Alphabet Weekends: Love on the Road from A to Z

I thought this was going to be a simple and entertaining tale of falling in love. But what it really turned out to be was a study in contrasts between what love really is and isn't. Natalie is getting over the breakup of the man she thought she was going to marry (though heaven knows what she ever saw in him!) and her best friend, Tom, is determined to help her through it - and maybe see if there is anything between them. What ensues is a story of what it means to love - and what it doesn't mean. There is a truly tragic side story of Natalie's best friend, who seems to have the perfect marriage - but still hasn't figured out what it means to love, rather than just lust after someone. And there is the story of Natalie's parents and what show more it means to love when things are worse rather than better. This was a well done narrative. show less

I found this a little slow to get into initially as it felt like too many characters were introduced too quickly for it to be possible to grasp who was who and care about what was going on. It actually wasn't really a problem though because as soon as the intros were out the way we got to know the characters more. The story is really about three different relationship - Natalie, who has just broken up with her long term boyfriend and her best friend Tom, her father and mother and Tom's brother Patrick and his wife Lucy. To be honest, 2 of the 3 storylines are really good. The main storyline of Tom trying to convince Natalie that really he's the one she should be with and using an 'alphabet weekend' system to convince her is a lot of show more fun. We watch him try to convince her and it's hard not to fall a little in love with him as well and you almost want to strangle Natalie for not realising how perfect he is sooner. The idea of readjusting how you see someone though is unique and not all stars and hearts and rainbows like some books. Moving someone out the 'friend', 'almost sibling' box and putting them into the 'significant other box' isn't easy, so maybe I shouldn't judge her too harshly. Regardless - Tom is adorable and awesome and I loved him so when Natalie upset him, I automatically sided with him even if, deep down, I could understand what was holding her back.

The storyline with Natalie's parents is smaller, but nicely handled as they deal with first her mother's growing depression and then her father's health deterioration. The only weak part I found was the depiction of Patrick and Lucy. Patrick loses his job and feels emasculated and Lucy sees that as a reasoning behind having an affair with her best friend's husband who is a friend of Patrick. I hate, loathe and detest cheating and the justifications behind it and although Lucy gets exactly what she deserves in the end, it annoys me that Patrick doesn't really get anything. I guess that's realistic but it annoyed me slightly that the victim ended up fearing he was going to lose the daughter he had raised, was left out the house and became, as he described, a weekend father when he was the one wronged and the one who deserved more. Lucy's warped justification and almost callous way of dismissing him just made me wish for once that the good guy came out on top.

It was a good book though, much better than I was expecting and actually kinda addictive once you got started. Worth a read if for no other reason than to see how the alphabet makes a good foundation for building a relationship and helping to see someone in a very different light. show less

While the title describes the relationship between best friends Tom and Natalie and their attempt to determine whether or not they can have a romantic relationship together, I found the secondary relationships in the book much more interesting, and in the end didn't necessarily find the romance between Tom and Natalie believable. I was most interested in the relationship between Natalie's parents, particularly with how a cancer scare with no subsequent disease had as great an impact as the disease itself might have, psychologically. I wrote a much more detailed review at my personal website, which you can read here.

Alphabet Weekends is a romance story about Natalie and Tom - old friends who are in different places in their lives. Tom thinks there could be more than friendship between them, but Natalie has just had her heart broken by the departure of her long-time boyfriend Simon. To help ease her back into life again, Tom talks Natalie into the two of them doing an activity together each weekend beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.
I found it to be a light and enjoyable story. Personally even with romances I prefer a little more plot and a little less time exploring relationships; however, Elizabeth Noble's sense of humor made me laugh out loud more than once, and trying to translate the Britishspeak provided endless amusement. Baby show more strollers are prams, people shop at IKEA instead of Wal-Mart, and the end of a long day leaves you knackered instead of exhausted. (If you get stuck on an expression, effingpot.com is quite helpful.) Throw Alphabet Weekends in your beach bag and enjoy it. When you return, you may be inspired to plan ABC activities of your own. show less

Best friends since childhood, Tom gets Natalie to play a game with him to both cheer her up & see if what they have could be something more than just best friends. Playing a game of alphabet weekends, Tom & Natalie switch off each letter in the alphabet, picking something out of each others element. Will they make it to Z? Or will their relationship stumble and fall apart before they could finish the alphabet? While on their escapade of adventure, Tom's sister-in-law, Lucy, struggles with her marriage when her husband looses his job and she seeks passion and lust from her best friends husband. Natalie's mother has a marriage and life that's not up to her standards in what she wanted in life and finds herself falling deep into show more depression.

Okay, if my boyfriend told me "lets do the whole alphabet weekends thing", I'd be on board 100% I absolutely loved this book. Going through the letters with Nat & Tom, I got caught up in the story and couldn't put down the book. I always found myself waiting impatiently for the next letter to hurry up and get here. This book isn't all lovey gushy stuff, there are some deeper stuff as well. When I started reading the little bits about Natalie's mother, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. But, I also felt really bad for Nat's dad as well. And then you get to Tom's sister-in-law Lucy, oh, my. I was praying and hoping that she wouldn't cheat on her husband.

I really liked the alphabet weekend idea in this book. I thought it was cute and fun. As for the parts I disliked, well... I disliked that Nat was so slow in figuring out her feelings for Tom. After the first few chapters, I was starting to love him! But, I think the timing and everything was really good between the two characters.

When I picked up this book, I picked it up because I read one of Nobles other novels and absolutely loved it and I'm going to say it now, I'm glad I picked up this book. I would definitely recommend this book! If you haven't read this book, you should read it now :) show less

In an effort to win the love of his childhood friend Natalie, Tom comes up with a plan -- they will go on a date each week that is themed around a letter, from A to Z. This sounds like a perfect chick lit recipe, but Alphabet Weekends is much more than your average chick lit. Though the story focuses on Tom and Natalie, Noble also follows several other couples at different phases in their relationships. The result is touching and well balanced. This is a great, light read for those who aren't necessarily into the chick lit genre.

This was a cute book. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone. All, I want to say, is that Tom and Natalie, starting off as best friends, then lovers was believable.