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emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Abby Jimenez never ceases to amaze me with her poignant romantic comedies. She is truly a master at creating a realistic and vivid world with relatable characters. The characters in this book truly tug at your heartstrings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Dementia
Moderate: Mental illness, Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Gaslighting
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I am typically ok with genre-bending by others. Heck, I just raved about the Emily Henry book that was almost more women’s lit than romance. But this one was too sad and too heavy for me. The love story was sweet, but this was a family drama first and foremost. Not what I wanted unfortunately, however well written it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I didn't think this would slap as hard as it did at the end. It was insta love and that really isn't my thing. But then the characters developed and developed and developed. I was surprised at about 20-30%, I was thinking, eh, maybe dnf it and then really started to work, and then I was invested, and I had to know how their story would end. Alzheimer's will always make me cry, and this definitely did it. The ending was incredibly moving and worth the hard, hard, hard journey to get there. I felt like everyone in the story broke about 3 mirrors each because how do they continue to have life beat them down every other moment? Some people had issues with the slang, I have teenagers, and these are characters in their 20s. It was fine, it was a contemporary setting. Not my favorite book by the author but it was good, it was moving, it was memorable. But it isn't a repeat read type of book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Gaslighting
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
Well, that just punched me in the heart. I loved so much about this—the very real depiction of disease, and the exhaustion and grief while someone is living, the fact that the miscommunication trope was only used lightly (same with enemies to lovers), and the discussion and acceptance of messy choices and lives. And I adore Xavier.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Medical content
Minor: Cursing, Infertility, Excrement, Car accident
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this one! The characters had great chemistry, and Abby Jimenez always knows how to bring the emotions. The romance felt genuine, and the story touched on some heavier topics without being too heavy overall.
That said, a few parts felt a little too dramatic or wrapped up a bit too neatly for me. Still, I was invested the whole time and found myself smiling (and tearing up) more than once.
Not quite a top favorite, but definitely a solid, emotional read with a lot of heart. If you love slow-burn romance and a bit of depth, you’ll probably enjoy this one too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand it starts off with such lightness and fun chemistry between Xavier and Samantha. The rest of the book proceeds to be this long distance love affair. I didn’t expect the characters to be apart for the vast majority of the book. I knew there would be challenging elements considering Samantha’s mom’s dementia diagnosis but I thought there would be some moments of levity to balance it out. Xavier and Samantha’s distance wore them both out, especially with Xavier working himself to the bone. I just didn’t see how realistic or relatable that was. The ending felt very sudden and rushed in comparison to the slow pace of the story overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity
A cute and reliable book . I did have some gripes with this book, as I usually do with this author.
I actually liked the second half of this book more, which is new for me with this author. Typically I like the first half and the second x half leaves me 😶 I didn’t get how he liked her that much to begin with. Like they’re both good characters, but you don’t know her!!!
I didn’t like how he was like going against what she wanted aka visiting her even when she said forget her because (spoiler). Kinda a dick move in my opinion. Yeah it’s fine because he is a great guy but not cute if the guy wasn’t good!
I liked how he made it a point to always see her. I liked how this author writes men who are absolutely in love with their girl. She tends to write messy external circumstances with lovable and funny characters.
I like the message about parallel lives, but sometimes I feel like I’m reading a tumblr post out of context 💀
I still found this a fun and enjoyable read.
I actually liked the second half of this book more, which is new for me with this author. Typically I like the first half and the second x half leaves me 😶 I didn’t get how he liked her that much to begin with. Like they’re both good characters, but you don’t know her!!!
I didn’t like how he was like going against what she wanted aka visiting her even when she said forget her because (spoiler). Kinda a dick move in my opinion. Yeah it’s fine because he is a great guy but not cute if the guy wasn’t good!
I liked how he made it a point to always see her. I liked how this author writes men who are absolutely in love with their girl. She tends to write messy external circumstances with lovable and funny characters.
I like the message about parallel lives, but sometimes I feel like I’m reading a tumblr post out of context 💀
I still found this a fun and enjoyable read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Dementia
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Dementia