Expected publication: April 1, 2025 by Piatkus

Pages: 358

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction

Book titles (Taylor’s version) has become a gimmick, but it’s one that Abby Jimenez definitely doesn’t need.
Becoming a tik tok favorite with two trilogies, her last book “just for the summer” was a GMA book club pick in april 2024. Her signature style has become romance with family drama often rooted in psychological issues, and her latest follows suit.

We meet Xavier, the grumpy and stoic veterinarian, as the ray of sunshine marketing manager Samantha brings a rescue kitten into his clinic. When he says the kitten cannot be saved, she sets out to prove him wrong, and we have our meet cute.

It all starts with a romantic and fun backdrop, but as the curtains fall we find nothing but misery behind it. Samantha has to leave for California to take care of her mother suffering from dementia, and Xavier has put everything he owns in his clinic in Minnesota to prove his abusive parents wrong. Can they do long distance or is the relationship just doomed?

At the beginning we got a glimpse of the grumpy x sunshine trope, but it quickly faded and the memory we are left with really isn’t grumpy at all, but rather mushy. When the characters are separated by about 2000 miles all they can really do is mush, reminisce and try to plan visits. It doesn’t always go as planned and the distance and their responsibilities wear on them.

If you come for spice and romance, there’s very little of it. If you cringe at smut, there’s a realistic hardship in life throwing you curveballs and a willingness to fight for a relationship here. One that honestly, doesn’t feel very realistic to a jaded millennial like me. Do people really fight for relationships anymore when there are 200 other matches waiting on your phone and thousands more just a swipe away? My experience tells me no. But the dream is alive and it’s heartwarming to read about. I hope I’m not too old to still experience that.

Jimenez is good with banter and the humor is spot on and repeating so it feels like the reader is part their inside jokes. (And some might be harder to get, like the kitten named “Pooter” – I had to google that.) Like the protagonist Sam in her story, Jimenez just “gets” people. Sometimes however it can get a bit repetitive, and it’s not just the jokes. It repeats and reminds us why they refuse to give up on the relationship when it’s not working. When the distance and time difference wears on them and they work themselves to the bone for just a minute’s pleasure. I didn’t mind it, but with no end in sight you could feel their frustration in the constant mushing and convincing themselves and each other that this was going to work. The romance became secondary to me.

What I was there for, was the abusive parent’s, I have heard Xavier’s mom’s speech before – verbatim! I cannot begin to describe how accurate those feelings are.
I also grew up with a grandmother with dementia and it is so spot on! I wish we got a little more reflection around how it felt tackling the parents than we got gushing about the love in the long distance relationship, but this is a romance first and a drama second, with the vibe of sunny California and the seasons of Minnesota as supporting characters.

After the book ended, I was happy to find Xaviers playlist in the back, so I could stay in the vibe of this book a while longer. Not only has Jimenez become my favorite romance author, she’s also the only romance author I auto-buy. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to netgalley for this review copy.