Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon and NetGalley for an electronic Advanced Readers Copy of this novel.

Weekends With You is a fun and entertaining book about being a twenty-something in London, where you are an adult yet still trying to figure it out. Lucy Bernstein, a transplanted American, is forced to move into a shared flatmate warehouse situation where one of her friends live. She is soon caught up in the friendship and camaraderie of this unconventional arrangement. She is quickly drawn to Henry Blake, one of her flatmates who's a traveling photographer who dreams of settling somewhere else. Will the pull of Lucy cause him to re-settle in London?

This book was well-written and fun - the characterizations and writing was a good representation of being young in the city. It was cute and I enjoyed it - it was a quick and entertaining light read!

Title: Weekends with You
Author: Alexandra Paige
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

Flowers have always been the best communicators. They’ve mastered falling over one another in the perfect way to announce exactly what they need: sunlight, water, space. They do not rush. They do not bloom before their time. They do not take without giving in return…

They are nothing like the rest of London.

Between trying to keep her north London flower shop, The Lotus, afloat and falling for a flatmate, Lucy Bernstein is going to have to rethink everything she knows about “creative arrangements.”

Unwillingly becoming one of eight flatmates in a quirky warehouse conversion would have been difficult enough without any romantic entanglements, but when Lucy lays eyes on Henry Baker, the traveling photographer who only comes home twelve weekends a year, she knows her hands will be full with more than just posies. As each weekend progresses, Lucy also finds herself unexpectedly falling for all her new flatmates, along with this bustling but ultimately sweeter home.

Can Lucy learn from the flowers she tends to and bravely reach for all that she needs to bloom?

I really loved the whole flatmate aspect with the weekend adventures—this sounds like so much fun! I like Lucy a lot, but Henry really had some issues that I did not care for. If I’d been Lucy, I’d have let that whole situation go after his first or second stupid move. I really enjoyed the friendships between all of the flatmates, though, and the adventures they had. Those were a lot of fun to read.

Alexandra Paige lives in New Jersey. Weekends with You is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Avon and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.)

** spoiler alert ** I'd like to thank Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Great writing style, loved the plot, loved the group of friends and the flower shop but hated Henry!! I understand in the "real world" we take guys back when they break our hearts but I don't want to read about it. I would have hoped Lucy would have grown from her experience with him and not wanted to go down that road a third time. Once he broke her trust she should have never "tried" again. Because of their relationship alone I almost DNF'd this one.

i started this book two weeks ago but in reality i it could have been finished in a day 🥲
sometimes a girl is just tired you know? but lets talk about the book 😌

what can i say? this love story was certainly a really cute one
falling for the roommate you only see once a month? and the feeling is mutual? heck yes

let's talk characters because aside from our mcs there was a lot more people included in this story 👀
i didn't know how the 8 roommates situation was gonna be handled throughout the story but i ended up falling so in love with each roommate that i wish we get some books about them too 🥺❤️

but Henry and Lucy's story? that really dragged me through all the stages in grief...
denial? yup
anger? yes
bargaining? also yes
depression? i had to take some time off to be able to finish the book so... maybe, yes?
acceptance? yeah, that was me today accepting i needed to finish it once and for all 🫡

even though that may sound way harsher than i intended to the reality is i started loving this book, SO MUCH, it made me giggle, made my heart warm up 🥺❤️ but then... the drama started 😭

but Carla it wouldn't be romance without a little drama? yeah you're right, but remember that anger i told you about? Lucy was way too much for me at times, so much so that it made me want to strangle her 😂😅 there were some behaviors she showed towards the end of the book that really didn't fit with what i saw of her at the start of the book and it left me wondering what the hell happened 🥲

Henry's arc was quite as I expected, despite him being aloof at times and not saying things as carefully as one would say them, he had a heart of gold, and in the end he was what i liked most out of this pair 🫶🏻 he was driven and his goals were clear relationship wise and work wise, so big round of applause to him 👏🏻

so if you are looking for a real cute romance that's character driven, this might be your book, and you'll hopefully love it just as much as i did! ☺️💕

The concept was so great, but the execution just wasn’t great for me.

I liked the idea of following our main character, Lucy, as she joins a flat share with 7 other people. She is smitten with one of the roommates, Henry but he is only there one weekend of the month.

The story takes place on that one weekend each month for a year. When the roommates come together for a fun weekend activity. You see Lucy and Henry moving closer then having some troubles pop up.

I think I would have wanted to see more. I felt like I just didn’t get enough of a story from only seeing the characters for a couple days during each chapter. I did not understand the progression of the relationship and why Lucy and Henry felt such a strong connection. The arguments they had about their relationship just felt odd and I was just frustrated.

I loved the scenes with all the roommates. It was fun to see how they interacted and the activities they did together.

