Ugh...One is Bad Enough, But A WEEK OF MONDAYS?!?

Title: A Week of Mondays
Author: Jessica Brody
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: August 2, 2016
Source: ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When I made the wish, I just wanted a do-over. Another chance to make things right. I never, in a million years, thought it might actually come true...

Sixteen-year-old Ellison Sparks is having a serious case of the Mondays. She gets a ticket for running a red light, she manages to take the world’s worst school picture, she bombs softball try-outs and her class election speech (note to self: never trust a cheerleader when she swears there are no nuts in her bake-sale banana bread), and to top it all off, Tristan, her gorgeous rocker boyfriend suddenly dumps her. For no good reason!

As far as Mondays go, it doesn’t get much worse than this. And Ellie is positive that if she could just do it all over again, she would get it right. So when she wakes up the next morning to find she’s reliving the exact same day, she knows what she has to do: stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her. But it seems no matter how many do-overs she gets or how hard Ellie tries to repair her relationship, Tristan always seems bent set on ending it. Will Ellie ever figure out how to fix this broken day? Or will she be stuck in this nightmare of a Monday forever?

From the author 52 Reasons to Hate My Father and The Unremembered trilogy comes a hilarious and heartwarming story about second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances. Because sometimes it takes a whole week of Mondays to figure out what you really want.

Somehow, I have the entire Unremembered trilogy on my shelves and yet I've never read it. So, this was my first Jessica Brody novel. Not a bad place to start, though, because this book was all kinds of adorable. It's the kind of story that my fantasy-loving heart would have remarked upon as insubstantial a few years back, but now I find myself gravitating toward lighter, fluffier reads as a palate-cleanser in between darker, more in-depth fare.

I found A Week of Mondays to be clever yet predictable but ultimately enjoyable. It was compulsively readable and had me turning pages well into the night. This might have actually been one of the last novels I finished reading in less than a week. I was just thoroughly entertained and having so much fun with it.

I loved reading Ellie's journey of self-discovery, learning who she was and not just how everyone else saw her. Ellie is snarky and self-deprecating and yeah, a little melodramatic when it comes to her love life. And though I wasn't completely on board with her plan to make Monday her bitch and win back the so-called guy of her dreams, I did enjoy seeing her grow into her own person by the end of the story.

And regarding the so-called guy of her dreams, I don't think I've ever met a character named Tristan that I actually liked. Ever. And Ellie's rock-god boyfriend Tristan is no different. But I would have actually hated the guy in this book if it were not for those When We Were Us chapters in between each Monday. Those bits of insight into how they met and how they were together made me see why Ellie would fight so hard to hold onto the guy.

A Week of Mondays was every bit as Groundhog Day-ish as I expected and just as funny. Plus, it was super cute. The MC was a little hard to like in the beginning but she really grew on me. I wish there had been a little more substance to the ending, but all in all, I really enjoyed this novel. It totally gave me the warm and fuzzies. :) Though I don't think I'll ever learn to love Mondays.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples, and electrical tape.

After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions and Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author.

Since then, Jessica has sold over twelve novels for teens, tweens, and adults including 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, The Karma Club, My Life Undecided, and the three books in the Unremembered trilogy, the first of which is currently in development as a major motion picture by the producers of The Vampire Academy, Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, and Slumdog Millionaire. In 2016, she will release two new contemporary novels, A Week of Mondays (August) and Boys of Summer (April), and in 2017, her debut middle grade novel entitled, Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up, will hit bookstore shelves.

Jessica’s books are published and translated in over twenty foreign countries. She currently splits her time between California and Colorado.

Find Jessica:

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