In Every Other Weekend, teenagers Adam and Jolene meet and form a close bond. They become one another's "go to person" to vent the frustrations and disappointments over their current life circumstances. Jolene's parents are divorced and she is constantly used as a pawn in their ongoing battles with one another. Adam's parents are separated and his father is renovating the apartment where he lives in exchange for rent. Adam's family experienced a serious loss and it drove a wedge between his parents. Until they can all find a way to move forward, their family stays in constant disarray.

It's difficult to be a teenager on a normal basis, but when you add in the complications that Adam and Jolene each have to deal with, it's often overwhelming and painful. They use one another as a refuge on the weekends that they each visit their fathers at the apartment complex. Eventually, their friendship grows and they begin texting one another when they aren't around. Their relationship gradually moves from a friendship to a romantic relationship. However, there are so many other things going on in their lives, that they often have difficulty being able to consistently spend time together.

This book was difficult to read at times. Adam and Jolene's families are both dysfunctional in different ways. This leaves them to find their way through the challenges in order to move forward with their young lives.

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkyard Press and Ms. Johnson for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Initial Impressions: This is the first Abigail Johnson book I've read, but I can see its potential and the author's skill already! Besides the summary and blurbs, Johnson makes it very clear in the hook and introduction that this is a character-focused book and a spiritual journey. I am quickly able to relate to the characters and empathize with their situations, which bodes well for the rest of the book!

Opinions: I almost don't know where to start with this book! In one word, inspirational. And emotional... and eye-opening. Johnson told the story of two teenagers exploring friendship as a coping method and wise decision making with extreme civility and subjectivity. Every Other Weekend is a must-read for teenage girls experiencing family problems, first loves, and other self-doubtful situations! I am in awe over the themes; they were obvious, supported all throughout the book, and are powerful enough to actually influence the reader. The characters go hand-in-hand with the themes as the book is about their journey: Jolene and Adam are each complex, relatable characters that find love in desperate and unfit times, proving a thing or two about friendship and respect to young readers. Stepping away from the logistics, Every Other Weekend was also simply a fun read! Even though it is a deep and emotional book, there are fun and exciting parts, too! I wasn't let down by any scene, no matter how serious, dark, lighthearted, or playful it was! Overall, Every Other Weekend deserves five out of five stars without a doubt. It's a must-read!

My Favourite Thing: There are three ways authors can present realism: not realistic at all, so realistic it's disturbing, and a comforting middle ground. Fortunately, Johnson took the third path! Every Other Weekend discusses very humane and every-day ideas but doesn't narrow in on the mundane or unnecessary details. This made it unbelievably easy to connect with the characters and relate to the situations but not be overwhelmed or distracted by the little things. I appreciate the author's attention and appreciation to this aspect of realistic fiction.
My Least Favourite Thing: If I must choose something to call My Least Favourite Thing, I'd say it's Johnson's habit of "telling rather than showing." In some cases, information is given directly rather than it surfacing through actions, dialogue, and thoughts. There is not enough of this to break engagement, but the amount of telling instead of showing is noticeable.

Total Rating: PG-13+
Language: PG-13
Adult Content: PG-13 (sexual assault)
Violence: PG-13 (sexual assault)

Recommended For and Similar Reads: Every Other Weekend is a heartfelt, realistic, emotional book for mature teenagers. It is an adorable romance and discusses realistic problems like sexual assault towards teenage girls. If you have read and loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Lucky Ones, Stranger Than Fanfiction, any Becky Albertalli book, or any other Abigail Johnson book, you will love Every Other Weekend! I strongly suggest this book to all teenage and new adult girls and boys!

