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A review by carbs666
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
challenging
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
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? Yes
3.75
This is my first time reading Abby Jiminez and I will say the good reputation she has is earned! I just think there were pieces of this book that didn't work for me and clouded the whole experience, so this is going to be long and involved and possibly contain some minor spoilers. Before I get into it I want to be clear that I do think this is a Very Good Book on many craft levels, it's just not for me.
I feel like in an effort to highlight Emma's attachment issues and unresolved trauma, Justin gets somewhat flattened into a Good Guy who will Do What It Takes, despite the fact that he, too, is dealing with a LOT and has been for several years. I also felt like Maddy spends the first third of the book just relentlessly delivering extremely harsh truths to Emma in a way that seems designed to push Emma away (which is clearly NOT Maddy's intention) and made it hard for me to find her likeable. I also felt like the level of self-delusion that Emma is living with regarding her own upbringing the impact it had on her felt a bit unrealistic for someone in her line of work and with the skills, knowledge, and experience she has. (Also, and this is just a contemporary romance pet peeve of mine, Maddy's initial characterization is somewhat meme-ified for me by her use of internet lingo - one time she says "unalive" out loud unironically - and the way she tells Emma prevailing millennial internet wisdom as if Emma is not a woman in her late twenties with her own internet connection.)
All of that nitpicking aside, I enjoyed Jiminez's writing a lot. It was very clear that the topics of mental health and trauma were thoroughly researched and extremely sensitively handled. I liked the way life got messy for the MCs and there wasn't any sugar-coating about it - that all felt very real. Usually I find plots where the main barrier to the HEA is that one MC has a deeply seated personal issues to address tend to have a reconciliation feels like a hasty, but in this case I genuinely felt like Emma was committed to healing, keeping her chaos demon mom out of the picture, and showing up for her new family. (I also had no idea that Amber and Neil were villians in previous Jiminez novels until I read the Q&A but that is an extremely clever choice on her part!) Basically, if you like a romance thats 95% emotional turmoil and internal conflict and, like, 2% very non-explicit sex, 3% family bonding scenes, this is a perfect book for you!
I feel like in an effort to highlight Emma's attachment issues and unresolved trauma, Justin gets somewhat flattened into a Good Guy who will Do What It Takes, despite the fact that he, too, is dealing with a LOT and has been for several years. I also felt like Maddy spends the first third of the book just relentlessly delivering extremely harsh truths to Emma in a way that seems designed to push Emma away (which is clearly NOT Maddy's intention) and made it hard for me to find her likeable. I also felt like the level of self-delusion that Emma is living with regarding her own upbringing the impact it had on her felt a bit unrealistic for someone in her line of work and with the skills, knowledge, and experience she has. (Also, and this is just a contemporary romance pet peeve of mine, Maddy's initial characterization is somewhat meme-ified for me by her use of internet lingo - one time she says "unalive" out loud unironically - and the way she tells Emma prevailing millennial internet wisdom as if Emma is not a woman in her late twenties with her own internet connection.)
All of that nitpicking aside, I enjoyed Jiminez's writing a lot. It was very clear that the topics of mental health and trauma were thoroughly researched and extremely sensitively handled. I liked the way life got messy for the MCs and there wasn't any sugar-coating about it - that all felt very real. Usually I find plots where the main barrier to the HEA is that one MC has a deeply seated personal issues to address tend to have a reconciliation feels like a hasty, but in this case I genuinely felt like Emma was committed to healing, keeping her chaos demon mom out of the picture, and showing up for her new family. (I also had no idea that Amber and Neil were villians in previous Jiminez novels until I read the Q&A but that is an extremely clever choice on her part!) Basically, if you like a romance thats 95% emotional turmoil and internal conflict and, like, 2% very non-explicit sex, 3% family bonding scenes, this is a perfect book for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent