Just for the Summer by Abby Jiminez, Misunderstanding Jane Austen,and the Emily Henry Rom Com Category

   

"Just for the Summer" by Abby Jiminez

Published by Forever, April 2, 2024

Genre: Fiction

Format: Listened via Libby

How about meeting on Reddit for a meet cute? Every girl Justin dates (for at least four dates and one kiss) finds her soulmate immediately thereafter. This latest time, the girl married his roommate, and he had to move out, landing in the only available apartment, one with a stunning view of a Toilet King billboard. Funny, though, a girl visiting the Reddit thread has the same curse! Shouldn't they just date each other? 

Critics of Jiminez hate that her male main characters are unrealistic. They note the pattern of dysfunctional parents and social media connection that makes the stories feel---young. 

Pause here and imagine me making the collage and then putting this post on pause for a few months while I looked for connections between Abby Jiminez, Emily Henry, and Jane Austen. Come with me? I I've never been able to get through a Jane Austen novel. Yes, I ditched the Bronte sisters, who read Jane Austen, too. All the wealthy shenanigans. The pining. The Mr. Darcy of it all. For some reason, Jane Austen came to mind after I read this book, and I started reading about her. She actually has a really strong, dry sense of humor, and much of her work is satire. She's making a joke of the disaster of a world she lives in.

Ok. We're back to Jiminez. When I read this book months ago, I thought the male protagonist was annoying: “You're not asking too much," he said. "You were just asking the wrong person. Ask me instead.” But the book was light (Yes, I thought all the addict, long-lost family stuff was light). Thus, the message of this book for me was 

Sometimes, you need more than fries.

I want something layered and nourishing. Sorry, Jane Austen, I was too dense to see you before. I don't know still if I can hack through all the Darcys, but I respect you more today than I did before I read Jiminez.

If you want a formula piece with a few laugh tracks thrown in at just.the.right.spot, give this a go. On Goodreads, this one earned almost 4.5 stars and was nominated for Reader's Favorite Romance of 2024. One reviewer called it "perfection" and someone else wrote that the chemistry was so strong she could reach out and "FEEL" it. Welp. I felt those caps more. 

LOVELY BIT

“You are not what happened to you. You are what you do next" (Jiminez).

“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense" (Austen).

RATING

Sorry, Jimenez. Maybe you just hit me on a bad day . . . month . . . quarter that it took me to finish this.