I received an advance copy of this book from Publishers on behalf of Hear Our Voices Blog Tours. All thoughts in this review are my own.

After the death of her best friend, the loss of her boyfriend, waiting to lose the woman who's always acted as a mother to her, and struggling with the "return" of her actual mother who's spend the last 18 years in bed battling depression, Jessi moves through the world as a shell of a person filling ever hour of her day to keep the darkness at bay.

Jessi and Rowan Cohen were best friends for 10 years. Older brother Luke Cohen and Jessie spent a few beautiful months as more than friends, finally, but all of that died the night Ro did. Mel Cohen had always been the mom Jessi craved but as she dies slowly from cancer, Jessi, Ro, and Luke begin to fall apart as well.

A year after Ro's death and the end of Luke and Jessi, Luke reappears out of nowhere, insisting that he and Jessi pretend to be dating again, for Mel's sake, Jessi can't say no, she;d no anything for Mel and has never forgiven herself for hurting Luke. As Jessi and Luke walk the tight rope between pretend and the flame that never actually burned out, Jessi is forced to deal with the gradual loss of Mel, her need for Luke but aversion to close relationships, her parents who pretend as if the last eighteen years never happened, and what she did to Ro.

I feel like I traveled with Jessi on this journey. Moving between Then and Now was so fantastically jarring because, although Jessi's life was never "perfect" we were able to see what she "had" with the Cohen's, and what her life turned into when she lost them. Having recently had my own family loss this summer, the darkness of it can act as an accelerate in a world that's tough and unforgiving in the best of circumstances (let alone during Covid and this circus of an election season).

I love that we are beginning to see more books that tell stories of black suburban families. While Jessi's story isn't exactly exploding with joy, the addition of books like Some Other Now with The Hate You Give, I Am Alfonso Jones, and Dear Martin begins to show the world that there is more than one black narrative. While the history of African American's begins with some of the most oppressive moments in American history, we are more than oppressed people. We will always walk through the world with dark skin, and there will always be some that hate us for it, but we're allowed friendships, love, family. We're allowed to play tennis, go camping, bake cupcakes, and live our lives with all the joy we can carve out of this world.

This book would likely appeal to a YA audience that enjoys romance and sad books. The author does a great job jumping between time lines and keeping the reader engaged in the story. She address mental health and the what is really a family. One aspect of the book that I didn't enjoy was that it had diverse characters but that didn't really play a role in the novel. It seemed like they were diverse for the sake of diversity but not to add anything to the characters or the story.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

It is quite rare that a book bring me to the brink of tears, and that’s exactly what SOME OTHER NOW did for the last 25%. My heart feels heavy after this book. Sarah Everett builds an emotionally grounded, complex, two-timeline narrative from the perspective of a Black girl working through her own feelings of abandonment whilst simultaneously finding and losing her found family all at once. This book is a rollercoaster of emotions, laughter, grief, and self-reflection. Jessi is a character that you just want to grab by the shoulders and shake but also hug. There’s themes of grief, self-sabotage, self-hatred, and also acceptance. Everett’s supporting characters are deep wells of personality and they add to this world in rich ways. This book filled my soul in ways I wasn’t expecting, and I’m excited to see what Sarah Everett writes next.

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙊𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙝 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩

Thank you @hearourvoicestours @hmhteen @netgalley for this egalley in exchange for an honest review!

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
Before she kissed one of the Cohen boys, seventeen-year-old Jessi Rumfield knew what it was like to have a family—even if, technically, that family didn’t belong to her. She’d spent her childhood in the house next door, challenging Rowan Cohen to tennis matches while his older brother, Luke, studied in the background and Mel watched over the three like the mother Jessi always wished she had.

But then everything changed. It’s been almost a year since Jessi last visited the Cohen house. Rowan is gone. Mel is in remission and Luke hates Jessi for the role she played in breaking his family apart. Now Jessi spends her days at a dead-end summer job avoiding her real mother, who suddenly wants to play a role in Jessi's life after being absent for so long. But when Luke comes home from college, it's hard to ignore the past. And when he asks Jessi to pretend to be his girlfriend for the final months of Mel’s life, Jessi finds herself drawn back into the world of the Cohens. Everything’s changed, but Jessi can’t help wanting to be a Cohen, even if it means playing pretend for one final summer.

