I first picked up this book (so to speak) because I was very interested in the plot, but after the first three chapters, I just felt I couldn't go further. Main female character Jolene smokes to make her stepmother mad (I don't like cool smoking for personal reasons) and Adam just seemed depressed-angry, so that was a turn off for me. If you're okay looking over these factors, seems like a good book to read. If this book were a person, I think it'd be an angsty goth older teen (this book isn't for young teens)

The MC's, Jolene, and Adam are both teenaged kids from broken homes. The situations are very different but those situations bring them together and they bond over their family issues. It's a heavy read but a very a good one. This was my very first Abigial Johnson book and I was hooked. She was able to make you feel like you were going through the trials and tribulations they were facing with them. This book was not only about teenagers having to deal with family situations but also domestic abuse and sexual assault. It made the story much more real for the characters to be facing very real-life issues. It was a very tough read, really pulls at the heartstrings, but it was so, so good. I would definitely recommend it.

Abigail Johnson is officially a must-read YA author for me! I ADORED this pulsing, compulsively-readable, and heartwarming YA novel. This is a placeholder review -- full review to come! But yes, it's worth your time -- themes include parental separation, death of a sibling, love for photography, and complicated sibling relationships.

This was a great read! Jolene and Adam are children of divorce/separation, but the two lives could not be more different even if they are forced to spend every other weekend at the same crappy apartment complex. Even though I didn't like Jolene after her first appearance, I grew to really like her. It was heavy and lighthearted, funny, sad. I can't wait to read more by Abigail Johnson!

This is the third book I have read by Abigail Johnson. She is currently my favorite YA author for this type of fiction. She writes realistic, gritty, heart warming boy/girl romance but though the romance is always so sweet and touching, it isn’t really the main point of her books. I have read several realistic YA books before but hers really stand out. Her characters are astoundingly fleshed out. They feel so real, but she doesn’t describe every single detail about her characters appearance or personalities. She really shows us through the story to where you fall in love with all of the characters, whether they are minor or main characters! That is very important. The story may be good or original but if we don’t love about the characters then who cares? This story is gritty and raw and emotional. Divorce, tragedy, grief, abuse, neglect are all covered but although I did cry, I didn’t feel overwhelmed with sadness or drained emotionally. It was such a great balance. I have loved all of her books but I think the characters in this were my favorite and the dual view point was so well done. It was paced really well and though it dealt with difficult subjects, it was so tasteful and clean! A real rarity in YA books these days. Go read it!

If you haven’t read any of Abigail Johnson’s books, go out and buy one today! Any of them will do!!!
Recently we were so blessed to have @abigailjohnsonya and @netgalley gift us an ARC of Every Other Weekend and we are so grateful!!! This book releases in January 2020 and we are so excited!!! We have read other books of hers and absolutely love every one of them. This one is exactly the same. The ease of which we fell into the lives of Jolene and Adam is effortless. This particular book touches on the reality of broken families and how it affects the children involved. Our hearts broke for these kids and their families. It felt like we were going through their trials and tribulations right along with them. The book also touches on the very real problems of domestic abuse and sexual assault. These are very real problems that people, young and old, are faced with every single day. We really appreciate that Abigail includes such troubling issues in her stories. We need to protect our children and guide them as much as we can, while we can. We truly hope you will be as impressed with Abigail and her books as we are

** spoiler alert ** I thoroughly enjoyed Every Other Weekend. I found very few flaws in the plot and characters, Although I do think that they acted a little bit older than their 15/16 years. There is a definite trigger warning for sexual assault, as Jolene is touched inappropriately by one of her neighbors whom she thought was a friend. I think that the author did a good job with showing that while in similar situations, the two main characters both went through different things, and therefore reacted to and handled things differently. Overall I highly recommend this book and will definitely be picking up a copy when it is released.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me a digital arc of this book.

Adam Moynihan used to have a normal, happy life until his brother died in an accident two years ago. Now his mother constantly cries, his father moved out to a different apartment and he and his other brother can't be civil to each other for more than a minute. Jolene Timber's life has always been a nightmare but it got even worse after her parent's divorce. Her parents keep using her as a pawn in their fights against each other. To escape her reality, Jolene focuses on filmmaking and rewriting the story of her life with the change of camera angle When forced to spend every other weekend in the same building, Adam and Jolene forms an unlikely friendship and something more while healing each other along the way.

'Every Other Weekend' is a coming of age story about two lost souls coming from broken families, dealing with their grief and learning how to love and forgive themselves and the others around them. This is a very character driven story with not much of plot going on. It was very interesting to see Adam and Jolene come in terms with their situations, getting past all the self loathing and bitterness. This book delves into some very morbid and dark issues like - death, grief, divorce, manipulation and sexual harassment. But there is also the right amount of light hearted moments that adds a fun element to the book.

The lack of plot progression bothered me a little. It took me a while to get through this book. I was about 50% in and nothing was really happening in the story other than the main characters hanging out every other day. Most of it was a little boring and morbid but I did enjoy the banters and the interactions between the main characters.

I have really mixed feelings about this one, and I can't fully decide on a star rating. It was going really strong until about 3/4 of the way through when a new element was thrown in that caught me majorly off guard. I'm not sure if I'm *mad* about it per se, it was just unexpected. This is definitely a story that revolves fully around the character development, so if you enjoy plot based stories this is definitely not for you. But yeah, I'm not really sure what I think. Adam and Jolene were really cute and I enjoyed reading their relationship, but I wish some of the other characters were more developed as well.

Jolene is an aspiring filmmaker and she wishes her life were more like the movies. Her divorced parents are the worst. They use her as ammunition to hurt each other and don't care at all how much damage they're doing to her in the process. She has to go stay at her dad's crappy apartment every other weekend, and those days are the longest of her entire month. Until Adam and his brother, Jeremy, come to stay with their dad in HIS crappy apartment every other weekend. Adam's parents are separated and still seem to love each other, so their situations aren't exactly the same. But it doesn't matter. Finally, Jolene isn't alone anymore. As she and Adam get to know each other in these stolen weekends, they discover just how much pain they've been hiding from everyone else. Adam's older brother passed away two years ago, and he blames their dad for expecting his mom to get over it too quickly. Jolene hasn't actually laid eyes on her dad in almost 200 days and is forced to spend "his" weekends with the home-wrecking girlfriend he left Jo's mother for. Adam and Jolene gradually segue from friendship into something more, but when Adam's dad moves back home again and they leave the apartment building, will their fragile relationship come crashing down around them proving that loving someone really does mean you'll eventually experience the pain of losing them?

I've read one Abigail Johnson book before (If I Fix You), and while I enjoyed ONE of the characters in that one, the others were a lot harder to like. I came to love almost every single character in Every Other Weekend. They were all exceptionally well-written, with a depth and authenticity that really brought them to life and made them real. They were all flawed, to be sure, but all of them were trying. You can see growth in almost all of them: not just Jolene and Adam, but in Adam's parents and even the home-wrecking girlfriend, Shelly (who I sort of ended up loving). Jolene broke my heart with all she's been through, and Adam is the perfect balm to her battered soul. It's super cheesy to say this, I fully realize, but they really do seem to be exactly what the other one never knew they always needed.

There are BIG issues covered in this book: divorce, loss, grief, trust, love, manipulation, and sexual assault, just to name a few of them. These are heavy and dark, but the banter between Adam and Jolene was hilarious and provided a great counterbalance to the harder moments. But the issues aren't just mentioned and then glossed over, either. The characters delve down deep into them, discussing them at length and demonstrating their strategies (the ones that work and the ones that don't) for working through them. Lessons are learned, often the hard way, but the message repeatedly comes through that no one is ever as alone as they sometimes feel and think they are.

After the first book I read by this author, I had kind of put a hold on reading any more. This one makes me want to go back and try the ones I missed. Abigail Johnson has hit it out of the park with this moving story of friendship and surviving the different kinds of loss that life throws at us.

**Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin TEEN and Inkyard Press for the lovely ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

Just when I thought I couldn't love another Abigail Johnson book more than Even If I Fall, Abigail went and did it! This book gave me all the feels. I loved connecting with these characters who each had individual stories and just understanding the different lives people have. This book is for everyone and I urge you to go and pick up a copy!

Jolene and Adam meet on their neighboring balconies where they are forced to spend every other weekend due to either a divorce or separation. They slowly become friends while navigating the difficult and quite often tragic waters of their teen years. A poignant, emotional roller coaster that was vividly portrayed, realistic in both characters thoughts and actions. I did question a few times what the main plot of the book was, it tended to get muddled with all that was going on, but over all a really really good book.

Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson

Adam Moynihan’s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a home life so perfect that it could have been a TV show straight out of the 50s. Then his oldest brother died. Now his fun-loving mom cries constantly, he and his remaining brother can’t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired proved himself a coward by moving out when they needed him most.
Jolene Timber’s life is nothing like the movies she loves—not the happy ones anyway. As an aspiring director, she should know, because she’s been reimagining her life as a film ever since she was a kid. 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 soon become the best part of their lives. But when one’s life begins to mend while the other’s spirals out of control, they realize that falling in love while surrounded by its demise means nothing is ever guaranteed.

It was definitely the premise of this book that drew me in. Two children who are forced to spend time with someone they don’t want to decide to cut their losses by hanging out together instead. Ooooh, drama galore.
Yes, Every Other Weekend is a classic YA romantic drama, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring. This was a nice wholesome take on the forbidden relation story; Adam and Jolene will only keep seeing each other as long as their families are broken.
Jolene is definitely the more complicated character here. She keeps herself closed off, and tries to play everything off. The way her parents treat her leave her starved for love, and she isn’t always able to accept the good things in her life. Adam, on the other hand, is basic. He’s understandably angry and hurt, and he doesn’t really try to hide it. He thinks that anything is possible if someone tries hard enough, and while he doesn’t fully understand Jolene all the time, he’s always supportive. Both undergo oodles of character development, and that really comes off as the main point of the story: watching as two people grow and evolve from the circumstances they live through.
The plot plays out well, with some trivial issues, some deeper issues, and some really stressful issues. Still, Adam and Jo handle everything well enough, and you know that everything will turn out fine-for Adam at least. The story doesn’t try to sugarcoat things, nor does it force an unrealistic happy ending. Things work out as well as they can, which somehow leaves it feeling more possible and more heartwarming.
Every Other Weekend is a great, light summer read.
This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

