss. Jolene was an amazing character in her own right, and I loved how much she believe in herself, even when no around really believe in her or her talent. And as I mentioned before, there were definitely times when I got a little misty-eyed, as there’s a lot of mention of loss in here that just really hit me for some reason.

My inside warned me that if I let him any closer I wouldn’t survive, but I knew with a burst of heat that chased away every last bit of cold from my body that I’d never truly live if I tried to keep him away.

Overall, I really loved this book. It might be a tiny bit behind Even If I Fall, but certainly not by much. Johnson continues to write complicated, but down to earth, stories about teenagers dealing with a multitude of issues. Her stories have so many layers, but it never feels like it’s too much. It all blends seamlessly and her characters are so enjoyable and easy to love.


“And I know you’re gonna break my heart at some point, I might even break yours.” I pressed her hand more firmly against my chest. “But it’s yours to break and mend and hopefully not break again, because, like you’ve said many times, I have fragile boy emotions.”

TW: Sexual assault, death of a family member, verbal and physical abuse, substance abuse, talk of death/dying, controlling/abusive relationship

I first picked up this book (so to speak) because I was very interested in the plot, but after the first three chapters, I just felt I couldn't go further. Main female character Jolene smokes to make her stepmother mad (I don't like cool smoking for personal reasons) and Adam just seemed depressed-angry, so that was a turn off for me. If you're okay looking over these factors, seems like a good book to read. If this book were a person, I think it'd be an angsty goth older teen (this book isn't for young teens)

The MC's, Jolene, and Adam are both teenaged kids from broken homes. The situations are very different but those situations bring them together and they bond over their family issues. It's a heavy read but a very a good one. This was my very first Abigial Johnson book and I was hooked. She was able to make you feel like you were going through the trials and tribulations they were facing with them. This book was not only about teenagers having to deal with family situations but also domestic abuse and sexual assault. It made the story much more real for the characters to be facing very real-life issues. It was a very tough read, really pulls at the heartstrings, but it was so, so good. I would definitely recommend it.

This was a great read! Jolene and Adam are children of divorce/separation, but the two lives could not be more different even if they are forced to spend every other weekend at the same crappy apartment complex. Even though I didn't like Jolene after her first appearance, I grew to really like her. It was heavy and lighthearted, funny, sad. I can't wait to read more by Abigail Johnson!

This is the third book I have read by Abigail Johnson. She is currently my favorite YA author for this type of fiction. She writes realistic, gritty, heart warming boy/girl romance but though the romance is always so sweet and touching, it isn’t really the main point of her books. I have read several realistic YA books before but hers really stand out. Her characters are astoundingly fleshed out. They feel so real, but she doesn’t describe every single detail about her characters appearance or personalities. She really shows us through the story to where you fall in love with all of the characters, whether they are minor or main characters! That is very important. The story may be good or original but if we don’t love about the characters then who cares? This story is gritty and raw and emotional. Divorce, tragedy, grief, abuse, neglect are all covered but although I did cry, I didn’t feel overwhelmed with sadness or drained emotionally. It was such a great balance. I have loved all of her books but I think the characters in this were my favorite and the dual view point was so well done. It was paced really well and though it dealt with difficult subjects, it was so tasteful and clean! A real rarity in YA books these days. Go read it!

If you haven’t read any of Abigail Johnson’s books, go out and buy one today! Any of them will do!!!
Recently we were so blessed to have @abigailjohnsonya and @netgalley gift us an ARC of Every Other Weekend and we are so grateful!!! This book releases in January 2020 and we are so excited!!! We have read other books of hers and absolutely love every one of them. This one is exactly the same. The ease of which we fell into the lives of Jolene and Adam is effortless. This particular book touches on the reality of broken families and how it affects the children involved. Our hearts broke for these kids and their families. It felt like we were going through their trials and tribulations right along with them. The book also touches on the very real problems of domestic abuse and sexual assault. These are very real problems that people, young and old, are faced with every single day. We really appreciate that Abigail includes such troubling issues in her stories. We need to protect our children and guide them as much as we can, while we can. We truly hope you will be as impressed with Abigail and her books as we are

** spoiler alert ** I thoroughly enjoyed Every Other Weekend. I found very few flaws in the plot and characters, Although I do think that they acted a little bit older than their 15/16 years. There is a definite trigger warning for sexual assault, as Jolene is touched inappropriately by one of her neighbors whom she thought was a friend. I think that the author did a good job with showing that while in similar situations, the two main characters both went through different things, and therefore reacted to and handled things differently. Overall I highly recommend this book and will definitely be picking up a copy when it is released.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me a digital arc of this book.

Adam Moynihan used to have a normal, happy life until his brother died in an accident two years ago. Now his mother constantly cries, his father moved out to a different apartment and he and his other brother can't be civil to each other for more than a minute. Jolene Timber's life has always been a nightmare but it got even worse after her parent's divorce. Her parents keep using her as a pawn in their fights against each other. To escape her reality, Jolene focuses on filmmaking and rewriting the story of her life with the change of camera angle When forced to spend every other weekend in the same building, Adam and Jolene forms an unlikely friendship and something more while healing each other along the way.

'Every Other Weekend' is a coming of age story about two lost souls coming from broken families, dealing with their grief and learning how to love and forgive themselves and the others around them. This is a very character driven story with not much of plot going on. It was very interesting to see Adam and Jolene come in terms with their situations, getting past all the self loathing and bitterness. This book delves into some very morbid and dark issues like - death, grief, divorce, manipulation and sexual harassment. But there is also the right amount of light hearted moments that adds a fun element to the book.

The lack of plot progression bothered me a little. It took me a while to get through this book. I was about 50% in and nothing was really happening in the story other than the main characters hanging out every other day. Most of it was a little boring and morbid but I did enjoy the banters and the interactions between the main characters.

I have really mixed feelings about this one, and I can't fully decide on a star rating. It was going really strong until about 3/4 of the way through when a new element was thrown in that caught me majorly off guard. I'm not sure if I'm *mad* about it per se, it was just unexpected. This is definitely a story that revolves fully around the character development, so if you enjoy plot based stories this is definitely not for you. But yeah, I'm not really sure what I think. Adam and Jolene were really cute and I enjoyed reading their relationship, but I wish some of the other characters were more developed as well.

Jolene is an aspiring filmmaker and she wishes her life were more like the movies. Her divorced parents are the worst. They use her as ammunition to hurt each other and don't care at all how much damage they're doing to her in the process. She has to go stay at her dad's crappy apartment every other weekend, and those days are the longest of her entire month. Until Adam and his brother, Jeremy, come to stay with their dad in HIS crappy apartment every other weekend. Adam's parents are separated and still seem to love each other, so their situations aren't exactly the same. But it doesn't matter. Finally, Jolene isn't alone anymore. As she and Adam get to know each other in these stolen weekends, they discover just how much pain they've been hiding from everyone else. Adam's older brother passed away two years ago, and he blames their dad for expecting his mom to get over it too quickly. Jolene hasn't actually laid eyes on her dad in almost 200 days and is forced to spend "his" weekends with the home-wrecking girlfriend he left Jo's mother for. Adam and Jolene gradually segue from friendship into something more, but when Adam's dad moves back home again and they leave the apartment building, will their fragile relationship come crashing down around them proving that loving someone really does mean you'll eventually experience the pain of losing them?

I've read one Abigail Johnson book before (If I Fix You), and while I enjoyed ONE of the characters in that one, the others were a lot harder to like. I came to love almost every single character in Every Other Weekend. They were all exceptionally well-written, with a depth and authenticity that really brought them to life and made them real. They were all flawed, to be sure, but all of them were trying. You can see growth in almost all of them: not just Jolene and Adam, but in Adam's parents and even the home-wrecking girlfriend, Shelly (who I sort of ended up loving). Jolene broke my heart with all she's been through, and Adam is the perfect balm to her battered soul. It's super cheesy to say this, I fully realize, but they really do seem to be exactly what the other one never knew they always needed.

There are BIG issues covered in this book: divorce, loss, grief, trust, love, manipulation, and sexual assault, just to name a few of them. These are heavy and dark, but the banter between Adam and Jolene was hilarious and provided a great counterbalance to the harder moments. But the issues aren't just mentioned and then glossed over, either. The characters delve down deep into them, discussing them at length and demonstrating their strategies (the ones that work and the ones that don't) for working through them. Lessons are learned, often the hard way, but the message repeatedly comes through that no one is ever as alone as they sometimes feel and think they are.

After the first book I read by this author, I had kind of put a hold on reading any more. This one makes me want to go back and try the ones I missed. Abigail Johnson has hit it out of the park with this moving story of friendship and surviving the different kinds of loss that life throws at us.

**Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin TEEN and Inkyard Press for the lovely ARC in exchange for my honest review!**