Here today to profess my love for Abby Jimenez and her writing. ❤️ This book was 😍👌🏼. I am kicking myself for not going back and doing a reread of the first two books before diving into this one. I might just do that today.

Vanessa is a very well known travel vlogger on YouTube. She travels all over the world, documenting her experiences and raising money for ALS research. A cause close to her heart, ALS has affected both her mother and her sister. Knowing that she might also develop it, Vanessa has chosen to live her life to the fullest. Recently, her travel plans have been put on hold when Vanessa became the temporary guardian for her niece, Grace.

Adrian is a hot shot lawyer who lives next door to Vanessa. They have an adorable meet cute late one night when Adrian offers to help with an inconsolable Grace. They begin spending a lot of time together-hanging out, making dinner and taking care of Grace.

What follows is a tug on your heartstrings romance. The banter is perfection, the hot dad vibes are 👏🏻👏🏻 and it’s a slooooow burn. Vanessas family dynamic is complicated - a father who handles his grief with hoarding, a younger sister with a drug addiction. Vanessa has been the glue to hold them together for so long. All with the fear of potential ALS hanging over her head. Adrian embraces all of her and I just ❤️❤️❤️. It’s just so good.

To say that I was incredibly excited for Life’s Too Short would be an understatement. The Happy Ever After Playlist was one of my favourite romances of last year, so I was on beyond ready for a new book from this author.

The message at the heart of this story, that life is short and you should live it to the fullest, is especially poignant as we continue to live through a pandemic. Reading about Vanessa’s travels and her zest for life made me want to get out and experience things, even if they’re in my own backyard.

Another highlight of the story was Adrian’s growth. From being incredibly set in his ways to opening up his mind, becoming a little more spontaneous and being willing to just TRY - it was beautifully done. There were a few conversations surrounding male mental health, which is still so underrepresented in literature and I was so happy to see those moments play out.

Insta love is a hard sell for me and the pacing of this relationship was insane. It was well written, and Adrian and Vanessa were believable as a couple, but I would have loved to see a little more backstory built between them.

All in all, I didn’t love this book as much as HEAP, but I am still so happy to have it on my shelves!

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book talks about someone whose family members died with nervous system disease called ALS and is also thinking that she might have inherited the disease as well; therefore, she vowed not to fall in love and help her baby niece, siblings, and dad be in a good situation before she succumbed to it. Vanessa was free-spirited, passionate, and very caring. She is sworn to live her life to the fullest as long as she can, but of course, her life changes when she met Adrian, her very hot, charming, and intelligent neighbor who is not lucky in the love department. The two met and started being friends, and as they get to know each other further, both will have enormous decisions to make.

Abby never ceases to make me laugh and cry all at the same time. From The Friend Zone to The Happy Ever After Playlist, she is back with another exciting and delightful story that will make you fall in love, laugh out loud and sob. Well, that’s what happened to me. I adore Adrian and Vanessa; the chemistry between them is intense! I also love that Abby describes how ALS can affect someone’s daily living; she also elaborates a bit about depression and addiction and the effect it has not only on those who suffer but also on people surrounding them. There’s so much to learn and admire in this book. And you will be missing out if you don’t grab yourself a copy on pub day. I highly recommend it!

Thank you so much for my copy!

I have only been counting down to the day since I posted my review of THEAP, last year and wondered if book 3 would be about Adrien (which Abby confirmed)!

Vanessa started her YouTube channel as a travel blogger in response to the loss of her older sister to ALS. She decided she didn’t want to waste any time staring at the sun, and wanted to live every day like it was her last. After years of travel, it all comes to a halt when her younger sister drops her newborn niece, Grace, off on her doorstop and disappears. Vanessa goes from planning adventures to baby bottles and diapers.

Adrien Copeland is a criminal defense attorney. He likes to be control and have everything in order. When he is woken up at 4am by the screaming baby next door, he does the neighborly thing and goes to investigate. Not only does Adrien step in to save the day (or night), quiet a sleeping baby and help Vanessa, but he quickly realizes Vanessa might be the one helping him.

