Heartbreak brought them together…will love tear them apart? Adam’s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a perfect home life. Then his oldest brother died. Now his mom cries constantly, he and his middle brother can’t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired moved out when they needed him most. Aspiring director Jolene’s life is nothing like the movies she … the movies she loves–not the happy ones anyway. With her divorced parents at each other’s throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love she’s starving for.
Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, the boy who thinks forgiveness makes him weak and the girl who thinks love is for fools begin an unlikely friendship. The weekends he dreaded and she endured quickly become the best part of their lives. Have Jolene and Adam found something real? Or is their connection doomed from the start?
They’ll find out…every other weekend.
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I was up until 3:00 a.m. reading Every Other Weekend. A family who needs healing and another family in perpetual battle. Two teens meet every other weekend at the apartment complex where they live with their non-custodial parent, and through their relationship help each other grow and heal and love.
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.
Every Other Weekend By Abigail Johnson
This was my first time reading Abigail Johnson’s writing and I am definitely a fan. Johnson was able to beautifully craft a story that pulled at my heartstrings and was able to write about amazing and believable characters that are complex and definitely you want to read about. In this character driven story, Adam and Jolene’s life intertwines into a beautiful love story that is tender and full of heart. I enjoyed the amazing dialogue and inner perspectives of these characters’ vulnerability and also at the same time their strength to pull through adversities. Themes addressed in this story include, death and loss, abuse, grief, and navigating fractured relationships.
I highly recommend this read for a poignant and tender Young Adult Contemporary read that deals with complex issues in a dual point of view story line. An amazing must read. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
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.
“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.
I absolutely loved this book. Abigail Johnson has a way with words, bringing the broken world these two characters live in to life in a way that feels true, and you can’t help but become invested. Adam is so angry and so sweet, and Jolene is snarky and lost, but together they find a commonality that bonds them, giving them what they need to heal. Every Other Weekend is a wonderful coming of age story that explores the affects of divorce, separation, loss, and first love, and I highly recommend it.
This was such a cute read.
Loved this book! Great characters, sad realities, but redemption in the end.
I enjoyed this story overall, though it took me a bit of time. I do feel it was a bit redundant, repeating similar ideas in different ways, but ultimately it came together in a satisfying way.
This is a book that will truly drown you in an ocean of feels. It really is such an emotional story at its core. This book deals with a number of sensitive and potentially triggering things. I think that the author did a fine job of handling these topics with grace and sensitivity.
The main characters in this story, Jolene and Adam, were both very easy to connect with. The author paints a realistic picture with these characters. I liked how distinct their personalities were. Both Adam and Jolene had amazing depth. The reader is able to peer into their lives and live through them as they are dealing with their worlds as they fall apart. Adam and Jolene both have great character growth as well. I thought that the secondary characters really played important parts in the story.
The plot of the story was mostly driven by the characters and how they react to their circumstances. Adam and Jolene are both having a rough time of things in their lives and they gravitate towards each other and find a support system with one another inevitably falling in love. The journey is the important part of this story. Living through these characters’ eyes as you get to know them and what they are struggling with in their lives. The story was definitely unpredictable and I found myself racing through the pages. I didn’t connect with the author’s writing style as much as I would have liked though.
I really liked how wholesome the romance was in this book. Adam and Jolene fall in love while they get to know each other as each of them find ways to deal with their family lives. They build a friendship and a trust with one another that was just beautiful. I loved how they were able to be that one bright part of the other’s day.
Overall, this is a story that will get you right in the feels. This isn’t a fluffy contemporary that will leave you with hearts in your eyes. This is an emotional book with some really great content. This book tells such a beautiful story even if you have to go through the sadness and pain to get to the happy. This is a complex story of family, friendship, and love.
This is my first novel from this author and it really touched me. It deals with real life struggles seen from the minds of two confused teenagers, Adam and Jolene.
Adam had the perfect life and family ties, until his older brother dies. Then everything spirals out of control: his father leaves them, his mother falls to depression, and he and his other brother can’t manage a day without a fight.