My thoughts:
This was kind of a heavy YA read, but it was well written and kept me invested the whole time. This one is sad, so prepare yourself lol. As the story unfolded, I kept feeling like Jessi was always blaming herself for things more than she should or overthinking but I also knew that whatever happened must’ve been big. I felt for Rowan because he seemed like he was going through a lot, and I’m not sure how I feel about Luke lol. If you’re into YA and love a good story, I’d recommend this one, which comes out on February 23, 2021.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free ARC of this book. I requested this book based entirely on the this sentence, "For fans of Far From the Tree, Emergency Contact, and Nina LaCour." It didn't disappoint. If enjoyed any of those novels you will probably like this. Added bonus- (or not depending on your persuasion) it made me cry at the end.

Everett handles quite a lot of tough material very deftly. It could have gotten very muddy very fast as Jessi is dealing with a mom with severe depression, and her surrogate mother, Mel, being "sick" (I assume cancer, but it was never really clarified).

The format of the book successfully keeps the reader engaged but alternating between the present and past and slowly spooling out the details to keep you reading. I won't spoil, but within the first 25% there is a reveal that throws off what you were expecting to happen.

I was expecting a more standard, coming of age, young adult novel, but this actually developed into something of a romance after its initial setup. The conflict between the two characters being grief over their shared loss and impending losses. It is one of those books that you don't find out the big reveal until the very, very end. I often like books that keep you guessing.

One thing that didn't' really work for me though was the representation. Jessi is mixed race, as are the boys, Luke and Rowan, but it felt more like a throwaway attempt at representation than anything real and substantial. I guess it is good that authors are now writing more diverse characters, but I don't feel that it informed much in the book. It was a few sentences at the start of the book and then never really addressed again. It would have been easy to rewrite the book and make all the characters white and not really change the story in any way. Which I guess is both good and bad in terms of representation. There was a small subplot dealing with the prejudice and racism Jessi's mom and dad faced as a mixed-race couple from the mom's family, but it felt a bit unnecessary.

On the whole, I enjoyed this a lot. I liked both Jessi and Luke and I thought they had a nice character arc.

I'm partnering with @hearourvoicestours to share some thoughts on Some Other Now by Sarah Everett. SON revolves around three childhood friends, the Cohen brothers Rowan and Luke, and Jessi, the girl next door. Rowan and Luke's mom, Mel, is like the mother Jessi never had. As they get older, life gets more complicated. Mel has terminal cancer, Rowan is gone, Jessi is in a dead end job she hates, and Luke hates Jessi. But as Mel enters her final days, Luke asks Jessi to be his pretend girlfriend to make Mel happy. Whew, okay, so there is definitely a lot going on in this story, and I probably made it sound more complicated than it actually was. Goodreads calls it "This is Us for teenagers," which is a pretty accurate description, although it was definitely emotional for me as an adult. As a mother, my heart went out to Mel, who just wanted to see her "kids" happy again. I'm sure it would be hard to leave your family behind knowing they were all unhappy and struggling in their lives. I'm not always the biggest fan of love triangles between siblings, but this one worked. I found myself emotionally invested in the characters, and although I knew some things were inevitable, I wanted the characters to get their happy ending. Their lives were messy and complicated, yet completely genuine. I gave this one 4/5 stars.

I really liked this book! When they tell you that it’s like This Is Us but YA... that’s 100% true. If you like This Is Us, I’m positive that you will enjoy this book a lot. It has a really similar vibe, with all the important and complex themes, a story narrated in a split timeline, the powerful lessons that will have you highlighting left and right, and the heartbreaking moments mixed with the heartwarming moments.

And yes, you will probably cry.

The story deals with important themes like depression, race relations, family / found family, cancer, grief, and survivor’s guilt. It also has romance, fake-dating and some good friendships. The pacing is great, the characters are multidimensional and the twists are unexpected.

The story shows glimpses of hope, but it’s also heartbreaking, so you better have some tissues ready before reading this book. You’ve been warned.