After each one of Abby’s books I find myself saying ... this is my favorite. But I think officially Life’s too Short is my favorite. I loved every character in this book, even the ones that drove me crazy. I loved the humor of both Vanessa and Adrian. I love how Abby doesn’t stray from hard topics but embraces them. Life’s too Short was no different with the topic of ALS.

Life’s too Short made me laugh, and cry and has me already wanting to reread every page. It is a stand alone novel, but Adrian did previously show up in book 2 briefly. The icing on the cake was a little cameo from both Sloan and Kristen in this book.

This book delivered all the emotions for me!

Vanessa is a travel vlogger who shot to fame when a viral video about her impending battle with ALS promts her to live her life for today. She may not have much time to live, so she is going to make the most of it because life is too short to waste! … But at the moment she is in her apartment living her life for her newborn niece that her sister left her her! Out of her element, Vanessa doesn’t hesitate… not much at least, when the junky neighbour next door nocks on her door offering to help out.

Soon Adrian, the tight laced lawyer is there everyday and these two have created their own little unit. Despite their obvious attraction to each other, they keep there relationship friendly due to Vanessa’s fear of her impending ALS… but with he chemistry between them can they keep it this way? And will Vanessa’s possible prognosis of ALS become a reality the she and Adrian will have to face together?

As alway, Abby had me laughing and smiling form ear to ear at one point and then tears streaming down my face at another, The characters of Vanessa and Adrian were so vibrant and real that I felt like I was going through their ups and downs beside them. The street and fear over ALS was well depicted and the Vanessa’s philosophy of living for today made me want to rethink some of my own choices to make the most of my own life!

Beautiful story as always- a must read!

Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez is scheduled to release April 6th, 2021.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Forever Grand Central Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#LifesTooShort #AbbyJimenez #NetGalley #pinkcowlandreads

ALL the stars for this wonderfully, amazing, heartbreaking, heartwarming new novel from the QUEEN of tearjerker romances!!! I couldn’t put this book down! I became so invested in Adrian and Vanessa and the journey these characters go on. Adrian is the swoonworthy hot lawyer next door that offers to help Vanessa with her newborn niece when she’s screaming uncontrollably at 4am. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a guy like that? Vanessa is a famous YouTuber with a history of ALS in her family determined to live her life like every day is the last. I couldn’t love this dual perspectives romance any more than I do! It’s a SLOW burn friends to lovers story but it wouldn’t have worked any other way. Adrian and Vanessa build their relationship together so solidly your heart breaks along with theirs when they fear their time could be limited. When they finally do get together (almost 75% of the way in!!!) the open door scenes are HOT. Bonus: there’s a lovely birthday cameo from the couples in Abby Jimenez’s previous two books. I also really appreciated the disability rights awareness and advocacy sprinkled throughout the story! The secondary characters in this book are all fully-realized and both Adrian and Vanessa have family issues to work through along with their personal ones. RUN to get this book when it comes out on April 6 and have a box of kleenex handy when you do!!! Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Forever Books for an advance e-ARC in exchange for my honest review - the pleasure was ALL mine. I can’t wait for Abby’s next book out Spring 2022!

CW: substance abuse, addiction, death of loved ones, terminal illness, car crash, loss of a parent, hoarding/OCD issues

Vanessa lives life on her own terms — one day at a time, every day to its fullest. She isn’t willing to waste a moment or miss out on an experience when she may have the same fatal genetic condition as her mother. Besides, she has way too much to do, traveling the globe and showing her millions of YouTube followers the joy in seizing every moment. But after her half-sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, she is housebound, on mom duty for the foreseeable future, and feeling totally out of her element. The last person she expects to show up offering help is the unbelievably hot lawyer who lives next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. But as they get closer, Vanessa realizes that her carefree ways and his need for a structured plan could never be compatible for the long term. Then again, she should know better than anyone that life’s too short to fear taking the biggest risk of all. review: Abby Jimenez has quickly become an auto-buy author for me when it comes to contemporary romance novels. She has a great writing style and her witty sense of humor comes across on every page! She truly has a way of making you tear up and laugh out loud at the same time. Out of her three books, I think this one *may* be my favorite. The characters are so authentic, lovable and I found myself rooting for them the entire time. The author does a great job of incorporating mental health and the topic of ALS in an informative, emotional and heartbreaking way. I can't recommend this book enough! rating: 4.5 out of 5 ⭐️

