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Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Synopsis

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?

My Thoughts

Can I just start this review with, I absolutely love this book! This is the second book I read from Abby Jimenez and her writing style and representation of mental health awareness is just incredible. I went into this book not knowing much about it. I thought it was going to be a light, fun read for the summer with tons of romance but it was the opposite and quite frankly, better. There is such a depth to this book that I was not expecting. Yes, there was romance, but in my very humble personal opinion, romance wasn’t the main topic here.

We have two people, Emma and Justin who meet through a Reddit thread that Justin posted about a curse he believes he has. Basically, every person he meets and dates eventually ends up breaking with him, only to find their soulmate right after. Emma apparently has the same issue. So they agree to date just for the Summer, in hopes of finding their one true love after breaking up.

That was the deal, but eventually, something starts to change within the both of them. In the midst of their growing romance, both of them are experiencing family trauma. Justin’s mom is all of a sudden going away for some time and Emma’s mom reappears after being gone for two years. While they are both left to deal with their trauma, they end up offering each other support in a way that they never really expected.

The friendships in this book were undeniably full of nothing but genuine and authentic love. Emma’s best friend, Maddie, was such an amazing person. She was overprotective, nurturing and understood Emma like no had ever understood her before. Justin’s friends stepped up to the plate when he needed them the most in ways that you don’t see many friends do. I think it’s so beautiful to see how when you have the right people around, and life all of sudden brings unexpected changes, they can adjust with you and walk that new journey with you.

This really was such a beautiful, heartwarming story and definitely my favorite read of the summer. If you haven’t already, go grab yourself a copy and dig in!

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Favorite Quotes

I healed 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 understand the reason. And be what helps you heal.

Page 156

You don’t have to fogrgive her. You really don’t. You can still love someone that you’ve decided not to speak to anymore. You can still wish them well and hope for the best for them. Choosing a life without them doesn’t mean you stop caring about them. It just means that you can’t allow them to harm you anymore. But if you don’t think your life would be better without them in it, then accept that they have cracks. Try to understand how they got them and fill them with something that isn’t ice…. If you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.

Page 156-157

Not everything that comes out of crisis is bad. Sometimes your traumas are the reason you know how to help.

Page 245

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