Member Reviews
Such a heartwarming and beautiful story. Romcoms and London are two of my favorite things. When you put them together it’s nearly always a success.
THis is the story of friends who live in a warehouse flat They all have dfferent lives, however they get together one weekend a month and they take turn planning the weekend. Which is why the chapters are listed by month. It is really a contemporary romance. I thought it was good. It had some slow spots in it. I would read another book by this author.
This was an ode to being in your twenties discovering yourself with a group of friends and falling in love. Lucy and Henry are new flatmates that end up falling in love over a series of weekends while he works as a travel photographer. The best part of the book were the flatmates, who were each interesting and different. The relationship was slow burn and honestly a little difficult to follow given it takes place over one weekend each month for a year.
This debut novel reminded me of “One Day in December” - set in England, lots of missed chances and 2 people finding the right timing. Sometimes love doesn’t care if it’s inconvenient.
This book is unique that the tropes are forced proximity/flatmates and long distance as Henry travels so much for work, he only comes home “once a weekend” a month and the warehouse of various flatmates will plan activities for everyone to do together. That was my favorite aspect of the book to see what they would do and some were unique activities.
Lucy works in a flower shop and feels the frustration of its aging owner not doing enough to prosper, and Lucy feels like she’s losing some of her independence by needing flatmates instead of living on her own.
I thought the pacing was great, I wanted a little more romance as I didn’t like Henry that much or feel like he was deserving of Lucy. He was so awkward and giving so many mixed signals. I wish Oliver stayed around longer but I do think it was weird she invited him to the weekend warehouse activity.
I will definitely be interested in reading more by this author. And I enjoyed the narration on the audio.
Weekends with you is a roomate to lovers romance. Overall I wanted to like this more, the premace was interesting. However, Henry, the love interest, was a walking red flag. I wasn't rooting for him at all and especially at the end. He was not a redeemable character. There was more depth to other characters I would have liked explored more.
I was initially drawn to this book due to the unique concept of a story told over a year of weekends. I loved the planning and execution of the monthly meetings, but the actual romance wasn't my favorite. Lucy was great, a sweet and kind woman with big dreams and a big heart. Henry, on the other hand, was more "walking red flag" than "swoony book boyfriend." While both MCs are understandably hesitant to start something, Lucy puts her card on the table while Henry is wishy washy and vague. And what's worse is that his actions have Lucy questioning herself and her worth when she's the solid one. Henry needed to grow up and mature quite a bit before he'd be worthy of Lucy. I personally would have preferred to see Lucy walk away from Henry and either end up with Oliver or even end up alone. I did really love the other roommates and the found family aspect of the story. Regardless of my issues with the love story this was still a solid debut novel for Alexandra Paige and I look forward to reading whatever comes next from them.
Slow burn romance
Multiple-chance romance
Amazing found family
Debut author
Quick and cozy read
Thank you to both Netgalley, and Avon books for this title in exchange for my honest review.
I adored this book. It is such a well written rom com with wonderful character development. I would highly recommend to others who want a sweet romance that constantly keeps you wanting more from each chapter. I look forward to more releases from Alexandra Paige in the future. Thank you to the publisher NetGalley for the arc to review. All opinions are my own.
3.5/5
Weekends With You follows Lucy, our FMC, as she moves in to a house with several roommates. One of the roommates, Henry, is only at the house one weekend a month due to his job. Over the weekends, we watch Lucy develop interest in Henry, but ultimately struggles with the circumstances around their relationship.
The concept of a story told over weekends throughout a year was what drew me to this book. I feel like most would describe this as a slow burn romance, but I think it contains elements of second (third, fourth) chance(s) romance as well. Which can totally work, but it did not work so well for me in this story. Both Lucy and Henry are hesitant to start something because of prior experiences in relationships which is totally valid. However, while Lucy is straight forward and accomodating, Henry is vague and a poor communicator. He is wishy washy and his actions have Lucy questioning herself (which if it isn't obvious, she shouldn't be).
While the story was wrapped up in the expected way, I would have preferred to see Lucy walk away from Henry. The back and forth of Lucy and Henry's relationship was exhausting and I think Lucy would have been better off alone or with Oliver (a possible love interest who had a heart of gold and was a man with so many green flags).
Overall, I would still recommend this if you want an easy read that is definitely slow burn. I'm looking forward to giving Paige another shot whenever they publish their next novel!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Avon, for an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
Weekends with You was the perfect cozy weekend binge read! The slow burn between the two main characters was *chef’s kiss*! The character development was beautifully crafted and I found myself hooked from the very beginning.
Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC! This sounded like something I would greatly enjoy, and I did enjoy Lucy as a character and her journey. Unfortunately, I did notenjoy the character of Henry - he mistreated Lucy and I felt like she deserved better. I didn't appreciate that she kept on giving him chances - he wasn't mature enough to match her.
Oh this book! This book is very well written with such incredible sweet heartfelt moments. Lucy is such an adorable mix of a character, her dreams are big, and her ambition is big as well. When she moves into a warehouse with a total of 8 roommates which totally worked out well - the found family aspects of this book left me smiling so big and feeling all sorts of emotion. Henry was a bit of an enigma at first, and the sparks just really didn't exist for me, but I did love the monthly meetings and plans. The characters were easy to keep track of and I adore how they were all written with their own slight quirks to really make it believable and easy to follow. The love story fell flat for me, but overall this is one heck of a novel by a debut author!!
Thank you to both Netgalley, and Avon books for this title and I truly look forward to seeing more from Alexandra Paige in the future. All opinions were my own.
I loved the idea of this book and the writing style was great but it felt a little meh for me. It didn’t feel very romantic, and maybe that’s because Henry was blah.
After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish
Weekends with You by Alexandra Paige. Pub Date: April 9, 2024. Rating: 2 stars. In this novel set in London, the main character named Lucy has a floral shop but she has worries she may not be able to make ends meet and to save money she moves in with her best friend and 6 other roommates. Upon moving in, she develops feelings for Henry. I thought this novel was supposed to build into a relationship, but what I got from it was an immature male main character who makes multiple mistakes and the female main character always forgives him. I know relationships can be messy, but I found this one to be a little bit more on the toxic side. The side characters were my favorite. Thanks to #netgalley and #Avon for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
2.5 stars rounded up. I thought this was a really cute debut and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.
Lucy is a London florist who moves into a warehouse flat with 7 (yes, 7) other roommates. She finds herself quickly falling for one of the roommates, but the circumstances are a bit tricky as he is a traveling photographer and only in London for one weekend a month.
This book had some of my favorite themes and elements-found family, flowers, and a London setting, so I think that's why l enjoyed it so much. It had a bit of a warm and cozy feel to it, which was just what I needed. I mostly enjoyed the dynamic between roommates and found those relationships and storylines to be more endearing than the romance aspect of the book. I'll admit at first I was a bit concerned about keeping track of all 8 roommates, but the author did a great job of rounding them out just enough and building a really fun dynamic where this wasn't an issue for me at all. The love story was fine- I wasn't totally invested, but I didn't hate it- and I do think some of their issues and general immaturity in the relationship was realistic considering they are in their early twenties.
I do wish there could have been a bit more background and insight into Lucy's past. This would have made it a lot easier to connect with and root for her. Having such limited background on both her and Henry made it feel a little superficial. Also, this is a very minor annoyance but it threw me off how Lucy was supposed to be from New York but her inner monologue was VERY British. I understand she has been living there for a few years at this point but it just felt off to me every time.
Overall, I found this enjoyable, and if you can look past the somewhat frustrating love story, it's a really solid debut! I'm excited to read more from Alexandra Paige.
This book started off so strong! The concept of this book was a great one. A group of friends living in a shared space so that they can afford the rent, but still carve out time to plan one weekend a month where they spend time together. The characters were written so well that you can not help but love them. What got me was the repeated miscommunication and false starts to Lucy and Henry's relationship. While the miscommunication trope is not something that I enjoy reading, this was still a fun and light-hearted read.
3.5⭐️ - the premise of this book made me pick it up. The beautiful friendships between the 8 flatmates of the warehouse kept me reading it. Each of the 8 individuals had their own voice and quirks and character, which can be hard when the core of the book revolves around two roommates being love interests.
Unfortunately, the friendships brought me more of the warm and fuzzies than the romance did. While I can appreciate the theme of finding yourself and making mistakes along the way, I felt Henry made too many to be redeemable. Of course the nature of the book made for the interactions between the two main characters to be more fast paced, but it seemed Henry was making mistakes at every turn and Lucy continued to forgive him. There was just too much disappointment to forgive - or maybe I’m too jaded!
Overall I did enjoy so much of this book, but I will remember the friendships more than the romantic relationship.
**Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All views represented in this review herein are my own and not a reflection of NetGalley or the author.
A London setting with the main character who works at a floral shop?? And a found family theme?? Very poetic. The story itself was great and I loved the characters (besides Henry) and setting. I do think as a debut the writing was a liiiiitle choppy. The love story in this wasn't really necessary in my opinion. But I will definitely read the author's next novel!
The two main characters "live" together, except it's a large shared warehouse with lots of other roommates, and he's not there most of the time because he travels for work (and wants to leave London altogether). I can see the potential for a romcom here, but felt NO chemistry. I wanted to be charmed by the found friendships, but they all seemed forced and underdeveloped (POOF! we're BFFs! I plan my life around you!" doesn't work for me. Maybe it's my inter introvert who would find living with several strangers who wanted me to hang out with them and have superficial conversations a *living nightmare*). Something about the writing kept me reading, though, so I'd be willing to give this author another try.
Weekends with You by Alexandra Paige had well-developed characters and an engaging plot. It was an awesome read. Highly recommend!
**Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the e-ARC. All opinions expressed are voluntary and my own.**