Overall this one was just fine.

When Lucy has to find a new place to live quickly, she agrees to move in with her college bestie in a warehouse conversion with several others. Although she has misgivings, the roommates are exactly what she needs as she navigates a changing work situation at the florist shop where she works.

But there's Henry. Henry, unlike the others, is only in the apartment one weekend a month, the weekend the roommates take turns planning group activities. Lucy can't ignore her attraction to Henry and neither can the other roommates. But the relationship does not progress in a linear fashion. Henry's travel schedule plus his inexperience with relationships hamper any true progress. But of course, ultimately it all works out.

This was a fun book. The only problem was that although Henry was likable as a person, about halfway through, I thought Lucy should give up on him and move on. His fickleness was annoying. But he does get his act together and becomes worthy of Lucy. #WeekendsWithYou #NetGalley

Alexandra Paige’s debut novel is a romantic story about found family that tells the tale of a couple that lives together in a flat with several others. The fun flat mates choose monthly events to celebrate “warehouse weekends”. While these adventures are entertaining, the romance between the 2 main characters falls flat.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon-Harper voyage for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for allowing me to read and review Weekends with You on NetGalley.

Published: 04/09/24

Stars: 2.5 (rounding up)

Not for me, however, there is an audience.

I'm too old for the childish and idiotic bantering and behavior. I wasn't that girl, but I had friends who were. (I had a father, they didn't. Is that the difference?).

How does a person dream of a lifelong future when they spend a day here and there that is based on half-truths. Is it loneliness? Insecurities? Lack of maturity? What pushes a person to repeatedly hurt and yearn over clear truths? I don't know.

I just wanted the book to end. It wasn't believable for me. It doesn't work as satire. I found myself begrudgingly turning pages. For others this will be an escape and I do believe there are some who will be entertained.

Kudos for swearing without the F word. I give Paige credit for that stance. I will consider recommending this to a young reader with a gentle ignore and don't employ the swearing reminder, while enjoying the unrealistic fun story.

I liked the set up of this contemporary romance novel; the monthly interactions are a novel idea and, at times, a novelty that works at the beginning but sort of irritated me later in the book. It's interesting to lay a book out like this with a miscommunication trope as the central conflict when the digital age allows all sorts of opportunities for long distance relationships to grow and flourish and sustain. Overall, I liked the characters, I just wish they were a little more developed, a little more complex, and that their pining was revealed more throughout the book.
Thanks so much for the ARC!

Lucy moves in with 7 other roommates into a flat in London and is instantly attracted to Henry, one of her new flatmates, Henry is a traveling photographer and is only in town one weekend a month. Each chapter of the book is told about each of those weekends over the course of the year where Lucy and her flatmates adventure through London. Found family is one of my favorite book tropes and this did not disappoint . I felt like I was apart of the "warehouse weekends" gang.

I loved the romance between Lucy and Henry. The pining was there, I just wish there wasn't so much miscommunication.

Lucy Bernstein has been working for several years at a lovely independent flower shop, The Lotus. It’s owned by an older woman who is close to retirement, and Lucy is getting a little nervous about how the shop is doing. She has a lot of big ideas for what they could do to grow, but the owner is reticent.

She’s been lucky to have a nice little apartment of her own, even in the big city of London, but then she is booted out and she has to find a new place. One of her best friends lives with seven other people in an apartment converted from warehouse space. So Lucy finds herself going from living alone to sharing a place with a bunch of new people. But they all get along, and it works out.

Right away, she finds herself attracted to one of the roommates, Henry. Sure, it could be a bit complicated to fall for a roommate. But what’s worse is that Henry is barely ever home. He’s a photographer who travels all the time and only comes to London for a weekend each month.

The roommates have a tradition where each month, one plans a fun weekend for the whole group to enjoy. So Henry is present for these big group events, which vary from trivia nights at the local pub to axe-throwing and charcuterie-making.

A part of Lucy wants to pursue something with Henry, and the logical part knows it’s a terrible idea. So the book essentially shows us how over the course of a year she (and Henry) go back and forth on it. I honestly didn’t think it was a great idea, either, but it seemed OK and then it wasn’t, and then it wasn’t. I got tired of it, and in real life I would definitely have told Lucy, Enough!

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about how a book like this actually ended, because it is a romance book, after all. I’d just say it didn’t quite work for me.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If we are talking star rating, I would give this book a 3.5 - 3.75/5 stars. While I enjoyed the story and the chapters being each month in a full year, there were things I was hoping would happen, that didn't, and I saw some parts of the ending coming early on in the book.

I enjoyed the main character, Lucy, her friendships and finding her way once moving into a new apartment with roommates. I loved that they dedicated the time once a month to spend getting to know/catch up with each other.

