Whilst I enjoyed the story of Mack and Karim, I really struggled to get in to the plot with the story written in verse. I’m sure this is a style that many people will enjoy but my personal choice meant that I didn’t enjoy it as much as expected and found myself wanting to finish as I wasn’t enjoying the style of the book.

This was an enjoyable about first love that doesn't really go to plan when life gets in the way and things change. It was a quick and easy read that I finished in a weekend. It didn't really read as much like a novel in verse as I was expecting.

I do always love a Scottish setting so I enjoyed reading about Macks time in Glasgow although it did make it seem like the cities were a 5 minute walk fmro the countryside which isn't really the case especially from the center of Glasgow!

I wasn't really a huge fan of Mack, I didn't like the way he treated people and thought only of himself. He was a bit pushy when it came to K and what he was comfortable with. He seemed to want their relationship to be exactly as he planned and wasn't happy when K just wasn't as comfortable with his sexuality. But I feel he did learn some important lessons in how his actions and feelings affect others. I did like that Mack was pretty comfortable with who he was.

It was interesting to see the relationship between him and his father, who was supportive but wasn't really there for Mack. I did like seeing howtheir relationship progressed.

There wasn't much of a plot to this one and it was fairly basic but it did focus more on the characters and Macks thoughts and feelings which I did enjoy. Mack didn't always make the right choices but he is a realistic teenager just trying to figure everything out.

Hooray for a YA book that actually feels like it's aimed at teenagers for once! The characters speak like teens, behave like teens, make mistakes, are a bit bratty, standard teen behaviour!

I loved this book! Main character Mack is out as gay and happy in school with his best friend's Femi and Sim. He has a big crush on K and things develop when he finds out K likes him too!

But then Mack's dad takes him off to live in Scotland for a few months whilst he directs a film up there and Mack is torn away from K. Then Mack meets Fin, the trans male star of his dad's new film, and suddenly finds himself liking two guys at once!

So whilst Mack frustrated me at times with his behaviour, I still loved him! I think he's just an imperfect 15 year old, what 15 year olds do you know who communicate well and make smart choices every time?

Beautifully written in verse and dealing with lots of issues such as grief, anxiety, toxic masculinity and internalised homophobia, it never gets too heavy and was a pure pleasure to read. It's long at over 500 pages but I honestly could have read more! Can we please have another story featuring Mack??

Ooh I also want to mention that the Scottish characters dialogue is written into the book which was a nice touch!

Only on the Weekends features:
🏳️‍🌈A gay, Black MC
🏳️‍⚧️A Trans character
👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾BIPOC side characters
❤️Self-exploration
📝Verse

Mack has a crush on school basketball player, K. The two eventually begin to date, but Mack is often left disappointed by K’s lack of PDA, as he isn’t openly gay. Mack and his dad temporarily move to Scotland to shoot a film featuring trans teen; Fin. K begins a flirtatious relationship with Fin, and laps up all the attention Fin gives him that he isn’t getting from K. Mack struggles with his feelings for both boys, but who will he choose?

This was…okay. I absolutely adored The Black Flamingo for all its queer glory and expression, and equally loved these aspects in Only On the Weekends. I appreciated the commentary on masculinity, and how diverse and inclusive the term is. Atta depicts a teens journey through their sexuality incredibly well, with flawed characters, mistake making and first loves.

I wasn’t a big fan of Mack’s personality which definitely affected my overall enjoyment. I liked a lot of the side characters but they’re not as central or focussed on. I also had A LOT of issues with the formatting on my Kindle and had to use another software to read.

Overall, this was fine but doesn’t pack as much of a punch as The Black Flamingo.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

TW: racism, racial stereotyping, fatphobia, homophobia, mention of a family death, domestic abuse & child abuse (mention of), colourism, death of a parent, cancer

First off; the version that downloaded on my kindle was very poor and made reading it a lot more difficult.

I went into this one with high hopes. I absolutely adored The Black Flamingo and I’m absolutely gutted to say that this just didn’t pack the same punch.

I found most of the characters very unlikable and self centred. The only ones I liked were the adults and Maz.
The plot, albeit very important just seemed a little forced.
I know this is an own voices book and I couldn’t ever imagine the hardships that the characters are facing but I just wasn’t invested in any stories.

I did however absolutely adore Mackenzie love of make up and how those around him complimented him rather than degrading him for it

There was only two pages in the file sent to my kindle and one of those was front cover. Therefore unfortunately I can't read or review

'Only on the Weekends' was my first novel in verse by Dean Atta. Full disclosure - after reading this, I downloaded and devoured 'Black Flamingo' as I was desperate to read more from this stunning author. I am glad I read this first as I enjoyed Black Flamingo a lot more. However, this does not detract from how much you are going to love Mack's story in 'Only on the Weekends'.

We meet Mack, who is openly gay, as he admits his crush on school basketball star K. They begin a relationship, with K being on a journey with his sexuality and wanting to keep it on the down low. The tension in this arrangement comes to a head when Mack moves with his director father to Glasgow and strikes up an intense flirtation with trans film star Fin. Atta does a wonderful job of building these complex and flawed characters who are making typical teenage mistakes in their first relationships and growing into comfort with their sexualities. Will Mack and K be a dream relationship come true or be derailed by beautiful Fin?

The novel in verse style makes this a pacey and often lyrical read. There are moments where we follow the racing plot and others where the words swim with meaning regarding Mack's journey in the book. I cannot say that any of these characters are completely likeable which was one of the reasons why I was able to connect with Michael in Black Flamingo more easily. I was left wishing Mack would stand up to K a bit more.... Despite this, 'Only at the Weekends' is a overall a heartwarming journey of self-discovery. I look forward to seeing what Atta comes up with next!

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

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely adored The Black Flamingo and this is no exception. I read the whole book in less than 24 hours, and wished there was more. Mack is your typical teenage boy, albeit gay - he's recovering from an unrequited crush on one of his best friends when he falls for popular Karim. But when Mack's distant father uproots the family to Scotland, can their relationship last?

There were elements of Heartstopper in this (by no means a criticism) and I'd love to see more stories of LGBTQ+ teens finding their feet in the world of love and relationships without it being a story of horrible bullying. It's also a story of finding yourself and, by extension, the people who love you for who you are. I thought the Karim storyline was complex and realistic, and I loved that not everything was neatly tied up in a bow at the end. Another success for Atta.

The Black Flamingo is one of my favourite books and I’d been anticipating Only On the Weekends ever since it was announced in 2020; it was supposed to come out last year, but it was postponed until May of this year. This contributed quite a bit to hightening my anticipation and maybe it’s part of the reason why I ended up being disappointed by this read.
Before we begin, I want to specify something: I have read a e-ARC of this title and it was sent to me via Netgalley; as you may or may not know, Netgalley’s ARCs are not very compatible with Kindle e-readers and the typography is oftentimes awful. With a book such as Only the Weekends, typography and illustrations are really important, and this issue certainly didn’t help my experience. For this reason, I want to read a finished copy sometimes in the future, to see if my rating changes. Keep this in mind while you read my review.
My main issue, anyways, was the main character. I found him extremely annoying, selfish and he read much younger than his age. I was super disappointed by this, because I really loved the MC in The Black Flamingo. I think Mack from this book is up there with the MC from Meet Cute Diary (my review is here) and the MC from Miss Aldrige Regrets (review) for my most hated characters of the year. Definitely not what I expected. The other characters were a bit more interesting, but sadly we saw them through Mack’s eyes; I would have preferred to get to know them better by themselves, to be honest.
Another thing I didn’t enjoy was how much this book relied on the miscommunication trope. I don’t like books that overdo the miscommunicating, especially when coming out, LGBT+ identity and love triangles are involved. This book had all this and it was extremely frustrating to read. I knew from the plot that there would be a love triangle — which was already a turn down, but I thought: “It’s Dean Atta” — but I didn’t like the fact that it was between the MC and two guys who had a different approach at being out and proud or being in the closet. I think one of the two love interests was portrayed as being in the wrong, but there’s no right way to be LGBT+. Not everyone is comfortable with coming out, and if you cannot deal with that, you should date someone else without deceiving your partner.
Stylewise, the book was okay. I really loved some sections of it, but overall it didn’t have the same impact on me that The Black Flamingo had. I don’t know, something felt off, especially with some verses in particular. It ’s possible that in the finished copy this was fixed, but in general I think this book wasn’t as strong as the first one. It was also unnecessarily long, I feel like it could have done with a few pages less. On the other hand, I really liked the illustration and I would have loved to have more of them in the book.
I am still interested in reading other books by this author, but I would not recommend starting from Only On the Weekends, especially if it’s your first novel in verse. Maybe it would be better if you read The Black Flamingo first and then decide if you want to try this one.

After reading 'The Black Flamingo', I knew I wanted to pick up Dean Atta's future books and I am so glad that I picked this one up. I absolutely flew through the book. It was so fast paced and I was completely sucked into the drama of Mack's life.
I loved Mack as a character, I loved that he was a teenager and he made mistakes and he was a little bit cringe sometimes when it came to him falling for K.
My feelings about K were very mixed. He bugged me a lot because Mack was always giving him 100% in the relationship and K was giving him nothing back. Maybe it was because he was a teenager and he made mistakes and didn't know how to handle being in a relationship whilst also not being out to his friends and family, but I couldn't root for him and Mack because he did not seem interested in Mack at all.
I also don't know how I feel about Fin. I loved him as a character. He was definitely the perfect match for Mack but I wish we had got as much of Fin and Mack's relationship as we got of Mack and K's relationship, because I loved them a lot more.
This book is about being a teenager, first love and making mistakes along the way. There are some amazing discussions on sexuality, gender, friendship, first love, family and grief. I loved the writing style of this book. Dean Atta does an amazing job of writing in verse. I am not a massive fan of poetry but I adore books written in verse and this was no exception. This book was written so well, and in such few words I loved Mack and loved going on this journey with him in 'Only on the Weekends'.

Loved, loved, loved, loved, loved!!!! Found so much connection to this book, particularly with the setting of Glasgow, the patriotism came through for me! A beautifully written book, really interesting plot and storyline. Definitely recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Children's Group and Dean Atta for an advanced copy of this book!

Only at the Weekends is an another absolute gem from Dean Atta! I read The Black Flamingo earlier this year and it's still one of my favourite reads of 2022 so far, so when I saw I had been approved for Atta's newest book, I was delighted! 

Once again, we see Atta deal with a huge range of themes in that flowing verse we've all come to love! I absolutely adore not only what he writes about but how he writes. It's lyrical, it's poignant, it's beautiful. Another thing I've come to love are Atta's characters. They're so human. There's real depth and personality to every single one. You can so clearly imagine these individuals walking down the street. I find it to be a rare thing for a writer to create characters so genuine and true to life.

So many aspects of life are touched in this book; sexuality, acceptance, identity, friendship, family, relationships, gender, growing up. Unlike his previous book, Only at the Weekends centres around our main character Mack and his relationship with K, where all the above come into play. It's another touching coming of age story, one of importance about finding yourself and your truth!

*Please research any trigger warnings before reading*

*2.5 Stars*

If someone asks me what disappointment looks like, I'll show them a picture of this book.

Mack has had a crush on K for as long as he can remember. When he ends up next to his cousin in class and they start hanging out outside of class, he can't believe his luck. His friend group gets bigger and he starts spending more and more time at K's house... When he finds out his feelings aren't unrequited, he's the happiest he's ever been but things aren't so simple because K isn't out and is very skittish about it all...

I wanna start by saying that I love novels in verse and I really loved The Black Flamingo and I was really looking forward to reading and loving this one. It is not what happened.
So what went wrong, you ask? Well.... a lot...

Let's start with Mack, our main character. While I love a layered and flawed main character, Mack was just so selfish, self-centered, infuriating and sometimes an actual doormat. He would fight his love interest on things like coming out or PDA but would let him get away with things like a nickname he hates, not paying any attention to his interests (though that was mutual) etc...
I think we all know by now that you shouldn't force someone to come out, they have to be ready to do so, it's their lives, their friends, I don't care if you're in a relationship or not.
I'm also extremely mad at this:

"Let's have breakfast," he says.
"It's gonna get cold,
And you're not meant to
Heat up food too many times."

What about me? I think.
How many times can I handle
Being heated up by K
And left to cool down again?


Cause they were kissing and K stopped it. And that gave me flashbacks to my ex pressuring me, blackmailing me for sex which is so obviously never okay.

A lot of it was so cringy too. K calling Mack "Big Mack" as a sweet nickname and then changing it to "Cupcake" had my eyes rolling so far back. And speaking of eye rolls, just the way Mack sometimes reacted to the barest of attention had me on an eye roll competition with myself. Guess what I lost.

Spoiler alert/rant about the ending.
[I HATED THE ENDING. MACK CHEATS EMOTIONALLY BUT THAT'S OKAY AND HE ENDS UP WITH THE GUY HE CHEATED WITH AND THAT'S PRETTY MUCH IT???? WHAT KIND OF ENDING IS THIS]

So yeah, Mack treats everyone like crap, most of all Maz, K's cousin but some people aren't always nicest to him either so that's okay. Who cares that he's never there for his supposedly friends once he starts dating, who cares that he makes promises he never keeps, who cares about any of it? Who cares that when asked for space, he texts, calls and tries to talk to that person at school before going "so I'm giving you space" ARE YOU THOUGH?
No lie, his dad was also a bit of a dick and I wasn't too mad at Mack for being angry with him. i guess the character I liked most was Cleo but what she liked about Mack? I'll never understand. honestly, I don't understand what any of them liked about him, except maybe his childhood friends.


I was just so enraged during so much of this. Disappointment is not a strong enough word for what I feel for this book....

I adored Dean Atta's first book, and read it multiple times - I even got the chance to meet Atta at YALC a few years ago.
This book was no where near as good for me.
It felt really long winded, and I found some of the characters a little too similar to each other - they blended into one at times.
I did enjoy the central character of Mack, and I liked being with him on the journey - but the journey was just very long winded and slow paced. I think it would have benefitted from having 50-100 chopped off to increase the pacing, and remove some of the repetitive elements of the plot.

I hope the next Dean Atta book is more up my street!

I was a massive fan of 'Black Flamingo' so this was an instant request for me and I went into it with high expectations which definitely weren't disappointed. I absolutely love the poetry format - it always manages to portray so much emotion.

The characters were younger than in 'Black Flamingo'' which I thought might affect my opinion but I still really liked following their journey. Sims is my absolutely favourite character - he gives off strong Isaac from Heartstopper vibes. He was just quietly in the background, ready to step forward and be the voice of reason when needed.

Thanks for the review copy!

After reading The Black Flamingo (which I absolutely adored), I couldn’t wait to read Dean Atta’s new verse novel. I enjoyed the fact that this one had a younger protagonist which made it more relatable to a younger teen audience. I loved the exploration of heritage and navigating friendships. Another book by Atta that I would highly recommend!

I absolutely loved The black flamingo so I was excited for this one and had high expectations, unfortunately I was disappointed. Although the book covered come important topics I didn’t feel connected to the characters in anyway and found them quite annoying tbh. I was getting bored of the story and I could of easily DNF This and not thought about it again 😫

DNF at 200 pages!

I loved The Black Flamingo, so when I saw that Dean Atta had published another book, I couldn't wait to get it!

However, I am so bumped about the fact that I didn't enjoy this one very much.

I didn't like Mack. At all. I thought he was a 16 years-old guy that behaved most of the time like a 5 y/o craving attention from his friends and his family.

I found him to be very selfish. He complains about his dad being away for work innumerable times, but he is happy to wear all this fancy clothes, jewellery and shoes that his dad's job pays for.

He complains about his dad being away for work but when he moves to Scotland and wants to take Mack with him to spend more time together and because he is underage, he also complains about it because it's not a good time.

He also complains about Maz, his friends, Uncle O and K. Like if everybody else had nothing else to think about but him.

I didn't like how Mack pushed K to come out, and when he did, it wasn't enough. Mack, my dear, some people need more time than others. You cannot pretend to go from 0 to 100 in just a matter of weeks.

I also didn't like how much of a drama queen Mack is and how some social situations affecting black people were treated here.

In general, I thought that Mack was a very annoying character and I didn't enjoy the read. I am sure lots of people will love it but Only on the Weekends wasn't for me.

Once again, a beautiful, powerful and moving novel in verse by Dean Atta.

I loved every page, word and letter. Mack’s story and growth was phenomenal to see, as well as those around him.

A must read!

Mack's dad is a famous film director but Mack has never felt like leading-man material. Until the day he discovers that his long-time crush, Karim, might actually like him back. Everything seems to be working out, despite the fact that K is not ready to publicly acknowledge the relationship, until Mack moves to Glasgow for his dad's new project and meets the subject of the film - reality star, Fin. Can the instant connection Mack feels with Fin, outshine his first love - especially as he now only gets to see K on the weekends.

Like 'Black Flamingo', this story is told in verse, and is a wonderfully warm and insightful look at the thrills and heartache of first love. The complicated dynamics between Mack and his friends are also beautifully explored and each chapter is bracketed by a significant moment Mack is sharing with his dad on the red carpet of the new film in the present.

'Only on the Weekends' is another poignant and insightful coming-of-age story from this talented poet and author.