**I was excited to receive a complimentary copy of Some Other Now by Sarah Everett from NetGalley. Opinions in this review are completely my own.**

May contain spoilers..

I really enjoyed this story. It almost seemed like there was something a bit familiar to it, maybe a movie or another story that it reminded me of, maybe my own relationship with family; I'm not sure what it was. I felt sorry for Jessi for her relationship with her parents and the way this resolved itself made me a bit annoyed. I had a "Mel" type person in my life; she was my boyfriend's mom. I was friends also with his twin brother. She helped me through some hard stuff and offered to let me stay at their house when I was having a hard time with my family. I loved their family so much and really felt a loss when we broke up, both for him and his mom.

I like the premise of this story. I love when stories jump timelines and the story unfolds from the present and the past, giving the reader little tidbits.

I was mad at Jessi, how quickly she forgot about Luke when Rowan kissed her. She seemed really fickle and confused. I like when people and characters have some loyalty to the people they say they love. I wanted her to not give in so completely to wanting him, maybe struggle with it or something.

This was a great book. Characters were very well written and relatable.
It was great to read a book within YA genre that didn't focus purely on the romantic relationship between two characters. This book managed to focus on other relationships and showed that sometimes friendships can be just as important as that all consuming first love and be just as hard to get over when they end. I will look forward to.kore from this author.

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

The book is described as This Is Us for teens. That makes sense because it’s such an emotional roller coaster. Following Jessi and her surrogate family exposed so many layers of pain. Her complicated relationship with her parents was very heavy. There was no sugarcoating the depression and dysfunction that plagued her household.

I enjoyed this book because it wasn’t a whimsical teeny bopper book. It was raw. It was real. The story touched on so many deep topics. I felt like the characters and storyline came across as very realistic and relatable. The main character’s battle with self doubt would help a lot of readers to connect with the book.

I rated this a 4 star read. Thank you to Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Sarah Everett for the chance to review this book.

I am a huge fan of the show “This is Us”, so when I noticed that Some Other Now’s blurb read that it’s This Is Us for *teens*, I KNEW I HAD TO READ IT. Sadly, the book didn’t completely live up to my expectations, but it was a touching & thought-provoking book nevertheless. There were some parts that I loved, and some parts which I didn’t – that’s all. 😢

Things I loved :
1) The relationship between Jessi and Mel was my favorite thing about the book. ❤ I loved how they were always so “in-sync” with each other. Found family is one of my favorite tropes to read about, and Mel-Jessi’s bond made me fall in love with the theme even more. I looked forward to their conversations all the time while reading Some Other Now. :’) 😊
2) Another thing that I really appreciated about Some Other Now is how the author represented Jessi’s relationship with her parents. They were just “physically” present in her life for 18 years, without really being there for Jessi as parents should – so seeing the transition in their relationship with Jessi after a tragic incident occurred, was definitely one of the highlights for me.
3) The topic of depression and mental health issues were so thoughtfully written too! Grief is a major part of Some Other Now, and I loved how Jessi’s emotions were portrayed in the book. It made her character very real to me. 💕

Things I didn’t like :
1) Jessi’s self-loathing episodes were sometimes a bit too much for me. I did understand why she felt that way, but when a character is so hell-bent on making them seem like a bad person, it automatically becomes tough to like them too. So yeah, I struggled warming up to her. :)))
The “tragic incident” and how it happened took a lot of time to be revealed, which is why the story felt a little flat in the beginning.
2) Jessi and Rowan’s friendship was just…. hollow? I never got to see how they were best friends, because Rowan was just absent from major incidents. Jessi did feel that something was off in their relationship, but she never went ahead and didn’t even try to fix it/talk it out – which just seemed odd. The word “best friend” was repeatedly thrown around, but it failed to gain meaning in terms of the plotline.
3) I WANTED TO LOVE LUKE SO BADLY.😭😭😭 He seemed like an amazing person in the “before” timeline, but the present timeline made me so annoyed with him. There were many unresolved communication issues between Luke and Jessi, which could have given the story the closure it needed, in my opinion.

I wanted to like this book. However, having to read through 26 out of 27 chapters of self-loathing is not only exhausting for the reader but it also makes you dislike the main character. Many of the central issues that occur in the story is due to lack of communication and I was left feeling more frustrated with the story then satisfied. The ending did not balance out all that was established previously. I would not recommend this to any teenager especially a black or brown teenage girl.

