[Lisa’s Review:] 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.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Abigail Johnson’s Every Other Weekend is my first read of the year, and I honestly can’t tell you when a book last left me this much of an emotional mess. Johnson managed to spin an angsty, emotional, and incredibly realistic story around two, for different reasons, broken homes, the unpredictability of life, and the unexpected lighthouses that appear in the most unlikely places when the latest storm threatens to pull you under.

While Adam and Jolene’s backgrounds are vastly different, their initial situation is the same. Both feel stuck in their parent’s shared custody arrangement, powerless, angry, and isolated. Whereas Jolene has more or less accepted her fate, Adam is understandably struggling with the situation that his family has been forced into, lashing out at his brother and father. Adam and Jolene instantly bond over their similar emotional lives, and with every other weekend, spend at their father’s places, develop an unlikely friendship, that eventually turns into more.

Neither of them knew it at the time, but they were exactly what the other needed and didn’t even know they were looking for.

The emotional depth to the characters, leading as well as secondary, and their development, in general, was unreal. Even though I’ve never been in a situation similar to either Jolene or Adam’s, I could relate to them on a level that kept me glued to the kindle throughout the entire thing. I absolutely refused to let go before I knew how things turned out for them. Johnson managed to capture the reality of their situation, the choices that one makes if there is no real choice at all, and their consequences in incredible detail, making this a first-class emotional rollercoaster.

This one’s for everyone and a definite must-read in 2020.

Lisa

Hi! I’m Lisa. I’m twenty-three, a college student and a book lover. I spend every free minute, and most of my lectures, reading all kinds of books, which is how I ended up here. While I particularly enjoy books of the young and new adult variety, I also love historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, all things romance, and one or the other classic as well. If I’m not reading, I’m either working, sleeping, binge-watching my newest obsession on Netflix, or on my way to Starbucks, to satisfy my slight caffeine addiction.