This is a heartfelt, realistic, hopeful, and charming YA contemporary. Abigail Johnson's writing is lovely, and her character development is to die for. Adam is a standout YA romantic lead—not aloof or stoic, he's genuinely trying to come to terms with his grief and process his emotions in a healthy way. The family dynamics are realistically complex and imperfect. Adam and Jolene meet when their respective parents separate and their fathers move into the same apartment complex, and banter soon ensues. Both characters are grappling with heavy issues: Adam's older brother has recently died. Jolene's dad is absent and her mom is an alcoholic. Abuse and neglect by parents and sexual assault are also elements of the story, handled with grace and respect. A good comp for readers who enjoy the work of Brandy Colbert, Cynthia Hand, or Jennifer Mathieu.

Abigail Johnson's Every Other Weekend introduces us to two children of separated/divorced parents: Adam Moynihan and Jolene Timber, whose fathers' bachelor pads are conveniently located side by side in the same building. Adam's parents are separated due to a family tragedy that no one seems able to cope with, while Jolene spends her every-other-weekend with her father's girlfriend only because her dad doesn't want her mother to have her at home.

The two meet on Adam's first night at his father's new pad, and a strong friendship is formed. Adam is angry with his father and refuses to spend time with him, leaving his older brother to that task while Adam runs around with Jolene.

Adam has a girlfriend, Erica, but finds himself thinking more of Jolene than he does of Erica. And his parents are finally working toward getting back together so his father can move back home.

Jolene's mother is trying to get Jolene to find the money she believes her ex-husband is hiding from her. When Jolene's world seems to be spiraling out of control, ironically, it is her father's girlfriend who helps her find her place.

The story is a bitter and sweet tale of teenagers dealing with their parents' problems while having their own. Johnson tells it well through these two teens.

Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson is a pretty good YA love story. It’s a classic friends to loves story that is very endearing. I liked the alternating points of view between the two main characters Adam and Jolene.
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It was interesting that they each had their own storylines dealing with family issues that was separate from their love story. I only wanted them to fall in love sooner!

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the opportunity to review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars
- TW: loss of a sibling/child, strained relationship with parents, sexual and verbal abuse
This book covered a lot of things; some with great detail and some seemed a little more like a plot device to me. I felt like the book could’ve been a little shorter and left out some of unnecessary plots.

Some things I didn’t like:
- Questionable cheating that I felt like was being downplayed because they “didn’t kiss” but he thought about her more than his girlfriend; there were a couple of scenes where he would even forget about his girlfriend like Rory Gilmore in a year in the life style. I didn’t appreciate it.
- Unnecessary girlfriend that didn’t do anything to move the story along in my opinion. I felt like there was enough topics to discuss in the book that the girlfriend was just an unnecessary plot device to make it so the two main characters had an obstacle between them.

Things I loved:
- main characters’ banter
- The growth that Adam and his family make over the course of the book
- Jolene’s love for movies and her movie references. (My movie lover heart was all for it!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for my ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Adam’s life is falling apart and his parents are separating. Jolene’s life was never together and her parents are divorced. Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, they form an unlikely friendship. But the friendship quickly becomes the best part of their lives.

What I Didn’t Like:
-Call it a content warning. You’ll have divorce, death, and sexual assault to wade through. Be prepared.
-Terrible parenting. Books with terrible parents are like a right of passage for YA books, I get that. But Jolene’s parents made me cringe. They’re the absolute worst people I’ve read in a long time. I hated them both and I wanted to save that girl from her life. Of course, they were written like that on purpose, so props to Abigail Johnson for making them realistic.

What I Did Like:
-Jolene. She’s a great character. She knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want. She’s got this hard, outer shell around her and you just root for her right from the beginning.
-The banter. Adam and Jolene have adorable banter that made me laugh more than once. Loved these two. I didn’t even know I wanted witty banter on adjacent balconies in a book--now I know.
-The realistic look at grief. Grief comes from a lot of places and takes a lot of forms. This book explores that. There are multiple characters in this book battling with grief and they all do it in different ways. That was amazing to read and focus on.

Who Should Read This One:
-If you want a contemporary story about two teens wading through the lives their parents have created for them out of grief, this is a great one.
-If you like YA romance, you’ll like this one.

