Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

41 reviews

tigerkind's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

marinajonesreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Of the three books in this shared world, this is my favorite. The traumas felt real, the emotions felt real and the sadness felt real. I loved the lesson that sometimes, love isn’t the only thing to consider. I also liked that really, you can read this book without the others. I love the shared universe concept. 

Emma and Justin were adorable. Emma is a protagonist I can get around. So very very flawed but also very relatable. I understood where she was coming from and my heart broke for her throughout. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Mental illness, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Alcohol

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

Your honour, I love them.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. I loved Emma's empathy and how it changes others around her throughout the story, but also how she had to learn how to keep that while also keeping her peace.

There were a lot of familial issues touched on here. An incarcerated parent, a sibling turned guardian, parental neglect, a child parenting their parent, and that's not even the full list?? As such, there's a lot of reflection on who these characters are, who they can be, and how they can be together when so many factors are pulling them apart.

The mental health discussions, the humour, the strong friendships, and the heartwarming romance all came together to create a beautiful book. The way this connected back to Part of Your World was so surprising, and I barely caught it since it's been so long since I read the previous companions. Just for the Summer was fantastically interwoven into the series and the world's coming together was so perfect. I'm so happy to see how far Abby Jimenez has come with her writing and can't wait to see what she thinks up next!

TW: abandonment, parental neglect, incarcerated parent, alcohol consumption, mental illness, child abuse, emotional abuse, vomit, depression, PTSD; mentions suicide, death of a parent, car accident 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, and Death of parent

gpfot's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Excrement

kb33's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Death of parent, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

jennipea382's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Dementia, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

laura_berger's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

carla20's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

I loved this so much. I love Abby Jimenez - I will pre-order all her books always - and this one was maybe my favorite ever. I am continually impressed and moved by how deep the character development felt in this, and how deeply and emotionally Jimenez deals with major trauma and mental health struggles; this book is probably the most vivid example of that and I thought it was just gorgeous. It is NOT light and easy - though I loved knowing that there would be an HEA (thank you genre fiction!!), I appreciated that the mention and dealing with the characters’ stuff wasn’t cursory. I LOVED the main characters and the ways they grew and changed, and also felt (as always) that the side characters were beautifully drawn. (Also love the mentions, big and small, of  characters from Abby Jimenez’s other books - ones we love and ones we hate!! The various webs that intersect in her world building just feel so good!)

I loved the audio narration by Christine Lakin and Zachary Webber (both SO good), though the author Q&A was a little disappointing to me; I’ll add it to the content warnings but as someone who has major trauma from a house fire I found AJ’s giggles about the major fire plot point in the book kind of off-putting. As I said I will still for sure order her next one and can’t wait to read it - I drew this out for five days with much effort and it made me so happy. ❤️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Vomit

abidavisf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

As I predicted, Just for the Summer had me bawling, laughing, blushing, and yelling at the sky.

Abby Jimenez has done it again. How she is able to create such beautifully complex characters and weave them all into this interloping Minnesotan family tree is beyond me. The time, effort and logic that must go into making these connections is astounding and I LOVE THEM ALL. 

Emma broke me in so many ways. The life that was chosen for her was so unjust, and yet she fought her way to become this caring, empathetic and adventurous woman. Watching her accept and heal from her trauma through this tale was both beautiful and heart-breaking. No child should ever have to experience what Emma did. I am so proud of her but, most of all, I hope she is proud of herself.

Where to start with Justin? The unicorn symbolism woven throughout this book fits him so perfectly. He is available emotionally, a protector, a carer, but also deeply burdened by his own trauma. The juxtaposition of Emma, whose trauma began at a young age, and Justin, whose was given to him in his twenties, is so interesting. Emma was able to teach him how to handle the shock of his seemingly perfect and romanticised life turning inside out through her own experiences and her own empathy, which, as Maddy points out, is her strongest quality and yet also her biggest weakness. Justin deserves the world, and I hope that we can see him get that in later books. No doubt they’ll pop up again around Minnesota.

Maddy, Maddy, Maddy. She’s a real one. To be loved by somebody like Maddy is a beautiful thing, and something that everybody deserves. I’d love to see more of her and meet her moms, but I also think that I know enough about Maddy to know that she was so loved in her life that she has grown to have the ability to care incredibly deeply for those that she loves. She has a beautiful soul, loves fiercely, observes and tends for everyone she can, and is truly a gift to all who know her. She’s also hilarious. 10/10 would be her best friend.

Just for the Summer is a grilling tale of trauma, grief, friendship, and love. It encourages its readers to hold those they love best, to choose empathy over anger, but also to set boundaries when needed to protect themselves. You should always love you more.

Thank you, Abby, for another life-affirming read that I will be thinking about forever. I can’t wait to re-read already. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol