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?
- Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
- Published by: Forever on April 2, 2024
- Genre: Romance/Comedy (Rom-Com)
- Pages: 424
- Dates/Time Read: 6.1.25 – 6.8.25 (7 days); 8 hours 8 minutes
- Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)
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- Purchase on Amazon
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 🌶🌶🌶
For me, May was a particularly emotional month for book-reading. I didn’t anticipate that. Heck, one of the books that made me cry and feel things was supposed to be a horror book about vampires!! But out of the 8 books (1 doesn’t count because I DNF’d that sucker!) that I read last month, 3 of them made me cry and really had me sitting in my feels for a day or two afterwards. So I wanted to start June off with a palate cleanser, and decided to finally dig into an Abby Jimenez novel. I wanted to start June off hot and heavy…pun intended! haha
And yes, you read that right. This was my FIRST Abby Jimenez novel. I know she’s extremely popular, and I’ve seen many people recommend her books on social media, but I tend to be late to the party when it comes to reading. I consider myself more of a mood reader, and I like to jump around from genre to genre. Besides being a cleanser to my reading taste buds, it helps me keep the stories more compartmentalized in my head. If I read too many books of the same genre (that aren’t related, ie, a series), then they kind of start getting all mashed together in my memory. Getting old is fun, isn’t it?! lol So even though I knew that I would probably enjoy a Jimenez novel, I wasn’t too pressed to jump up and snag one to read. I will say, though, that she showed up on my FYP (for you page) on TikTok a while back. Probably because I do follow and watch a lot of BookTok stuff. The video she posted was of her chasing down a girl at an airport who she saw carrying one of her books. She chased her down, just to finally stop her and say, “Hey, I wrote that! Want me to sign it for you?” and then proceeded to sign the book and take some pictures with her. This alone made me an Abby Jimenez fan, because how freaking cool is that?!
So let’s talk about the book. This book is book 3 in her Part of Your World series, but they can all be read as stand-alone. There aren’t any major plot points that you need to know from the previous books to read this one. It’s more just a few of the characters from the other books kind of pop in and out in this book. No biggie. Just for the Summer starts off with Justin, our MMC, posting a question on the “Am I the Asshole” subreddit, where he discusses his “curse”, and how every woman he has dated in the last several years goes on to meet her soulmate right after dating him. Funnily enough, Emma (our FMC) has the same problem. At her best friend Maddy’s encouragement, she messages him, and after days of chatting, she convinces Maddy to change their travel destination to Minnesota, so she and Justin can meet, date, break up, break the curses, and go on to meet their soulmates. Sounds simple enough, right? But Justin and Emma were not prepared for the connection and attraction that they would have to each other, and it doesn’t turn out to be as easy as they thought it would be. Fate has other plans for them, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride if they want to break these curses!
…And how dare you try to lure me off a tropical island with cupcakes. Exactly how spectacular is this man’s penis? – pg. 51
This book was exactly what my heart needed, because I was already giggling at the banter between Emma, Maddy, and Justin by page 5, and it didn’t stop for the whole book. I gotta say, even though Emma was the focus of this book, her fiercely loyal and hilarious best friend Maddy stole the show for me. I want a Maddy in my life!! And that girl must really love Emma. I mean…she agreed to go to Minnesota over Hawaii for Emma FFS! Emma does entice Maddy with cupcakes. I’m a pretty loyal, loving friend, but it would take a hell of a lot more than cupcakes to get me to pick Minnesota over Hawaii, mmmmk!
You’re not asking too much…you were just asking the wrong person. Ask me instead. – pg. 336
While I loved Maddy from the get-go, I struggled a little at times with Emma. We learn of Emma’s childhood, and let’s just say…it wasn’t great. Despite this, she became a grown, fully functioning adult with a great career as a travel nurse with an incredibly positive attitude, telling Justin that if he had the choice between anger or empathy, he should always choose empathy. I don’t agree with that philosophy, and neither does Maddy. Maybe that’s why I liked her so much! ha But hey! You do you boo-boo! Throughout Emma and Justin’s experimental courtship, there are shenanigans aplenty that’ll make you laugh, make you gasp in shock, and even make you angry. Even though Emma comes with some baggage from her past, so does Justin. And it’s not the kind of baggage that Emma thinks she can handle. As feelings and attachments begin to grow, one of them wants to run away because it’s the only way they know how to be, and the other one wants to be the home that the other thought they’d never have.
Trigger warning/spoilers: This book does have a HEA. There is a pretty large focus on mental health issues, and that may be a triggering for some. There are abandonment issues, child abuse, bad parenting, depression, mania, hidden family, secret family, physical violence, attachment issues, and death. None of the violence or death topics are discussed in detail; they are just hinted at or brought up in discussions about the past. As for the spice, it is a slow burn, but there is one open-door scene, and in my opinion, it’s very vanilla and not overly graphic. More or less what you’d see in a rated R movie.
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