Review: "A Week of Mondays"

A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody
4 out of 5 stars

Have you ever had one of those weeks where every day feels like Monday and you don't think Friday will ever get there? Well, Ellison is having one of those weeks. But it doesn't just feel like a Monday, she's actually reliving that same day over and over again. We're talking the red light ticket, looking like a drowned rat in school pictures, the horrible speech, the allergic reaction, and worst of all, the boyfriend breaking up with her. Every terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing. And when she wakes up the next day, she is horrified at first that she has to relive all that. But then she realizes she's been given an amazing opportunity. She can fix everything! Most importantly, she can stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her, because that's the big lesson here right? Right.

He grabs my hand and interlaces his fingers with mine. The warmth of his flesh does more to calm me than any song in any of my stupid playlists. I want to live inside those beautiful strong hands of his.

This is a really cute, but predictable book. I'm a sucker for time travel-type books and this one has the bonus of having lots of fun music included in it. Ellie is a big fan of sixties pop and fun playlists like "Psych me up, buttercup!" I heartily approve of this. Want to listen too? I've recreated it on Spotify just for you! Go here to listen. (I've also added it to 8Tracks but unfortunately, with their changes, could not find all the songs.)

So as the book and the Mondays go on, Ellie learns small lessons here and there but obviously not the big one, because her rockstar boyfriend is still breaking up with her at the end of each day. She confides in her best friend Owen each day and he always gives her the same advice: be yourself. Does she listen? No, of course not. Each Monday brings a new Ellie: the sweet girl, the angry girl, the vixen. (Guess which one rockstar liked best?) None of them work.

We all know Ellie will learn the right lesson in the end and everything will work out. But it's the little things in the background that make this book special: her friendship with Owen, helping her little sister fix her own very bad day, finally kicking butt on her VP speech with a little help from The Breakfast Club. 

Have you ever noticed how many worlds there are out there? Infinite. An infinite number of worlds. And they all function separately from each other. Like unrelated specks of dirt floating in the air. Sometimes two specks will collide, momentarily affecting each other, but most of the time they just keep on floating, completely unaware that any other specks exist.