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Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
It's hard to find a romance that isn't just fluff, has good character development, a mostly believable storyline, and is, well, enjoyable. This one hits all those markers. Both Justin (MMC) and Emma (FMC) are well-developed and likable characters with more going on than meets the eye. Both are complex characters, and I loved them.
Emma struggles with attachment and "feeling small" after a traumatic childhood with a very unstable mother and years in foster care. I think "feeling small" is how she and her best friend Maddie (who is AMAZING) describe what look to be PTSD episodes. She has to confront her mother (who appears to have undiagnosed borderline personality disorder or possibly bipolar or maybe both) and her understanding of her throughout the novel. Obviously this is a very difficult topic, and Jimenez manages to portray it with surprising sensitivity.
Justin is struggling with complicated grief as he navigates not only his father's death several years ago but also his mother's upcoming several-year jail sentence, which forces him to move back home to become the guardian of his three siblings (from pre-school-aged to teen) to care for while she's gone. He understandably struggles with resentment even as he loves and cares for his siblings. A lot of his story could have been trivialized, but wasn't. Again, well done.
Also, of course—shout out to Maddie, the best friend Emma could ever ask for, and also to Justin's sometimes annoying friends (and his mom's BFF) for supporting the MCs in meaningful ways. This book is a testament to how it takes a village to help people heal from their trauma—and also how those who are hurting really need to accept the help they are offered.
This one was really good. I'm picky about my romances, and this one absolutely deserves all 5 stars. This is one I'd recommend not just to romance readers but also to readers of heavier lit who just want something lighter (but not fluffy) to read.
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
The main relationship between Emma, a traveling nurse, and Justin, a software engineer is sparked by a DM sent by Emma after an AITA post that Justin makes. In his post, Justin explains his dating curse, similar to the movie Good Luck Chuck, where every girl he dates, goes on to find their soulmate after they break up. Coincidentally, Emma DMs him because she has the same curse. After a few flirty DMs and mentions of a funny, plumbing billboard, Emma makes an out-of-character decision to change her next traveling assignment from Hawaii to Minnesota so she and Justin can "date" and break each other's curse by canceling them out.
Aside from the relationship between Emma and Justin, the best friend/sister relationship between Emma and Maddie is a large driver of several key events and character developments for Emma. Emma is Maddie's foster sister and Maddie has seen Emma at her worst, more often than she should have. Most of the worst times usually involve Emma's biological mother - Amber. Emma has major unresolved childhood trauma from frequent abandonment by her mother that has never had a chance to heal. However, Emma is good and she chooses to see the best in her mom. This eventually
Justin has issues of his own. Shortly before meeting Emma, his mother is sentenced to jail, leaving Justin to take care of his younger siblings and become their guardian. He goes through a lot in this story and the character development he undergoes is almost as big as what Emma goes through.
Because of their underlying issues, Justin and Emma's story is relatable. It can get difficult to read at times as there are several moments where their mental health is not in a good spot, especially Emma's, but it's part of who they are, and I enjoyed the insight into the minds of their characters.
This is the first book by Abby that I have read, and I enjoyed it. When I finished the story, I learned that two supporting characters and one character who makes a brief appearance in this book were first mentioned in Part of Your World, so I intend to read that book too, but as of writing this, I don't think it took anything away from my experience.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit
Minor: Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
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: Child abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Abandonment
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Grief