Joya Goffney is an auto-read author for me, and I was so thrilled to read her latest, My Week with Him. In it we meet Nikki, who is living in Texas with her mom and sister. She’s trying to pursue a music career and processing her secret romantic feelings about her best friend, Malachai. After a big fight and a betrayal from her sister, her mom kicks her out of the house, and she decides to flee to California and try her career in music.

Enter Malachai, who begs her to stay for one week and give him a chance before she leaves for good. Over the course of that week SO much happens that I’m not going to explain here, so I’ll just recommend this book for anyone who enjoys the YA books that lean into the messy feelings of crushes, sibling back-and-forth, friendship drama, and parental healing. The author has a knack for capturing this raw and chaotic stage of life, and she did again with this novel.

I’ve loved all her books, including this one, but there were a few points where it felt like it was extra chaotic, and I could have sat in one storyline a bit longer. She remains an auto-read author and a voice in YA that I hope to see much more from.

Thank you to HarperTeen and NetGalley for the complimentary copy, I appreciate you!

I absolutely loves this book. Joya Goffney is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA authors. She has a gift for telling stories about complex mother daughter relationships while also weaving racial awareness and even romance. I really felt for the main character Nikki and how her mom treated her and even her sister but even in her mistreatment she was a strong, talented and smart main female character. I was happy she had the love and support from Mal and her friends that she wasn't getting from home. aside from his momentary lapse In judgment in the beginning Mal was very much a green flag and I loved his parents. Although Nikki and her mom came to work toward repairing their relationship and we got to learn a little about her past and why she was so angry as the reader I'm still on the fence about forgiving her. The fact that I feel so strongly about these characters is a testament to how good the book was. This author is definitely becoming an instant read for me.

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At this point anything Joya writes I will read.
My Week With Him follows Nikki, who was kicked out of her house after trying to leave for a girl's group audition she got. She decided to leave for California to pursue her career and not return to Texas. After her best friend Malachai "Mal" found out, he asked her to spend spring break with him to convince her to stay.
This book was very different from her other works. My Week With Him explores the emotional abuse at the ends of a family member. We got to see Nikki questioning the love, anger, and hate she has for her mother. I liked how she didn't forgive her mother quickly or magically change into the perfect person. It felt realistic.
I love Mal and Nikki's relationship, their romance didn't disappoint. Because their friendship was established before the book; seeing them explore it as a couple and how they weren't afraid to open up to each other and show their emotions to one another was done well.
Where the book didn’t work for me:
Throughout reading the book I hoped we got the reasoning as to why her mother treated her the way she did and when we finally did it, I felt it didn't justify it and wasn't genuine. It seems like the reason why she was open to talking to Nikki was because of Mal's parents and not because she wanted to. I was hoping that we got to see Nikki's relationship with her other friends and not just with Mal
All in all, I enjoyed the book. Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishers for an arc of this book

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

My Week with Him found its strength in its protagonist. Nikki was a clearly drawn character with distinct needs, wants, and struggles. Seeing her make decisions and work and struggle while rooting for her was one of the most compelling things about this book. The way Goffney wrote her scattered thoughts between chapters throughout the book was something I had never seen before and it worked so well.

The other characters were also great, for the most part. Mal, Vae, and Nikki's mom all had a level of depth and were written consistently. Nikki did have a couple of friends who showed up at the very beginning and maybe once the rest of the book that just seemed thrown in to show she Had friends, but that's just a minor quibble.

The main thing I found unsatisfying was the ending, which somehow managed to be both too neatly resolved (Nikki's relationship with her mom) and not resolved enough (everything else). Overall, though, this was a sweetly enjoyable book with important and well-handled ideas. 4/5.

Thank you Netgalley, Harpers Collins Children, and Joya Goffney for providing this advance copy for my honest review.

I enjoyed the relationship Nikki had with Mal, but really didn't enjoy the estranged relationship she had with her mother. Things were so bad that Nikki wanted to leave and not return. Her relationship with Mal was solid. I was hopeful there would have been some background information on the depth of their friendship. Additionally, the relationship with Mal seemed a bit unnatural and forced. It appeared the relationship was one-sided. Mal was always available for Nikki, she called him out of need not desire.

Her other best friends seemingly made almost what was liken to a Cameo and the author allowed the characters to disappear.

Though the relationship between Mom and Nikki was interesting, it was difficult for me to really see a growing love relationship between Mal and Nikki. At best the relationship appeared more as friends.

I wish the author would have given some historic information regarding the mother and Nikki to help the reader understand why the relationship was so broken, and why the mother treated Vae totally different from Nikki.

Overall the book was average, different from the author's other work. I recommend this book, and give 3.5 stars.

This book was really good I love how we have these two characters who have this really deep connection. Who understand each other better than anyone else ever could . I love how Nikki and Malachi could share their darkest secrets to each other and have this very deep bond. Nikki’s mom inferiorated me and so did her sister but this was a really good book except for the ending I felt like it was unfinished and could of had another 10-15 pages continuing the story.

I didn't like this as much as Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, but it was still good. Definitely a quick read too.

Nikki and Vae live with their mom. It's a very toxic family, especially Nikki with her mom. She gets kicked out and they fight a lot. Nikki has an audition in LA for a girl band. She's never left Texas, but she wants to get away. There is one person that holds her back in a way. Mal has been Nikki's best friend since 8th grade and she definitely has feelings for him. She's not sure if it's love. There wasn't a good example of that in her life. But she wants to be with him. After his party, he breaks up with his new girlfriend and confesses how he feels to Nikki. He takes her out and buys her things. She adores his parents. But Nikki knows that music is what she needs to do. Mal is going to school in Dallas.

This book definitely covered toxic mother/daughter relationships. I felt bad for Nikki and Vae. They didn't have money and never left Texas. It was just a hard life for all of them.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a Netgalley link.

I haven't shed a few tears reading a book in a while. Joya Goffney has really gone 3 for 3 in my book. This is a coming of age story about Nikki who's living in a toxic home environment. She finds solice in Mal, a friend who's never judged her or her home situation. She also happens to have a crush on Mal.
This book could definitely be triggering for some people. It was almost too relatable at times. But it shows how our parents childhood can affect how they treat and raise us and how that affects us as well. How what we've been taught intentionally or unintentional may not be correct. For instance, (SPOILER ALERT) Nikki's mom never hugged and that affected Nikki in a negative way something that Nikki has to unlearn in the book.
Highly recommend!

I absolutely enjoyed reading this novel and even finished it in only a few days ( I think like 3, maybe?).

Nikki and Mal's friendship to lovers arc was everything to me and I wished I could've been there for the beginning of their story and had more of just the two of them. I also loved Riley and Daeja, and wished I could read a whole story about them.

My biggest problems with the book were, honestly, the things that caused the most conflict I suppose. I didn't like how wishy washy Nikki's mom seemed to be and, although we did sorta get an explanation as to her behavior, the conflict between Nikki and her mom didn't feel fully wrapped up (although maybe that was the point – life keeps going and is never fully wrapped up). I also wasn't a fan of Vae for like the first half of the book. I slowly came around to her, but she's still not in my top.

I was extremely excited when I read the end of the book! I lived in a small town for a short period of time and watched too many people give up on their dreams and just settle for whatever and I spent most of the book fearing that's what was going to happen with Nikki. Even if she wound up going back to Texas, I just wanted her to at least show up for that audition.

I usually love Joya Goffney's writing, it's heartwarming and relatable. But I guess I just didn't vibe with this one as much as "Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry".

This book was amazing and an easy 5 stars along side her other books. This book does an amazing job exploring the depths of relationships and how our experiences shape our futures. We see our MC push through so much hurt while still learning to prioritize her dreams. I constantly was rooting for her. This book was a beautiful example of forgiveness, friendship, love and new beginnings. I highly recommend

Ummmmm Joya Goffney NEVER misses!

I loved this angsty, best-friends-to-lovers, self-exploration, coming-of-age, and traumatized-older-sister story (I have a bias because I am the older sister LOLOL). I was confused when I first began the book, as it begins in the middle of Nikki getting ready for a party with her friends, Riley & Daeja, in a small town in Texas. She is planning to attend auditions in LA (quick weekend road trip that her emotionally abusive mom doesn’t know about? Sounds about right!) for a girl group but wants to stop by the party to talk to her estranged best friend Malachi (also affectionately known as Mal).

The book is structured into times of each day over the period of a week (the Friday/start of Spring Break) to the following Friday) rather than explicitly named “chapters”. You’ll notice there are some gaps in between times so the first-person narration (Nikki) fills in those gaps by telling you what happened (or letting you wonder what happened, which worked just as well for me).

Though this is at its core a teen fictional romance and coming of age, I appreciated the dynamic between Nikki and her sister Vae as well. The balance between being your closest confidante and someone who can betray you in a fearful situation? WOOF. I did not expect to be attacked so personally by Ms. Joya Goffney last night HAHA. However, this was everything that you can expect from Joya Goffney: tugging at your heartstrings, characters that you root for (not only for their romance/HEA but for their joy/happiness in general!), and inspiring/hopeful messages!

I will continue to read anything Joya Goffney writes, and cry at my unprocessed familial trauma because of it. Thank you Joya for sharing this gift with us!

This was a really fun book, i loved the music aspects of the book, as well as the whole traveling aspect. It was sad reading about the main character's home life but I'm glad that the book ended nicely wrapped.

This wasn’t my typical Joya book…it was a bit of a let down.

I felt like the story was just too far fetched. I know that it’s fictional but I still look for it to be realistic. I just wanted to understand how these damn teens were doing whatever they wanted.

This book is sooooooo different from her first two. Not my fave at all.

This book was so cute. I do wish there was a little more context in the beginning around Mal and Nikki’s friendship but I enjoyed this one. Teens go through so much behind closed doors and it’s always nice when they are able to find the supports they need.

I had to give this book 3 stars. It was just okay. The book started off with Nikki trying to leave Texas to pursue her dreams of singing in California. I loved that for her but it seemed like any and everything was standing in her way of doing that. Her plan was to go to CA and never come back. But Mal; her best friend convinced her to stay and spend spring break with him. Their plans are interrupted when Nikki’s sister goes missing. I honestly would have enjoyed the book more if her sister didn’t go missing and the author continued to write about Nikki and Mal’s time together in Colorado. I feel like her sister going missing didn’t do much for the story.

Nikkis mom is such a b word! I never got any answers as to why she treated Nikki the way she did. The author explains but it just didn’t seem realistic. I was confused at that portion of the book. Nikki’s mom was super strict and the fact that she changed the locks on her and cut her phone service off is wild!!

I absolutely loved Mal and Nikki’s relationship in the book. I wished it was more of just them. Friends to lovers is one of my fav troupes, so i really enjoyed how they were in each others presence. Mal told Nikki that he loved her and she didn’t say it back although she did love him. She has a really hard time expressing herself and telling people she loves them because her mom never showed them any affection or told them that she loved them. I really felt that. That hit so close to home for me. I feel like the only reason Nikki’s mom came around was because Mal’s parents said something to her. I honestly don’t think it was genuine. The book was centered around Nikki going to CA to pursue her dreams and then at the end she ends up going but then the story ends. I would have loved to see how everything went up to her signing her contract and if she would have stayed in CA or went back to Texas.

Let me say that I was jumping for joy to get access to this ARC after running through and feeling so connected to her previous two books. What I got was not what Joya usually wrote, formula wise. I felt her mother and Nikki problems, truly. But the rest of the story I did not. Joya writes fantastic side characters, MWWH actually had a sapphic couple that doubled as her best friends?! Count me in! Sadly they were only in the book to promote Nikki to stay in Cactus or promote her feelings more for her childhood crush Mal (like 5 pages max in 400). That’s it, you never see any friends and barely any family members in the book, it's all about Mal. It was even at some points hella sexual which is not what I've gotten out of Joya's other books at all. Very weird reading experience and I was hoping to see this hyped up audition, heads up, its off paper. Wasn't a huge fan of Mal's family in a way that they would just throw money at him and solve any conflict of the story. Also the timeline being explicitly stated (7:35am, 11:47PM etc) for every chapter, therefore making the book have a million chapters and breaking up the flow of the story was bad, as a reader. It didn't make sense to me sense there wasn't a time crunch except the first day of the book and the last. So I'm not sure who decided the chapters would be broken down to the hour.
OVERALL
I'm very happy to have read another book from Joya Goffney, is it the best? No but I did appreciate the time she put into writing the family dynamics, wish I had seen more of that than Mal calling Nikki bae, baby, babe every page within a few days of kissing each other.

My Week with Him is a story with a great premise but the short chapters made for a slow start that seemed disjointed. Once the story picked up, at about the halfway mark, the story seemed to flow more naturally.

LOVE!

I needed to read this book right now. I’ve been in a reading slump. This book reminded me why I love reading so much. Joya Goffney is such a talented author! I love the way she crafts a story. I didn’t expect this to be such an emotional read. It had me feeling all of the things. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Even the moments of anger and frustration. It was so relatable and powerful. Malachi was such a special character. His depth and personal history endeared him to me. Nikki’s growth was so beautiful. I was rooting so hard for her. I loved her bond with her sister. I was so moved by Malachi’s parents’ decency and generosity. I thoroughly enjoyed this whole journey from beginning to end. I devoured this book. I’m so glad that it came at a time when I needed it most.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and Joya Goffney for this advanced copy to review. #MyWeekwithHim #NetGalley

During her senior year Nikki decides to go to California over Spring Break to audition for a spot in a girl band and escape her life of poverty in Texas. But complications arise and she ends up spending it with the boy she’s had a crush on since eighth grade. During the week she is conflicted on whether to follow her dream and escape her abusive mother, or stay in Texas with the boy she’s grown to love.
The description sounded fascinating and with all the glowing reviews I couldn’t wait to read this book. It was a huge disappointment. I had to force myself to keep reading. I never cared about any of the characters some of which felt over exaggerated – especially Mal’s parents who were too good to be true. Much of the “action” took place in car rides and basically consisted of “talking heads” which made the story more telling than showing. I know I’m in the minority, but I couldn’t get into this story at all. Not recommended. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.