Thank you Netgalley for this eARC, All thoughts are my own.

Inside this book you will find:

•Online meet-cute
•Summer romance
•Dual POV
•Dating pact
•Complex family dynamics
•Found family//adoption//foster care//guardianship
•Mental health/past trauma

This is my second Abby Jimenez book, and I feel like I'm falling in love with her writing, her worlds, and her characters the more I read her work. I was so excited and surprised when I got the chance to read this, and I know that people will not be disappointed because I wasn't.
Justin and Emma meet online after she and her best friend, Maddie, stumble upon Justin's recent "Am I the asshole?" post detailing his most recent 'Good Luck Chuck' relationship. Every time Justin dates someone they quickly break it off and immediately go on to find the love of their life. Not believing that someone else has the same luck (curse?) as her, Emma messages Justin, and a flirty text situationship develops. What would happen if they decided to make a dating pact? Could their bad luck cancel each other out? Just a few simple rules and they could be on their way to true love, right? Right!
4 dates...one kiss...and a breakup. & just for the summer!!

I enjoyed the story being multi-POV, allowing us as the reader to get invested in their sides / own stories along the way, and then both of them coming together. ne of friendship, forgiveness, healing, and the life changing realization that you ARE worthy of love! There were twists I was not expecting and not at all prepared for!! A summer lake house setting & many hilarious and lovable side characters. Laugh out loud funny, the perfect beachy read & also emotional and Kleenex worthy

It can be read as a standalone, but many people have suggested to read her other works to get a better feel for the characters as a whole. ( I will have to go back and do that.)

Definitely recommend this book!

Absolute perfection. Also I LOVED the fact they met over Reddit. Even though this was characters who are 29, it just made me feel like how I felt when I was a teenager texting with a crush haha!! I loved this so much, Abby Jimenez never misses!

I absolutely loved this. I've read every book by Abby Jimenez now and I'll read every one that comes next - no need to check the blurb, I know it'll be brilliant. And Just for the Summer is no exception. Abby writes her characters so well: Emma is lovable yet flawed, and Justin is so lovely and sexy. I love the callbacks to Abby's previous books, and how the worlds interlink. Highly recommended - a beautiful and entertaining romance from start to finish!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% my own.

This book was a fantastic read. Having read other Abby Jimenez books, I loved all the Easter eggs within this book.

The whole storyline was so unique, and not your typical romance book. Emma and Justin were both wonderfully complex characters and all of the side characters, even the villains, were equally interesting.

This was such a fantastic romance with killer chemistry between Justin and Emma, and I raced through it! I loved the whole idea of this book, and how Justin and Emma first came to know each other, the humour throughout as well as the baggage (for want of a better word) these two both have. With difficult parental relationships, fantastic friendships, and cute ugly dogs, it’s definitely offering more than just romance and that’s the way I like my books. These characters feel like real people, with Jiminez taking time to carefully craft their personalities, their friendships, and their lives in a way that helped to thoroughly absorb me into the story. I enjoyed the banter and the in-jokes, as well as the more vulnerable moments Emma and Justin shared. It definitely wasn’t smooth sailing for them but their journey was a good one and they got where they needed to be in the end, despite the road bumps and… whatever is bigger than a road bump, that they faced along the way. If you like chemistry-filled romances with depth and a great mix of humour and seriousness then you’ll be onto a winner with this one - though I might be one of the last people to discover Abby Jiminez’s books, so with all the hype I’ve seen for her books, you’re probably already expecting great things!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

A surprisingly emotional and tender read that had me desperate to get to the ending.
A traveling nurse with a bad run of boyfriends finds herself drawn to a man in the same situation. Together, they decide to see if dating each other can lead to the happily ever after everyone else finds after they break up with them. Both of them have things they are holding back. She is more damaged from her past than even she can imagine, and he finds himself having to take on a roll for the foreseeable future he does not think he can handle. Together, they could be incredible if they could only give up the pretense of pretend and trust that love and a happily ever after may just be in the cards for them.
Great characters full of depth and emotion, and I fell hard and fast. My first read by the author, and she blew me away!

I really enjoyed this book!!