When I first read the description for this book, it reminded me of The Summer I Turned Pretty series. A love triangle between two brothers? Sign me up! After reading this, though, I realized that it's so much more than just a summer love story. Some Other Now has romance, mystery, and explores all kinds of concepts like loss and guilt. It follows Jessi and her relationship with the Cohens, who are like her second family. What I loved the most was the different family dynamics in this book. It's great to see Jessi's relationship with her own mother, who struggles with depression, compared to her relationship with Mel. I also love that the parents are just as important in this story as the kids.
Some Other Now is told across two summers, "Then" and "Now." I will admit that I found these alternating timelines to be really confusing. It took me a really long time to actually get into the story and feel hooked - that's why I gave it only 3 stars - but I think that's due more to the fact that I read this book on my phone - I'm not too used to ebooks yet! I would really like to reread this with a physical copy and see if my feelings change at all.

This was amazing. It was real, character were all extremely relateable and most importantly for me atleast is that the author made the ending special. I love hap but this ending gave me the same amount of joy. 10/10 recommend and will be buying a physical copy.

Wow, this book was an emotional rollercoaster that makes you want to hug your loved ones a little tighter.

It was one of those books where the past is told alongside the present, which scenes of each in every chapter. It was a unique way of doing things, but by the end, I really enjoyed the setup. I loved learning about what happened in the past slowly to better understand the present. (Though, if I'm being honest, I had a feeling what the Big Secret Event was before it was completely revealed, so it didn't come as much of a surprise.)

So, plotwise, like I've already hinted at, I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely tough at times, though. This isn't some easy, quick read (I mean, writing and length-wise, yes, I read this in one weekend). but it does take a minute to process what's happening as it happens. We're dealing with some pretty tough topics: grief, loss, illness and mental illness, and worst of all, young love. Okay, so that is a very bad joke. But young love is a bitch in this book, too.

I was worried about this book going in. I don't read contemporary as much as I read fantasy, and even then I read contemporary rom-coms. Not contemporary sad. But those fears faded as I slowly got invested in these characters. I think every character is fairly well written. I enjoyed Jessi's main character as she navigates life with her parents, "surrogate" mother, new friend Willow, and of course, the Cohen brothers. I loved each Cohen boy, Rowen and Luke, for their own reasons, and I can understand why Jessi was so attached to this family.

I don't want to go into too much detail with my review because I truly feel like this book just has to be experienced for yourself. Just know that you will laugh, cry, and sulk in frustration, all in the course of a few chapters. Sarah Everett wove a really excellent contemporary story here.

I loved this book so much. The back and forth timeline that sets the mood and tension on HIGH. It felt like I was on a tennis court, bouncing back and forth between past and present, getting absolutely gobsmacked in the feels on both sides! I couldn't flip through this book fast enough! Sarah Everett wrote an incredible cast of real, messy and wonderful characters. The characterization was fascinating on all rounds. But above all, Jessi's voice is an unforgettable one. She wormed her way into my heart with her tender and heartfelt narration. This book tackles so many things! Themes of (found) family, friendship, guilt, loss and love are explored with so much hope and heartbreak! It adds to poignancy but also to the DRAMA! Every page of this book was packed with such love and heartbreak that had me absolutely enthralled with the plot! And to add to the drama is a bit of MYSTERY tragedy and mistake from the past that hooked me in the reading from the very start. And to top off the drama, is a messy, angry and beautiful romance! I loved how Everett incorporated the fake dating trope into the story while also exploring the complex nuances of this relationship.
To say that I cried at the end of this story is an understatement. I SOBBED. Salty tears trailed down my face for a good hour as I read the final 30% of the novel which was so powerful and raw.

Overall it's a 5 🌟 read! The pain and love that swelled every cell in my body after finished this book was An Experience™ that is just too good to pass up!

This book broke me in such a beautiful way... I honestly have no words except that this is, for sure, one of my favorites of the year.

This book is about family, and how you chose who is family, it’s about grief, how it can eat you alive but also how you can rise from it. It’s about broken people who have a lot of guilt on them but try their best.

I just love it, it’s so wholesome in a way I can’t describe. I fell in love with all of them, with Mel for always being brave, with Ro for just being Ro, with Luke for trying to be strong even when he was clearly broken (even tho at times I hated him) and with Jessi, always Jessi, because she fucked up and learned that life continues even if you want to go back.

Mostly this book is about healing and I loved that. It seriously made me feel identified with some of the things that happened and it’s so well done. The way the authors plays with “Then” and “Now” and how that adds a lot to the story. I just loved it and I really, really, recommend this book.

Some Other Now owns my entire heart. That's it, that's the review.

Okay fine I guess I can't end it there, but wow this book made me feel everything, just everything. From the first page I was completely hooked, somehow already invested in this story. It alternates timelines between the current time, and about a year prior, before Jessi's whole life kind of took a turn. I am going to try to explain why I love this story so much, yeah?

►Just... every feeling. I won't lie, I cried through at least 75% of this book. In a full blown "this will destroy my soul" way. The thing is, while it did absolutely destroy my soul, it also slowly but surely rebuilt it. And that was the biggest takeaway for me: Yes, your life will change, irrevocably. But while it will be different, and often quite sad, that doesn't mean there will never be happiness or hope again. That is a message that we all need from time to time, and the author provides it beautifully.

►I related to Jessi so much, often more than I even wanted to. I had a family once who I felt as close to as Jessi did. (I still love them, but they have moved far away, and while they'll always be special to me, I don't have the same level of closeness, or frankly, dependence, that I once did.) Jessi always feels a little... "less than" in her life. Her mom is suffering from some pretty debilitating mental illness, and so Jessi often sees her own needs and wants as secondary. She also feels like she is lacking something, which I have never really related to harder. And to be clear, Jessi isn't, she's lovely and wonderful, but I get that feeling. And when some tragic things happen between her and the Cohens, she feels more lost and alone than ever.

►The Cohens, for their part, are lovely. It's clear to see why Jessi has fallen in love with them (in basically all the ways one can fall in love, really). She sees Mel as her surrogate mother, Rowan is her very best friend, and she's had a crush on Luke for oh, about forever. And they, in turn, treat her with the kindness and love she deserves.

►I love that the story focuses on Jessi's other relationships, too. Jessi obviously needs to come to terms with her own family's dynamic, which she will be forced to do during the story. She also must learn to build friendships outside of the family, and I think that is a really great journey as well. And the elderly man that she visits is quite possibly one of my favorite elements of the book- both because they have a fun relationship, and that I think his choices in life helped Jessi to second-guess some of her own.

►Most of all, Jessi needs to build her relationship with Jessi. Because no one can make you whole, no one can fill those voids we feel within ourselves. And most sadly, people will come into our lives and leave, for many reasons, and it's something we have to face. Jessi's journey during this book is so beautiful, I don't have enough words. She is such a good, kind person at heart, and has so much to offer the world, and I wanted nothing but the best for her.

Bottom Line: This story is beautiful and heartbreaking and just so completely full of love. Read it, read it now.

This book was billed as a YA "This Is Us" and it totally lived up to that premise. The plot centers on Jessi Rumfield and her relationships with two brothers, her best friend Rowan Cohen, and his older brother Luke, and the boys' mother Mel, who has served as a surrogate mom to Jessi for years. Told in "Then" and "Now" chapters, the story follows these characters and their changing relationships as they deal with a number of traumatic events that change all of them forever.

Like This Is Us, the interspersed Then and Now chapters give you clues as to the tragic past events that have changed everything about Jessi's relationship with the Cohens in the "Now", the summer after Jessi's high school graduation. I enjoyed the little clues in the "Now" chapters before we found out what really happened in the "Then" chapters; however, like "This Is Us", some of the clues also filled me with anxiety and dread when I was reading the chapters from the past timeline because I knew what was coming.

I expected this story to be very focused on Luke and Jessi's romance, and it was. However, I found the relationships between Jessi and Mel; Jessi and her mother and Jessi and Rowan to be just as compelling. The romance was a lighter element of the plot, but the really powerful plots involved grief, parental relationships, depression and other heavier subjects.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotional YA contemporary novel, but readers should know that this is not a light and fluffy romance. I definitely cried at several points. However, I still enjoyed the story because I was connected to all of the characters.

