*Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.*

I am absolutely in love with this book and these characters. A dual timeline, second chance romance between Ethan, whose mother is a drug addict, and Rebecca, who became paralyzed and lost her father in a car accident.

The two characters spend a lot of time together when Ethan lives with his grandparents. But every time his mom decides she’s ready to take care of him, he returns without a goodbye. And every time, Rebecca is crushed. We follow along as they, now 17, begin to repair their relationship and work through the pain of the past couple years

I was drawn in by the cover, but stayed for the story and these characters. The author’s note at the beginning tells of how this is a story she never thought she could write, but I am so glad she did because it is one of my favorites.

I thought the side characters were great additions to the story as well. My favorite characters are those who have flaws, feel pain, and show emotion so they were the perfect characters for me. Ethan forever has my heart.

This book was heavy, but is so beautiful at the same time. I loved the disability represented in this YA novel as well as the handling of topics regarding grief, substance abuse, and death. Check content warnings before reading.

This book is about two teens who are on a journey to see if love triumphs all. This is told from two perspectives Ethan who has a lot of childhood trauma from dealing with his drug addict mother and Rebecca who is trying to navigate life in a wheelchair and dealing with the trauma of losing her father.

This book is beyond beautiful! I love the whole thing. I loved the authors reasoning for writing a book with one of the main characters being in a wheelchair and feel like her experiences really helped the character come alive. I feel like this book brought a lot of awareness around the difficulties someone in a wheelchair can have in this world and expressed how everyplace should be wheelchair accessible. You never really think about it really unless it is affecting you, or at least I haven’t; but it really made me think about it. I really connected with Ethan’s story having to deal with a family member who struggled with addiction her whole life and how that effected me as a child. I also related a little bit to Rebecca and her Relationship with her mother. I was so emotionally invested in this story right from the beginning.Overall I loved Ethan and Rebecca’s story the good and bad. I would highly recommend

This was such an incredibly heartfelt story. There is a lot of trauma and pain, but told so beautifully. It's a coming of age story, and a love story. A story of acceptance and growth. The depth of the characters was excellent and you could really see how they grew and matured as the story moved back and forth in time. Absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an advance read in exchange for this review.

Ethan shows up at his grandparents' doorstep because his mom struggles with substance abuse. Rebecca lives next door and they become fast friends. Then Ethan leaves. Rebecca is in a car accident that killed her father, left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair, and fractured the relationship with her mom. Ethan returns. These two try to work out their friendship while dealing with so much individually.

This was such a great YA read. It's told from both Ethan and Rebecca POVs, and it's told from various points in the past and the present. They are both struggling with something - Rebecca blames herself for her father's death and believes that her distant mother does too. Ethan is trying to find out where his mom went after she left rehab. They also navigate their friendship. There's some heavy material about substance abuse, grief, moving on, and family. Excellent read.

I really liked reading Rebecca’s perspective and learning more about what every day life is like for a wheelchair user. It’s rare to find any disabled characters in a book, especially in the romance genre, so this book was very refreshing and also educational. However, I didn’t really feel a deep connection to the romance itself and didn’t really care if they were to end up together in the end. Regardless, I think this story is a good read.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

A heartwarming romance that leaves you fulfilled in the end. The love story between Rebecca and Ethan is one of hurt, forgiveness, support, and hope. The two grew close to one another as Ethan was dumped at his grandparents house next door to Rebecca's by his mother who was battling addiction. Due to circumstances beyond his control the abruptness for which he came and went depended solely on his mothers state of mind at the time. Rebecca's hurt every time he left without saying goodbye festered to the point of her shutting herself off emotionally when Ethan reappears two years after a tragic accident that killed her father and left her paralyzed from the waist down. The pain and brokenness of both characters pulls at you heart as they learn to navigate through their relationship and their relationships with their families. I love that this beautiful story is clean and romantic and demonstrates that happiness is obtainable even in the wake of trauma. The only concern I have is the length of the book as many YA readers shy away from books with this many pages. It's a good thing that the story will lure them in as the book is shared and talked about.

This book held so much promise and fell flat for me. I wish there had been more depth, and the character’s “growth” didn’t make much sense. That being said I love the representation of the disabled community, and the ending was cute.

This book was so bittersweet. It took me through so much and I am left happy to have been along for the ride with Rebecca and Ethan. It was filled with complex feelings and the writing felt so natural and easy to read. Such a good book. Highly recommend.

This second chance romance was very good. I liked the representation of a character in a wheelchair. I thought that this book was very good and I highly recommend it.
I just reviewed Every Time You Go Away by Abigail Johnson. #EveryTimeYouGoAway #NetGalley
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I have been a huge Abigail Johnson fan for the last few years and I was so excited to be able to read her newest book on NetGalley and leave a review! As always, she had my hooked from the start and in tears several times throughout the story. More than any other author I have read, Ms. Johnson has an uncanny way of opening your mind and heart to the difficulties so many go through every day. In past books that was the repercussions of crime on the family of the perpetrator as well as in the family of the victim, the repercussions of infidelity and divorce on children, and of grief and loss on families. I have found myself thinking about these things in a new light and with more compassion because of her books. This new book was no exception, and in a way she herself has direct, personal experience with. One of the main characters becomes paralyzed as a teen and has to use wheel chair, something Ms. Johnson also has to do. The every day physical, mental and emotional challenges she has to overcome was heart rending and made me so much more aware of what those who use wheelchairs have to go through every day. Things like the width of a doorway or the legs under a table! Things I have never thought about. The other character is dealing with a mother who is shackled by addiction and his guilt and feelings of responsibility are so moving and humbling. Both characters have so much brokenness and grief and are so raw. Every book she has written has dealt with these themes, but she always approaches it in a new and thoughtful way. I loved the story and devoured it in a few days (as a busy mom that’s quick for me!). I am a 36 year old mom and wife and I only discovered her books a few years ago. But I admire her writing and emotional honesty and the vulnerability of her character’s so much. And her books are PG which is so rare these days! It is another thing she has never wavered from and something I really appreciate because I can recommend them without any qualms. Well done Ms. Johnson!

Rebecca and Ethan: I soooo enjoyed having them in my life while I read this heart-stirring novel by one of my favourite YA authors, Abigail Johnson!

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Abigail Johnson prefaces the story with a confession: yes, she is a tetraplegic, but this is not her memoir.

In her open letter entitled "Dear Reader" she shares that she never thought she could bring herself to share her personal experiences and the grief she still experiences at being confined to a wheelchair as a result of a car accident at the age of seventeen. All her dreams of becoming a teacher were shattered in one horrific instant. Johnson is the first to reject pity for her losses. She has risen above her physical limitations and forged a new life path for herself as a writer. Her first few YA novels did not focus on the subject of people with physical challenges, but in this story, feisty Rebecca roars off the page as an advocate - for herself as a functioning, contributing human being, and indirectly as a proponent for much needed mandatory reforms for wheelchair accessibility.

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I adored Rebecca: her motto: no holds barred and take no prisoners! Atta girl!!

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Ethan had a huge burden on his young shoulders: his mother was a substance abuser. The frequent times she would leave him at his grandparents' house were the only peaceful interludes in his troubled life. Rebecca was the one person who made his hellish world bearable.

The touching relationship between these two - first as youngsters and then as full fledged teens on the cusp of adulthood - was enthralling. It was like living inside an idyllic time capsule: I hated having to put my Ebook down and get back to real life!
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But Ethan's moment of reckoning had come: either face the fact that he was incapable of saving his mother from her addictions and try to make a life for himself, away from her, or continue on the soul-destroying path of being her thankless caregiver.

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Rebecca carried the guilt of her father's death along with her physical scars every day. Her relationship with her mother had always been difficult, but now the emotional distance between them seemed unfathomable. And to add to her woes, Rebecca's mother is planning to send Rebecca away to college and widen the rift between them even further...

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The last few chapters took on the atmosphere of a thriller: you just had to know what was going to happen next!

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This was a compassionate and often painfully vivid portrayal of two young people and their families in crisis.
Very well done!

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My thanks to the very gifted author, Abigail Johnson, her publishers, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Five out of five stars: highly, highly recommended!!!
(This novel is scheduled for publication in December of 2023.)

Every Time You Go Away by Abigail Johnson is one of those books that is difficult to review because it's so utterly beautiful.

Abigail Johnson managed to write something unlike what I expected and yet exactly every thing I could have hoped for in a book.
I feel like all my words are inadequate to express how wonderful this book truly is.
This YA book had me laughing and tearing up along with Ethan and Rebecca.
This book filled me with both sadness and hope. Johnson managed to get so many emotions into one book and yet it was all just right, it wasn’t too much.
It was just what was needed.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Inkyard Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley. There's enough emotional energy in here for a trilogy. There's pain, guilt, love, loss, and a lot more, blended into the story of two lost kids who are held hostage by the actions of others. Yes, Rebecca may have made a mistake in judgement by getting drunk, but she followed that by doing something smart and calling her parents to have someone come get her. Unfortunately, that resulted in an accident that killed her dad and left her paralyzed from the waist down. Everything since that night has left her feeling like a guilty hostage.
Ethan is hostage to a different set of circumstances, thanks to his addict mother. Read how the two re-collide (more than reconnect) now that they're older teens. The author took a big risk in writing this book because of her own experiences, but she's done a superb job.

Thank you Netgalley and Inkyard Press for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Every Time You Go Away is like receiving the warmest hug from a friend you haven't seen in a while.

Abigail Johnson's writing is immersive and relatable. I enjoyed reading Rebecca's and Ethan's personal journeys and the difficult paths they traveled on. I liked being able to read about Johnson's personal experience, in the Foreward, before reading Every Time You Go Away. I feel like it added more depth to the characters and their stories.

I liked the back and forth point of views of Rebecca and Ethan, and their past decisions. I was blown away by the storytelling and the character development.

The only nitpick I have is with the pacing. Other than that I adored this book, its cover, and the chemistry between Ethan and Rebecca is heartbreakingly tender and bittersweet.

4.75 stars

Wow! Blown away! This is my favorite young adult novel of the year! There's so much here to relate to, and so much for nondisabled people to learn from. I am recommending this to everyone!

I really enjoyed this story! I was drawn into this by the beautiful cover and was so excited to be able to dive in. I did find it was a bit tough to relate to the characters because they were so young but I was still able to enjoy and have a good time. It was a captivating story and I really liked this authors writing style.

A beautifully told story of two teens navigating the transition from youth to adulthood while working through past traumas and sorting out how to reach for their own happiness. Ethan’s committed to the caretaking of his substance abusing mother. Rebecca’s committed to being the perfect daughter to her emotionally distant mother, following a tragic accident that killed her father and paralyzed her lower body. The pair has a LOT to work through, both of them defaulting to ensuring others don’t see their pain, even if that means deferring their dreams and avoiding supportive, personal connections that will ultimately enrich their lives. With sharp, evocative prose, Johnson shows how two “broken” souls might ultimately be the perfect person to push the other toward the life they truly want, one full of artistic creation, supportive friendships, and maybe even a few perfect kisses in the rain. I loved the visual metaphors woven throughout the book. Flowers left on a windowsill. Jewellery remade. Murals in a treehouse. I also loved that the characters weren’t made into one-dimensional heroic martyrs, despite their profoundly difficult circumstances. They make mistakes. They get mad and say unkind things. They let secrets fester long past the point of healthiness. In other words, they act like real teenagers. They also grow, and learn, and become, such that the thread of “before” and “now” that weaves through the book expands in meaning with each successive chapter. An emotionally rich dual coming-of-age story, told with a fully dimensional supporting cast, an unforgettable cat, gorgeous imagery, and a beautifully authentic, resonant narrative voice.

Every Time You Go Away grabbed me from page one and I fell in love with this book. Rebecca and Ethan’s story broke my heart and I just loved these two characters. I can’t say the same thing about their mothers whom I found disliking throughout the entire book. I’m so glad these two emotionally damaged teens got their happy ending. I loved how the story alternated from the POV of Rebecca and Ethan. I also enjoyed the Before chapters because you really got to know the main characters and their backstory. Great book and I know this will be a hit with all ages. You could never go wrong with reading an Abigail Johnson book because they’re always amazing.

If everything worked out in life, Ethan and Rebecca might've been the two neighbors we see in movies and television shows with facing bedroom windows who use walkie talkies and handmade signs to communicate when they were little, only to later take each other to the prom. But, this book isn't about everything working out. It's the powerful story of Rebecca, who is paraplegic after an accident, and Ethan, who only stays at his grandparent's house next door to Rebecca's when his mother 'can't handle him' due to her devastating addictions. When Ethan returns two years after Rebecca's accident and they are both on the precipice of adulthood, old wounds fester and must be tended to.

With Ethan and Rebecca's challenges, this book is a beautiful beacon of hope, filled with the story of how two people broken by different circumstances learn to help put each other back together to find a way forward.

I couldn't put their story down. I will recommend this book to all of my students. I also liked that neither character is following what most believe to be the traditional path (college), and have great hopes for their futures doing things they are passionate about.

I recommend to anyone reading to turn to the back and first read Abigail Johnson's Acknowledgments. It is then that the reader realizes that this story is her heart poured onto the page, and reading every word thereafter is a reminder that after darkness, one can find light.

Everything doesn't always work out in life. What a beautiful book to share with students as a solace that even though that's true, we still find people and ways to make it wonderful.