Life’s Too Short is one of those books that is going to make me think about it for a while.
Adrian and Vanessa are so very different and their friendship takes time to morphe into more and yet there’s a point where you (and they) realize just how important this relationship has become.
This is a difficult book to review without spoilers, so I apologize if my review sounds vague. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I liked the first half of the story but I was really grabbed by the part right before the ending. It takes a while to get to the conflict. It’s interesting that I feel like some things were too unrealistic and yet there are several characters that realistically deal with tragedy. I could definitely relate to Adrian more, enough so that it really made me think about how I prioritize my life and how I react to difficult situations. Vanessa, on the other hand, is so different from me that I think it made it hard for me to connect with her character. Many readers have said this book was emotional and made them cry. I think because I’ve read the two previous books, I kind of knew Abby’s pattern and what to expect from this story. That’s probably why this ended up being a 4 star book for me.
Overall, this was a good story to read and I had plenty of laugh out loud moments. Abby Jimenez knows how to make me laugh!

I enjoyed the small peek into what’s going on with characters from The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist. If you haven’t read those, not knowing who they are doesn’t affect this storyline. However, you may be disappointed to know some things already if you’re going to go back and read the other two.

Thank you to @netgalley @readforeverpub and #AbbyJimenez for an advanced copy of #LifesTooShort. All thoughts expressed are my own.

This book was really cute in some aspects but was just really lacking that connection and extra bit of magic for me.

4.5 I loved this romance! Vanessa's live-like -there's-no-tomorrow attitude was refreshing and reminded me of one of my dearest friends- brave, daring, and always herself. I particularly liked the way she refused to dwell on the bad stuff, and didn't want to experience any trauma twice by worrying about it beforehand. And even though she was a famous You-tuber, likes and subscriptions were thankfully rarely mentioned. She was a great counter-balance to Adrian's stable, solid good-guyness. Their slowly forming relationship with help from her adorable baby and his elderly dog creates a really cute romance. Her ALS family affliction provides more depth to their story, and despite the end that made me cry so hard with the tension unfurling, it was a fun read. The chapter clickbait title headers alone made me laugh every time! Funny, touching and very sigh-worthy, it is another Abby Jimenez book that just works.

Abby Jimenez somehow gets better with every book. She manages to surprise me every time! I have to say I think I have a new favorite. I absolutely loved this book! I pretty much devoured it in one day.

Vanessa Price is a popular YouTube who lives her life like it’s her last day. Vanessa has a family history of ALS so she truly doesn’t know if she’ll have a tomorrow to enjoy life. I loved Vanessa! The way she lived her life was inspiring. Life’s Too Short! That should definitely be everyone’s life motto.

One of my favorite things about this book was the Clickbait chapter titles! I found them to be hilarious! And they did their job, I found myself guessing through the whole chapter! 😂

The story is beautiful but as always a little heartbreaking. We can’t have a good romcom without a bit of heart ache and drama.

I look forward to what Abby writes next. She is becoming one of my favorite authors.

Thank you Forever for the gifted copy.

Vanessa Price lives her life as if there's no tomorrow. Traveled the world? Check. Done things out of her comfort zone? Check. She's always on the go, ready to take on a new adventure. She also has millions of subscribers on her YouTube channel.

Adrian Copeland is set in his ways. He likes to be in control; a fixer through and through. He's a lawyer who is too committed to his job and never did anything just for fun. Until he discovered he had a force of a woman living just across his apartment door and life took on a whole new direction.

I enjoyed the relationship in this book. Vanessa and Adrian both took their time getting to know each other, enjoying each other's company and doing things together before the love hit them. It was genuine, fun and heartwarming. One minute I couldn't stop laughing with them, the next I'm silently wiping away tears. It reminded me of The Friend Zone because it tackled almost the same theme but it also offered something new. A romance that is not too steamy but has depth and insane chemistry between the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever for the earc! Life's Too Short comes out on April 6th!

CW: drug addiction, mental health (OCD, hoarder), ALS, death of a loved one, child abandonment

Oh man, I absolutely loved The Friend Zone and Happily Ever After Playlist. Unfortunately, to me, Life's Too Short was a big dip in quality. 2.5 stars.

I thought the characters were inauthentic, and didn't have the charm that Kristen and Sloan had. It probably didn't help that I have Jimenez's other two books so high up on a pedestal that I had really high expectations for this one. Just one of those books that fell flat for me.

I do seem to be in the minority here based on other reviews I've seen, so if you did like the other books in this series, I wouldn't let my review deter you from reading this one!

This is the third book in The Friend Zone series, and I don’t know how it is even possible but each book is better than the last. If you haven’t read the first two books, you absolutely should, but they do work as stand-alones. The first is The Friend Zone, and the second is The Happy Ever After Playlist.

Vanessa is a travel vlogger, and lives every day as if it is her last…because it might be. She’s lost close family members to ALS and is convinced that she will be next, so she doesn’t want to waste a minute. Her half-sister shows up on her doorstep and asks Vanessa to babysit her newborn while she does some shopping, except she doesn’t come back and suddenly Vanessa is thrust into motherhood.

Adrian Copeland is a criminal defense attorney and likes to have control over everything in his life. When the baby next door won’t stop wailing in the middle of the night he offers to help, and is thrown head-first into Vanessa’s life.

I loved both of the main characters so much. They felt real, and flawed, and nuanced and completely loveable. Vanessa’s situation kept getting messier and messier, but Adrian was there for her and managing to deal with his own baggage at the same time. The two of them were so different but complemented each other so well.

From the adorable cover you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a rom-com. While it will definitely make you smile, it will also probably make you weep, so I’d put it more in the romance / family drama / women’s fiction camp. This story broke me so many times, but don’t worry it also used Kintsugi to put me back together again at the end.

There were times when baby Grace seemed to be an afterthought in the scene or situation, and while she was apparently a very ‘easy baby’ (do those exist? I certainly didn’t get one) that felt a bit unrealistic. I wanted to feel the bond they supposedly had with her rather than just being told she was in the room or had been farmed off to a neighbor. That aside, I loved this book and I dare say Abby has done it again!

In the author’s note Jiminez mentions that the book was inspired by a real-life activist and YouTuber, Claire Wineland, who lived with cystic fibrosis. She used her own platform to inspire and educate people, and you can find a documentary about her if you'd like to learn more. Be prepared to sob for days after you watch it (just a heads-up).

Content warnings for drug abuse, parental abandonment, parental death, grief, ALS, hoarding.

So this is my third book by Abby Jimenez and wow does she ever improve with each book she writes! I loved The friend zone until I read the Happy Ever After playlist, and I loved the Happy Ever After playlist until I read this one! Vanessa is an amazing character with a life's too short policy, for good reason, and super family oriented. Adrian is by the book and ignores life living for his "one day" until he meets Vanessa. These two come together and mesh in the best way. I am so impressed at how Abby Jimenez weaves heavier topics into her books and has her characters react they way real people would react. Super thankful to get a HEA and the epilogue left me balling because I was STRESSED but overall worth every star and I can't wait to read more by her in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

This was SUCH a great read!! I think it's my favorite of the series (I think I've said that for each of them) but omg any time there's a kid involved, it just adds a whole extra layer of feels. Absolutely loved being taken on this journey of their relationship blossoming and all of the trials they overcame. The medical stuff (no spoilers) being something else kinda irked me, I didn't really care for that twist it just seemed a little too convenient and like it lessened what we had gone through together. Maybe it's just me. Either way, I did really love it just that bit rubbed me the wrong way.

I laughed, I cried, I had my heart broken and mended. Abby Jimenez doesn't rest on her laurels- this is just as good as her first two books, and I'd keep reading these stories if they were double the length they are. As it is, Abby tackles so much in addition to romance in this one- illness, death, addiction, family problems, AND MORE. And yet her characters are well developed and interesting, and the romance is so solid and swoony. I loved the MN setting of this one. Not much I didn't love about it, tbh.

I LOVE Abby Jimenez's books! She has a way with dialogue that you don't often find in romance novels - real, funny, quick, yet NOT cheesy. I find myself smiling the whole time I'm reading. I didn't love the ending of Life's Too Short as well as her previous titles, but the characters themselves were fantastic. I also really appreciate the way each story is connected but stands alone. While the miscommunication trope plays a big part in the story, it's explained during the character development. Vanessa and Adrian are both likeable and you're definitely rooting for them throughout the book.

Abby Jimenez can do no wrong. No matter what I write, nothing will do this book justice. Abby's 3rd book, somehow even better than her last two, was extra special to me. Thank you so much to Forever Publishing for the review copy.

The main character of Life's Too Short, Vanessa, is a travel vlogger and lives her life to the fullest. She refuses to live it in fear of the fatal gene she may or may not have, the one that carries ALS, also known as Lou Gherig's disease. My Grandpa passed away in 2016 from ALS, and I'm grateful that Abby's newest release brings light and attention to this awful disease. While my Grandpa's case wasn't the familial type, his came from exposure during his military service, and there is no cure.

Vanessa refuses to let this fear slow her down, even when life throws her for a loop. She becomes a foster parent to her sister's newborn, and Vanessa chooses to make the best of it; she chooses happiness every time. In comes Adrian, who could use a little of Vanessa's optimism and perspective. I loved the relationship that Abby created between the two of them. She effortlessly blends such heavy, emotional topics with dry, sarcastic humor. She had me laughing one page and crying the next.

She's quickly become one of my favorite authors, and I highly recommend you check out Life's Too Short releasing in one week!!

“There are people you can know for a lifetime and they never get into your heart. And then there are those who are already inside it, before you even lay eyes on them”

When Vanessa unexpectedly becomes the full time caretaker for her sister’s newborn, her life turns upside down. She’s a travel blogger, not a stay at home mom! The last person she expects help from is her hot lawyer neighbor. But when Adrian Copeland saves the day as her middle of the night baby whisperer, she gets a lot more than a new baby in her life.

You may know I’m a huge Abby Jimenez fan. Her writing just does something to me. She’s a master at weaving heavier topics into hilarious books. This time, we have a character with a family history of ALS. We delve into the ways it affects not only those going through it but those closest to them as well. I wanted to cry right alongside her beautifully written characters. Well, when I wasn’t hysterically laughing at their antics.

Somehow all of Abby’s characters find themselves in the most ridiculous of situations. This time around is no different. Their inner thoughts make me wonder why I’m not that funny in my own head. The images that pop into my mind while reading this book are next level.

I probably say this every time, but Adrian and Vanessa may be my new favorite couple. There are so many reasons for them to stay apart. Her job, the medical unknowns in her life, the baby, his lack of trust in relationships. The chemistry between them in just undeniable though. I guess I’d call them friends”ish” to lovers. Because were they every truly just friends?

As always, we get some fabulous snippets of our favorite former couples. Adrian is Josh’s cousin after all. We also meet Vanessa’s crazy family, a ridiculous dog, and lots of interesting colleagues. And I couldn’t forget to mention, each chapter is LITERALLY clickbait. Just go find out for yourself. I promise you’ll be hooked.