4/5 stars

This storyline has been done before, two brothers one girl. This book was beautiful and I was hooked from the beginning. The dual timelines were done superbly. Highly recommend this read. TW for death.

Some Other Now by Sarah Everett is the saddest book I've ever read in my adult life. The feeling is almost up there with the last pages of the Hunger Game: Catching Fire. But don't fret; there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Although the sadness shows heartbreak and guilt, it also highlights the growing pains of recovery. There's a lesson in all of what you go through in life. Some Other Now is the perfect book for any young adult reader going through something internally and feel only they can carry the burden alone.

Whew! How to unpack this story? Throughout the book, we believe that even though Jessi is not related to the Cohen's, she's an unofficial member. And as much as it drove me mad to see her questioning whether if she belongs or not, there's no denying the love Jessi received. Everett has a way of writing out every possible "what if" question. "What if I'm not good enough?" or "What if I read the situation wrong?". How she developed these cerebrations is what makes the characters human. The thoughts Everett created for Jessi's mind felt like a nagging doubt; it's the same annoying sensation that will hold you hostage, while trying to make essential life decisions. Because of this, I wish Jessi's character would loosen up a bit and live a little.

Another thing Everett did well on was keeping my engagement in the year gap. What happened between Jessi and the Cohen's for her not to be around them for a year? For someone who gushes over the Cohens', it makes you wonder what the surrounding mystery is. I devoured the pages, trying to figure out what happened.

This is a hard read, but a good one. Everett addresses grief and family and guilt in deep and beautiful ways, while also manage to include humor and romance. I would have loved to see Rowan developed a little bit more as a character and to see what his friendship with Jessi was like before it started to fall apart. A good pick for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han's Summer I Turned Pretty series, etc.

What originally drew me into this book were three things. 1) I’d been wanting to read Everett’s work and I figured no time like the present 2) the comparison to This Is Us, one of my favorite shows that manages to weave in and out of the past, present, and future, while centering on one family and following their every day moments and experiences and making regular life with regular people something that is far from mundane and makes you invested in each of the characters. 3) I may hate love triangles but for some reason I’m always a little interested in the “two brother in love with the same girl” dynamic and pretty much thought, yeah I totally want to read this now.

the good:

Mel, the matriarch, holding it all down, and the second mother to Jessi, with all her wisdom and charm and humanness (even if Jessi wore some thick behind rose-tinted shades). It hurt to lose her in the book, and my heart went out to her son Luke who lost both his little brother and his mom within the span of about a year.

Naomi came with the tough love and delivered. There was no pulling fast one on her and I liked her friendship with Mel and how the two complimented one another.

Willow was bubbly and sweet and I appreciate how she checked Jessi towards the end of the book about her behavior and pushing people away and just not being a good person (but not for the reasons Jessi had convinced herself of). She was supportive and kind and there’s no telling how much more she could have been there for Jessi if homegirl hadn’t been beating herself up.

Grief and depression, and racism were all touched on, and for the most part they didn’t feel tacked on to the storyline, just byproducts of the events happening in the story.

the not so good:

The comparison to This Is Us. It felt like a tiny bit of a stretch. I think the only thing this book and the show have in common is the time traveling and how the story of the past follows the story of the present and back again. Which is not a bad thing. But I think it personally gave me a false sense of understanding when going into read this story and actually hindered my enjoyment.

Rowan and Jessi’s friendship. I feel like I was told more that they were best friends then I felt it. And I also felt like I was told rather than felt that Rowan and Jessi were competing when it came to Jessi. I’m not sure how to explain that it came through in the text that these brothers were constantly comparing themselves and coming up short to their own selves just fine, but I not for their feelings toward Jessi? Once again, telling as opposed to showing?

Luke. He was infuriating, and I know it we can point to both the grief of losing his brother, the stress of his terminally ill mother, and the the hurt and hate he harbored toward Jessi in thinking that Rowan and she had been hooking up behind his back, but to think that faking a relationship with the girl he hadn’t forgiven yet in order to make his dying mother happy was just…dumb. Great for conflict. Appropriate thinking given the circumstances. But just dumb.

the ‘eh’

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this story, and I truly enjoyed Everett’s writing, but this is not a book I would pick again for a joy read.