lindseytripp's reviews
342 reviews

Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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

4.5

๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ by ๐€๐›๐›๐ž๐ฒ ๐‰๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ณ
ARC Review - Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub 
Pub date: April 2, 2024

โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜†

In my eyes, Abbey Jimenez can do no wrong. Every single book Iโ€™ve read of hers has been a hit for me and this one is no exception!

What I love about the stories Abbey Jimenez creates is that we get everything! Her characters feel so real because they experience real human struggles that bring in real human emotions. It isnโ€™t just sappy love and surface level conflicts. We get true hard-hitting issues that people we know may be dealing with or issues we may be dealing with ourselves. Because of this, I do recommend looking into the TW for this one. However, you will still be met with wonderful character development and resolution (that is maybe not what you hope) but what is for the best. 

Abbey Jimenez is fantastic at bringing in the humor! There were multiple laugh out loud moments for me here and moments that had me smiling ear to ear. Whether it was banter between our MCs or the situations they found themselves in, youโ€™ll be sure have a good giggle here and there. 

Letโ€™s talk side characters because we have such wonderful side characters! A few of our past faves may or may not make an appearance! ๐Ÿคญ So that was just a bunch of fun! But our FMCs bestie was truly the absolute GEM here! She was spunky, had a dry sense of humor and always, always, always had our FMCs back. She definitely gave our FMC some tough love, and at times I was frustrated with her, but she truly knows our FMCs heart and just wants to protect it. 

If you love romance, this book isnโ€™t one to miss! In fact, I would beg allllll my romance loving friends to pick it up! Abbey Jimenez books are all standalones, however, I would highly suggest reading her other books in order first, if you are able. Abbey Jimenez herself has suggested to read her entire backlist first because she loves some Easter eggs! BUT I think if youโ€™re super excited to get to this one, at the very least, try to read Part of Your World and Yours Truly before moving on to this one for the biggest payoff!
Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

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emotional funny hopeful 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? No

4.0

Empire of Shadows by Jacquelyn Benson

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.75

๐„๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐’๐ก๐š๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ by ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ง ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ง
Raiders of the Arcana series โ„ฌโ„ดโ„ด๐“€ ๐’ช๐“ƒโ„ฏ
3.75 โ˜…

Empire of Shadows is such a fun start to what I imagine will be an adventurous, historical fiction fantasy series! We kick it off strong with our FMC, Ellie, fighting for womenโ€™s rights and we love a strong feminist woman! Unfortunately, she gets fired from her job shortly after her boss finds out that her protest led to her (one little) arrest. Ellie leaves her job, but not without first stumbling upon a map that could send her on an adventure of a lifetime! Sure, she may have stolen this piece of history from her boss but she has good intentions! She just wants to protect and preserve what she might find from other more dangerous characters with less favorable intentions. 

I loved the way this story began! It felt very much like The Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones with promise of exciting adventure and fun-quippy banter. We have a strong willed FMC, Ellie, who is not scared to speak her mind and a physically strong/protective MMC, Adam, who allows our FMC to be herself. 

The excitement and snarkiness continued for me up until the actual adventure into the jungle began. After that it somewhat fell flat for me and the quippy banter somewhat disappeared for me. Iโ€™m not saying it disappeared completely, it just didnโ€™t hit for me like the first part of the book. The antics Ellie and Adam got themselves into were definitely dangerous and exciting; I just felt like I was missing the comic relief that the earlier parts of the book gave me. I think the only way I can really explain it was that it was a lot of descriptions of what was going on and not a lot of fun dialogue to go along with it. I felt like I was just watching things happen to the characters rather than experiencing it with them. But, truly, aside from that, I did enjoy this book and its adventure. I look forward to the other books in the series and I canโ€™t wait to see what Ellie and Adam get up to next! 

Thank you to @netgalley and @crimsonfoxpub for this ARC! 

You can start your Raiders of the Arcana adventure beginning April 2nd!
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

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dark funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reckless by Elsie Silver

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emotional funny hopeful 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

3.0

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

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funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison

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funny 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

3.0