Reviews with content warning for Grief - Yours Truly

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

35 reviews

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

4.0

After a series of unfortunate first impressions, two doctors become each other's safe space at time when they are both feeling lost and alone.

This book is very cute and absolutely hilarious! I didn't love it as much as the first because of the constant miscommunication and repetition. Like chapters and chapters of miscommunication. They make countless assumptions about each other and instead of talking to each other, they just let it get in the way. Due to the miscommunication we get internal monologues odlf
“there’s no way she likes me it’s fake”/ “there’s no way he likes me it’s a rebound" on repeat for 1/3 of the book.

Briana is a successful doctor who is dealing with a terrible divorce and a brother who needs a kidney transplant. She is so strong, but she is in desperate need of therapy. She has trust issues due to her father leaving her family and her husband cheating on her with her friend. She has never dealt with those insecurities and issues, she just lets them consume her and let's it stand in the way of her possible relationship with Jacob. She has a secret crazy side, which was hilarious - the glitter story!!!!

Jacob is the greenest of green flags. He is considerate, thoughtful, and sweet. He has crippling anxiety that leads him to isolate himself and have panic attacks. At times it seemed like he was more on the ASD spectrum than anxiety, but either way, I felt like the author approached this topic with compassion and in an understandable way. He is such a selfless and caring man - he donates a kidney and forgives his brother for marrying his ex (wtf!)!

I really love these two together. The letters are so adorable! You can feel how much they love each other. She takes the time to understand Jacob and does what she can to make his life better. I love how he never gives up on Briana, he understands her issues and is there with her through it all.

Tropes: slow burn, rivals to friends to lovers, fake dating, co-workers

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noellegrace8's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

A great romance read! The two main characters have serious chemistry and make one another better people. The writing is fantastic; their relationship comes to life on the page. And Jimenez really gets you to laugh with some of the depictions of scenes and characters' actions. She writes chronic anxiety well, what with the characters' constant mentioning of it and efforts to overcome issues in that area of their relationship. Plus, there are many quotable lessons learned within the course of the book, which I appreciated. I also felt interested by the big family that the main male love interest has, because larger families are kind of rare and I am 1 of 9.

I knocked off .25 for just a couple reasons. The first is that there is some contemporary language & concepts usage that is already not aging well. They're not offensive phrases or anything, but they're going to be considered cringey or dated after they stop being popular in a couple years. (Ex., using "epic" in drama talk)

I also think

Briana's pregnancy toward the end

is random and used a little too obviously as a plot device to create just another conflict for the new lovers, especially since

Alexis and Kelly both are also pregnant.

It seems as if the author is sort of saying that a relationship is actually at its most complete status, and most thrilling, when the couple

gets pregnant,

and I simply disagree with that blanket statement. Seeing the ex could have been a big enough issue on its own without that extra piece of backstory thrown in, especially one that is incredibly traumatic and therefore needed a building up throughout the novel if included at all.

And then, I'm also a bit mad that his ex-girlfriend and the younger brother

didn't get more of what they deserved for their backstabbing behavior,

even though Jacob

got over it easily enough in the end and said he hadn't necessarily ever actually loved her.

There are just some boundaries you don't cross, and they each could have chosen other people. And the family seemingly wanting to be okay with it was odd.

I don't factor audiobook performance into my star reviews, but I give both Kyla Garcia and Zachary Webber 5/5 easily. They are unique, not annoying, and did plenty of inflection without overdoing it.

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marioosa517's review against another edition

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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? No

4.0

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smilagros's review against another edition

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challenging funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was my first Abby Jimenez and I get the hyped. I listened to this on audio and I recommend reading it that way. It has a male voice actor and a female voice actor. Just the tone they use sometimes is how I would have said it in my head if I was reading it physically. The only reason it is not a 5 is because of the ending. I felt that it may have needed to be longer to just flesh out what happened. I felt it was rushed a little in the end and I wish there was more build up to the epilogue.

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juanat77's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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kmayn227's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

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tmholsman_1994's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. I should have read Part of Your World first to understand the dynamic between Alexis and Briana, but it also reads as a standalone. That being said my only complaint with the story was I personally don't like the "miscommunicated feelings/the other person is in love with their ex still" I do like fake dating because it's almost like strangers to lovers.

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liciaaaaa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I should've never waited so long to read this book. Like I knew I was going to like it, but I didn't expect to LOVE it as much as I did. This book dragged so many emotions out of me. I laughed out loud so many times, I cried, I smiled, I was sad, I was frustrated, etc. I enjoy sooooo many things about this book. This is the first Abby Jimenez book I've ever read and it most definitely wont be my last.

Things I love:

Jacob Maddox!!!!!😍 Oh my gosh! I love him! I love him! I love him! He's literally the standard and the ultimate book boyfriend! I can't even count the amount of times I was smiled and cried over the things that he did for Briana in this book. Ugh, it makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it. He's the embodiment of comfort. He feels like home! I hope everyone finds themselves a Jacob!🥰

Briana Ortiz! I love her too! Her spunk, her attitude, her charisma, her just overall care for her loved ones!

Jacob x Briana!❤️ The chemistry was off the charts. Every scene they had, they delivered! The inside jokes, the letters, their little phrases to each other, etc. I loved how attentive BOTH characters are to each other's needs. Usually, it's always the man going out of his way to shower the girl so it's nice to see that both characters go out of their way to go above and beyond for one another. It was really nice to see! I love how Briana always went out of her way to defend Jacob even when he isn't around and I love how Jacob always prioritizes Briana's feelings and I love how they promise not to be "harmless" to one another.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think the third act conflict made sense. I love seeing Briana's reluctance to commit to Jacob because it honestly makes sense considering what she went through. I've never related to a situation more than when Briana broke down because she couldn't believe that Jacob could love her unconditionally and with good intentions. When going through the trauma that Briana went through you internalize not trusting your heart and ergo the decisions you make with it. And in turn, it may cause you to sabotage the one good thing you have in fear that it won't be true.😔 Reading those scenes made me realize just how traumatic my own experiences are and how feelings like this shouldn't go unmanaged because they really do leave a lasting imprint on you whether you notice it or not. I really admired how Jacob legit goes out of his way day in and day out to make sure Briana never has to question his love for her. I hope someone will do that for me one day!😟💕

the anxiety representation; Now, I don't have anxiety, however, in stressful situations, I do tend to get very anxious so, although I couldn't relate to everything that Jacob was going through, I did relate to a lot of things that he said and thought about and it just felt so great to be seen! 🤧😢Becuase I check the routes of places before I drive too as well as parking. I like to check the menus before I order too (not due to anxiety though). And I tend to overthink every bad interaction I have too! Just soo many other things. The representation in this book was sooo good!

I liked how towards the end they're not pinning the two girls (Amy and Briana) against each other.

Things I didn't like:

the miscommunication (but I hear that's common in all of Abby Jimenez's books so I guess I'll have to deal with it)
I thought it was sooo weird how the book was encouraging the siblings of Briana and Jacob to get together and that they actually did. That's so weird. They're literally brother and sister-in-law. lt contributed nothing to the story. We could've done without it. It was one of the few reasons why this book wasn't a five-star for me. That redundant addition to the story was so weird and literally did nothing for the story. Gave me the ick!😖🤮

Spice Rating: 🌶️.5/5

Content Warnings

callie_castle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

For me this was a story that started off strongly but in the third half went completely off the rails. It felt like Abby forgot it was a romantic comedy, and the last third of the book suffers greatly for it. I completely hated a character I started off liking and ruined any affection I had for her.

I am well aware that trauma changes the brain. I’m a person who has faced their own trauma in life -but everything Brianna did in the last third is completely inexcusable. She was beyond cruel and quite frankly how Jacob handled the way she treated him has me worried for his wellbeing.

I’m so disappointed that this book ruined everything it had built and destroyed its own story. A single book should not manage to jump the shark like this.

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