My Rating: 4 stars. This one will please YA Contemporary Romance fans with it’s feel good storyline and slow burn romance.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book for the most part. The story started out slow, but then I really started enjoying the banter between the main characters. The storyline was interesting and intriguing. However, there was a lot going on with different side plots, and it felt unnecessary. There were some parallels between side stories and the main plot, and it was very neat to see the main character connect those similarities. Overall, I enjoyed the storyline; the characters had so much growth, and it was heartwarming to see.

Jo is pretty discouraged about her life with an absent father and an alcoholic mother. Adam is also not happy about his parents' divorce after his older brother died in a car accident. Both need to spend a few weekends with their fathers, and thanks to that, they end up meeting and connecting.

At first, Jo is not very open to new friendships but Adam's gentle way ends up conquering the complicated girl. She loves filming but finds neither the friends nor family the support she needs to try a college spot.

A beautiful story about love, friendship and courage to face life's difficulties. Even with the excessive drama of the characters, typical of Abigail Johnson's writing, I liked the story, I just think Jo urgently needed therapy because, with everything that happened in her life, only Adam's love and persistence would not help her totally to coming out of rock bottom.

I loved the beautiful cover and the title combined with the story.

4/5 stars

A fitting read for teens who deal with.divorced parents.
However, the characters were stereotypical and weakly developed.
Too much formulaic romance for my taste, but early teen girls will eat it up

I was so excited when I heard that this book was going to focus on two main characters dealing with having divorced parents because I grew up having parents who were divorced, and this book did not disappoint. We follow Jolene whose parents had a very nasty divorce, they use her as a pawn against each other, and really quite honestly don’t care for her other than as a means to get what they want were as Adam’s parents had an amicable split after a tragedy in their lives happen. Both of their dad’s move out after their divorce and into apartments, and that is how they both meet each other, they now see each other every other weekend living next door to each other in that apartment complex.
I really liked the fact that we got to see two different ways a divorce can be, and how there were differences in how each person was affected, while also bonding them together through the similarities. It was SO fun seeing Adam and Jolene become friends throughout this book, there were just so many times where I was laughing out loud while those two together.
While there were a lot of fun parts, there were also a LOT of sad parts in this book too, and wow did those parts hit hard. Like I mentioned before, Jolene’s parents are not great, and it was hard to read any scene that involved them, to see the way their lack of love severely affected her. Adam’s part of the story had it’s fair share too with the past death of a family member causing MANY heart wrenching scenes and passages. There was also a side story involving Jolene’s best friend falling into this toxic relationship pattern with her boyfriend that I have seen happen with one of my best friends before and I thought it was so well done.
My only complaint for this book was that for me, I felt like it started to drag on in the middle, I almost wish it would have just been cut down a little. Looking back on this book I feel like there were just SO many things that were trying to be done, and I feel like at least one could have been cut from this book and used in another book so this one didn’t feel so packed. But other than that, I felt like this was a great and impactful book, and while it is not my favorite from Abigail, it is still one I would recommend!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC! It was a heartwarming YA romance that swept me off of my feet. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and I panicked when I saw how soon this release date was, so I made up my mind to buckle down and read it whether I felt like it or not. It wasn't long before I had been swallowed whole by the triumphs and struggles of Jolene and Adam, and I was unable to put it down. I haven't read a book that gave me this many warm fuzzies in months, and it was exactly what I needed in this cold, dark season. It was beautifully written in both characters' perspectives, and each gave not only a piece of their soul with each chapter, but also an outside view of the other. It was an enemies to friends to lovers story that had me cheering by the time they had their first kiss, and the happy ending was a much needed reprieve from the more depressing reads I've taken in this year.

We meet Adam and Jolene in the midst of the lowest points of both of their lives. Adam and his brother Jeremy come to spend time at their dad's apartment as he and their mother are separated for a time. The two adults are floundering in the grief of losing their eldest son, and it has left both boys with a lot of unresolved anger at the situation. Jeremy is able to put his aside to spend time with his dad, but Adam blames his father for the split and therefore takes any chance he can to get away from him. In waltzes Jolene, who has been used as a pawn in her parents' divorce for longer than she'd care to remember. She too, stays at her dad's apartment every other weekend, but she is forced to share a living space with her step-mom, Shelly. Her dad is always away working, and though Adam gets relief in going home to his mother, Jolene isn't that lucky. Either place she goes is hell, and she is desperately awaiting going off to film school to pursue her dreams and get away from the life she was born into. When the two meet, they have an instant electricity, but Jolene's fierce sense of humor and blunt manner turn Adam off at first, but the two are drawn together by their similar circumstances.

What starts off as a casual friendship swiftly veers into romance as they continue to grow closer; they spend more time together in their shared weekends than they do with their families, and they begin to trust the other with hopes, secrets, and pain. It is such a joy to watch them fall for each other, and I love how strong their personalities are. They shine through in this whole book, but especially in how they relate to each other. Adam is the more soft-spoken one of the two, and he loves through empathy. He has an uncanny knack for reading people, and while his wit is matched by only Jolene's own, he is a very serious person with a huge heart. He gives all he has to the people he loves without asking for anything in return, and that makes it easier for him to block out all the trauma from losing his brother and the collapse of his family. Jolene helps him to see himself and it breaks his world open. Jolene has a boisterous exterior that hides her broken heart. She uses humor and deflection to keep everyone at a distance because she has spent her whole life believing that she is unlovable. She uses her talents in film-making to benefit her friends; whether it's a music video for her best friend's brother's band or a short film to showcase her friendship with Adam. She is filled with hurt and self-loathing and fear but drops it all when Adam is near. He helps her believe in herself, and she feels wanted for the first time in a long time.

I also love how we see two sides of a family falling apart. As a child of a single parent, I took both of their individual hardships to heart, and I think it's important for kids to know that adults have a tough time sometimes. Love isn't something that's easy, like Disney would want you to believe. It takes work, and some people are willing to put the work in and others aren't, and that it sucks but you can find that equilibrium as you grow up. Having a split family is hard, and I think Abigail does an amazing job of capturing that. Adam faces hate towards his father and loyalty towards his mother because he blames him for leaving. It's only when he spends more time with him that he sees the whole picture and realizes his father deserves a break, and he gets to watch as his parents reconcile. Jolene is being pulled from both sides in a battle of 'who's the better parent' when they're both losing. She knows there is no hope of them ever getting back together, but she craves their time and attention, which are lost in their constant back and forth and absentee tendencies. It forces her to learn you can't choose who your blood is, but found family is just as important.

I could go on and on about this novel, but it's something that needs to be experienced. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone needing a little pick-me-up. Yes, it deals with very hard topics: grief, divorce, and assault to name a few, but these things are handled with care and grace and the amount of love and attention put into each page feels like the warmest of hugs and you are left with that feeling as the book ends. It's a very raw snapshot of real life, captured within the lines of a fictional tale. I will be thinking about Adam and Jolene's love story for such a long time, and using their strength to fuel my own as the new year approaches.

Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson—This book will speak to teens on so many levels. Split families, a teen relationship that may or may not be “talking”, dealing with grief, and realistic parent-child relationships are just a few of the nuances that make this book believable. The heart of this book is relationships. When Adam’s older brother suddenly dies, his tight-knit family finds itself ripping apart. His mom can no longer live in the present and his dad has decided that the grief is just too much and moves out. Adam and his remaining brother are subjected to staying with their dad every other weekend in his run down apartment leaving his grieving mother in their house all alone. Adam immediately comes into the apartment and goes straight into his room with the door shut to ensure his dad understands how he feels about this arrangement. He goes out onto his balcony and discovers a girl his age on the balcony next door. She’s angry too, her parents are divorced and she’s having to stay every other weekend at her dad’s apartment as well. They become the one bright spot in these weekend visits for each other, just friends, but maybe a little more.
Definitely a realistic fiction reflective of today’s world. Young adults will love this book. Publication date: Jan 7, 2020.
#EveryOtherWeenend #AbigailJohnson #Netgalley

Recommended: sure
For an unflinching examination of how issues between parents affect their kids, for a sweet and painful young love (assuming you can suspend disbelief a little bit)

Thoughts:
Sometimes I feel like such a curmudgeon. As I get older (and five years away from being a teenager is really not that much, the portrayals of love between teenagers gets more and more difficult to believe. They saw each other for a few days or had a few conversations, and now they know they’ll be together forever? I mean to be honest, that’s 100% an accurate portrayal of the way it feels when you’re that age. But now I just feel like the parents watching indulgently as their teens go through it. You smile and say, “Oh, she’s the one your going to marry, eh?” and prepare for the inevitable heartbreak. It’s probably due to my own lessons in how hard it is to actually find a love worth fighting for and holding on to.

But I digress.

If you can take the forever-at-sixteen romance with a grain of salt, then this is a sweet yet powerful read. Abigail Johnson didn’t pull any punches when it came to the horrifying things people, especially parents, can do to each other. Jolene’s relationship with her mother and her lack of a relationship with her father made me want to swoop in take her into my arms while scolding both parents the whole time with righteous indignation that would show them both the error of their ways. Adam’s anger and eventual understandings of what’s going on with his parents were gratifying to see him deal with, as his family re-learned how to be together with a piece of their puzzle missing.

I loved the Baggage and the Issues that the characters had to work through more than their romance, though I acknowledge that was obviously a key part of it. Wanting to better yourself to be better for the person you love is a seriously powerful motivator – trust me, I’m 25. xD This would have been four stars if I had been more able to get past Adam’s dramatic declarations, but only Romeo can pull those off for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for a free advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

“Every Other Weekend” by Abigail Johnson

“A girl and a boy. She’s lost in a messy divorce and he’s lost in unbearable grief. But, they find the best in each other, “Every Other Weekend.” A glimpse into two regular kids very complicated lives.-Green Gables Book Reviews

Adam never knew such pain with grief was possible, but when his older brother died, not only was Greg gone, but his family literally fell apart. His Mom could not function, his Dad left and his other brother, Jeremy and he didn’t even seem to like each other. And, now, he has to leave his crying Mom and go to his Dad’s apartment every other weekend.

Jolene feels like she is a part of a cruel game. Her mother wants more alimony. Her Dad leaves her with his new girlfriend. She is not a daughter, she is a piece of property her parents’ lawyers use to get what they want. She doesn’t want to be home with her exercise and alcohol addicted Mother and she never sees her Dad, just Shelly. And, Shelly was the cause of the divorce. But she has to go there, every other weekend.

When Adam and Jolene meet, everything starts to change. They look forward to seeing each other and become friends. “Every Other Weekend” friends. They can make each other forget about their lives for a while, and they start to look forward to Every Other Weekend. But, then they become something more. They start to text and talk, really talk. Not just on the weekends.

Jolene has big dreams and needs to make those dreams come true to get away from her current life, but the price she’s expected to pay is very high. Her life is falling apart, just as Adam’s is coming back together.

Can their friendship survive and will the plans they made still happen?

So well done. Young Adult reading at it’s finest! 5 stars!

Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: Inkyard Press; Original edition (January 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1335929096
ISBN-13: 978-1335929099
I’m so glad NetGalley gave me an early opportunity to read this book! Pre-order now! Releasing January 7, 2020.

Adam and Jolene meet in the apartment building where there dads live in neighboring apartments. They both visit on the same weekends of the month and strike up a friendship. How do you maintain a friendship when you only see that person 5-6 days/month? What happens when you realize that one set of parents may be able to reconcile? Does a great job of showing the dynamics of a family struggling with a catastrophic loss. Also shows the deep pain that parents can inflict on their child when that child is used as a bargaining chip. I really liked Adam and Jolene grew on me. The book seemed to go on a bit too long, though.

Thank you to Harlequin Teen and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much @NetGalley and @Inkyardpress for giving me this Advance Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. (Release Date | 07 January 2020)

SYNOPSIS | Adam Moynihan's life is torn apart when his oldest brother dies. His mum constantly cries and his father has moved out of their family home meaning that Adam & his older brother now spend every other weekend at his fathers new dump of a building. In this building his next door neighbour is a girl called Jolene Timber who is an aspiring director as she has been re-imagining her life ever since she was a little kid as she is treated like a pawn in her divorced parents games. Adam & Jolene begin to get to know each other as they are both forced to spend every other weekend in the same place.

MY THOUGHTS | I have read a couple of really good YA Contemporaries recently and this was another great one. I loved the witty, snarky banter between Adam & Jolene and found myself really excited for their interactions together. I wasn't that invested in the oldest brothers death, or the familial storyline but I was very invested in Adam & Jolene's romance.

This story was deep and very far from cute and funny. It's a 3.5 but deserving of the round up to 4 stars.

Adam had his life turned upside down again two years after his oldest brother's death, when his father decided to move out. He and his remaining brother needs to visit his run-down apartment complex every other weekend and Adam still hasn't reconciled with what his father did to the family. But these visits aren't so bad now he's met Jolene, another kid from separated parents who visits every other weekend.

I confess I was ready for angst but I didn't think the plot would go so deep. This is not written to be a tear-jerker, but it's still about the sad reality of a family torn down by death.

If I had to point something I really didn't like, that was Adam himself. He wasn't written to be liked. He's bitter and he's still a teenager, not totally in control of his own feelings and much less of how to express them. Still, he was such a brat from the beginning to the end... And poor Jolene, I admire this writer's courage to write in a character facing these many troubles. She had so many, and serious ones, I wondered how healthy this relationship was. I wanted to scream to the couple to just get treatment, because the two needed. Especially Jolene. Her situation really got me worried, as you may have noticed, lol.

This story felt real to a point I was breathless during some parts, even though there weren't any scenes that intense. The irksome bits were really on a psychological level.

My last issue with the book was more toward the end, with their neighbor. There was already enough going on, so I wonder why the writer felt the need to add salt to the hurt. I think the plot could have survived without it. I can't say what it is, but still I'm not fond of having this kind of violence unless it's essential, and not simply because it's a trigger.

In any case, this is a book for those into something less cute-ish. The main couple is still cute together, but their problems are so raw, that rarely goes through your mind while reading.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This is not a light hearted read. It’s heavy. Sometimes I felt like it was too much. I hated the relationship between Jeremy and Adam and their dad. It just felt a little unwieldy. But Jo was an amazing character. So much depth and layers. Her story ripped my guts out. Her parents are actually the worst.

Jolene and Adam only see each other two times a month—every other weekend. From the beginning the two were drawn together, despite their living situations being less than ideal.  When she's not stuck with her alcoholic mother, Jolene is forced to live in close quarters with her dad's girlfriend. After a major tragedy in their family, Adam and his brother are forced to leave their emotionally fragile mother to spend weekends with their dad.

I really loved these characters. The were fun and spunky, but flawed and realistic characters. I really loved Adam and Jolene's relationship and their slow burn. They were up front with their feelings but didn’t rush into things - they had their own shit to figure out before they could focus on love.

Despite loving the characters, I felt like it lacked focus. It was really long for a YA contemporary, clocking in at 512 pages.  The big climax moment happens 3/4 of the way through the book with very little build up, almost out of nowhere. If the story was more focused on that one storyline for the entire book, then it would have been very compelling and interesting. There was just a lot of extra baggage that wasn't needed. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.