I read every Abby Jimenez book so it's high time that I wrote a guide on them.
Unlike my obsession with Ann Liang where I quickly binge-read her books in a short time, I slowly read Abby Jimenez books over the years. Some are my absolute favourites, some I would happily forget existed. I find myself dropping everything else to read her new books even if I don't think I'll love it. There's something in her writing that brings me back. So, let's talk about it.
Welcome to The Author Archives! This is a blog series born from my personal quest to read every backlist book by authors I love. In each post, I'll dive deep into an author's entire body of work from my perspective, sharing short reviews, comparisons, and my overall thoughts on their novels—all in one place.
Note: This post is written in 2025 when her latest book is Say You'll Remember Me. Hopefully, I will update it with new releases in the future.
the friend zone
The book in 3 sentences: Kristen has endometriosis and wants to get a hysterectomy. Josh wants a big family. Will their romance work out?
The Friend Zone was my first Abby Jimenez book way back in 2019. I quickly loved it. Not because it had an amazing or unique story, not because it was written well, and definitely not because it had memorable characters. I loved it because it was my first book where the main character has painful periods.
In 2019, I was in college and still unused to my painful periods. I could barely sit in class and the fatigue and pain took so much that I'd take a week of rest to recover. My mom apparently had no cramps and was so surprised that I'd be in enough pain to be curled up for hours. I didn't see any of my friends struggling as much as I did. Until I read The Friend Zone, I had never read a book in which the main character had painful periods.
Although I was already an avid reader by then, I hadn't come across many books featuring women going through periods, let alone painful ones. The situation has improved since then—many more books portray periods and stuff that comes with it—but it's still not good enough. The Friend Zone is still the only book that comes to mind if I ever think about "books where menstruation health talk is front and centre".
Reading about it in this book was like getting a reassurance that I never expected to get. I was not the only one going through excruciating pain on a regular basis and I really should be kinder to myself when it happens, instead of forcing myself to go through daily routines as usual. This is the power of books—you can find yourself in them, especially when no one around you is similar.
Other than the endometriosis rep, I liked that the relationship growth was slow and the chemistry between the characters was great. I liked the banter between them. It was heartbreaking too. Not saying why due to spoilers but definitely have a look at trigger warnings before you read it.
It wasn't perfect, though. 1) The epilogue did not have to be what it was, it kinda ruined things by giving a generic happy ending. 2) The repetitiveness of the why Kristen did not pursue the relationship sooner and the resulting tons of miscommunication got on my nerves.
With this read, I understood that Abby Jimenez had something to say beyond regular romance stories. I've read a TON of romances and the number of them that have something to say other than the romance itself is shocking low. This is why, even when romance books are good, they get blurred with other books in my mind. Romance books like this that have something going along along with the relationship (like how real life works) stand out.
yours truly
Despite liking The Friend Zone, I didn't get to other books by Abby Jimenez because they didn't interest me. One book doesn't build a lot of trust either. When Yours Truly made the rounds online and I read the synopsis, I knew that I'd enjoy it so I picked it up.
The book in 3 sentences: Briana and Jacob get off on the wrong foot. He writes a beautiful letter to clear the air kicking off a letter exchange. They fall in love.
Yours Truly is my #1 book by Abby Jimenez and it is one of my all-time favourites and one of my comfort books. It ticked all the boxes for me. It's not perfect but it is amazing. It easily left The Friend Zone behind in its dust.
I've written a full review on Yours Truly so I won't go in depth. In short, the things that make this book amazing are:
- The letter writing!!
- The relationship development was beautiful.
- The book was genuinely FUN to read. I giggled and laughed and smiled a lot.
- The characters (even the supporting ones) were great.
- It's written really well.
The only thing that would make people hate this book is the miscommunication trope. I think it made sense considering the characters' pasts and personalities but I can see it being a sore point for others. The third act breakup isn't great but I believe that was necessary too, the romance wouldn't be believable otherwise.
Contrary to many of Abby Jimenez's other books, a specific topic is not a big highlight in the story. The Friend Zone had endometriosis, Life's Too Short had MS, etc. Here, there are a couple of different things—Jacob's anxiety, Briana's trauma—but they're not given a lot of focus. They're given some focus and they have affect the story (as they should) but it's not a lot. The romance is the main thing.
Another thing is this book is not very painful unlike some of Jimenez's other books. There is pain for sure, especially around the third act breakup, but it doesn't take up a majority of the book. That's probably why I love it a lot. It's comforting and mostly lighthearted with a few plot things that I love. I've reread this book at least 20 times.
the happy ever after playlist
After loving Yours Truly, I decided to read all of Abby Jimenez's remaining books. If I loved 2 books by the author, there's a good chance that I'll love more, right? I decided to start with the rest of The Friend Zone series.
The book in 3 sentences: Sloan, still grieving her husband, immediately connects with Jason after a meet-cute. Their relationship seems amazing until we find out that he's a rock star. The rock star life puts their relationship through a lot.
The way the characters met was new and fun. It stood out. A "stray" dog jumps into Sloan's car and she ends up basically adopting him when the owner doesn't come forward. A couple of weeks later, the owner finally contacts her and they hit it off. The dog literally brought them together and it wasn't a generic meeting like in most books.
I hated the rockstar romance. I've read many of them and all of them are the same. The same issues with fame, the same issues with touring and no time for relationships. The same issues with (real or perceived) cheating. The same insecurities. There was nothing new on that front in this book.
The only difference here was the pain. Abby Jimenez writes pain, heartbreak, and grief really well. The book gets really desolate at one point, reflecting the life of the characters. Sloan's grief for her husband and old life, the characters struggling due to Jason's rock star job, and more. Reading it broke my heart. I didn't find any of it new but it was still heartbreaking.
Similar to The Friend Zone, the romance is not easy. Sloan and Jason had to work really hard and put aside a lot of themselves to make their relationship work and eventually get a happy ending. There's a lot about how much one can give up without being mentally affected to support their partner. They go through a lot. Much of it felt unnecessary too—if I was one of the characters, I would have given up on the relationship and moved on. It is hard to even read the book.
I wouldn't recommend this book unless you're looking for a heartbreaking book that will put you through pain.
life's too short
The title itself shows that this is going to be a sad book. Immediately after finishing The Happy Ever After Playlist, I started this one and hoped that it'll be a better sadness at least.
The book in 3 sentences: Vanessa aims to live every day to the fullest because her family has a history of MS*. Aaron is a bit stuck up but Vanessa helps him branch out. Their relationship is sad because of MS.
More similar to The Friend Zone than The Happy Ever After Playlist, this book is also full of pain. Abby Jimenez does a good job of making us love the characters and understand their chemistry first before hitting us with the pain. And there is quiiiite a lot of pain. The romance is painful.
A dog is one of the main supporting characters, again. Vanessa and Adrian end up co-parenting a dog which brings them closer. We do see a lot of love for the dog, the book is clearly written by a dog parent haha.
I'd say this is similar to The Friend Zone because of a bunch of things:
- The first 30-40% are nice and light. We see them bonding and starting to fall in love.
- When things get real, they get real and painful FAST. And it's all pain from there.
- It has a valid reason for the pain which gets a lot of focus. As it should get.
- The ending is maybe a bit too light, considering all the heavy stuff before it. It suddenly becomes light.
MS gets a lot of page-time which was nice. I've not read other books where the main character deals with MS in detail. I can't speak about how correct it is but as someone who only knows a tiny bit about MS through representation in books, this was informative and it made me really empathise with people with MS. I appreciate that it was not purely for plot. I appreciate that, similar to the endo rep, this was a big part of the book. The author had something to say/show.
I didn't enjoy the book though. There has to be something in the plot or romance that clicks. I get pain and having a point but the book has to be fun or interesting enough to be memorable, right? To write this, I had to read my old review to jog my memory about Life's Too Short.
After reading Life's Too Short, I decided that The Friend Zone trilogy's theme is pain. Yours Truly was the only light-hearted book I read so far. There are only tiny cameos/mentions of other characters so even if you read the books out of order, it won't make a difference. The books read as standalones.
* Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic immune disease that slowly breaks down the body.
part of your world
Next up: Yours Truly's prequel. Well, book 1 in the series. I was really really hoping to like it because I did not enjoy the last 2 books I read. I didn't expect to love it because the synopsis did not give me great vibes but maybe it'll be nice to read, at least. I saw the characters a tiny bit in Yours Truly as cameos so I was familiar with them a liiitle bit.
The book in 3 sentences: Alexis, a fancy doctor in the city, is getting over a controlling ex. Daniel is drowning in responsibility in the suburbs. They start with a one-night stand that they never want to end.
The cover and the title attribute to the main contention point in the relationship, Alexis and Daniel are from two different worlds which doesn't make their relationship easy. She's in the upper class—multiple degrees, a family legacy, and shoes she's expected to fill. Daniel just wants to do what he loves and carry forward his family's legacy, even if it's the hardest thing to do. They live a few hours away from each other but those few hours add a lot of distance.
This book makes the "it may never work out" work out. For most of the book, we see how these characters are really really different and we also think that they won't last. There are only so many times you can travel 3 hours one way to see someone you're dating while staying energetic and keeping up with your life. At one point, I was tired just reading about them trying to make it work.
They put a lot of effort into their relationship to make it work. You never question why even if it's tiring to read because their chemistry leaps off the pages. They're clearly a perfect fit because they're so different. And maybe because they're not had easy lives, they're willing to go through the hard stuff to be together.
I loved Alexis's story. She's going through a divorce that everyone around her is against (except her best friend), breaking free from her manipulative family and ex-husband. Although she's a renowned doctor, she doesn't know how to much else because she's been pushed to only further her career and her family legacy. Watching her slowly learn basic things and take control of her life was lovely. It felt like my shoulders slowly dropped as she became more independent and confident in herself. I still have this one scene in my mind where she's in the kitchen repairing something and her ex-husband, who didn't want her independent so that she'd be dependent, sees and goes "....oh you know how to do it?" I loved how Daniel factored into her growth without him being the sole reason for it.
Overall, this book was really cute. There was a slight bit of heaviness around Alexis's family situation and Daniel's mother but most of the book was lighthearted. I enjoyed it. I'm glad this series is not painful 🙃 The third book was yet to come and I was super excited for it at this point.
worst wingman ever
About a year later, I came across Worst Wingman Ever on Kindle Unlimited and immediately borrowed it. I will take it. This is a part of The Improbable Meet-Cute novella series in which multiple popular romance authors wrote a novella each on the topic "improbable meet-cute".
The novella in 3 sentences: Holly gets an anonymous note that makes her grief-filled day better. She replies. They fall in love via notes.
Being only 60 pages, I didn't expect a lot of depth in the story. Abby Jimenez still managed to give a slow-ish romance and include something in the story.
My favourite character was the grandmother. Holly is taking care of and spending as much time as she can with her grandmother in the grandmother's last days. Despite being very sick and losing the ability to do things every day, the granny is the bright spot in the book. I loved the scenes with her.
The romance itself was okay. It's a nice idea that an act of kindness can bloom into a relationship that makes their days better even if they've never met. Considering it's a novella and that there's quite a bit of focus on something else, I wasn't too disappointed with the romance.
Honestly, it didn't read like a romance. It read like a fiction book about Holly. If you look at it from that lens, it's a fairly good book. A one-time read but good enough.
just for the summer
Finally, the third book in the Part of Your World series! Sequel to Yours Truly! I was SO EXCITED to read this, you have no idea. I was slightly worried that my high expectations would make it disappointing. It actually exceeded them. Just for the Summer topped even Yours Truly for me. 😮
The book in 3 sentences: Justin posts about his dating curse on Reddit and goes viral. Emma, who has the same experience, responds via DM. Their conversation never stops.
The beginning of this story is one of my all-time favourites. I LOVE it. I love it so much that I sometimes reread the beginning and because the book is amazing, I continue reading until the end. This is the first book where it uses social media in an actually funny way and not the generic sliding-into-DMs or some other way. Like this is a FUN beginning.
The book kept being fun. The Reddit post hooks you and just doesn't let you go. Emma and Justin's chemistry is off the charts. It is so easy to believe in their relationship, so easy to believe that they belong together. Their conversations are easy and fun and perfect. Their vibes matched right from the start. Their online conversation were great but their in-person conversations were even better. One can only dream of having such a romance because this was absolutely perfect.
Keeping in theme with the other two books in the series, there is a small sad part in the story. There is some heaviness in both Emma and Justin's lives. It's sad to read but it says so much about them and you can see them actively being better people despite everything. I loved Emma's growth in this book. Again, the third act breakup was justified and I actually loved the way both the characters dealt with it and eventually got back together. The ending brings their story to a full circle too.
I could keep talking about this book but I've already written a whole review on it where I gush about the entire book and the characters and the romance and the growth arc and... just, everything. I've already said too much here despite having a longer review on it, I love the book 😂
I read this book a couple of years after Part of Your World so I didn't realize the characters who made an appearance here till it was explicitly told and I was shook! It's a really cool connection, too. I did not expect it. Maybe I would have if I remembered book 1 but it was totally worth it to realize later on haha.
Since I spoke about all the books, I can say that Part of Your World series stars characters with traumatic pasts. It's mostly lighthearted, has couples with amazing chemistry, and kinda makes you believe in love again. It's a really good romance series, probably the best I've ever read. After all, it has TWO of my favourite books and it has only 3 books.
the situationship
This is a Part of Your World novella set around the same time as Just For The Summer. Between the third act breakup and reconciliation in Just For The Summer, 6 months pass in a time jump. The Situationship occurs in that time.
The novella in 3 sentences: Maddy and Doug are fierce with their love with their friends but aren't looking for romance. They meet in a hilarious setting and hit it off. It starts as a fling but is for forever.
Doug is the best friend of the male main character in Part of Your World. Maddy is the best friend of the female main character in Just For The Summer. I knew that Maddy and Doug end up together in Just For The Summer's epilogue. It's a short mention. I am ambivalent to Doug but I absolutely love Maddy in book 3.
This book is about characters I know but they feel like entirely different people. Other than the references and the names, I somehow didn't see any resemblance. I read The Situationship soon after a Just For The Summer reread and I couldn't reconcile the two Maddys! Who are these people? I understand that they get much more focus and backstories here but they should feel like the same characters.
I lowkey hated this book. I didn't like the crudeness of it in the beginning. I understood that the author was trying out humour but it did not land. I didn't understand why the characters spent more time together. I didn't see any chemistry between them. They were a better couple in my imagination before I read this.
the fall risk
This is another novella and for the first time, I read an Abby Jimenez book soon after its release.
The novella in 3 sentences: Charlotte and Seth wake up to find that the stairs in the apartment is gone, basically locking them in. They only have each other to spend time with. They fall in love.
This is a Valentine's Day-themed story. It takes place over the Valentine's Day weekend. The novella is short already and the story takes place over a weekend so, obviously, there's a very fast relationship growth. Almost insta-love. Not quite, but almost. Abby Jimenez's books so far have well-paced relationship growths so this fast one was surprising.
It was cute. But I wasn't a fan. I understand the premise, I like that the author gave them proper backstories, and I like that the main character has a good character arc moment at the end. It was mostly light-hearted with a tinge of heaviness. However, the book overall wasn't fun or interesting enough. It's a one-time read that you'll forget about in a couple of hours.
A lot of popular romance authors try out novellas to explore ideas and collaborate with others. I'm all for it. However, personally, I don't think novellas are Abby Jimenez's forte (yet?). She writes novels really well where she has the space to delve into characters' emotions, give them great chemistry and relationship growth, and proper character arcs. These short ones are great ideas but what makes short stories great is not always what makes long stories great.
say you'll remember me
Am I the only one who always sings it in the mind instead of reading it normally? "Say you'll remember me, standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe". It's the song Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift. Every time I read this book's title, the song plays in my mind. I was wondering if the book is somehow related to the song but it wasn't. There's a different meaning to the title.
The book in 3 sentences: Samantha and Xavier have a once-in-a-lifetime connection. Unfortunately, show moves across the country the next day to help take care of her mother. Pain.
We're back to painful romances. It looks like this is also going to be a series of 3 books so I'm assuming that the upcoming 2 will be similarly painful. This was worse than The Friend Zone series. Way worse. After finishing the book, I realized that I really did not need to go through that. I should have stopped reading the book. I read books for escape from pain, not for more pain unless I'm trying to cry. This book didn't even make me cry because it was a dull throbbing numbing pain. Abby Jimenez writes pain so well that it's as if you're the main character going through those things.
Like The Friend Zone series, there's a major point to this book other than the romance. A big part of the story is the main character dealing with her mother's dementia. We see her mother forgetting about her, memory lapses, uncontrollable moods, loss of physical control, anger issues, and more. Samantha moved back home with her parents, grandmom, and siblings—everyone together to take care of her mom. It's a huge thing.
At the same time, Samantha's reeling with having met "the one" but being a long flight away because, obviously, being with her mom comes first. There's a bunch of push-and-pull and "we should give up"/"but we're perfect" which is very draining to read. Even when the characters are together, it's not a bright moment, it's just a relieving moment amongst the pain. Imagine being in that situation. Reading this book is like living it.
I don't think this should have been a romance. The story was more about how dementia affects the family and changes everything. Honestly, Xavier didn't even get as much focus as he should have. We saw some backstory, yes. But there wasn't much on him considering he also has a sad past. We're focusing on Samantha and her family 75% of the time.
SPOILER (expand to read)
The ending wasn't about the couple—the last scene was one of Samantha and her family. How is this a romance? It's just fiction. It shouldn't be in the romance genre. Remove the romance and talk truthfully about the book.
The title is clever. It blends the dementia heartbreak and romance storylines. It's a great title. The story? Full of pain.
Read this book only if you want pain. Fair warning: it will only be cathartic if you relate to the themes of the story. Otherwise, it's just pain with no payoff. Like real life. It's NOT for you if you read books to escape real life. I'm guessing this series's theme is pain and tragedy.
I am not looking forward to the upcoming books in this series. I may pick them up if reviews praise them but they're definitely not on priority list.
on abby jimenez's writing overall
There are a few things that stand out across her books:
- There is always a dog. Except in the novellas, every book has a beloved dog. I may not have mentioned it while talking about each book but trust me, there's a dog. It's always the best pet ever—maybe slightly mangled or ugly—but incredibly lovable. The amount of focus on the dog varies. In some, the dog is a star. In some, it's kind of a plot device. In others, there's simply a dog even though it doesn't do much to the story. I guess the novellas don't have dogs because there isn't enough space? 🤔
- There is always a heavy topic, although the heaviness of the story varies. Either the main characters have bad pasts, are going through trauma, have trust issues, or something else. I've mentioned how heavy each book is above but all of them are at least a tiny bit heavy.
- She writes pain really well. I think I've spoken enough about this already.
- The chemistry between couples is generally solid. In most of the books, there's no doubt about the characters being perfect partners. So there's usually no question of "why are they fighting so hard to be together?"
- She writes humourous and light-hearted stories well... when she wants to. My favourite books are the light-hearted and funny ones. They're a joy and a comfort to read. I really hope we get more books like the Part of the World series.
- It's usually a trilogy and has a theme. Granted, we've only seen 2 completed series so far but that's a solid pattern, in my opinion. The books can be easily read as standalones and out of order but they have a connecting theme which is shown differently in each book.
It's admirable that Abby Jimenez has written so many romance books—all with very different stories, even if they have connecting themes—and has executed them as planned. I didn't like some of the books and have different preferences but I never got the impression that the author didn't do her best to bring her vision to life.
what should you read?
If you want light-hearted and fun romance books, read the Part of Your World books. Of course, I recommend Yours Truly and Just For The Summer the most.
If you want heavier books which are a bit sad and have characters basically overcoming metaphorical mountains to be with each other, read The Friend Zone series.
If you have painful periods and/or deal with menstruation issues like endometriosis and PCOS, you will probably really like The Friend Zone because it's relatable and will make you feel less alone.
If you want to feel pain (do you have an absolutely amazing life?! tell me your secrets), read Say You'll Remember Me.
chat with me!
This post took way longer to write than I expected—5 days! Around a couple of hours each day but that's still ~10 hours. I put much more effort into it than I wanted to 😆
Have you read any of Abby Jimenez's books? Do you like reading sad/painful books or light-hearted books? Is there an author whose books you will most likely read because you've loved some of their previous works?
Sumedha spends her days reading books, bingeing Kdramas, drawing illustrations, and blogging while listening to Lo-Fi music. Read more âž”