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godfrina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The romance was sweet and slightly slow-burn, which I approve of. I say slightly because straight away you could tell that our male MC was way more into her than she was into him.
This surely is due to the emotional baggage both protagonists are carrying, I want to say it's traumatic even, but still, I fell Justin found his voice, his emotions almost too quickly. It's like...at points you as the reader are wondering what he even sees in Emma.
Deductions for the descriptions of Emma's 'getting small' - her and her friend were immediately on J's case to figure out if he was a red flag but when did Emma seek counselling to work through her traumatic life experience and stop projecting?
Extra point for the pet in the story.
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Mental illness
Minor: Excrement
marioosa517's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Cursing, and Abandonment
Moderate: Excrement, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual content, Grief, Alcoholism, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Racism, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury
atamano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Grief, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Death of parent, Vomit, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Car accident, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury
mybestfriendsarefictional's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Grief, Excrement, and Medical content
mrsd2008's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Abandonment
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, and Toxic relationship
mdwsn27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
tigerkind's review against another edition
- 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
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
Graphic: Abandonment, Vomit, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Addiction, Dementia, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual content
readyforit's review
- 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
Apparently I did myself a disservice by reading this book before Abby Jimenez’s others! There are overlapping characters and Easter eggs throughout that I didn’t get. If that means I’ll have to reread it after the rest of her books I can’t complain! This is the first book I’ve borrowed from my library that I actually want to purchase and reread!! I loved the audiobook narrators but just a warning: they trick you in the beginning with duet narration (the best for 2 person pov), but only with text messages. The rest of the chapters are read by the respective narrators in a dual narration. The only way the book could’ve been better is if the entire thing were done in duet narration.
Abby Jimenez will make you laugh and fall in love with her characters before stabbing you in the heart with their trauma. If you thought this was a light and fluffy beach read think again! You’ll be crying if you have mommy issues😅
Justin is one of my favorite book boyfriends of all time. He’s so funny, proactive, caring, and a good listener. In a world of boys, he’s a gentleman🫶 It’s nice to finally see a man say “I’ll take care of it” and mean it. Btw if you need someone to picture while reading, look up Daniel ricciardo👀 It’s lovely to see FMC with real jobs and a relationship that reflects how long Emma and Maddie have been in each other’s lives. At first I thought Maddie was harsh at times but you really need that friend that can be honest with you when you’re making a mistake. Without Maddie, I don’t think Emma would’ve ever let herself truly fall for Justin, or
I never thought I’d say this but this book actually did the
I loved this book and can’t wait to read her others!
Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
There’s a chapter where Emma gets norovirus and if you have emetophobia I would skip it and look up a summary.gpfot's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Excrement
hereiskyra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Little things that I absolutely loved:
Justin on the pool floaty 🦄 🍩
Any mention of the docking station 😭
Surveys and questionnaires 📋
I went into this not even knowing it would be connected to my favorite Abby Jimenez book, Part of Your World. I love that! This is quite possibly my new favorite, or at least tied for favorite. It’s so damn good. Ahhhhhhh!
Emma is the girl who deserves the world and gets nothing but scraps her whole life and takes them with a smile. She is the embodiment of childhood trauma and going along with her journey of finding her way out of it was magical (and super depressing 🙂). I loved that this was so much deeper than a “curse” and a love story. It had all the depth in the world and included so many important and different subjects.
Listening to Justin struggle to come to terms with his own mothers betrayal and how it affected his life but home too. I never understand people who are able to forgive those that don’t even understand they need to apologize.
Emma’s mom always just chose wrong and yet she continued to forgive her and give her another shot, even though she put her in danger more than once and abandoned her both physically and emotionally. I don’t think I’ll ever look at carrots the same way.
She just wanted that love and acceptance from her mom. I get it.
“Always choose empathy”
“I wish I could do that, I wish I could go on with my life and not hold a grudge against mom”
Me too, Justin. Me too.
I think I identify with this story the most and it’s not because I experienced it but in a way, I do relate to her relationship with her mother.
Some of that really hit home. Being left by your mother at a young age is awful and I didnt starve and I wasn’t scared because I had my grandparents… which broke a little bit of my heart because Emma could’ve had hers and so much more family and support and love but didn’t because her mother was so selfish.
I’m glad she finally had enough. Good riddance!
And honestly… Fuck you, Amber.
“She wasn’t my burden anymore. And I hadn’t even realized how heavy she’d been for me to carry because I’d done it for so long. I’d finally set her down and that started with me forgiving her.”
On a (semi) happier note… This is the one and only time I fully support and think that a third act breakup makes sense. Emma desperately needed some time with her family and on her own to find her way through the grief she was experiencing. And she knew it wasn’t fair to put Justin or his family through the trauma of going through that grief.
She thought she was like Amber because she ran but her walking away was the most unselfish thing she could have done for everyone she cared about.
I love the relationship she had with his siblings and I thought her picking his sister up at the school when she got her period was just about the most perfect way the story could have come back together.
I love imagining a world in which all my favorite characters are thriving and living their best lives. These two deserved everything and I couldn’t love the ending they got more.
“Not just for the summer?”
“No, forever this time.”
Tropes:
Sunshine/Sunshine
Fake Dating
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Vomit, Excrement, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent