Book Review - Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Title: Just for the Summer (Part of Your World # 3)
Author: Abby Jimenez
Genre: Romance/ Contemporary
Published: 2024
 
Description: 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 DM’s 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 live. It’s a bonkers idea… and it might just work.
 
Emma hadn’t planned that het 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 yp, especially when they get to rent and 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?
 
Review: “Just for the Summer” is the third and final book in the “Part of Your World” trilogy. You can easily read these three books separate from each other, because they all follow different people. But characters from previous books appear in this as well. And it probably makes a bigger impact when you have read the others first.
 
Here we follow Justin, who suffers from a curse, where every girl he dates ends up with the love of her life after she breaks up with him. He comes in contact with Emma, who happens to suffer from the same problem. And they think of the perfect plan: date each other, break up and then find the one. But life has other plans.
 
“Just for the Summer” is a funny, emotional and heartwarming contemporary romance. It has layered characters. What I’ve loved most about Abby Jimenez’s book is that it’s not just a cheesy romance. It deals with realistic characters and has some emotional layers as well. This books deals with themes such as mental health, trauma and parental issues.
 
For both “Part of Your World” and “Yours Truly” I felt a strong connection with the characters. Although I did like Justin and Emma and they had good character development, I never connected with them on the same level as I did with Daniel and Alexis or with Jacob and Brianna.
 
I praise Jimenez for also showing the less glamorous sides of life. Dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety and trauma. For Emma, the relationship with her mother, has always been a struggle. And Jimenez manages to portray this in a very realistic way. It’s heartbreaking.
 
I feel like I wanted more time with the characters at the end, the ending felt a bit rushed. It left me wanting more. This could be a good thing, but in this case it wasn’t.
 
I really liked “Just for the Summer”, but it never lived up to the other two books in this series.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5