ARC Review: "Just for the Summer" by Abby Jimenez ★★★★★

ARC Review: Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

If you love romcoms, meet cutes, insta-love, fake dating Summer romance then I must let you know that this book is not known as readers’ most anticipated release this year for nothing! With some heartfelt moments, found family, and inner healing, this book covered so much that I was not expecting and will not forget. A must-read! Perfect for the upcoming summer – you have no excuse, go read!

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... It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t all butterflies and stars in your eyes. It’s *real*. This is the kind of love that forever is made of. Because if it’s this good when life is draining and mundane and hard, think of how wonderful it will be when the love songs are playing and the moon is out.

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
28-year-old travel nurse Emma Grant encounters 29-year-old software engineer Justin Dahl’s hilarious online Reddit post “Am I the Asshole?” and they start messaging each other. Both of them have this so-called curse that whoever they are dating ends up finding their soulmate straight after: for Emma, this is after a month; for Justin, it is after four dates. So, they conspire to come up with this scheme that if they meet up and date for a while, this will break the curse and they will go on to find their own soulmates. Four dates, one month, a kiss, a breakup. Just for the summer.

Emma and her best friend Maddy travel to various places they feel like, work in the hospital wherever they are, then move on. They plan to go to Hawaii but this chance online encounter with Justin spurs Emma into doing what she doesn’t expect: she wants to visit and date him. They change their plans to go to Minnesota instead.

Of course, feelings are caught between them, but there are many obstacles. Circumstances have meant Justin has recently become guardian of his younger siblings, of whom he must look after: Alex, Sarah and Chelsea, ages 15, 12 and 4 respectively. Emma has never met the families of the people she dates, nor does she like dating men with kids. She is too afraid to love and only wants this to be a fling. But she has her own baggage to deal with (and not just the only 2 suitcases she takes with her everywhere): her narcissistic, neglectful mother Amber turns up, who tends to come in like a force of nature showering people with love and then leaves. But this time she says she has changed, Maddy doesn’t believe her but Emma desperately wants to.

This is a past-tense first-person dual-POV story from Emma and Justin’s perspectives.

OVERALL OPINIONS
This is the first book I’ve read by Abby and honestly, I cannot believe I haven’t read her stuff sooner! I devoured most of this book in one day, which is when you can tell it’s a good one if you’re hooked that much.

<< Cameos from prior books >>
For those who have read Abby’s work before, you will be sure to recognise some of the character cameos here:
🠚 Emma’s mother Amber, and Neil, both of whom are antagonists of Part of Your World
🠚 Daniel, Alexis, and Doug from Part of Your World are in this, too.
I feel now I should have read Part of Your World first before this, but it is not essential: they can be read as a standalone because they are not “part of” (‘scuse the pun) the same series. Abby wanted to take the idea of Amber and “ran away” (‘scuse another pun) with the idea to give more depth to her. Knowing this now, I like it even more.

<< Writing >>
I was only recently aware that Abby Jimenez tends to have bigger themes as part of her books and the romance tends to be more of a subplot. Thus, not knowing this, I was only expecting the summer romance to be the main element with probably some spice, because how else would a summer fling book be quite so long?
I was very pleasantly surprised by how even the spice in the book was soft and sensual (crucial to the plot rather than being the plot), when they are vulnerable with each other, the amount of depth to the main characters Justin and Emma, the problems, the touching subjects, and the mature realistic way in which they both grieve and heal. Everything about this story, in fact, was very mature.

🠚 As well as the more serious notes, it was very amusing. Justin and Emma had great witty banter, there were some funny moments like when Emma and Maddy arrived at the cottage, the “proposal” on the bridge, and of course the Reddit posts in the prologue and epilogue. Also, the pun of calling a racoon George Cooney? Genius! The inside joke whenever they say “am I the asshole?”

🠚 Some beautiful descriptions too! Take this, for instance:

The sky was crystal clear and the stars were out. The air was perfect. One of those nights where you couldn’t even feel it on your skin. The water lapped quietly on the shore and lightning flashed in the distance, some far-off storm, beautiful and ethereal, like the horizon of a different world.

🠚 Justin and Emma make a promise rather early on in the story that whenever they ask each other what they are feeling, they are to be honest with each other, even if it is brutally so. “So you and I are never going to bullshit each other. The stone-cold truth, on demand, no filter, whenever we want it.” – and I especially loved this aspect! Indeed, I really liked that there was no miscommunication trope in here, I feel it is rather overrated and can get annoying. This was a very mature approach to the story.

🠚 The very difficult subjects of parents who abandon their children, the damage they do, and the person their children become as a consequence were explored in this story and all handled very well. Most people have either encountered narcissists or know of them. And most people have encountered the avoidant attachment relationship style, especially in the current dating world, as touched upon by Abby herself in her Q&A author’s notes at the end of the story. It is good to make people aware of it, and show it is not okay, and making excuses for these people is also not okay.

<< Negatives >>
I found nothing negative about this book. I can see why some people might find aspects negative: like if it felt too long, wanted more spice, or it simply wasn’t for them. But everything worked for me. I could argue the slowburn was quite slow.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Emma꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ I found Emma very relatable. She looks for the good in people, to a fault of course, and that is exactly what I’ve done too. Also, her saying “Nah. I want to finish my book.” when Maddy offers her a night out, GURL THIS IS SO ME! I also love her caring nature, it makes perfect sense as to why she is a good nurse.
🠚 She owns a soft toy of a unicorn named Stuffie, and I too have favourite soft toys from when I was a kid that serve as a comfort to me now. Again, this spoke to me.
🠚 The way she sees herself as insignificant is heartbreaking. This quote alone broke me: “Do well in school. Do my own laundry. Make my own food. Don’t ask for anything. Don’t need anything. Clean up after myself. Then after her. Be helpful. Be invisible. Be small.”
🠚 I was especially moved by Emma’s desire to be a better person than her mother ever was or could ever be. She did not want to run away every time she loves someone so worked on herself for six months to get through her traumas, heal, and come back to be able to stand her ground, show her love for others, and be an ever-present person in the Dahl family. It takes a strong person to do that, and I was so proud of her at the end of the book.
*⁀➷ Favourite quotes
• “In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.”
• “I’ve had a lot of bad things happen to me, Justin. I think sometimes the key to happiness is framing those things in a different way.”
• My lack of permanence was my protection. I left people and places, so I didn’t have to play. If I didn’t play, I couldn’t lose.
• It was so rare that anyone took care of me. It was rare I allowed it
• Home wasn’t a place, it was a person. For me it was a whole family.
• “I know it probably doesn’t matter, but I could meet you where you are now. I can meet all of you. I’ve filled my cracks. I don’t want to be an island. I want a village. I want lots of friends and lots of love in my life. I stayed somewhere for the first time without any plans to leave”

-ˋˏ ꒰ Justin꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ He has my whole heart! He is so funny, a beautiful person both inside and out (dimples charm me every time), and I liked the very subtle references to him being a tech guy by having him very organised. Would have liked to have heard more about his work (being a former programmer myself), as this of course impacts him too but is glossed over.
🠚 The quirky surveys and spreadsheets, and evite invitations always made me laugh as much as Emma. Abby was inspired by the story of Graham McCarthy who sent a first-date questionnaire to Katrina Froese, a story that went viral.
🠚 Justin being thrown into the deep end of suddenly looking after his family was very relatable to me. This happened to me recently, and I too cannot understand how parents, especially single parents, manage such a thing. His serious set of circumstances gives him an edge to his otherwise funny and kind side.
🠚 It is so sweet how much he saves Emma in this story: like the way he looks after her when she is ill, but my heart melted when he made the time to go to Emma’s hospital to give her lunch – after she just experienced her own mother visit the hospital but did not come for her, she came for Neil. And when he mends Stuffie, Emma’s favourite soft toy. Ahh! GREEN FLAG!
🠚 AND LET’S NOT FORGET HIS DOG, BRAD! The grumpy, Brussels Griffon rescue dog. So cute haha!
*⁀➷ Favourite quotes
• Goodbye was the bane of my existence. I hated it.
• “You are the only thing in my life making me happy right now. And I’m not the least bit afraid to tell you that.”
• It’s funny how when you find someone you like as much as I liked her, the destination is suddenly wherever they are. Even if there’s someplace better, you wouldn’t go if they couldn’t come.
• Everyone needed me, all the time.
• “I’ve been waiting my whole life to feel like this and I thought it was a curse that nobody else ever worked out. But it wasn’t. It’s just that they weren’t you.”

-ˋˏ ꒰ Maddy꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Oh my goodness Maddy is the best. She sticks to her gut instincts and is pretty much always right about it – as admitted by Emma “Maddy had been right about that, like she was right about most things.”. Especially when it comes to other people’s intentions, like Emma’s mother. I related more to her than I did Emma. While I do try and see the best in people and hold onto false hope, I also know when to stop looking. I will also give people sage advice, and call things as I see it. I absolutely adored Maddy!
Also it’s so cute she and Doug meet and get married in this story!
*⁀➷ Favourite quotes
• “The FBI should hire more women. We’re natural investigators.” – YESSS!!!
• “J-named men are the worst.” – Maddy knows where it’s at!
• “You know, for someone that cute, he’s pretty funny,”
• “I swear to God this guy is the epitome of If He Wanted To He Would.”
• “That is a *good* man. You are going to fuck up if you let that go.”
• “You have to manifest your own destiny.”

OTHER FAV QUOTES
• He went right in and gave me a hug. It was nothing but friendly. He didn’t hold me for longer than he should. But I found myself sort of wishing he would have. I needed the hug, I realized. And Justin was a *really* good hugger. Warm and firm, like he’d given and received a lot of hugs in his life.
• “Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks…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.”
• He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. And for the first time maybe ever, I felt like I belonged somewhere.
• “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.”
• And there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t feel her absence like a void in my soul. I missed her like I missed the sun in the winter.
• But that’s not what real grown-up relationships are like. They’re like this. Being mature enough to know your limits, and adult enough to accept when someone tells you what they are.
• “You know,” he said, “if the curse is true, the next person you date is going to be your soulmate.”
I smiled. “The next person you date’s going to be yours too.”
He cupped my face in his palms. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me sometime,” he whispered. “Four dates. A kiss. No breakup.”
I laughed, the tears starting to well again. “Not just for the summer?”
“No. Forever this time.”

══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════

I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Abby Jimenez, NetGalley and Piatkus for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“Just for the Summer” is out April 2nd