Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Blurb
This witty, slow-burn rom-com is the "ideal beach read." --Elle
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.
It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
Rating and Review
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars
Background
What I Didn't Like
Now, of course, even though I absolutely adore a book, that isn't me saying it doesn't have flaws. This book isn't the greatest book ever written. Here were the things that bothered me even though I loved the book as a whole.
- The time Justin and Emma met to the time they broke up was a really short amount of time to fall in love. I think it was like six weeks.
- The section of the book where Emma got Norovirus. I think that chunk was for us to see how dedicated Justin was to making Emma feel better and vice versa when he got the virus. But I think the author could’ve done something a little different and shorter.
- They got back together at the very end of the last chapter
- The late third act breakup. I understand why it was there. The characters were meant to have 4 dates, 1 kiss, then breakup. But it was so close to the end of the book that I was a little weirded out by it.
- Amber
- Neil
- Amber and Neil
- Some of the writing wasn’t my thing. Although this book is quite easy and quick to read, I didn’t much like the filter words or some other things with the writing. But that’s more just because I’m a writer myself, so I notice that a lot more. If I were a regular reader, likely, I wouldn’t commit to this. This is more of a personal thing.
What I Did Like
- Emma, Justin, Maddy, Justin’s siblings, and the dog.
- The representation of mental illness with Emma and Justin's characters was very well done.
- Emma’s friendship/sister relationship with Maddy. I aspire to have a friendship like theirs. I’d love to have a friend like Maddy that's always there for me, knows me for who I am, and won’t abandon me despite what’s going on in my head.
- Justin’s character arc. I like how he grew into becoming the guardian he needed to be for his siblings.
- The romance between Emma and Justin. Although it was quick, I still loved them together. They were so unbelievable cute<3
- Even though this is a romcom, it dealt with heavier themes such as mental health. I like that the book wasn’t always incredibly happy all the time and instead had realistic characters. I love romance, but I also love reading about people I could meet in real life or people I can relate to.
- Neil’s house burnt down X). That was very funny.
- This is the first book that made me cry because of the romance. Usually, if I cry while reading a romance, it’s not because of the characters being happily in love. It’s usually because someone or something died that I really cared about. I cried twice while reading this- once because of Emma’s trauma, and the other because I really love Emma and Justin together.
- The way Emma and Justin are connected to this series. I thought that was very interesting.
- The love confessions.
- The smut was nice. It was more so the emotional kind of sex scenes, not really overly explicit. I prefer middle-ground sex scenes (the mix between explicit sex and the emotions of the characters), but the one in this book was well written.
- The beautiful cover.
- The way they learned about each other was through Reddit of all places🤣via an AITA post from Justin.
Final Thoughts
I really, really, really loved this book. I thought it was so cute, so heartwarming <3. The way Emma and Justin loved each other was so beautiful. I wish more men in real life were similar to Justin because he was so sweet. I love that Abby Jimenez asked a few psychologists to help her while writing Emma’s trauma. Emma was a beautifully written character. I love that this book gave us representations of PTSD, avoidant-attachment style, anxiety, panic attacks, etc. I think it was all written in the best way, not glorifying it or having the characters trauma-bond. I love that there was talk of going to therapy and becoming a better version of you. You’re becoming the person you want to be and the person you want to give to other people. I just loved it all so much. This was my first time reading an Abby Jimenez book, and now I want to read her other works. Maybe I’ll start with Part of Your World because that was the first book in this series. I accidently bought the third lol X).
Thank you for Reading!
Thank you for reading my review! I love you so much, and I hope you stick around for future posts about the other books I've read and will read.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments! Also, let me know of any romance novels or fantasy romance novels you think I should read! I'd love to review them.
Link to Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez on Amazon: Just for the Summer: Jimenez, Abby: 9781538704431: Amazon.com: Books
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