Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Yours Truly

Abby Jimenez has a chokehold on me.

This woman could write anything and I would fall head over heels for it. As someone who is not usually a fan of the fake dating trope or medical settings, I was a bit fearful that this would be the one that did not land for me. Luckily, I was very wrong.

At first I could not quite get into this novel as I felt it lacked some of the chemistry that I found so easy with Jimenez's other characters. I wasn't enjoying the medical setting and I was pretty sure this was just going to be a romance that had way too much miscommunication for my enjoyment. Yours Truly does have a lot of the miscommunication scenarios but it is so much more than that. The romance between Briana and Jacob is beautiful and the way they grow with each other is one of the many reasons why I love reading Jimenez's work. The romance is always the main plotline but real life shit is always surrounding them.

Jimenez writes characters that are real and truthful to every day people. These books can feel like a getaway at times, but it also feels so real. Briana's story arc is stunning and I felt so connected to her story. I was in a tumultuous six-year relationship and had a miscarriage like Briana and being able to trust and believe in love again was a difficult process. Briana's thoughts were my thoughts and I completely understood all of her fears. I also really enjoyed Jacob's arc as he represented the anxiety that the world brings upon us and not wanting to hurt those around us. I related to him a lot too and could see pieces of my partner within him.

Not only are the characters and scenarios that Jacob and Briana are put through relatable, Yours Truly makes you believe in love again and reminds us that life is a struggle. People are not always who they say they are, you lose a baby, you fall ill at a young age, you are fearful of the world, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. There will always be someone who will promise to be harmless to you even when it seems the rest of the world has scarred you.

Content Warnings

kemikemi's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I slogged through this audiobook and it took me the entire length of my borrow to finish it…I did love Jacob, and I loved Brianna’s relationship with her family and the people around her, and I loved the side characters; they were all so heartfelt and funny. Jacob was an incredible main character and love interest—I enjoyed his point of view and thought his relationship with and management of his social anxiety was done really well; also, the absolute love and thoughtfulness he carried throughout the entire book was just so romantic. Even with his anxiety, he continued to brave social situations he would normally hate and avoid out of love, and it was a wonderful show of love showing up—a theme and phrase I loved and will take with me out of the book. I also liked the initial premise of the book, with the rivals to friends to lovers starring doctors.

However, that premise didn’t actually take up that much of the book, and most of the pages/runtime was dedicated to this stagnant-feeling miscommunication/lack of communication trope that was drawn out for the entirety of the fake dating arc, where they’re both falling/in love but think the other isn’t…it was frustrating to the point of yelling at the audiobook from the inside of my car. These are both grown adults, and that this dragged out until the near very end was upsetting. And I couldn’t really blame Jacob, because

he did ask Brianna out and get clearly rejected

, but I will blame Brianna for jumping to conclusions on her own and just never having a single full and honest conversation about anything running through her head with Jacob ever—and then also just consistently flat out denying every single sign and outright claim from everyone that he LOVES HER. Towards the end of the book, when Jacob’s ex tells her that she’s never seen him so in love with another person—including herself—as he is with Brianna, I kid you not Brianna immediately says after (in her head): “She’s wrong, of course. He doesn’t feel any type of way towards me.” Her chapters were killing me, because in her narration she would just repeat how “perfect and wonderful Jacob was and how much she liked/adored/loved/would die for him, but unfortunately he just didn’t have any feelings for her! He liked someone else!” every time he did something romantic—and he was doing deeply romantic things CONSTANTLY. And even when that issue was finally resolved, her other fears about relationships then just took the main slot of “thing to just be repeated over and over in the same phrasings.” I just could not gel with it, and the way that the almost-end-of-the-book breakup went down and resolved. I feel like it’s mostly a me thing, but a little bit of a book thing in the way the tropes were written.

Also, something that bothered me a little was how much Brianna would bring up Jacob’s anxiety and “but you dont like—“ him every time he offered to do something or said he wanted to do something socially out of his comfort zone, usually unasked and for her (because he fucking loved her). This happened on multiple occasions and it felt like she was making his anxiety a bigger deal/obstacle than he did and acting like she knew him better than he knew his own decisions and boundaries. He wasn’t a doormat, never was, and that was something she did know—so why the book had her always questioning him when it wasn’t ever tied to an epiphany about how it must mean something about how much he really cares about her, I did not understand.

Content Warnings

emmakoopliechty's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was really cute. It did a great job of reflecting the intricacies and intensities of having anxiety, and also some trauma and trust-issues from past relationships. It did a good job of weighing and validating those heavy topics, while also being a light-hearted love story.

Content Warnings

fleur____'s review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sterreks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this was amazing!! i love Jacob, i need a man like him. bri was fantastic and so sweet. 6 stars. all time fave

Content Warnings

jlawfosho's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This is about two ppl who begin writing letters to communicate and the story ended up being turned into a love letter to growth from a life with mental illness and living through the most unimaginable heartache.

The way she describes his life is so intentional and beautiful. You feel exactly how the MFC felt when it’s described. Abby Jimenez really did it with this. It is funny and warm. The two main characters are both so likable.

Adult characters too! In their thirties which is so refreshing!

Content Warnings

dblue236's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I cannot stress enough that romance is not my genre of choice and never will be. If I'm honest, I only picked this book at all because I was offered a free copy. Turns out I'm glad I gave it a chance, though. I really loved the characters, and the author's depictions of anxiety and abandonment issues were spot-on. I was irritated with the complete lack of communication by the last third of the book, because "miscommunication but let's not ever talk about it and just keep spiraling" is maybe my least favorite trope after "he's an asshole but I love him anyway." Overall, though, the book was really cute and sweet and hopeful and I loved that about it. I definitely enjoyed this much more than I expected to.

Content Warnings

More...