So, last nite, on the nite before the first day of school, when I should have been getting good sleep, I lay awake pining for this book because I made myself put it down. But my stomach was still achy in that good way that tells you that the feelings are just so real and both beautiful and excruciating at once. Then tonight, I have stayed up much too late again because I couldn’t think about sleep until I read through the end of this book, if not the end of Adam and Jolene’s story. The tears were for the beauty and the pain and the joy I feel from living with these lovely, heartbreaking and heartbroken souls for a time will be a gift. 🤓💜📚

I enjoyed the story, but I never got pulled into it or the characters. It reminded me a lot of Eleanor and Park, but without the deep emotional pull. Overall great, just missing something more.

Oh, my! This is exactly my kind of book! I loved the slow-developing romance between Adam and Jolene. I mean, I LOVED IT. When they finally did get together, it was a little anti-climactic, honestly.
Adam and Jolene were both in bad places in their lives due to entirely different family circumstances, but their stories paralleled each other for a good long while until they suddenly diverged. Adam was coping with his parents' separation and the loss of his oldest brother, and Jolene was a pawn between her parents in the aftermath of their bitter divorce. Both teens are 15 but seem so much more mature in dealing with each other. That being said, the only thing they do is kiss, which is why I marked this book as MS appropriate. I'm not sure MSers would be into their story, but there's certainly not anything inappropriate content-wise (not even cursing).
Jolene does make a poor choice (several times) hanging out with an older man in his apartment, hoping to get a reference to the film program she wants to enter. As an adult reader, I saw it coming a mile away and keep telling Jolene to stay the heck away from Guy--she did not listen, but at least she dealt with it in a mature way, which I think led to her (and her step-mother's) redemption.
This book reminded me of Eleanor and Park (lite). The slow burn of Adam and Jo falling in love was really just lovely to read, but when they finally did get together, I WANTED MORE!

Oh, my this was beautiful and heartwrenching. From page one, Abigail drew me in with characters I fell for instantly and became truly invested in. This book was one of my most honest portrayals of grief and divorce. Well done!

Adam Moynihan and Jolene Timber both have separated families. This fact brings their lives together as Adam's dad moves in to the apartment building where Jolene stays with her father and his girlfriend. Both Adam and Jolene only stay with their dads 2 weekends a month, and happen to have the same weekends. Jolene is growing to be an old veteran at the separated family thing, but for Adam it is new and he is having a hard time coping with it. Luckily, they bump into each other and begin a friendship to help each other through the very often miserable every other weekends.

As the child of divorced parents, this book hit the nail on the head when it comes to some of the feelings and often unhealthy coping mechanisms kids come up with to deal with their parents' separation. Though Adam and Jolene deal with their feelings in very different ways, I identified with both and felt their character writing was very genuine. The author writes all the characters with a lot of depth, and develops all of them throughout the story in believable ways. Even a character I wouldn't have expected to be able to grow and change is able to at the end.

The only thing I found a bit hard to relate to were some of the character names, like Jolene's best friend's boyfriend. But that is a tiny thing and didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the book. Overall, this book had me in tears at multiple points, and I was incredibly invested in the characters and storyline. It's the kind of book I want to tell everyone about, and can't wait to rave about it closer to its publishing date. Links to be added closer to that time.

This story was so beautiful! I don't know that I've ever seen my own experience as a child of divorce represented so well. I knew from the title "Every Other Weekend" that I had to read this one, and I was not disappointed. Johnson just gets it - she understands all of the complicated, messy, ugly feelings that come from being stuck between separating parents, and somehow, she weaves it beautifully into a story of first love. I'll be recommending this one highly!

I enjoyed this book more than expected. There's this layer of the two characters both having broken families but at the same time being so different in how/what makes them broken.

While Jolene and Adam are completely different from one another, their time spent every other weekend together and watching their relationship tentatively grow was both wonderful and heartbreaking.

Seeing the depth of neglect from Jolene's parents was really a struggle to read about. Discovering the reason for Adam's parents separation was both sad but understandable given the what caused it. Seeing the potential for reconciliation on one family's end but knowing there isn't much hope for the other just really stung.
Adam really brought feelings into Jolene's life that were foreign to her. Her struggling to really allow these positive influences and feelings into her life at such a young age was painful.

Adam and Jolene really complimented each other and brought to the table things the others lacked and I really loved watching their relationship organically grow from one stage to the next. I loved seeing the differences in their family dynamics and how it affected them and how it caused their influences on others they interacted with.
There was even a side character that only appeared in a few scenes but I wanted to learn so much more about them and was happy knowing there was more content for them out there.

While not a perfect ending, its extremely hopeful. I would definitely recommend this book to others for Jolene's snark, Adam and Jolene's interactions and for those who enjoy watching a love story grow slowly as they read.