I wished that her romance with Henry wasn't as drawn out as it was, or there had been a bigger "shocking" situation when she surprised him in Amsterdam. I'm not sure I loved Henry for Lucy. I cried when the chef made his grand gesture and really wanted to see where that went.

I feel conflicted after reading this as I loved parts, and then others not so much. It really is one of those books that I can say I'm glad I got the opportunity to read it, but I don't know if this would be a book in my top-10 of 2024.

Weekends with You was a wonderful story by an equally wonderful debut novelist!

This story was a pleasure to read, and I really enjoyed the timeline of a year in the life of our protagonists, Lucy and Henry, along with their many quirky flatmates. I appreciated the themes of found family and new love, as well as the depiction of personal growth and self-discovery for many of the characters. I would categorize this as a slow burn romance of sorts, and while I found myself wanting more clear communication between Lucy and Henry at times, I think that their storyline and progression played very well into the miscommunication trope.

Overall, I highly recommend that you add this book to your TBR and give the author her flowers (floral reference/pun intended)! Thank you so much to Alexandra Paige, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this wonderful book!

~Alissa R.

Lucy has recently become the latest of eight flatmates living in a London warehouse turned apartment. 7 roommates is complicated enough, but her instant attraction to Henry, one of her new flatmates, really complicates things. Henry is a traveling photographer and is only in town one weekend a month, those monthly weekends dubbed “warehouse weekends” are a time for the flatmates to bond, taking turns picking an activity for them all to do each month.

Each chapter of this story is one weekend a month over the course of a year - 12 warehouse weekends where Lucy and her new flatmates spend time together adventuring through London. I loved the way this was written and the glimpses into one weekend a month made the mundane parts of life fly by while still giving readers the opportunity to see how things progressed in Lucy’s life, as well as fun looks into some of the activity London has to offer. I adore books about found family, in your early adulthood those friends turned into family are so pivotal and important, and the flatmates really captured that special bond. As for the romance, there was a lot of pining and some miscommunication that frustrated me at times, but it also felt true to the stage of life the characters were in. What really made this book was Lucy’s journey to really grow up and find her way. I was rooting for her from the beginning and I was so excited to see where she ended up through the course of the year.

Thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I LOVED the idea of this book. With the monthly themes, this one really leaned in on the chosen family trope and I could’ve read an entire book just about the friends and their monthly escapades! The romance, though? Skip it. The male main character is untrustworthy and I REALLY wanted a different ending where she knows her worth and walks away.

Weekends With You is a sweet, clean romance. It’s the story of two people trying to find themselves in London while sharing a flat with six other roommates. Henry, a traveling photographer, is only home one weekend a month, so the roommates dubbed this warehouse weekend and vowed to spend that weekend together to catch up on their individual lives. Lucy, the newest roommate, is an American florist living in London. When Lucy and Henry meet, sparks fly, but Henry’s work comes in between them and their romance struggles.

I liked the idea of this book. It was beautifully written and kept my interest, but I never felt any real chemistry between Henry and Lucy. They didn’t spend much time alone together, so it was difficult to see them as a couple. The novel focused more on Lucy’s career and her development of it. I definitely enjoyed reading it, but wish the ending was different.

** spoiler alert ** First things first...BIG thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
Now for the review....
I wanted to love this book so much. I love the concept of each chapter representing a new month and a new weekend together but OMG, Lucy, who seems to be very talented is so ridiculous when it comes to Henry. The book was so repetitive when it comes to their make ups and break ups...after they break up the time in Ireland I was really hoping she'd wise up but I also had a feeling that since the book was almost over, she wouldn't and I was right. The sudden rush of the ownership of the flower shop and the idea that MAYBE her and Henry could actually work THIS time, were so rushed and ridiculous. I don't think I'd suggest this one to my friends because I like my friends enough to not give them the whiplash of all the back and fourth. I think if there had been a side storyline of the roommates, it would have been better...many of them seem to have better personalities.

A cozy and heartwarming love story that blooms over time. I loved the connection to flowers and the atmospheric setting of London. The pacing was a bit slow in spots, but overall a good read.
Many thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this ARC!

I had a hard time getting into this book... It felt confusing, but I kept going. As for the romantic dynamic, I would have preferred the FMC to either be alone or with the other love interest. There was a lack of chemistry between the two main characters and the MMC was just unlikable. However, I really enjoyed flower aspect in the story, as I love their symbolism.

I feel that I will need to reread this book at some point.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, Alexandra Paige and @NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Weekends With You. This book was a delightful and heartwarming read that I didn’t want to end.

I look forward to exploring more of Alexandra Paige’s works in the future, as her characters in this book were so wonderfully unique and entertaining. Many thanks again for the ARC - it was a lovely read!