I absolutely loved this book. Noah is a single dad to two boys and wanting to get back with their mum before she marries someone else. I felt all of the emotions with this book. I thought it would be a light hearted read but was so glad it touched on some really hard hitting subjects too. I laughed and I cried. Outstanding. I loved the relationship Noah had with his boys so well written. I would love to see what happens next so book two please!

I was very lucky to be invited to read this book as I had thoroughly enjoyed and left a 5 star review for Rachel Marks' previous book Saturdays at Noon.
I love the author's style of writing, full of warmth, compassion, sadness and joy. The characters are easy to get to know and fall in love with and I particularly like the fact that Mr (Noah) Carlton is a primary school teacher, working in Reception. The descriptions of his daily trials and his grumpy TA Mrs Watson are so true to life and had me laughing in appreciation.
The humour is needed because life for Noah is not exactly rosy. He only gets to see his boys every other weekend, he is still in love with his ex wife, and his pain as an adult is influenced by pain as a child which leads him to find too much comfort in the bottom of a bottle.
Whilst you know (and hope) that no matter how many wrong turns are taken, things will improve, I must admit that Rachel Marks kept me on my toes because I wasn't entirely sure this 30 year old man's life was going to work out quite as I was anticipating.
I read the book in one sitting, such was the beauty of the prose and the uncomplicated way the author allowed me to slip away from my own life and into theirs. There is such a depth of understanding of human emotion and motivation, of the barriers we erect, the lies we tell ourselves, the fear and anger of loss and rejection, that practically every sentence leaves a resonating signature on the reader's heart.
With plenty of real life issues explored, this is a drama portrayed with tenderness and plenty of humour to make the dark bits more palatable, and leave the reader inspired and hopeful rather than downcast. I was rooting for every character for many different reasons and it is because of this immediate connection I can have with Rachel Marks' funny and flawed characters, that I find her books highly engaging and a delight to read.
Read with a smile and a tear about friendship, first love, being a father, moving on, and trying to be a better person. Life is messy, unkind, beautiful and cruel, but if you keep on trying maybe, just maybe, someone or something, or a whole series of events will have you celebrating the here and now and not just waiting Until Next Weekend.
I only wish Rachel Marks could write as quickly as I read as I am now very keen to read the next book!
Thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read, to Netgalley for making it happen and Rachel Marks for her customary brilliant words.

There are some beautifully sections of this book which looks at Noah's life as he tries to move forward following the break-up of his marriage. His enduring love for his ex is bound up in his complex childhood and meeting Mimi only adds to his confusion. There are a few aspects of poorly researched procedure about Noah's job that pulled me out of the narrative at times but it was still an enjoyable read.

Noah is trying to get over his split from his wife and He meets mimi in the local.
A typical easy going chick lit great to read in the summer

I found a lot of problematic moments in this book, and it was nowhere near as good as I was hoping. I expected this to be a high star prediction for me but it fell flat when it stereotyped gay men, threw in a random suicide attempt and made the main character out to be some sort of hero. It was a big let down.

Until Next Weekend was a joy to read and review. Bittersweet and perfectly pitched, this is the story of Noah, a damaged and heartbroken man. Two years on from the break-up of his marriage to Kate, Noah is barely coping with life. Drinking too much, and letting his sons down too often, he feels hopeless. But when he meets Mimi at his local pub, she accepts the challenge of getting Noah in shape to try to win Kate back before she remarries. Rebuilding his self-esteem, Noah becomes a better father and things seem to be on the up. But when something happens that triggers a terrible memory for Noah, it seems that he has once again fallen into a pit of despair.

This time though, he is not alone and there is a truly heartwarming conclusion to Noah's story.

I really connected with the characters in this story, and I loved the lighthearted moments provided by tales from Noah's job as a reception class teacher. Heartwarming and a feel good story but with grit and substance.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇᴅ: It was a sweet story, even if it felt very sad at times. The love Noah has for his kids and his ex-wife, Kate, throughout are heartbreaking. Noah is a loveable character, despite some of his flaws, I was constantly rooting for him to improve and make the right decisions. I liked that the story was told from Noah’s perspective, as difficult as some of the situations were, we were with the character to fight the battles. It was also refreshing to see a story about a divorced couple with children from the dad’s perspective - I feel this isn’t something you see so often in fiction. Whilst the book is generally light hearted, it does deal with some pretty heavy subject matters at times, which I thought were approached and written well. The ending was really special and the absolute right way to end the book in my opinion.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ: I really enjoyed this book, and genuinely don’t really have anything to add here.

ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅ ɪꜰ: You like stories about father/son relationships or family dynamics in general. Books about primary school teachers. Books with lots of great family/friendly characters.

This is the perfect chick lit with more serious topics of loss, grief and sadness.

Noah and Kate have separated and share custody of their two young boys. Noah hates the way his life is going and misses being a full time father. That is when he decides to get his family back. The only problem.... Kate is getting married in 6 weeks to another man.

Overall it was a feel good read and I was invested in Noah’s story. Although he was chasing Kate with his tongue hanging out for most of the book I got to see the good man he really is. I did not like that some of Kate’s actions I.e. touching his leg and secret conversations, encouraged Noah’s behaviour and willed Noah to see through it all!

A feel good easy read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with the eARC

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Until Next Weekend follows Noah after splitting with his wife Kate, his life is in pieces and he is suffering from alcoholism, he decides with a little help from his new friend Mimi that they are going to get his life back on track for the sake of his two boys and to stop Kate from getting re-married. I really struggled with Noah's character at the beginning of this book, I found him completely intolerable and a tad disgusting if I'm honest, however as the book carried on I found that I got on much better with his character (which was the point of this book however I really did question putting it down). I am really glad I chose to stick with this book, although it wasn't anything groundbreakingly new in the genre I liked the way it handled tough topics and showed a side to family life that wasn't the usual picture-perfect that books like to present. I really loved the two boys Gabe and Finn, I thought they were really adorable and I enjoyed watching them grow and seeing the real honest sides to children going through parents with a divorce (although these two do handle it very well). I enjoyed the romance in this as well, even if it was a bit cliche and I definitely saw it coming.
I had a good time with this book, it wasn't perfect but it was good fun with some more serious undertones.
I would like to give trigger warnings for alcoholism, talks of suicide, and suicide attempts - so if that's not something you feel up to reading at the moment, maybe give this one a pass for just now.
3 out of 5 stars.

This was such an interesting and refreshing read from the perspective of Noah, the ‘weekend dad’. Reading about the emotions that come with that was very enlightening and I very much enjoyed reading this book. There were a few laughs but the tone was mostly serious. Probably best read when you’re looking for something enjoyable but that gets your mind ticking a little.

After completely loving Marks’ debut, I was keen to read her second offering and she doesn’t disappoint. This follows Noah as he’s really struggling after separating from his wife and soulmate Kate who has started a new life with their two boys (who he misses desperately) and her new partner Jerry.

He’s got such a great relationship with his sons (and Kate!) and is desperate to become more than just a weekend dad. But he’s got a long way to go. And it’s this voyage of self growth and discovery that you follow. He makes some bad decisions along the way, really bad decisions. But his heart is in the right place.

I really liked Noah - he’s such a caring, passionate character who’s funny and charming. But he’s also flawed in many ways; his desperation to reconnect with Kate, his own expectations of fatherhood, the damage to his own well-being and his relationship with his dad following the traumatic death of his mum (see trigger warning and potential spoiler below!) - the list is really quite long. He’s a bit of a mess. Actually he’s a lot of a mess.

I love Mimi and Harley and they are such important characters to Noah’s growth - they really do bring out the best in him.

⚠️TW and potential spoiler: this includes references to suicide and the after effects on those bereaved, including an attempt. There’s also references to mental health and the struggles to cope. ⚠️

Given how many weekend dads and nuclear families there are out there, it’s a wonder someone didn’t write this witty, touching and intriguing story sooner.

I adored being in teacher Noah’s head as he drank too much, made a mess of his life and then slowly, with help from a few special people, went on a thought provoking and painfully funny journey to start getting it back together - including confronting things long buried in the past.

Rachel Marks has written an emotional and well developed story, with three dimensional characters you really care about, who are not perfect but who want the best for their children and each other - and above all, who are searching for happiness.

Seeing Noah start off in pursuit of what he wanted, before discovering what he needed - and then trying to work out how to get it, kept me riveted, and I’m looking forward to reading other books by this author.

With thanks to the publisher, netgalley and author for this ARC.

Noah Carlton. Single. Divorced from love of his life Kate. Weekend Dad to sons Gabe,8 and Finn, 4. This wasn’t how life was supposed to turn out for primary school teacher Noah who sees more of his reception class kids than he does his own children. Cramming all his love and affection for his boys into weekend hours, spoiling them with too much screen time and too much sugar is not his idea of what fatherhood should look like. Somewhere along the way Noah has lost sight of the man he’s meant to be, burdened by his own emotional baggage carried over from childhood, morphing into someone who bears little resemblance to the man Kate originally fell in love with. Instead this 30 year old has his finger constantly hovering over the self destruct button, despising the fact Kate is now living with new partner, the boring Jerry, who gets to enjoy the messy, chaotic family life that Noah so carelessly chose to throw away. He’s certainly not going to win any dad of the year awards if he carries on with all his binge drinking and tendency to cancel his weekend visits at the last moment, using the anonymity of one night stands to block out his pain and guilt and sorrow at having royally screwed up his life. But the time comes for Noah when even he can see that he needs to clean up his act especially if he’s to stand any chance of winning back his ex wife’s love and respect. Maybe if he can turn himself from Weekend Dad into SuperDad surely Kate will realise that Noah is still the man for her and welcome him back with open arms? But he’s going to require some assistance to bring his plan to fruition and that’s where newly acquired friend Mimi, (of the incredible bum!) comes in. But will Noah’s makeover be too little too late?

Rachel Marks new novel explores the problems associated with being a part time dad, the difficulties of confronting a painful past and the importance of letting go. She does so with the humour, warmth and compassion that made her previous novel, Saturdays At Noon such a joy to read. This author looks set to achieve similar success with another set of extremely likeable, lovable if sometimes frustrating characters all caught up in the aftermath of a marriage breakdown. Taking her readers from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other she tackles issues such as depression with delicacy, nailing all the nuances of parenthood, the highs and lows of falling in and out of love and the general messiness of life with a precision and sensitivity that makes her stand out from the crowd. Rich in humanity this is a novel to relish.

Noah does not win over any fans with all his immature, irresponsible and selfish behaviour but there is something about this damaged, flawed character that allowed me to turn a blind eye to his evident failings and focus on his more positive attributes. I accepted him, warts and all and found him to be an engaging and complex main character who I thought deserved a second shot at happiness. As a teacher of a class of four year olds Mr Carlton earned my immediate respect; the humour that accompanies tales of daily school life, shepherding, mollycoddling, guiding (and sometimes educating!) these little monkeys, moulding them from babies into more capable human beings is utterly delightful. I adored them all, even the not so angelic ones! They are a wonderful source of amusement, providing the reader with plenty of giggles as well as some more heartbreaking moments. Away from his professional life Noah’s love for his sons is unconditional and unwavering although he struggles to sometimes channel his feelings in the right direction. His pain, stemming from the past is so raw, debilitating and intense that I felt overwhelming pity for the man; his vulnerability is heart rending but I loved him all the more for his insecurities, rooting for him all the way. Yet I also felt every inch of Kate’s frustrations with her ex and felt thankful that Mimi could see beneath Noah’s anger, despair and guilt enough to befriend him.

The messages conveyed in this type of fiction rarely alter but that doesn’t make reading them any less pleasurable or rewarding. The author hits all the right notes with a narrative that convinces its main character to look forward and not back, to accept they cannot change the past and to try and conquer their demons whilst grabbing a second chance at happiness and love. Its always the characters who breathe life into these wise words but without a certain je ne sais quoi, plus some magic and sparkle and inherent goodness in them the storylines can often fall flat. That’s not the case here, the author doesn’t inflict you with any middle of the road characters so I gelled with Noah, Kate, Gabe, Finn and Mimi without hesitation; it required no effort to take these characters to my heart and hold them close for the duration of the novel. From Rachel Marks pen flows a fictional fractured family with whom I didn’t want to part company, wishing each and every one of them a future full of all the best things life can offer. I adored this novel, finding it deeply emotional and poignant one moment, funny and lighthearted the next but the balance between sensitive issues and humorous interludes is brilliantly poised. I’m so happy (and relieved!) that Until Next Weekend lived up to my high expectations and I am so excited for book number three!! Perfect fiction for lifting your spirits! My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

I read Saturdays at Noon earlier this year as a buddy read with a friend and was very impressed with the way the storyline was handled and most of all, the depiction of real, flawed humans. All too often characters in books can be one dimensional and a little too perfect. The fact that Rachel Marks includes multiple angles of the human character is fascinating and makes her a must read author for me. I was therefore really excited to see her this, her next book due to be published at the end of April.

In Until Next Weekend, Noah and Kate have recently gotten divorced. Kate has moved on with a new man, Jerry, but Noah has fallen into a pattern of alcohol and missing his weekends with his two young kids.
When Kate announces her impending wedding to Jerry, Noah falls apart. Will he be able to get her back?

This book is somewhat along the same lines as Saturdays at Noon in that there is lots of emotion, and told from a single dad’s perspective too. The characters are well rounded and everything feels very real. I’m kind of blown away by the author’s talent in making me empathise with the characters when I don’t even have kids. Very much looking forward to her future work!

I was lucky enough to be sent a proof copy of Rachel's first novel Saturday's At Noon early last year and I absolutely loved it, so I couldn't wait to read her second novel and I was not disappointed.

Until Next Weekend is told through the protagonist Noah, we learn that he's divorced, has two children and is still madly hung up on his ex-wife Kate who is due to get married to a new man, Jerry and Noah can't stand him. Unfortunatley Noah isn't exactly making himself look the part of doting Dad and loving husband. He's struggling to open up and come to terms with past events and spends most of his time going out and getting drunk. He eventually strikes a friendship with Mimi, who works at the bar. She agrees to help him change his life round, in a bid to win back Kate. But is it too late to change Kate's mind and remind her of why she married Noah in the first place or is Noah not realising what is right in front of him? Well you'll have to read the book to find out!

The one thing I loved about Rachel's first book was the way she brought the characters to life through her writing and the same can be said for the characters in Until Next Weekend. They seemed so real and normal, that it was hard not to get sucked into the storyline. They had ups and downs, like we all do, and that was told through the story and you learnt to love the characters for their flaws as well as their perfect parts too.

I found it really interesting to read a novel like this which was told from the male perspective and Rachel's writing style and how she adds the light in the darker moments of the novel is ingenious. There were parts that made me emotional and other parts where I was laughing out loud, it really is a great page turner and I've already started recommending it to friends and family members.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin UK/Michael Joseph for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review prior to the publication date.

Written from Noah’s perspective on life this is a funny look at family,marriage,love and children. Although flawed, Noah cones across as a decent man trying to do the right thing for his family. I really enjoyed his relationship building with Mimi. It’s got a lot of lighthearted moments which are mixed with emotional topics that are written sensitively and with feeling. A really enjoyable read.

I loved 'Saturday's at Noon' the debut novel by Rachel Marks and was very excited to receive a copy for review of this, her second book.

Like the first, it focuses on families, love and relationships and the delicate balance between them. The story is told from the perspective of Noah, an early years teacher who is trying to survive his marriage break-up while in self destruct mode. At times I wanted to reach in and give him a good bloody shake and I was pleased when he made friends with Mimi who did just that.

With her help he embarks on a plan to turn his life around in order to win back his ex-wife. No spoilers here as to whether that happens but I will say that thankfully the story also expands to showing him addressing the death of his mother and the effect his father's disappearance had on his mindset.

A book I ended up reading late into the night in order to find out how it ended!

What a brilliant read. I loved every page. Noahs journey through heartbreak, a split family, to what happens next. Kate was a fantastic character and the author wrote her brilliantly. This book has made me realise how much I enjoy a male voice while reading books. Absolutely perfect. Would recommend to everyone.

Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks

“Real characters, emotional twists and love on every page”

I enjoyed this book so much I read it over two days and didn’t want it to end.

Noah is a weekend dad but the love he has for his boys and his ex wife is the heart of the story.

Ex wife Kate is getting married again in just 6 weeks and Noah is agonising over a decision to tell her how he feels or risk losing his family dynamic.

I especially enjoyed Noah’s real dramas involving the daily life of teaching four years olds.

His relationship with his Pupil Harley is heart warming. As is the pure father love for sons Gabriel and Finn.

It is a story which is relatable to many in today’s society with step parenting and the merging of two families.

But Rachel Marks uses real characters and humour to make this a fun and light story but adding some sad detail to keep you reading but also by adding depth to the characters.

I can not recommend this book enough so Sunday afternoon reading. Especially if you finished Rachel’s other book Saturdays at Noon....

Noah and Kate were married with two sons. But marriage isn't easy. One day Kate leaves taking her two boys with her. These days Noah is a weekend dad - and it breaks his heart. He misses family life so he decides to try and win Kate back. There's just one problem - Kate is getting married in six weeks time.

This is a heartwarming and heartbreaking read. Noah is a lovable character who has flaws. You can't help but root for him even though he can go the wrong way about doing things. There's also some humour in this story. It's told from Noah's perspective. Some sensitive subjects are dealt with but they're done compassionately. This is an engaging read from beginning to end.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #PenguinMIchaelJosephUK and the author #RachelMarks for my ARC of #UntilNextWeekend in exchange for an honest review.