Jolene dreams of being a movie director, where she can make happy and loving movies, nothing like the life she lives. Her parents divorced and using her as a pawn leaves her feeling unloved and with selfdoubts.
It is until they both get to know each other when Adam gets to spend every other weekend at his father’s apartment that an unexpected friendship starts to forge that could maybe help each other mend their broken and untrusting hearts. But things are not simple and will the quiet and peaceful refuge they find in each other be enough to help them heal and discover that their worth does not depend on their circumstances, difficult as they may be, but what they are inside and how they can forge a beautiful life in spite of the the problems and challenges thrown their way?
This was a beautiful young adult novel. Although I’m not a teenager, I think this can be very relatable to many young adults, and also help us bigger adults, to see how our decisions affect the people we love most and we can sometimes be selfish not to see this in the midst of our own problems.
Adam and Jolene’s friendship and growing romance was really sweet. I loved the way Adam helps her see her real worth, and how loveable she is by cherishing her. They both grew and learned their lessons along the book, and it was inspiring to behold it.
Life is never perfect, but I liked how this book ended and how the characters helped each other become better persons and change their vision of things. Forgiveness, second chances, and redemption are some issues that were beautifully portrayed in this book.
I definitely recommend this book, for young and not so young as well. Inspiring and relatable!
Abigail Johnson has become one of my favorite contemporary YA authors. No one writes family drama and emotion quite like Abigail. I’m loving her newest release!
Every Other Weekend delves into many important topics for young people and Abigail Johnson does this with remarkable skill through the two very distinctive voices of Adam and Jolene. I loved Adam. His grief felt real and relatable, as did his flaws and actions, but mostly I loved his kindness and modern sense of honor. We need more heroes in YA like Adam! As for Jolene, she’s my kind of heroine. Passionate and driven, all the while hiding her vulnerability behind snark and banter. Jolene’s emotional development and the slow burn romance that helped pull her out from behind her high defences kept me turning the pages.
This is a coming-of-age story with real heart and authenticity. A must read!
This was an absolute masterpiece! I wanted to insert so many quote-worthy passages from this extremely well-written novel, but I decided to let you discover the beauty of Abigail Johnson’s prose for yourself. (I also want to use words like “stunning, highly intelligent, topical and relevant – A MUST READ!!!)
Abigail Johnson has created such endearingly unforgettable characters in Jolene and Adam. Jolene will crack you up with her wicked wit, her bravado and dramatic self-deprecating ways. She has had to create a bullet-proof shell around her heart in order to endure the war-zone that was her childhood. Jolene is a filmmaker by necessity, escaping into the world of movies, rewriting the awful script that real life has handed her. What a gutsy girl!
Jolene and Adam are angry, messed up kids who meet one another during their bi-weekly visits with their respective separated parents, who happen to live in the same apartment building. Their rage and discontent jumped out at you from the written page. It was almost impossible to stop reading this story.
Adam is so decent and adorable. He falls instantly under Jolene’s spell, even though she fights to keep their relationship in the “friend zone” – because love is never anything anyone has ever freely given her before. (Her parents are selfish monsters!) The dialogue is fast-paced and often quite hilarious. I don’t know if I have ever laughed (and sniffled!) so much during a YA before. Well done!
Jolene and Adam’s slow burn relationship has its anxious moments, but the satisfyingly realistic ending will leave you crying happy tears. They don’t know what the future will truly bring for these two, but we know the scenario that they HOPE will be what the Fates have in store for them. The scene where Jolene and Adam predict their joint Oscar acceptance speeches – his for the adapted screenplay of his first novel, hers for filming and directing that very same first novel – had me in stitches. Adorable! (Something tells me that they may very well make it – those are two very strong-willed, passionate young adults!!)
HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. A 10 out of 5 stars!
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A little “YA” but the characters were engaging.
I understand that both Adam and Jolene are dealing with some major family issues but their anger really put me off them. I would start to like them and then they would say or do something to someone and I would go back to not liking them. Book is slow paced with a lot of back and forth between their houses and their weekend places. Story ended well.