Fall Risk - A short Story by Abby Jimenez

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
82 Pages

From Goodreads: 

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.

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Aurel's take: 

I told you I read 3 Abby Jimenez books in one week. Did you think I was joking? 

This was sadly just a short story, but I definitely could have done with a couple more hundred pages of this book. (A fellow coworker agrees.) I think the thing I enjoy most about Abby's writing is how the characters play and joke with each other. The witty one liners, comebacks, and callbacks make me smile IRL as I read them. That's what I want in romance books: playfulness, comfort, and wit, which Abby gives us in droves. 

Charlotte's back story is one that sends waves of fear into any woman with a pulse, which makes it both easy to root for her, and easy to understand why she acts the way she does. 
Again: Props to Jimenez for giving us a plot with real adult problems. This really sheds light onto what life would be like if any of us had issues similar to Charlotte's. 

Seth's story is less dramatic, in my opinion, but still valid. I like when writers include characters that are divorced relatively young. Again, its realistic to me, as I have several friends in the same boat. I enjoy the author's ability to give us believable characters with real world hurdles to jump in order to better their lives. (Whether that's with or without a partner by their sides.)

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

 

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 
                                                       432 Pages

From Goodreads: 

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?
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Aurel's Take: 

Before this book, to be perfectly honest, I'd been slumming it in the Kindle Unlimited random finds. As a result, I forgot that good dialogue, good plot, AND romance could all exist in the same book. I'm super happy I found Abby Jimenez; I quickly devoured 3 of her books in one week. 

The banter between the two main characters feels natural and endearing. I like Abby's style of writing both characters as loveable but slightly "flawed." It's a refreshing break from the tropes of Grumpy/Sunshine or Enemies to Lovers, or worse: A "plot point" that could totally be resolved with effective communication from two grown adults. 

Tangent aside: I love that this book has none of that. It treats the two main characters as actual adults, and they do have understandable, frustrating adult-level issues, stemming from something a lot of us can't avoid: our families, that seem to put huge hiccups into their lives. Something that even the healthiest of couples (or individuals) would struggle with. 


This book is a definite feel good read and I highly recommend it. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan - 288 pages

Okay, so if you love books/bookstores, clandestine mysteries, high fantasy nerdery, and don't mind a couple easy-way-out plot devices, this book is your man.  Or...book.  Whatever, the point is that if Dan Brown, Tolkien, and Ernest Cline had a three way baby book, this would pretty much be it.  It is a shameless geek out about old books, mysterious legacies, high fantasy, secret societies, Googling EVERYTHING, AD&D references, movie props, computer hacking, and buddy adventuring, wrapped up in earnest humor and a glow in the dark cover (seriously, it glows in the dark!).  What is not to love here?!