Wow I'm obsessed with this book! They say it's like a young adult 'This is Us' and I loved that show too.
It has Now and Then chapters going from before and after a tragedy. From when they were happy, carefree friends and a cute new couple to after a death.
So many family issues on both sides to have to process and handle at young ages. Divorce, long term sickness, mental health, good and bad relationship examples. We know one of the main characters died but not how or when but it makes you want to keep reading to find out what happened (like Jack), it keeps opening up to show you more of their depth and complexities.
I love the narrative flow of this book. I couldn't put it down. I literally picked it up to read it, two days ago.
I love Jessi, our imperfect MC who is struggling internally and stalling in her life due to survivors guilt. I just want to hug her and tell her it isn't her fault! And to tell Luke the same! For all the feelings he holds inside and feels like he shouldn't have because someone else has them too. And Ro sweet energetic, full of life Ro!
I cried a few times and my heart felt like mush and it was bleeding. But then there were times when I felt the new love feeling and was so giddy and happy for them.
But the truths at the end when they finally faced the past, and were finally able to talk about it but didn't change the fact that one of them was gone and that was the one they wanted to forgive them.
I was happy that it ended with a little hope and some new beginnings for everyone that was left.
Always tell the person you love you love them! They may not know.
🌸
As a Mom that struggles with migraines, I cry so many times when I am stuck in bed and am in so much pain and can't be with my babies but I have all the medicines and am trying to find my triggers. But to be absent for 18 years of your child's life, the loss - I lament the loss of hours or days not being able to do activities with them. The guilt over thinking you are making the right choice for yourself but realizing it may not have been the right choice for your family can be heartbreaking. But there's always Day 1.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you #hmhteen and #yallwrite for this giveaway win which I read through #netgalley for my honest and voluntary review! (I really want to know what Jessi and Luke are doing after fro yo)

This is a beautiful story that I can see becoming a movie. I think it covers a lot of areas like complicated friendships, family dynamics, and love. I'm usually not a fan of the changing timeline in books and the constant back and forth, but for Some Other Now, it works perfectly. It kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting to know more about what happened between Ro, Jessi, and Luke.

Some Other Now also covered topics like depression and loss, which are very important and not talked about openly enough. Depression is real and Jessi's mom reminds us of that as well as Ro, It's written about a lot more now, but Some Other Now addressed it in a way where the weight of it sits with you for a while.

Overall, I think that Some Other now taught a valuable lesson in loving the people around you and being grateful that you're alive.

This book was advertised as having a similar feel to This Is Us, and it delivered. Jessi should know better than to start fake-dating her ex, Luke, who hates her, just to make Luke's dying mother happy. "Should" being the operative word. She finds it impossible to resist being pulled back into the Cohens' world. Told in a split timeline, the reader follows Jessi both before and after the horrific event that ripped her relationship with the Cohens apart.

Before: When Jessi was seven, the Cohens become her substitute family. Jessi's mother stays in bed with depression, and her dad doesn't want to upset the status quo. So she becomes the daughter the Cohens never had. Ro's her age and stays her best friend as they navigate high school, and nerdy older brother Luke is always around, too. But when mother-figure Mel is diagnosed with cancer, all Jessi wants to do is help to take care of her. Luke and Rowan react differently. Rowan begins acting out and pulling away, while Luke and Jessi get close. Jessi discovers she might prefer the serious older brother to the force of nature that's Rowan. And Luke likes her too. Jessi can't figure out why Rowan starts acting so weird about her dating his brother. Then a horrific event rips everything apart.

After: Luke hates Jessi, but wants to give his mother peace before she dies of cancer. So he convinces Jessi to pretend to date him. That way they can all be together again in the end.

This is the kind of book that stays with you long after you've put it down. It's both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Believe it or not, I don’t have a ton of thoughts on this book. But I will say: if you’re looking for a light hearted contemporary, you’re not gonna find that with this book.

This was such a heavy read.

There was lots of talk on grief and guilt; along with terminal illness. So it was very difficult to read at times. It actually put me into a bit of a reading slump for a few days. But the writing made this super quick for me to get through.

For a lot of the book, I could understand where the main character was coming from even though I’ve never been in her shoes. But there were moments where I was bothered by Jessi with her constant want/need to push people away. I also understood her need for a family, but I felt she had overstayed her welcome quite a few times with the Cohen’s; especially when they made it clear they didn’t want her there.

