Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez

Narrated by Zachary Webber and Christine Lakin

Emotional RomCom. Stands alone but is related to other books.

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OMG! Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez is absolutely a 2024 favorite. Other than a very short story, I have never read her books, and I had no idea this was part of a series until the author’s note at the end. Now I’m so excited to go back and read (listen to) the first two, Part of Your World and Yours Truly. But honestly, as someone who hates starting a series in the middle, I had no idea there were related books before this, I didn’t feel like I was missing something, so don’t worry about starting here.

“The love stories sold us the wrong thing. 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.”

Emma is a travel nurse. She and her best friend Maddie never stay in a city for more than 3 months. Emma has a unique curse. Every guy she has a relationship with goes on to meet their soulmate right after breaking up with her. When she sees a funny ‘Am I the Asshole’ post on Reddit by a guy with the same curse, she decides to slide into his DMs.

They get friendly via chat and realize that if they date each other, they will each go on to find their own soulmates. So they make a pact. They will date for the summer, then hopefully each find their soulmate after. I loved their flirting and banter. Justin fell hard and fast, but he knew she was only around for a short time, and he had a tragic family situation he was dealing with.

While Just For The Summer was a fun read for the most part, there are some deep and emotional moments. Both Justin and Emma suffer from major trauma. Emma runs away from hers by being a nomad, but Justin can’t run away, he’s responsible for his whole family.

Emma suffered from a mental health disorder that she called “getting small”. I thought the term was overused and I would have liked a real diagnosis from a character who is a nurse. But it didn’t detract enough from the book to make this read any less than 5 stars.

“You are not what happened to you. You are what you do next.”

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez blended the emotional, gut-wrenching moments with the silly, joyful ones masterfully. I loved every second of listening to this book, even when I had tears running down my face.

“Maybe home isn’t a place. Maybe it’s a person.”

Likes:

The meet-cute.
The flirty texts before they meet.
The banter.
Maddie, Emma’s best friend/foster sister was amazing.
The emotional moments. Have tissues ready!
His surveys and invitations were amazing.
The ugly dog.
The Toilet King!
Justin in the unicorn float.
Mature communication.
Well-developed characters.
You can’t get a better guy than Justin.

Dislikes:

I wish I knew to read the other two before this, even though I didn’t feel like anything was missing during the listen.

The Narration:

The narration was absolutely fabulous. Zachary Webber and Christine Laken brought the story to life with all of the silliness and all of the emotion. The made a great book even better.

The Down & Dirty:

Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez is for sure one of my favorites of 2024, if not my top favorite. I’ve only had 5 other 5 star books this year, so that’s saying a lot! When I get a chance, I plan on going back and reading Part of Your World and Yours Truly. I promise you, you will not feel like this is anything but a standalone if you don’t read those first, it’s not even marketed as part of that series on Amazon. I just wonder if I had, would I have rated this 5+++ stars? Any book that has an ability to make me smile, make me laugh, make me cry, and make me want to hug my phone and tell everyone about it deserves 5 stars. Get Just For The Summer. You won’t regret it, it more than lived up to the hype.