In this book we meet Justin and Emma. These two believe they are cursed, both believing that their exs find their soul mates as soon as they are broken up. In order to break that curse, Justin and Emma decide to date each other and hopefully, it will cancel out the curse. Problem is, these two are complete strangers, only meeting online on a forum that Justin published a 'help me' segment.

I loved the idea of this book, at the start I though wow this is very fast, ie, exchanging numbers, calls, etc but as the story went on, I started to really love the characters and their struggles.
I absolutely loved how 'non perfect' both their lives were. Justin having to raise his siblings as his mother is sent to prison, while Emma has abandonment issues, PTSD and childhood trauma.
Every obstacle was handled with so much empathy and you could clearly see it was well researched.
I also loved how I couldn't predict what was going to happen! It was a real page turner!
The third act break up was probably the best I have ever read, because it made sense and it was needed.

I throughly enjoyed it and would 100% recommend.

Thank you to the author, netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this earc in exchange for an honest review.

Easily the darkest of Jimenez's reads, I would recommend checking trigger warnings ahead of reading. I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it on two train journeys then stayed up late to find out what happens to Emma and Justin. I was laughing out loud at the beginning then the final 25% was very emotional and tearful, the emotional rollercoaster adding to the experience as I really connected with both the main characters as well as the cast of secondary characters. Can't wait for the next one!

3.5 ⭐

I’ve read all Abby Jimenez’s books published by far and for me there is always 50% of possibility that I’ll love them and 50% of possibility that I won’t be impressed... This book falls into the second category.

The premise was good but the development didn't completely convince me. I found the relationship between Justin and Emma a little bit rushed and the whole storyline about Emma’s relationship with her mother at one point started to bore me.

Overall, this was a cute and funny romance, a very quick read, but it wasn’t my favorite Abby Jimenez’s book.

I love love loved this! This is the first book I’ve read by Abby Jimenez and I can’t wait to read all of her others. I completely connected with the main characters and I raced through the story because I wanted to know what was going to happen between them. This has made me fall back in love with romance books!

This was my first Abby Jimenez book and my god this book was so good. A summer lake house setting, sign me up. I can’t wait to re-read this during the summer on a beach while the waves crash.

in this book, we follow justin & emma. they both meet online after emma reads justin's reddit post "am i the asshole?" they both believe they have the same curse.. everyone they get together with breaks up with them and finds their soulmate. so in an attempt to break this curse, they decide to go on 4 dates together so they can find their soulmates.. could their bad luck cancel the other's out?
WOW. an absolute MASTERPIECE. this book was everything. i will recommend this book until the day I die. i have NEVER related to a book, more specifically to characters, more in my entire life. i cried. i laughed. i loved. i have found my new favourite book EVER
can someone tell abby that she's going to be paying for my therapy for the foreseeable future now, please & thank you!! bcos as promised, this book emotionally destroyed me
abby's writing is just MAGICAL. there is no other word for it. her writing just completely and utterly captivates you. this is the kind of book that will truly change you & the way you look at things. this was the most sweetest, swoon-worthy, heartwarming yet heart wrenching book i've ever read!
i truly think this will be my favourite book of the year! i cant think of how another book will top this! and omg the little easter eggs in this book!!! i screamed out loud when i picked up on them!
just a little heads up for anyone wanting to read this, please read part of your world & yours truly before you read this! while this is a separate book, i think you won't be able to appreciate the little easter eggs in this book without reading them two first!

Just for the Summer, Abby Jimenez
Rated - 4 / 5 ✨

What a read, this book had it all, slow burn romance, found family, family trauma. I feel like I went through it all.

The depth to Emma and Justin in this was phenomenal, the understanding of each of them and their individual pasts was so well pulled together. Then sprinkle in their slow burn romance, I was obsessed. Justin is just a straight up golden retriever and I adore him. Emma, what a woman, watching her grow and see her story come full circle was a delight.

This book touches on family trauma, toxic family members and at times it was hard to read. It was really well written and had me at the edge of my seat, waiting to see how it all unravelled.

Maddy is the ultimate best friend, like what a woman.

❀ friends to lovers
❀ found family
❀ surviving trauma
❀ summer fling
❀ love at first sight but slow burn

Thank you Piatkus for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

4.5

Emma and Justin meet on Reddit's infamous sub r/AITA through their respective dating curse in which their exes meet their soulmates right after breaking up. They decide to break said curses by dating for a month and break up, so they can go on and meet their life partner.

The premise is fun, even if it doesn't exactly make sense for Emma, when she wants to keep working as a travelling nurse and not commit to a place or person for too long. Normally, I would see no reason why a contemporary romance should be over 400 pages, but this one was so packed with character backgrounds and development and an amazing healing from mental health issues arc for Emma, that it didn't feel even a page too long.

I really like Justin as the MMC, he has a very unique back story that doesn't feel forced and holds a few gut punches for us readers. He is definitely a very golden retriever, heart of pure gold kind of character, attentive, patient, self-sacrificing. Emma was annoying to me sometimes, her principle in life is "empathy over anger" which I find pretty admirable generally, but the with stuff she's had to endure with her mother from her childhood on, she has more than a pass on being a little angry sometimes imo. Still, with her backstory, her views on life and behaviours definitely fit her character. Thank goodness she has her best friend Maddy who is incredibly loyal to her and spitting the truth about Emma's toxic mother like it's her job. Maddy deserves the world, I was hoping she would get her own book in the future, but the epilogue made it pretty unlikely.

I must confess I'm not completely sold on the romance. It is a little too insta-lovey for me and with everything else going into their lives, I just don't see how they would the energy for each other. There was less chemistry between the two than I'd like, which the author addresses in the Q&A at the end. That being said, there is a lot of cute moments and teasing and banter in their relationship I enjoyed. It fits, since its not purely a romcom, but also an exploration on how mental health can affect a relationship, so the insta-love is a way to save room for the other topics of the novel to develop without making this book even longer than it already is.

The writing was definitely in the middle of the spectrum, pretty bland and matter of fact, but not annoying, that's a huge plus in my book. There were some pretty big Easter eggs and references to Abby Jimenez's previous two books, particularly Part of your World, here, which I won't spoil, but I was so here for them. The plot included some pretty serious topics, so read the warnings if you have triggers, but you could definitely tell the author did her research and treated them responsibly with a ton of sensitivity reading where it mattered.

OMG OMG OMG

STOP THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. THE PLOT, THE ROMANCE. MY HEART!

I’ve ordered the physical because I need it

➳ 2.75 rounded up to 3 stars ✩
⤿ a spoiler free arc review


this was my third book from abby jiminez and it definitely fell flat for me. i found myself skimming through most of the book because it just didn’t hold my attention well. i was never absorbed in the story and i found myself wanting to dnf quite a few times at the beginning. it was very disappointing because this was one of my most anticipated reads this year.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓹𝓵𝓸𝓽: justin and emma are both “cursed” and unlucky in love when every person they date goes on to find their true love after they split. after the two meet from a viral “am i the asshole” reddit thread, they decide to date so they too can find their forever someone.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼:

➳ emma: she looks for the good inside of people and is kind and forgiving to a fault. she definitely went through a lot of character development but i still felt as though i couldn’t connect to her. she was way too nice, yet also aloof, which became very irritating very quickly. although this was understandable due to her past, i wish we had gotten to see her as a slightly less selfish character for a bit longer.
➳ justin: i found the dating surveys and spreadsheets to be pretty cute (if he wanted to he would) but if i said i fell in love with him i would be lying. he wasn’t very different to other mmcs, aside from his family situation which felt as though it was glossed over. his relationship with his siblings was adorable though.
➳ maddy: i absolutely loved maddy. despite praising emma for her empathy, i truly believe maddy was the selfless one. emma definitely took her for granted because such a protective yet supportive friend is such a precious gift. maddy literally deserves everything


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮: for a romance book, there wasn’t much romance. there was barely any chemistry and no tension. i had to read the page twice to figure out they kissed because literally nothing was happening. the problems of the main characters were given greater emphasis, which were dealt with beautifully, but those problems were not the reasons i slogged through 432 pages. i also feel that emma did not put as much effort into the relationship as justin who is the epitome of if he wanted to he would.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰: the first few chapters were filled to the brim with references that made my head ache, instagram, tiktok, reddit, linked-in - authors, please stop. i read to escape real-life, not to be reminded of it. the pacing was okay, but the story really began to drag after 50%. a problem i have noticed with jiminez’s works is that i don’t often feel any emotional connection to her characters. during conversations it was difficult to follow who said what because of the lack of dialogue tags which made me plain irritated.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼: i would recommend reading this book if you are a fan of abby jiminez and you enjoy her writing style. i think for me, that was my biggest problem with this book. i also may have enjoyed this slightly more had i read more of jiminez’s books, as there were many cameos from the characters within her universe.

.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
‎ ‎౨ৎ • 𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼: panic attacks, anxiety, ptsd, depression, depictions of undiagnosed mental health issues, a toxic mother, death due to a car crash, and past child neglect.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
💖💌 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽:
⤿ dual pov
⤿ forced proximity
⤿ guardianship
⤿ summer romance
⤿ found family
⤿ online meet cute
⤿ insta love
⤿ mental health rep
⤿ fake dating (kinda)


thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Thankyou to NetGalley and little brown book group for sending me this ARC. I loved the message behind this story that love can be shown in many ways. It was a unique story with Justin taking care of his siblings and with Emma dealing with child hood trauma. Together they had to navigate if ‘fake’ dating was an achievable goal or if their feelings were real. I liked the representation of mental health although towards the end it felt a particular character potentially could’ve had a better ending for them.

This was everything. I’m not usually a romance reader, but I’m going to be reading everything Abby has ever written. The characters in this book were so complex and had so many layers. I felt like I could relate to Emma but I’d never been through anything as bad as her. My emotions were all over the place, I was laughing and then I was crying. Love Justin as well! Imagine meeting someone on Reddit!!

Just the perfect summer rom-com!

Kudos to queen of heart-melting romance author #AbbyJimenez!

Thanks NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Piatkus for the invite to read this ARC! It was such a privilege.

Could someone please give Abby an Oscar for coming up with such beautiful and sweet love stories? I wish I could give this one all the stars in the universe!

Synopsis -

Justin and Emma are determined to break their ‘curse’. Sick of seeing their dates finding their soulmates right after their break up, they will need to enter into a dating arrangement and finally negate each other. Emma, a travel nurse, ends up in Minnesota which is way out of her planned bucket list of states. But they have to take a chance on this ‘Just For the Summer’ fling.

Review -

Oh my goodness, where do I start with this book? The opening is a hilarious messy incident of a reddit post going viral which introduces us to Justin, a geeky software engineer, who is on a mission to get out of his vicious dating cycle. Seriously - what a guy!

Emma and Justin’s meeting is probably the best ever possible meet-cute – what with Justin’s pre-dating invites, surveys and post-dating questionnaires. Oh how my tech savvy self loved these – literally hearts in my eyes😍! Justin was simply the magical combo of good looks, virtue, patience, charm and organizational skills. Swooooon!!!!

Far from being a slapstick rom-com, Jimenez adds so much depth and dimension to her hero and heroine, along with a cast of strong supporting characters. Especially Maddy, Emma’s best friend – I was so glad she was such a solid rock, the only constant and symbol of stability in Emma’s nomadic life. And of course we have a gorgeous setting too – an idyllic cottage on an island amidst Lake Minnetonka!

During the course of this crazy slow burn dating schedule, we get to laugh out hearts out 😂, cry with the same hearts broken 🥺, feel hurt, anger, helplessness while learning to forgive and empathise, as Jimenez explores themes of child neglect, abandonment, trauma, avoidant relationships and its effects on the ability to give and receive love, hope and live fully.

The ending was just perfect as Emma and Justin discover what it truly means to find a ‘home’, heal those raw, deep and old emotional wounds, put down roots, finally embrace the steadiness, safety and security of a family.

READ THIS BOOK if you love a good rom-com with substance. Can't recommend it enough!

I loved this read, which was fresh, funny and moving all at once. The characters are extremely endearing, and it's easy to identify with them. I feel like this is her best book yet ! And i am sure everyone will devour this one. There is very little of the whole miscommunication trope in this book and i loved it compared to her previous books. The dual POV gives us a glimpse of two completely different stories, and lives, and slowly merges them into one complex, yet beautiful, story. One of friendship, forgiveness, healing, and the life changing realization that you are always worthy of love! There were twists I was not expecting and not at all prepared for!!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC