Reviews

Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez

amandareadsbooks_'s review against another edition

5.0

Find Balance. Find Joy. You are the kind of man who can’t see shapes in the clouds. And it’s not because you lack imagination but because you’re too busy to look up.

I adored Vanessa and Adrian’s story! Like every Abby book I’m completely entranced with her writing and I feel like I know the characters personally, like I’m going along with them on their journey. Her writing is one of my favourites.

I love that this book was so much more than a romance book. It had such a good disability rep and brought awareness to ALS. There was grief and there was growth and I wish more would talk about this book! 

I loved that there was so much talk about just being in the now. I feel like we are all so worried about what tomorrow will bring that we forget to appreciate the life we are living in the present. Sometimes we just need to absorb the moments we are going through because we honestly don’t know how long we have. That’s why I’ve loved this whole series. It is just so perfect overall!

aprilhs81's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.5

allisonhollingsworth's review

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

3.75

“I wondered how long the ripple effect lasted after someone died. Maybe until everyone who knew them was dead too? Or was it something that went on for generation after generation, because the damage was handed down, touching each new person and changing them, even if they didn’t know why.” This is the third book in “The Friend Zone” series, and at first I wasn’t sure what the connection was until I realized that the MC from the last book, Sloan, went on a date with a guy named Adrian who was Josh (form the first book)‘s cousin. He’s the MMC in this book. That’s the tie. Our FMC is named Vanessa. She is a famous travel vlogger and became known after she shared that all the women in her family contracted ALS and died before the age of 30. A very heavy topic. So she vows to live her life to the fullest. But that’s hard to do when your family also has a bunch of problems. One day her half sister, who unfortunately abuses drugs, leaves her baby with Vanessa, who has to take care of her. And the meet cute is that the baby is crying a storm and it makes Adrian come see what’s going on, and he’s able to calm her. Vanessa makes a video about him for her channel and her viewers become very invested in Adrian. Adrian is a big shot defense lawyer and is very busy but over time he finds himself drawn to Vanessa and the baby and they make their own little family despite not actually dating. Vanessa doesn’t want to date him because she thinks she is dying from ALS. Adrian finds out about her fear but it’s not until later in the book that he learns she actually has a 50-50 chance of having the disease and that she doesn’t want to get any treatment. This causes a rift between them because at this point they’ve declared their feelings and Adrian wants her to fight the disease. I’m always curious in stories where one of the characters is slated to die because it’s like, are they actually going to die? Is this going to be a happy ending or a tragic ending? Having read the other two books in this collection I had a feeling it was going to be a happy ending but I didn’t put it past the author to pull the rug out from under me. But no, it was a happy ending (I am a sucker for happy endings because life is already hard enough as it is so I was happy about it) because we find out that it was a cyst pushing against a nerve in Vanessa arm that was causing the pain and weakness in her arm, not ALS. But also Adrian had come to terms with Vanessa’s choice not to get treatment prior to finding this out so they had already committed to each other, but now they can live their long lives, etc etc. This story didn’t blow me out of the water; again it felt very insta lovey to me but I did enjoy the book; the family dynamics were really interesting with Vanessa’s sister and also her dad, who was a hoarder. It was nice to see her have some healing with her family in this book, I did like that part. And I also like this author’s writing style and genre so I want to read her other books for sure!

ssimplykath's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was the best book in the friend zone series, hands down. vanessa was such a well-rounded character that really peered into a world of living with als, and disabilities in general. vanessa and adrian were such a good couple, they brought out the best in each other i think. this story was full of the elements i love from abby jimenez. 

hadleyjpg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

marleybradfield's review

4.0

4.5/5

This book was so emotional but so well written. I loved it and just am falling in love with Abby Jimenez’s books.

sarahasperger's review

adventurous emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

thesimplereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

micmezle's review

emotional fast-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

beesnodgrass's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

3.75

I had almost lost faith in her but we got back to the good formula. I can see where she started to really find her groove with her characters. Loved the found family vibes!!