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prathikshareads 's review for:
Just for the Summer
by Abby Jimenez
Short review - Send everyone to therapy
Long review - I had high expectations for this book because I had heard a lot of good things about Abby Jimenez. And on top of that my favourite booktuber had given a glowing review of this book, and when I was in the bookstore debating which book to buy, another reader suggested me to get this. But, spoiler alert, I was heavily disappointed. Going into this book, I was excited because this was the first romance book I had read in a few months and it felt refreshing to have main characters who were mature enough despite their childhood trauma and who were willing to communicate with each other. But everything I thought went to crap as I continued to read more of this book. I felt a total sense of disconnect to the characters and the storyline. I found myself not invested in the love story or the character's life like how I usually am when it comes to romance books. It even had me questioning if I am not a romance book girly because I had been away from romance books for some time.
But in the end, I came to the conclusion that it was the fault of the book. This is because, even though the guy was really nice and takes a lot of effort (I even see myself being in his position, obsessing over someone I got to know very quickly), it was concerning to see that he had fallen in love with someone who gave so little in return. From the get go, despite their plans of just dating each other in order to break their curse, Justin was all in. At a certain point it just got kinda annoying how Emma was constantly self sabotaging herself, while everyone around her was crossing mountains in order to be there for her. She seems like someone who is the nice one but is secretly filled with so much trauma. And something felt off to me when she said, "when it comes to anger or empathy, choose empathy". Although I get the overall sense of that phrase, not being angry when someone or something upsets you feels like a bad way to deal with emotions. And the amount of chances that she was giving to her mom felt exhausting.
For all the times that she was telling that her mom sabotages relationships, we find her doing the same thing. She should have gone to therapy a longgggg time back. And on top of that, she leads Justin on just to break his heart. I really liked the side characters in this story, such as Maddy, Sarah, Chelsea, etc. Justin also goes through so much but he deals with it so much better than Emma does. It was really unfair of Emma to finally recognize that she needs help but abandon Justin for that reason. I hated how she told him that he shouldn't wait for her to get better and he should move on, but randomly shows up to his house after 6 months praying that he isn't dating anyone else because she would be jealous. Like girl, get a grip.
Was it just me or did anyone else's blood boil because of the sheer amount of times that 'Emma being small' was mentioned. And not to forget, 'Justin's docking station'. Yes, gosh, we get it, you don't have to keep repeating it.
Overall, I think I would have done well without having read this book, but it was a fast paced book, so that's a plus point. And I don't think I'm picking up any other Jimenez books after this because even the one Novella that I read of hers wasn't very appealing to me.
Long review - I had high expectations for this book because I had heard a lot of good things about Abby Jimenez. And on top of that my favourite booktuber had given a glowing review of this book, and when I was in the bookstore debating which book to buy, another reader suggested me to get this. But, spoiler alert, I was heavily disappointed. Going into this book, I was excited because this was the first romance book I had read in a few months and it felt refreshing to have main characters who were mature enough despite their childhood trauma and who were willing to communicate with each other. But everything I thought went to crap as I continued to read more of this book. I felt a total sense of disconnect to the characters and the storyline. I found myself not invested in the love story or the character's life like how I usually am when it comes to romance books. It even had me questioning if I am not a romance book girly because I had been away from romance books for some time.
But in the end, I came to the conclusion that it was the fault of the book. This is because, even though the guy was really nice and takes a lot of effort (I even see myself being in his position, obsessing over someone I got to know very quickly), it was concerning to see that he had fallen in love with someone who gave so little in return. From the get go, despite their plans of just dating each other in order to break their curse, Justin was all in. At a certain point it just got kinda annoying how Emma was constantly self sabotaging herself, while everyone around her was crossing mountains in order to be there for her. She seems like someone who is the nice one but is secretly filled with so much trauma. And something felt off to me when she said, "when it comes to anger or empathy, choose empathy". Although I get the overall sense of that phrase, not being angry when someone or something upsets you feels like a bad way to deal with emotions. And the amount of chances that she was giving to her mom felt exhausting.
For all the times that she was telling that her mom sabotages relationships, we find her doing the same thing. She should have gone to therapy a longgggg time back. And on top of that, she leads Justin on just to break his heart. I really liked the side characters in this story, such as Maddy, Sarah, Chelsea, etc. Justin also goes through so much but he deals with it so much better than Emma does. It was really unfair of Emma to finally recognize that she needs help but abandon Justin for that reason. I hated how she told him that he shouldn't wait for her to get better and he should move on, but randomly shows up to his house after 6 months praying that he isn't dating anyone else because she would be jealous. Like girl, get a grip.
Was it just me or did anyone else's blood boil because of the sheer amount of times that 'Emma being small' was mentioned. And not to forget, 'Justin's docking station'. Yes, gosh, we get it, you don't have to keep repeating it.
Overall, I think I would have done well without having read this book, but it was a fast paced book, so that's a plus point. And I don't think I'm picking up any other Jimenez books after this because even the one Novella that I read of hers wasn't very appealing to me.