Review: Every Other Weekend

Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Note: I received an ARC from Edelweiss, the publisher HarperTeen, and the author in exchange for an honest review.

*Warning*: This book does deal with heavy stuff such as separation anxiety (in a way, I think), grief, learning to get support, manipulation by families, sexual assault, teenage angst at an all time high, miscommunication (sort of between the main characters and others too). So be warned if you read this book. I already told you so.

But let's move on.

"A good destiny is two people finding each other without even looking." (Anonymous)

I think that quote up sums up Adam and Jolene's budding friendship to first love quite perfectly. This book ruined me, shattered me, pulled me up and down, wrung my emotions out every which way it could, and yet..I still loved it for doing all that.

I thank the almighty god and my goodreads pals for loving it and pushing me (not intentionally) to be curious about it and read it.

THIS IS THE BOOK WHICH MADE ME AND BROKE ME! 'Nough said.

I can't find enough words to praise and cry and praise and cry some more about how perfectly relatable, heart shattering and emotionally draining book this is.

I mean the story, yes it has been done in many other ways, but god it still never stopped me from picking it up.

Plus the cover, damn me. It's not hot, but rather quirky and cute, exactly what I wanted right now to get me up and out of my hell for the last couple of weeks which I resided in. (They (Lucifer) allowed me to rest though..so ye.)

Plus the characters were flawed in so many ways (but in such an awesome way) which made them even more relatable (despite me having a different life to theirs) with their problems, teenage angst and emotions. Yet, the good thing it was, they were more mature than any other character I ever saw in YA. Literally. No matter what problem crossed by, they solved it (even if took time)..god I loved their maturity so fucking much. Heh.

Yes, I have to admit, some of their solutions weren't best but kids are kids. (As a teenager myself, I agree with some of their solutions, but now I realize they weren't so perfect, once I started reviewing this.. But they are kids, they wouldn't know much about handling their situation without being complete dramatics about it and crying to someone they loved and not knowing how to deal right and proper.)

THEY WEREN'T ADULTS. That's the problem, I've seen with some of the goodreads reviewers who've reviewed this. Yes, they are children and yes they do a lot of things that an adult necessarily wouldn't agree with (probably reason enough you shouldn't really read this if you're an adult and you can't really go with unconventional solutions..) but they are kids in the end. People forget this a lot when they review it. They are kids and will do things that would necessarily deem them as stupid, risky even. But in the end it's just a book and they're just young, daring teenagers. That's all.

The romance. Well the romance was not fast-paced, I have to admit. (Probably would suck for people who love fast-paced plots with the romance coming in early like 100 pages or 200 pages earlier..) But it was perfect at their age, I think, as I said again, they are kids, and kids at 16 or any teenage age will never understand what it is like to love someone (on time) and want them around when you miss them. So I think it was perfect and the chemistry came at a brilliant time (and if anyone disagrees...why are we still talking?). At least they got time to act about their problematic situations and I guess..have a life? Sorry to those who think romance should always come first in these books. Y'all need more substance in life than just simple romance in books that are not like what you expected.

The ending - You know what I loved most? The ending. WHy? Because in the end, the author showed us that not everything can get better all at once or with a stick chanting words of bippity boppity boo, everything will automatically change for the good of all. She still showed us how some people don't change, but they can get on the mend. Not everything is perfect by the end, but you get there. You get there. That's all.

PLUS THAT ESSAY! Damn, I'm actually jealous of your writing, Jolene. But you're such a talented and sweet girl, so I'll let it go this time. Cheers.

The problems people had with this book - 1. Too long (people, they needed time to sort out their shit, what do you think, they're magicians?) 2. Characters didn't click romantically (well interactions needed to happen y'all, and this isn't some new adult novel where they explored their chemistry through sex..geez) 3. Characters are too childish (yeah well they're teenagers and clearly you're too mature, your wise one..*rolls eyes*)

So ignoring the petty problems of adults above..this book was one perfect package that lifted me up, up, up, up, uuuup! Gah, I've never soared high this much until today.

So thank you to the people mentioned already for landing me this book, and I sincerely hope I get to read more books by this author in the future.

PS: The character Daniel (mentioned in the book) does have his own book called If I Fix You. Up to you if you'd like to read in order. I'm eager to try it. So fingers crossed, I can find it and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed this one.

Until the next read,

TMR

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