A review by hollyplebeau
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

This review is gonna be a long one cause I just absolutely adored everything about this book from beginning to end. It had so many quotable quotes. I felt everything - happy, sad, frustrated, scared, mad, anxious, hopeful, all the things. 

I felt Emma was so relatable. I am a huge empath (like I had to take a personality test for work and it listed your top 5 personality traits and empathy was listed #1)....believing the best in people is my downfall and something I hate about myself but also something I've been working on for years. This book was a good reminder that you have to work on yourself before you can give yourself to someone else. Both main characters had moments of doing this.

Justin was the absolute sweetest. He was so caring, thoughtful, and swoon worthy!!

The mental health rep/trauma portrayal was incredibly well done throughout the book.

You do not have to read Part of Your World or Yours Truly but the connection between all three books made this one hit so good!!
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" 'In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy, ' "

" 'Sometimes the best way to show love it be kind to someone is to meet them where they are.' "

" 'Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks. You don't know how broken she was or what she was trying to do to fill those cracks. Being broken is not an excuse for bad behavior, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.' "

" 'You can still love someone that you've decided not to speak to anymore. You can still wish them well and hope for the best for them. 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.' "

" 'Sometimes I feel like the seasons could come and go and come and go, a hundred years could pass, a thousand, the ground could collapse under us, this house could crumble and go back to the earth, and we would still be standing here frozen in time, because every second I'm with you is eternal. I've never felt anything like it.' "

" 'You're not asking too much,' he said. 'You were just asking the wrong person. Ask me instead.' "

" 'You are not what happened to you. You are what you do next.' "

"The best kind of love doesn't happen on moonlit walks and romantic vacations. It happens in between the folds of everyday life. It's not grand gestures that show how you feel, it's all the little secret things you do to make her life better that you never tell her about."

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