Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

326 reviews

rewatchrereadrewind's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I would have given this four stars if the only character of color weren’t given forced “Mexican accents” and put into stereotypical minor roles of nurse and housekeeper. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

jbpearl's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Death of parent

rosegoes3's review against another edition

emotional tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Vomit

carlapastor's review

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted

• 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

 Is this... the best contemporary romance I've read?? I first started it because my friend and I were stalking someone's instagram and she was reading this book and I was like, damn I like the title, let me write it down on my Notes app. I remembered one week later and started reading it, and I am so grateful. This book was funny as fuck (you can tell that Justin was written by a woman because he's literally the standard), while it also depicted well mental health problems and the ending diagnosis. 
Something I didn't like at first was 

when Emma met her half-brother

, it all felt really confusing to me, but at the end of the book with the questions sections I found out the story made more sense if you had read the other books, because I read this as a stand-alone, but now I might check out the other ones. This was just very well written.

Edit after The happy ever playlist: turns out this is just a formula the author uses. Made me a little bit mad so I don't think it deserves the whole five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse

arnold_shelby's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

More than anything, I loved how this was a sequel (more of a spiritual sequel) to Part of Your World. Even though I knew that going in, I was still surprised at the connections and I loved that. 

This book was very sweet. I loved Justin's character and was reading sections out to my SO and he agreed he was an awesome character. 

In the romance vein, I knew we'd get a happily ever after, but I was sad that Amber didn't get a redemption story as well, so I knocked off half a point. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Death of parent

withlivjones's review

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.25

I went into this book expecting a cute, fluffy, low-stakes rom-com. That is NOT what this book is. The romance is indeed cute, but this book is also about dealing with trauma, complicated relationships with parents, and learning to love and be loved. The journey Emma goes on throughout the story is very well-written and the concept of “feeling small” is something that I think will resonate with a lot of people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse and Fire/Fire injury

booklvrkat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

“In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.” 

 

I’ve had this book on my TBR since May, I had actually marked it as “reading” because I thought I was ready. I was not. Out of all of Abby Jimenez’s books, this one made me cry most. Justin & Emma are absolutely a favorite couple. I love Emma’s best friend and foster sister, Maddy, and I adored Justin’s story. When you read an AJ story, you are not ever just getting one side of the story, you’re getting both pieces of the puzzle, so you see how well they fit together. Truly, I cannot recommend these stories more, or fault myself for not reading her sooner. Always a delightfully paced story, with enough breathing room you don’t fall down into the abyss of emotion. 

 

“Choosing a life without them doesn’t mean you stop caring about them. It just means that you can’t allow them to harm you anymore. But if you don’t think your life would be better without them in it, then accept that they have cracks. Try to understand how they got them and help fill them with something that isn’t ice.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and Car accident

falenkizzy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Death of parent

orphicsunflower's review

slow-paced

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

1.5

To say I was disappointed in this book would be an understatement. The characters in this book felt all thrown around.

Like Neil coming back why? That was a really dumb move I didn’t like Emma at all,  Not sure if that was the point but she was kinda insufferable. She also came really out of nowhere. I didn’t like that she chose to write this story with Justin. I read the three books in the series in secession and I could not even remember who Justin was until they mention Brad and Benny.  I was hoping for Benny’s story or something.  For 90% of the story nothing happened. Justin was sweet but he didn’t deserve the things Emma did to him. I never understood how people can forgive each other so quickly as soon as the person  that hurt them says I love you I also never understood the whole love at first sight thing but to each their own

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

fkshg8465's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

I reluctantly liked this book a lot more than I want to admit. Now I will look to read the two preceding books in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail