Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A phenomenal read with an incredibly concept. I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and would highly recommend.

I absolutely loved this. Justin A Reynolds constantly blows me away with how wonderful his books are, and how much they ruin me in the best ways. I love this so much.

Amazing concept for a book that takes a sensitive look at grief and teenage friendship.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I didn't care as much as I hoped I would about the characters, but it is a good concept exploring some big issues. Great for teenagers to think about the big things and what is important in life.

wow, i really hated this book. i think it's safe to say that justin a reynolds is not an author for me because i have not liked either of his books. something about his characters is so cringey and i really didn't like the writing style in this. it was somewhat clunky but trying to be deep and it just didn't work for me.

also, the basic premise of this book was identical to opposite of always, except instead of a girlfriend, the protagonist was trying to save his best friend by using time travel. what. think of a different plot please. it was okay in opposite of always, even if i didn't actually enjoy it, but why is he using the same plot for his second book as well?

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and allowing me to be a part of the blog tour!

I have heard quite a few people talk about Justin A. Reynolds’ books in the past but I had never picked one up myself. I have a copy of Opposite of Always somewhere at home and I will definitely be picking it up now that I have read Forever Ends on Friday. This book made me laugh, it made me cry and it brought a smile to my face. It is excellent!

This book is a contemporary story with bits of sci-fi weaved throughout which is what initially sparked my interest. I’m so glad that I picked up a copy. It has some unexpected twists and turns throughout which kept me hooked. When it comes down to it, this book is a beautiful exploration of living your life to its absolute fullest. It doesn’t do this in a cheesy way though it just makes you think about how you never know what is around the corner.

Forever Ends on Friday is surprisingly hilarious at times and provides readers with a celebration of life and a huge reminder to treasure every minute. I feel like this book and its message, is one that really resonated with me because of what is going on in the world at the minute. I really appreciated it and I’m sure a lot of others will.

The dynamic between Jamal and Q is incredibly complex. This isn’t helped in anyway by the fact that they have been through some tragic events throughout their friendship. It is so lovely to see the two friends mend over time though. It is heartfelt and heart-warming. I enjoyed the little glimpses you get into Jamal and Q’s friendship in the past, especially the little excerpts from their YouTube videos. Yes, the humour is quite childish at points but they are teens and it is still incredibly fun and makes you laugh a lot.

I did struggle getting into this book at the start. It started out quite slowly in my opinion and it took till around 150 pages in for me to be captivated. After the slow start though I couldn’t put it down.

I adored how much this book is about finding family and realising who and how much people have your back. This book came to me at the perfect time when all I wanted to read about was love and growth. Any book that manages to seamlessly mix humour and the devastating reality of loss is extraordinary.

On the topic of grief, I’ve never seen another book explore the topic in the way that Forever Ends on Friday does. It even had the effect to have me reflect on moments in my own life and what I would do relive them. Justin A. Reynolds manages to approach the topic of the moral question of reliving events and offers a very unique take on the subject.

Overall, this book is spectacular and brought a smile to my face at a time where the world is tough on us all. It is funny, it is tear-jerking and it is just wonderful. If you are looking for a story to captivate you and really make you feel, this is the one for you.

Forever Ends on Friday was so deeply moving and affecting in its heartfelt, beautiful and utterly unique portrayal of grief. Its unique premise is morally thought-provoking and leaves you really thinking about what you would do in that situation.

Surprisingly, this is also a funny book, providing a celebration of life and a reminder to treasure every minute. Jamal and Q’s dynamic is complex to say the least, not helped by tragic events in their past and watching them slowly mend it is cathartic and heartfelt. You get glimpses of how they used to be, helped by the excerpts from their Youtube videos. Their humour is random, slightly juvenile and just catches you off guard in the best way. You can easily picture them causing hijinks in the street and the laugh kind of catches in your throat.

That’s the true strength of this book, in the way it seamlessly mixes humour and the devastating reality of loss. The process of grief is explored in a truly original way through the story. It made me reflect on moments in my own life and what I would give to have them again, but also made me question what the true cost of those moments could be. Reynolds really taps into that moral conundrum and offers a rich, nuanced take on the subject.

I really enjoyed how elements of sci-fi mixed with the more contemporary storyline of the book. It has some unexpected twists and turns along the way, but it’s overall an understated, quiet and beautiful exploration of life’s regrets and ensuring that you do live life to the fullest. That makes it sound cheesy, but it isn’t at all, rather it just drives the point home that you never know what is around the corner.

Forever Ends on a Friday imagines what we would do if we had a second chance at saying goodbye through a thought-provoking and sincere story-line, punctuated by moments of joy.

TW: Death, Grief, Drowning, Loss
Forever Ends on Friday takes an interesting concept and explores it thoroughly its full of friendship and family in all its forms and manages to take a topic that is dark and unpleasant and somehow manages to make it heartwarming.
The characters are lovable and flawed, there is a running commentary on forgiveness and rewriting wrongs and there is definite character development.
It is definitely a contained story and served its purpose, the language is accessible and the pacing is excellent. It is easy to fly through, and I enjoyed the structure with the short chapters that counted down.
It is a unique and interesting concept however not necessarily one that will stick with me unfortunately as sometimes it did feel as if it was trying too hard to make a point and got repetitive. I would have thought I would have been more emotional, but maybe I just have a very cold heart.
Rated: 3.5 Stars

4 stars!

Wow this book was so so sad and so hard hitting that I honestly have no words. Justin A. Reynolds has a way with words and with feelings that I just haven't been able to find with any other writers. His words hit hard and leave me thinking about them long after I've read them.

Once upon a time, Jamal and Quincy were best friends, brothers, but for the past couple of years their friendship has deteriorated. But now Quincy is dead, and soon he will die again. So can Jamal say everything he wants and do everything he wants with Quincy before his friend disappears forever?

This was beautifully written and so real and raw that it's impossible not to be moved but it. A wonderful story about grief and friendship and love and the meaning of life.

Please read this book.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was one hell of a book. I went into it with no clue what it was about which just made it all the more impactful.

Reynolds has managed to create a book that is simultaneously one of the most beautiful and saddest books that I have ever read. I loved every minute of reading this book even if I had tears streaming down my face for at least 75% of this book.

This books is a razor-sharp exploration of grief as well as focusing on living, truly living and nods to last moments.

The numbering of the chapters in reverse was so clever as we got a countdown but somehow you also manage to forget that is what's happening.

This book contained a lot of surprises considering it seemed to have a pretty clear direction

I have now spent a little time after reading this book trying to find the best way to highlight how much this story is quite simply a life-changer. Or how I like to describe it, a heart-breaking story with a lot of heart.

When we think of death in all its forms, we tend to think of our loved ones that have passed on. The conversations that we had with them, the times that we have spent together, but most of all, what we would say to them now that they are no longer with us. Our minds constantly hover over the concept of what ifs and how we would have made that possible. This is where this story comes into the picture.

I have read many a books throughout my life so far, but nothing compares to this powerful piece where the author is using a genre to highlight what it means to be human and how we are able to leave a piece of us that will always be remembered by those who know us most - that we are never forgotten no matter how hard we try to.

Yes, it is probably something that most of us probably don't want to hear about at the moment, but somehow I found this story strangely comforting. Death is not the end - it is simply a beginning in so many ways. I think this is something that modern society forgets, as we are constantly looking towards our own goals. So when we think about death, this becomes something fear-inducing as it is not something we planned, not something that we know of. But that is ok. That is why we have people around us to make it a little better, just like Q does with his family and friends.

If there is anything that this book is able to teach its readers is to grasp every moment, try and do the things that you really want to do, sooner than later, talk to people, whether making new friendships or reigniting old ones. We are all on the same journey, so be kind to one another.

I'm very glad that I stopped for one sitting to read this book - this is definitely a story which I will keep in my heart forever. So thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy.

This book is deeply emotional and heart wrenching in the best way. Often grief is a subject that most shy away from or gloss over but Reynolds tells an important story here and does so in a way that it is accessible not just to the target audience, but to all.

This was an excellent read and I now want to run and pick up everything Justin A. Reynolds had previously written!

If you are going to read Forever Ends on Friday have some tissues ready. It's an emotive, heart wrenching read that will make you cry. The journey the characters go on is so well rounded. It's a lovely but extremely emotional read that tackles a subject many YA writers shy away from.

This was just as heartbreaking as I wanted it to be. I loved Opposite of Always but I think I
Loved this one even more, it was so emotional and had me sobbing at multiple times!

After only two books, Justin A. Reynolds has become one of my favourite young adult authors. His novels are exceptionally compelling, emotionally memorable, and always worth the adventure.

Like Opposite of Always, Forever Ends on a Friday is contemporary but has sci-fi elements that add excitement to a wholesome foundation. In the book, Jamal’s best friend Quincy dies in a freak accident. Their friendship was in ruins after Jamal blamed Quincy for his parents' death, and now Jamal is heartbroken over the loss of his best friend. But when an extraordinary opportunity means Quincy gets a second chance at life, Jamal is determined to repair their friendship and finally say goodbye.

I love the care and tenderness in which Reynolds examines grief, depression and redemption, especially in teenagers. Jamal and Quincy’s friendship is a true bond, which becomes evident in their difficult pasts and depth of their heartfelt conversations. After reading Opposite of Always this doesn’t surprise me, but I adore the levity Reynolds uses to create a hard-hitting and an entertaining read. The balance is perfect recipe for a profound contemporary story.

There’s a strikingly relatable pain in this novel that I think almost every reader can relate to. The believability of the emotion despite the fictitious narrative is both beautiful and heart-breaking. It’s a story that certainly leaves the reader with a lot to think about, but the importance of living every moment to its fullest is abundantly clear.

One of my favourite elements of the book is its structure. The chapters are numbered, and descend from 100, with some of them only being a page long. This, along with the connections between the characters, their tangible trauma, and the discovery of healing while losing, makes Forever Ends on a Friday a stunningly poignant read.

A topic I feel YA in general seems to shy away from is grief, and how to deal with it, but this book was exactly what I would've wanted when talking about such a meaningful subject. Beautifully poignant and a full 5 stars.

Forever Ends on Friday follows Jamal who tries to save his ex-best friend from drowning, Q is later reanimated and given another chance to live however it is only for a limited time. Jamal is still grieving the loss of his parents and the blame he placed on Q caused their friendship to end, but with this second chance to wants to make amends.

The book is a quick read and I loved how the different themes of grief, friendship and love were dealt with, I really enjoyed the writing style especially how the book dealt with the sad themes but also had this fun and humorous tone to it. I really liked Jamal as a narrator and the focus on the relationships around his including his sister, his girlfriend and his best friend, it was interesting to see how he dealt with everything including his grief and emotions about what was happening. I did like all the other side characters especially Autumn and how much they did to try and help Jamal and Q deal with their issues, I loved the scenes when they were all together and even though the book is sad, it has a feel-good vibe to it.

The plot of the book moves really fast, which I did not like – it made it hard for me to connect to Jamal and Q’s relationship. I loved the parts in the book where it showed them when they were younger, it was cute but I thought that in the present day, they reconciliation happened way too quickly – they were not friends for two years and they made up really quickly. I also thought that the science fiction/reanimation part of the book was interesting and important to the plot but it felt really out of place in this book and it did not seem to suit the tone of the book. The second half of the book was really cheesy, I did find it cute but it was too much and whilst the first half was more realistic the second half was disappointing.

3/5

I have got to stop reading books that make me cry on the bus in a mask <sniff>. BUT Forever Ends on Friday (US title is Early Departures,) by @andthisjustin is also really funny & I loved it. Read on #NetGalley, out in the UK in January, thanks @MacmillanKidsUK! https://t.co/jCPw9VzJQN

'Forever Ends on Friday' is a unique and incredibly moving story, Justin A. Reynolds delivering his message of valuing every minute of life with his beautiful, lyrical writing. The plot swings with ease between moments of deep grief to laughter, balancing the spectrum of human emotions in this speculative portrayal of life and death.

At the beginning of the novel, Jamal has lived without his parents for two years, still trying not to lose himself in the grief of their tragic deaths. We see him attend a beach party where he argues with his old best friend Quincy. Further grief is piled upon Jamal's shoulders when Q tries to rescue a girl from the water, sadly succumbing to drowning despite Jamal's best efforts to save him. It is here that Q's mother and Jamal are offered an option - Q can be reanimated for up to a month before re-dying, giving him extra time to say goodbye to his loved ones.

If you could be brought back with slightly more time, would you? And would you want to know about your impending second death?

The main reason I enjoyed this novel was because of the relationships between the characters. Q, Jamal and their families face the impossible situation where they know exactly the time a loved one will die. This leads to a lot of soul searching and heart to hearts from all characters, allowing the reader to care deeply about Q making the most of his last days on earth. Reynolds gets his characters to make poignant speeches and truly own their emotions at Q's death, begging the question that perhaps this concept of reanimation could make death a more peaceful and less a lonely jump into the unknown.

Overall, the ending is as heart-wrenching as you can imagine and rounds off the emotional journey of each character. Definitely a recommended read but have some tissues handy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.