Those were pretty much my only issues with this. I enjoyed the “then and now” timeline; I thought it was executed well. Luke was a super sweet love interest also.

Overall, I enjoyed this and would recommend it—along with her other book No One Here is Lonely (which also deals with grief).

Some Other Now is definitely a heavier YA novel but I personally loved how the author was able to touch on all of these issues from a teenage POV. Jessi spends the bulk of the novel reminiscing on everything she had "then" and blaming herself for the "now" she's living in without her best friend, semi-adopted family, or first love. Again, this novel covered some heavy topics but it was very well done. I found myself relating to Jessi a little too much in some aspects (keeping myself busy when I don't want to deal with my emotions) and completely annoyed with her in other ways. But about halfway through the novel, I realized the things that irked me about her were really just her being a teenager 😂 then I thought about myself as a teenager and that stressed me out even more so moving on haha

I also really enjoyed how the author showcased the effects of depression in a supporting character. Often times we see the protagonist in a depressed state and journey with them as they cope with it. In this novel, we not only see how debilitating depression was for Jessi's mom, but we also saw the ramifications of it over the years and how it ultimately influenced the relationships Jessi built with the Cohen family. Family dynamics have always been super interesting to me so it was cool to see how mental health, racial tension, personal growth, etc. simultaneously affected Jessi's family in a really authentic way.

Jessi Rumfield is 18-years-old and has spent the majority of her childhood with the Cohen family: Rowan and Luke and their mom, Mel. Her mother suffers from depressive episodes and her dad spends his time trying to keep everything together. So according to Jessi, being the surrogate daughter of Mel, best friend with Rowan, and madly crushing on Luke is a much better situation. That is, until, the summer she was 17 when Mel is diagnosed (with cancer?) and Jessi kisses one of the Cohen brothers. From there, Jessi feels she is the magnet attracting all the tragedy that follows that fateful summer.
This story goes back and forth between "Then" and "Now" in first-person perspective from Jessi's POV. Jessi is a glutton for punishment as she harbors the guilt and blame for everything that goes wrong in her life and in the lives of the Cohens. However, bit by bit, Jessi begins to unload the anger and resentment towards her parent, her love for the Cohens, and begins to learn what it means to live (and accepting that sh*t happens and sometimes you can't blame yourself).
The reveals are perfectly timed with Sarah Everett taking the time to build the significance of each character. This was a very emotional read with consistent pacing (up until the end, which goes a bit faster) that builds the town the Winchester and the world Jessi inhabits. I loved the back and forth of both timelines--which Everett masterfully navigates for the reader--as well as the angst and sadness of the characters. If you ever need a good cry, this will definitely leave you reeling and facing an emotional hangover.

Fake dating, but make it angst...

While I wouldn't necessarily say that it's This Is Us for teens, this was overall a solid YA contemporary which nicely utilized two timelines. Revelations and reveals were well-timed and kept the pace of the story going, Luke and Jessi's relationship will have quite a lot of appeal for readers, and each of the issues impacting Jessi's life (the loss of Rowan and the impending loss of Mel, her relationship with Luke, her mother's depression, her friendship with Willow, her reactions to all of these) seemed connected, organic, nuanced, and got due time on the page. It definitely had something of an emotionally messier feel than a lot of books for the same age range - there's grief sex, and difficult goodbyes, and certain things don't wrap up entirely neatly - but it's not overly mature. Recommend to fans of Emery Lord, Nina LaCour, Jessi Kirby, and Una LaMarche's Don't Fail Me Now.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Some Other Now was described as a must-read for fans of This is Us and it definitely serves up an emotional punch! We follow Jessi, growing up and figuring out who she is in dual time periods -- we'll say Before "The Big Bad" and After.

Jessi has always been viewed as an honorary member of the Cohen family, fitting in right alongside Luke and Rowen (Ro) and considering Mel, their mom, as a second mother. As time moves on however, Jessi finds herself both in the middle of the family and slowly being pushed aside.

I really liked how author Sarah Everett portrayed growing up, finding love, and navigating family issues in Some Other Now. There are some side stories that kind of bogged down the plot, and the ending was a bit rushed. Be forewarned when picking this up that it does deal with tough topics and will be an emotional read!

Content Warnings: Terminal Illness/Cancer, Mental Health, Death, Grief