A beautifully written, coming of age YA that explores complex relationships, family drama and the healing power of love— in all its many forms.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes only. Receipt of a book does not guarantee a review or endorsement. Goffney’s ability to delve into such complex and nuanced themes to create a compelling, three dimensional story always has me in awe—and My Week With Him is no different. Taking a slightly darker tone than her previous books, the story centres around eighteen year old Nikki and the toxic relationship with her abusive mother. Rating as a movie: PG-15 could be PG-13 with the editing of some of the profanity and underage drinking Yes, it prefaces anything it says with “I’m not a doctor”, but then it merrily continues on its way, recommending generic advice such as keeping my baby hydrated, burping him regularly and feeding him smaller amounts more frequently. I prompt further, bringing up a specific rare condition that can cause frequent vomiting in babies, and ChatGPT again says: “I’m not a doctor” before launching into a description of the symptoms.

I heard through the grapevine that Joya was quite nervous for how "My Week With Him" would be received. I totally understand why, it's a lot grittier than her previous work - a lot more swearing etc, but I found that it made it more believable. Having lived through a difficult mother/daughter relationship throughout my teens, I found "My Week With Him" so relatable & realistic. Nikki was forever in a state of limbo with her mother, never knowing where she stood with her. I feel like Joya ultimately wanted this to be a nice story that didn’t put her main character into too much peril, but I was constantly worrying how Nikki was going to manage on behalf of the character who didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of survival skills for the real world. I actually think it’s good to teach kids about money management and it’s not something that needs to be swept under the rug in stories. For the mint yoghurt drizzle, whisk together the yoghurt, mint, lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a small bowl until smooth. From Joya Goffney of Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, comes a stirring YA coming-of-age, best friends-to-lovers romance about a girl named Nikki who plans to run away from small-town Texas, but ultimately finds that her oldest friend, Mal, just might be the one who’s been there for her all along. Filled with heart and humor, this novel captures complex family drama, friendship, and love. For fans of I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest and Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan. Book Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Young Adult Contemporary

One aspect of Goffney’s writing that I’ve always enjoyed and found to be her strength is the strength to make me feel. This book really had me emotional. Like I said, I was feeling all of Nikki’s hurt. When she felt betrayed by her sister, I was so angry and found it difficult to swallow when Nikki seemingly wasn’t as angry as me anymore. When Nikki cried, I cried. This book was an emotional journey.The parts that were Nikki and Malachai hanging out and him trying to convince her Texas isn’t that bad were sweet and enjoyable, it’s just that unlike her previous books, the serious issues weren’t so well woven into the fun writing. Created with a synthetic voice only for early review use, this VoiceGalley advance audio edition provides another great way to get an early sneak peek of this new book! This does not reflect the audiobook, which will be voiced by a human narrator. For ChatGPT, I ask it a detailed question, listing every circumstance of my trip that I think is relevant – the size of my family, my daughter’s Down’s syndrome, where in Tokyo we would be staying, and so on – and then ask it to answer each question three times, from the point of view of a British tourist, a British expat and a Tokyo native, explaining after each answer which parts of my own circumstances make it a relevant answer.

Hateful stuff. I try again, asking it to be more British, and get the same basic script read by a Hugh Grant impersonator: “Hello, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve actually kept this bench free for my chums who are in the beer queue. They’ll be with us in just a jiffy. Much obliged for your consideration!”

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It says: “In a week with ChatGPT, I’ve experienced its remarkable capabilities and limitations. It can create recipes and offer tailored advice, yet struggles with social situations and reliability. As we adapt to communicate with AI, the question arises: will AI eventually grasp our nuances, or will we continue adjusting to accommodate its imperfections? While helpful, ChatGPT cannot replace the depth and authenticity of human interaction.” Which is true enough, though just like my interactions with real physiotherapists, I promptly forget about the exercises in the afternoon when the pain goes away and do absolutely nothing to prevent a recurrence. One improvement on a real physio, though: ChatGPT doesn’t arrange a follow-up session to scold me for my laziness. Wednesday

Stir in the arborio rice and cook for one to two minutes, until the rice is well coated in the oil and slightly toasted. Pour in the white wine and cook until the liquid has been absorbed. WOW!!! This is the first book I'm reading from this author and I am absolutely blown away!! I don't often pay much attention to the synopsis so I went into this pretty much blind; I expected a sweet YA romcom and although it wasn't quite that, it was incredible and I'm so so glad the author went in the direction she did!! I loved the time-keeping, it would've been very easy to shove too much into a week but the time-stamps and the way events unfolded was done very skilfully, which made it read like just a very busy week!! I decided to spend some time with the new ChatGPT myself. Not just to find out about its risks to civilisation, but also to see what it could and couldn’t do to help me with my life. I’ve never had an assistant, a life coach, a chef or a personal trainer – could ChatGPT be all those things for me? I gave it a week to find out. MondaySure enough, if I phrase the same question a different way, it tells me: “I cannot provide real-time data, and as an AI, I cannot access the internet to find specific numbers from the 2011 UK census.” Scratch that then. Tuesday I especially loved seeing him and his parents support her in dealing with her family issues, while never overstepping. There's a lot of focus on Nikki's relationship with her mother, which I thought was given a lot of depth and nuance. The situation was never portrayed as all good or all bad, giving space to all of Nikki's complicated emotions about it.