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emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
This was a great read but definitely could have been 50 pages shorter.
I think it covered topics such as PTSD and childhood trauma really well, amongst other mental health issues. And the love story was beautifully done.
However, I do feel it started to drag a bit. It took me ages to finish it because of this! So for that it’s not a 4.5!
I think it covered topics such as PTSD and childhood trauma really well, amongst other mental health issues. And the love story was beautifully done.
However, I do feel it started to drag a bit. It took me ages to finish it because of this! So for that it’s not a 4.5!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4 stars ⭐️ | 1 Spice 🌶️
Just for the Summer was my first Abby Jimenez book that I’ve read. It was an emotional read for me, one that often left me with a pit in my stomach. There were moments of levity and sweetness that broke up the toughest moments. The story follows Emma who is a traveling nurse. Emma has never let herself settle down in one place for long and travels the world with her best friend. One summer she discovers a Reddit post that features a guy named Justin. Justin is “cursed” in the sense that every women he dates finds ‘the one’ after they end things. Emma sees this and happens to suffer from the same curse. They start chatting and put into effect an experiment to see if they can cancel out each other’s curses. All they need to do is date just for the summer— I see what you did there Abby!
What was supposed to be a summer fling turns out to be a series of events where two people, who are very broken, find love and a home in each other. When I opened the book, I noticed that they had trigger warnings for parental abuse, emotional abuse, PTSD, mental illness, and a few other heavy topics. I thought this was going to be a light hearted read and quickly determined that my heart was going to ache for these characters. How they dealt with (or avoided) their traumas felt extremely real and authentic.
Majority of the book was spent hashing up all of our main characters PTSD. We get some crazy reveals towards the end that really challenged and pushed our FMC to really assess their own mental health. I told a friend over the phone that it felt like this book gave me tiny paper cuts over and over again. Just when a romantic moment came and healed it with a bandage a new paper cut would appear. I admit I had to put it down a few times.
(Below— I share some thoughts on the ending and recommend only reading if she finished the novel)
Despite that, I really enjoyed this story. I love a book that makes me feel things. Now the reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt forgiveness was rushed. I wanted more dialogue between our 2 main characters about their inner hurt. Justin’s development wasn’t nearly as fleshed out as Emma’s in my opinion. I wanted more for them at the end than what we got. Though that epilogue gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings. I wish we got more of a front row seat to their healing than the time skip that we got. I wanted to see the work and how they’d enforce that in the relationship. I would rather have had Abby remove some of the middle scenes to make more room for the healing.
Final Thoughts- No Spoilers:
Overall I really enjoyed this story and annotated so many sweet moments. Abby Jimenez is a fantastic writer and I’ll definitely check out some of her other books.
Should this spill into your TBR? Yes— just read the trigger warnings!
Just for the Summer was my first Abby Jimenez book that I’ve read. It was an emotional read for me, one that often left me with a pit in my stomach. There were moments of levity and sweetness that broke up the toughest moments. The story follows Emma who is a traveling nurse. Emma has never let herself settle down in one place for long and travels the world with her best friend. One summer she discovers a Reddit post that features a guy named Justin. Justin is “cursed” in the sense that every women he dates finds ‘the one’ after they end things. Emma sees this and happens to suffer from the same curse. They start chatting and put into effect an experiment to see if they can cancel out each other’s curses. All they need to do is date just for the summer— I see what you did there Abby!
What was supposed to be a summer fling turns out to be a series of events where two people, who are very broken, find love and a home in each other. When I opened the book, I noticed that they had trigger warnings for parental abuse, emotional abuse, PTSD, mental illness, and a few other heavy topics. I thought this was going to be a light hearted read and quickly determined that my heart was going to ache for these characters. How they dealt with (or avoided) their traumas felt extremely real and authentic.
Majority of the book was spent hashing up all of our main characters PTSD. We get some crazy reveals towards the end that really challenged and pushed our FMC to really assess their own mental health. I told a friend over the phone that it felt like this book gave me tiny paper cuts over and over again. Just when a romantic moment came and healed it with a bandage a new paper cut would appear. I admit I had to put it down a few times.
(Below— I share some thoughts on the ending and recommend only reading if she finished the novel)
Despite that, I really enjoyed this story. I love a book that makes me feel things. Now the reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt forgiveness was rushed. I wanted more dialogue between our 2 main characters about their inner hurt. Justin’s development wasn’t nearly as fleshed out as Emma’s in my opinion. I wanted more for them at the end than what we got. Though that epilogue gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings. I wish we got more of a front row seat to their healing than the time skip that we got. I wanted to see the work and how they’d enforce that in the relationship. I would rather have had Abby remove some of the middle scenes to make more room for the healing.
Final Thoughts- No Spoilers:
Overall I really enjoyed this story and annotated so many sweet moments. Abby Jimenez is a fantastic writer and I’ll definitely check out some of her other books.
Should this spill into your TBR? Yes— just read the trigger warnings!
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content, Car accident, Alcohol
emotional
funny
medium-paced
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:
Yes
emma got lucky she didnt live in indonesia otherwise her bpjs wont cover the therapy bills </3 happy that she made it tho <3
Content Warnings
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol
emotional
informative
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
I love Justin! The way Jimenez writes her men 🤌🏻. Even though these are technically stand alones, I would highly recommend reading them in order, especially if you don’t want to spoil the ending of Your Truly. I LOVED how this tied back to Part of Your World, even though it was very clearly right in front of my face, the moment it all connected I was like OMG NO! My only complaint want the overuse of Emma getting small. I understand and honestly relate, just felt like a weird and overused way of saying it. Still cute and enjoyed the story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Vomit
funny
lighthearted
sad
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
I enjoyed this book so much. I loved Emma, Justin, and Maddy and I loved the friendships, relationships, and banter. Each character is dealing with their own issues and they all feel so real. The exploration of trauma and mental health were done SO well, and I loved that they came into play with the different relationships in the books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
**OMG, this book was EVERYTHING!**
I just loved reading the book ‘Just for the Summer’. It had me laughing out loud one moment, tearing up the next, and truly believing in love all over again. The romance was swoony, the banter was perfection, and the chemistry between the two lead characters was beautiful.
I truly felt like I was right there with the characters, riding every emotional high and low. The story was heartfelt, funny, real, and honestly just unforgettable. That ending though? Cue the happy tears and goofy smiles.
But just a heads-up—there are some trigger warnings in this book, so be sure to check those before diving in. Still, it’s 1000% worth the read. Loved, loved, LOVED it.
**OMG, this book was EVERYTHING!**
I just loved reading the book ‘Just for the Summer’. It had me laughing out loud one moment, tearing up the next, and truly believing in love all over again. The romance was swoony, the banter was perfection, and the chemistry between the two lead characters was beautiful.
I truly felt like I was right there with the characters, riding every emotional high and low. The story was heartfelt, funny, real, and honestly just unforgettable. That ending though? Cue the happy tears and goofy smiles.
But just a heads-up—there are some trigger warnings in this book, so be sure to check those before diving in. Still, it’s 1000% worth the read. Loved, loved, LOVED it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders
emotional
funny
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
Super surprised how this turned out. I thought it would be an easy beach read but it turned out to be so much more and much more emotionally deep. The author had a few throw backs and tied it all together with brief interactions with past characters. Lovely rom-com with a dash of emotional trauma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit