Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Just for the Summer

like all of abby jimenez’s books, this was an enjoyable summer read with some serious life undertones. however, in this book the character’s didn’t have a ton of chemistry imo, they just felt like really good friends. but i really liked the plot and how the characters from previous books made an appearance.

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zanazy's review

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emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

3.0

Just For the Summer is a romance story that layers in an aspect of past childhood trauma and real-life problems that make it more than a beach read and a cute story. I found the story pace to be fast, in terms of the romance aspects, but the underlying, individual storylines that both the female and male characters go through moved slower, in a more realistic way. I'll go into more detail on the story and characters next, with small spoilers ahead.

The main relationship between Emma, a traveling nurse, and Justin, a software engineer is sparked by a DM sent by Emma after an AITA post that Justin makes. In his post, Justin explains his dating curse, similar to the movie Good Luck Chuck, where every girl he dates, goes on to find their soulmate after they break up. Coincidentally, Emma DMs him because she has the same curse. After a few flirty DMs and mentions of a funny, plumbing billboard, Emma makes an out-of-character decision to change her next traveling assignment from Hawaii to Minnesota so she and Justin can "date" and break each other's curse by canceling them out.

You obviously know where this will end, so romantically, there were no big surprises.

Aside from the relationship between Emma and Justin, the best friend/sister relationship between Emma and Maddie is a large driver of several key events and character developments for Emma. Emma is Maddie's foster sister and Maddie has seen Emma at her worst, more often than she should have. Most of the worst times usually involve Emma's biological mother - Amber. Emma has major unresolved childhood trauma from frequent abandonment by her mother that has never had a chance to heal. However, Emma is good and she chooses to see the best in her mom. This eventually

ends poorly when Emma discovers her mother lied to her and kept her from having a chance to be happy with her family, including a brother and grandparents.

Justin has issues of his own. Shortly before meeting Emma, his mother is sentenced to jail, leaving Justin to take care of his younger siblings and become their guardian. He goes through a lot in this story and the character development he undergoes is almost as big as what Emma goes through.

Because of their underlying issues, Justin and Emma's story is relatable. It can get difficult to read at times as there are several moments where their mental health is not in a good spot, especially Emma's, but it's part of who they are, and I enjoyed the insight into the minds of their characters.

This is the first book by Abby that I have read, and I enjoyed it. When I finished the story, I learned that two supporting characters and one character who makes a brief appearance in this book were first mentioned in Part of Your World, so I intend to read that book too, but as of writing this, I don't think it took anything away from my experience.

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juanat77's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

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readrgurl1987's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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slaterj's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

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tigerkind's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If you’re into boring, predictable books with idiotic asshole characters and think that the only way to be happy is to get married with kids, this is the one for you.

Also I hate the inane phrasemongering in these books. „Love shows up.“ „Love is meeting someone where they are.“ idk how about some original writing?

Only reason this is getting stars at all is because it has a semblance of structure and the characters don’t all blend together (only because their only personality are the issues they have.)

tl;dr this pissed me off. Cover is great though.

edit: took another 0.5 because the premise is so fun but it’s more or less abandoned in the first 100 pages

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dkh's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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