Alphabet Weekends

by Elizabeth Noble

Natalie and Tom have been best friends forever, but Tom wants them to be much more. When Natalie's longtime boyfriend walks out on her just when she thinks he's going to propose, Tom offers her a different and wildly romantic proposition. He suggests that they spend twenty-six weekends together, indulging in twenty-six different activities from A to Z, and at the end of that time Tom's convinced they'll be madly in love. Natalie, however, is not so sure. As Natalie's touring the alphabet with Tom, her mother's going through her own romantic crisis—while Tom's unhappily married sister-in-law, Lucy, struggles with temptation. And over the course of six amazing months, three generations of passionate dreamers are going to discover that, no matter how clever they are, love—and life—is never as easy as A, B, C . . .

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Book Club, Adult Fiction, Adult, Contemporary

425 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)literature & fiction

Elizabeth Noble is the author of several previous Sunday Times bestsellers: The Reading Group, which reached Number One, The Friendship Test (formerly published as The Tenko Club), Alphabet Weekends, Things I Want My Daughters to Know, The Girl Next Door, The Way We Were, Between a Mother and her Child and Love, Iris. Her last two books were also Richard & Judy Book Club selections. The Family Holiday is her ninth novel. She lives in Surrey.

Follow Elizabeth on Facebook and Instagram: @elizabethnoblebooks

Reviews

[Elaine and Tess the Springer. I won’t be on GR for a bit. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved 75% of the book, I just found it difficult to get into it at the beginning.

[Kurisuchina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book because I needed a pick-me-up after reading something pretty depressing. I expected it to be pretty fluffy, but the other two love stories examined make the book a little more thought provoking. It's not just two made-for-eachother people FINALLY getting together, it's also about the disintegration of love for one couple, and how love changes for another. I admit, the story arc about the infidelity was interesting, moving and thought provoking, but ultimately depressing. I only gave this book 3 stars when I'm usually pretty liberal with my stars because I think that it overshadowed the happy fuzzy feeling I should have had when the two characters got together. I know that it's there as a foil for the HEA, a sort of cautionary tale about love gone wrong that should make you appreciate what you have, but, sigh, I ended up feeling more sad about the one couple than happy about Natalie and Tom. This being said, I still think it's a good book- my brain wants to give it 4, but my heart wants to give it 2, so i compromise with 3 stars.

[Donna Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for book club. I’ll admit I went into it with low expectations of romantic fluff. However, the book ended up having all the fun romantic fluff, alongside two other couples: one older couple dealing with depression and health issues while maintaining the joy in their relationship; and the other couple dealing with loss of affection and infidelity. The story was really enjoyable and the characters well-developed. I was impressed by the complexity of the relationships and the questions the couples worked through together.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving this a 3.5 rating.
This sounded like a cute romance story In a way it was but at the same time, it was kind of sad. You have three story arcs going on, Lucy and Patrick, Anna and Nicholas and the main one Tom and Natalie.

Out of the three, I thought the AN arc was kind of sweet, sad but sweet, the LP one not so much. Though TN was my favorite since well, the whole alphabet arc they had going was interesting and made the fun kind of cute in a way, wondering what they'll think up next depending on the letter they on.

And of course while reading, I thought of Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman for some reason.

Anyway, the writing was good, some of the characters were interesting, was not expecting the tone at times. Over all a good read.

[Nicole Sackin · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fun and entertaining read. i want to play the alphabet game in my own life. the characters are really relatable and entertaining to read about.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book three times and each time I have completely lost myself in the alphabetical rom-com of lead characters Natalie and Tom;I have not been able to put this novel down! Elizabeth Nobel writes a tale of nearly thirty something Natalie who finds herself heartbroken surrounded by sisters and friends who are (capital letter 's':) Settled. Her old best friend Tom decides to take Natalies mind off her woes by organising platonic weekend dates; they each take turns to choose an activity for the letter of the alphabet-genius!! When I first read the book aged seventeen my friends and I took inspiration and did an 'alphabet Fridays'. . .I really wish I had had the idea first, but I doubt I could write characters as well rounded and memorable as Nobel has.

The book opens on New Years Eve, Natalie is driving to her new years eve party: a reunion with old friends: she is dealing with heart break and feeling nostalgic. From the opening chapter I fell in love with this book and the character of Natalie. I feel that you know all along that the characters are all destined for a happy ending, but with the early introductions of Natalie’s depressed Mother Anna and Tom's brother Patrick who is facing the new year with no job as he has just taken redundancy; I think it is a interesting novel,kitchen sink and Richard Curtis combined.

I found myself from early on really relating to Natalie. I could not speak for my gender of readers as an entirety but I do think Nobel has constructed a character who is a very typical woman living in contemporary times with modern and innate worries. When she is driving along and feels choked up with nostalgia, remembering new years gone (boyfriends gone, friends gone etc. . .),I related to those common thoughts that time could be passing us by and we are not: 'forever young' and just what does our future hold? I think it is great that the lead character is likeable, funny and very, very human.

I loved the different places that the book took me because of the alphabet structure. Abseiling, the horse riding incident, the ballet which ends up more 'birthing pool', the family get-together. . .it allows for visualisation and keeps a flow to the novel.

Nobel creates a great chemistry between Natalie and Tom, which is built on chapter by chapter. The jealousy Natalie displays when Tom informs her he too will par-take in speed dating, it made me laugh because it so true in dating: you want to make him a tiny bit jealous but cannot abide him treating you the same. .

I did enjoy the characters of Lucie and Patrick and Nicholas and Anna. They are necersary because they provide the 'soap opera' to the 'sitcom'- and it should be a sit com!! However, Tom and Natalie were the characters I loved. This book has made me yearn for a best friend who is a boy who can be my Tom. In a similar set up to my favourite programme Gavin and Stacey, Tom and Natalie are Nessa and Smithy.

An absolute joy to read, I highly recommend.

[Deborah Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected this to be a fun, light, romantic read. It was deeper than I expected. It did take me a minute to remember which couple was which - but I made notes on a slip of paper, reasoned out the interrelations, and quickly had it in stride. This is the story of Natalie who always picked the wrong guy (I empathized as this is me), and after a 7 year long dating relationship, her boyfriend breaks up with her. The boy next door from her childhood, who has been a friend her whole life, makes a deal with her to take turns choosing activities each weekend, in alphabetical order. Tom takes her abseiling (rappelling), she takes him to the ballet, he takes her canoeing... and I am so hooked, my boyfriend and I are having weekend adventures/traveling. We started with A is for Atlanta, altitude (Skyview) and the 35th floor of our hotel, art (Van Gogh immersive exhibit), and autophotography (The Selfie Museum). For B, we want to stay in a boat through Airbnb, probably in Biloxi. Maybe we'll walk on the beach... Could C be Cumberland Island? Chattanooga?
This book isn't just about them, though. It is also about Tom's sister and her husband, and their friends, another couple. It is about the results of not communicating your sexual needs in a marriage, sharing or hiding your other troubles from each other, adultery, acceptance and forgiveness, getting past it, or splitting up and not getting past it. It is also about Natalie's parents, maturing love, relationship changing when children grow up, move out, and start their own families, then partners getting illnesses of the elderly - and caring for each other and dealing with the aging, failing bodies.
It never blatantly says what is right and what is wrong in a relationship, but looks at each person's journey to find love and what it looks like to them. This book made me happy and hopeful. I recommend it to ladies everywhere, regardless of their current relationship status.

#abookyouthinkyourbestfriendwouldlike

[Melina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was what I have come to expect from Elizabeth Noble books--a quick, entertaining read. There are a few story lines going, but with enough connection to each other (both through theme and actual character interaction) to keep it from feeling disjointed.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Fun, relaxing read. After a not so fun non-fiction pick for a really fun couples book club, this light hearted exploration was just what I needed on a snowy Sunday. Fans of Lianne Moriarty and Emily Giffin should spend some time with Elizabeth Noble.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining read, it was a bit difficult for the first half to track who was who the way it skipped around but it ended on a high note.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked this book, but I buddy read it with a friend who DNF'ed it so its definitely not for everyone. The basic premise of this book is that a couple of people (Tom and Natalie) have been friends forever and now he's going to try to woo her and convince her to be more through 26 dates-- one for every letter of the alphabet. The couple is going to go back and forth (he chooses A, she does B, etc.) to get to know a different side of each other. Adorable premise, but this book has so much more going on it feels a little unfocused. We also get the story of Tom's brother, Patrick, and his wife Lucy. They have 2 kids and a struggling marriage. She is cheating with one of their best friends and we see the internal and external struggles there. We get the perspective of Nicholas and Anna which are Natalie's parents. Anna is depressed and Nicholas has a stroke. Natalie has 2 sisters, one of which has a baby, and we get a little bit of each of them too. It would be fine with me if we got all of those perspectives but the focus is on Natalie and Tom and the other perspectives are their lives relative to that plot point, but thats not how this was at all. Some of the dates are virtually glossed over and we get a page or 2 of the date, but the majority of the chapter is about some of the other characters. I honestly didn't know if this was going to be a romance or a family drama for a huge majority of the book. I don't mind (and would actually kind of prefer) family dramas so it didn't really bother me but this will not be for everyone. The lack of focus and real plot could be a buzzkill, but I enjoyed it.

[Rosina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I was heartwarming, cute and simple. I don’t often read books like this, as I usually find myself getting bored but this book seemed to keep me entertained.
The main couple Natalie and Tom were obviously my favourite. I don’t think the book needed the other romance stories and maybe would’ve even been better without them. Although the characters were connected, their stories weren’t and it felt like they were a little unnecessary and just kind of got in the way of the main plot.
Either way, I loved Natalie and Tom and the idea of their alphabet dating, and think it would be a really cool concept to try!

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so I would have given this book 5 starts but I didn’t like the way it was written. I *think* the author is British because the book was written using British words. I don’t like that at all. Other than the writing style, the book was very good. I love the A to Z dating ideas.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was ok - probably a 3.5 for me. I didn't love it but it was enjoyable.

I did find it took me a while to get into the story of the different couples.

[Zoe Katsaggelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of characters so took a bit to know everyone and their connections but then got into it! Cute idea and easy read

[Romi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.6 or 3.7 what a sweet read. nothing epic here but a cute look at relationships done in a clever way.

[Sylvia Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a memorable read thought what I needed right now. not too challenging. Tee characters were too obvious and the plot rather too predictable to do much more than give some respite to a tired out brain which wanted to be amused. If you want light fluffy romance then yes give it a go, it is fun, t is comforting, it is an 'all's well with the world' kind of whimsy read.

[Judi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun quick read.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just what I needed after the dark zombie post-apoc and disappointing Sookie Stackhouse this week. It brightened up my reading life a whole lot.

I picked this book up at the Empire State Book Festival, after hearing the author speak at a panel about "Chick Lit." Her fellow authors described her books as funny and witty, and the back cover blurb made it sound like this book would go a long way toward filling the Olivia Goldsmith-shaped hole on my shelves.

And, while I think it's unfair to compare authors like they're as easily swapped out as Mr. Potato Head's parts, this did, indeed, go a long way toward fulfilling my "fluffy and funny and smart" needs.

This may well be chick lit. But it's appealing and smart and funny and engrossing and made me happy to read it. Books like these are why I search out new authors: because sometimes, you stumble across just the kind of thing you needed to read. It made me smile, and it made me laugh aloud, and it made me want to buy a copy for every woman in my family. It was just plain fun.

It doesn't hurt a bit that Tom kept reminding me of my husband.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book on the surface was about two best friends trying out dating to see if there was chemistry between them. However as I read farther into the book, it was about all types of relationships. While best friends Tom and Natalie are working their way through alphabet themed dates, his brother and sister-in-law are dealing with marital problems in the form of a lost job, lost communication, and infidelity. Natalie's mother is going through clinical depression and no one in her family knows what to do with her. Bridget, Natalie's sister has a brand new baby. Throughout all this, Tom insists on taking Natalie out on these dates so that she can get over Simon, her selfish ex, when he is really hoping she will fall in love with him. When Simon appears back in her life, both Natalie and Tom think this might be the end for their dates until Natalie comes to her senses and realizes what has been right in front of her all along. While there is a happy ending for Tom and Natalie, not all the couples in the story are lucky enough to stay together.

[Amanda J · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

The first part of this book was quite tedious and I actually had to put it down for a week and come back to it. I thought it would be lighter and more fun, but I found the whole thing rather depressing. With a romantic story like this, it is a foregone conclusion that the romantic leads will end up together; so the journey had better be interesting. I think the author tried to achieve this by contrasting the main relationship of Natalie and Tom and their Alphabet dates with the trouble & failing relationships of those around them. This made the novel feel discordant to me, however; the chick-lit appeal of Natalie's story was lost among the sad story of her parents and similarly Tom's jovial and comical nature wasn't enough to lift the doom that surrounded his brother Patrick and wife Lucy.
Ultimately, I felt like this book tried to be too many things. Instead of doing one thing well, the author managed to jam several types of novels into one with a mediocre result.

[Antoinette Palmieri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just finished this. I was hoping for a fun light read... turns out I found this book to be pretty depressing.

The characters I liked, Anna and Nicholas, stopped developing about half way through the book and then they were just sort of there, background characters. So that was disappointing. And I found it hard to care about any of the other characters.

I trudged through to the end just to see if anything interesting would happen with Anna, but nothing did. I did not find it to be funny or romantic. I think I should just stay away from romantic novels in the future. They are NOT my cup of tea.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same author as The Reading Group, which I surprisingly liked, so I picked this up. This book was so boring! I barely remember what happened. Some girl breaks up with her boyfriend and meets up with an old friend of hers who happens to be a boy, who really likes her and they go out on “alphabet weekend” dates which means they switch back and forth and do something each weekend that begins with a letter of the alphabet. LAME! And the dude thought this idea up because he wanted to get back in the good graces of the girl. Some other stuff happened with supporting characters, but it didn’t really connect.

Grade: D

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have actually read this before, but didn't remember until I was a good chunk of the way through. I guess that sort of sums of the book: unremarkable. Two friends (one with different intentions) agree to spend 26 weekends doing an activity together each week, tied in with the letter of the alphabet, as a way to help the woman move on from a painful break-up. Predictably, it gravitates into a love story.

It was fine, it passed the time. I actively enjoyed Noble's 'The Reading Group', but her other novels have left me indifferent ('The Tenko Club, 'Things I Want My Daughters To Know'). I probably won't bother with anything more; it seems that 'The Reading Group' was a fluke to me.

[❤Marie Gentilcore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3 stars. An entertaining and enjoyable book. It is primarily the story of Natalie and Tom, who have been friends since childhood. Natalie has just been dumped and Tom comes up with alphabet weekends where they will each pick a date theme starting with the letter and A and ending with Z. There are a couple sub stories; one involving Natalie's dad and her mom who is going through depression, and the other about Tom's brother and his wife who deal with adultery. There were many amusing parts as well as some more serious parts.

[Tif · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really (REALLY) similar to the movie "Love Actually" and in this case, I liked the movie more.

This book is in English, but it's English English, as in 'hail to the Queen' English. So you have to really pay attention to get what they are talking about. And most of the pop culture references are too British to be familiar. Oh, and it took me 4 chapters to figure out that "knackered" meant tired.

Besides that, it's a cute story.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple, predictable read. I really just wanted to read more about Natalie and Tom and wanted their characters to develop more. But instead we got Natalie's parents and Tom's brother and his wife and their stories mixed in there too. Too much of them, wanted more Natalie and Tom.

A fun concept/idea of the alphabet weekends, I think if the story were more focused on that fun idea, the book would have been better.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute beach read. decided to put the fat twilight book aside while in hawaii & borrowed this from stoof.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this book- that each chapter was based on each letter of the alphabet.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. It was an okay read. For the first part of the book, I would have given it 2 starts. I actively disliked having to slog through the first part of the book. I almost didn't make it out of the first couple of chapters. But, I did and what followed could have garnered 4 starts overall, but I went with 3 for the following reasons: There were just too many characters I did not care about crammed in to what I thought was simply going to be a love story between the two main characters. I wanted to see what their ABC weekends were going to be. No more. No less.

In some instances, it is great that a book is not what you expected. However, in this case, when you've been promised that you're going to follow two long-time friends through a series of experiences and they will (probably) get together in the end, tossing in the disintegration of a marriage and adultery, just isn't fun. I could have gotten over the fact that I just thought I was picking up some chick lit at the thrift store; however, I am simply in no mood for liars and cheaters these days.

So, these 3 stars may be more on me than the author, but I still feel like "ugh" every time I see the book. It won't make it to my bookshelf because it is going right into my donate bin.