"Maybe I wasn't ready. I might never truly be ready. But I was going to do it anyway. I was going to be brave."

First, thank you to NetGalley + Forever Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

And my honest review is I CANNOT BELIEVE I HAVEN'T READ A BOOK BY ABBY JIMENEZ SOONER????

Yours Truly is DELICIOUS. It has heart, comedy, vulnerability, chemistry, and a damn good story tying it all together.

Briana Ortiz feels as low as you could possibly feel. Her brother, Benny, is in end-stage renal failure with no kidney donor in sight; her divorce from her husband, who cheated on her with her friend, is almost finalized; and now the job she's had her eye on is at risk of being taken by the new transfer, Jacob Maddox.

Jacob is also dealing with the lowest point of his life. His ex-girlfriend is now engaged to his brother, he just switched hospitals because he couldn't bear to see her at work every day, everyone *hates* him at the new hospital, and his severe anxiety is at an all-time high.

Little does the other person know, they're about to collide in the clunkiest, sweetest, most unexpected of ways. And their love story is a JOY to read.

The amount of times I had to put the book down to squeal, the amount of highlights on my Kindle of HYSTERICAL lines and soft moments, and the amount of times I yelled "JUST TELL THEM ALREADY" are...significantly high. And I'd endure it all again to get more time with Briana and Jacob.

There's this constant theme of showing up for each other, and it's such a beautiful message. Love isn't easy, and opening yourself up is especially difficult when you've been burned before and been made to feel like you weren't enough.

I saw myself in both characters. I saw myself in Briana, in the way she felt like she was too broken, too unworthy of love because she had been someone else's second choice. I saw myself in Jacob, in the way that he didn't feel understood and feared he was unlovable because he lived with anxiety. They both felt like their baggage, their 'damage' meant they couldn't find happiness again, that they couldn't find someone who would show up for them,

But they did. And I loved it.

A few little notes:

I loved that the author included a little note about what was to come in the story. I appreciated knowing what I'd be diving into trigger wise, and I highly suggest reading the author's note at the end of the book after you finish.

I'm not sure if this is considered a miscommunication trope or just...lack...of communication? But phew, this is, decidedly, NOT one of my favorite tropes. It did feel like we got to a point where every chapter was ending with one of them assuming the other person felt a certain way when....all we had to do.....was have a conversation. Spending 85% of the book grappling with that felt too long and I was definitely getting *slightly* over it by the time some resolution came. And then we STILL had heavy things to sort through even after the resolution. I would've liked to see all of that happen earlier in the book before the 85% mark so we could start sorting through the conflict.

I LOVE dual POV. I love it, I love it, and I want more authors to do it.

The job seemed like such an integral part of the story, so much so it's mentioned in the blurb, but that part of the story kind of disappears? We do get told at the end that the doctor who was supposed to be retiring decided not to, but we don't get much else. Jacob says he doesn't want the job pretty early on and then it's...kind of forgotten about? Very minor, but just something I realized didn't play a huge impact except for fueling Briana's initial disdain toward Jacob.

All in all, I really, REALLY enjoyed this book. I loved it. I loved it even though it drove me *insane* to watch these two NOT ASK THE OTHER THE SIMPLEST OF QUESTIONS. I commend those of you who love the miscommunication trope because *I* am not strong enough for it. But I'd go through it all again because this book is *that* good*

Make sure to get your copy on April 11!

This review first appeared on Goodreads.

It’s normal to have tears steaming down your face for an hour straight while reading right?

This story has my heart. I’ve read all of Abby’s books and THIS ONE, I’m convinced, can not be beat.

It’s tender, heartwarming, sweet, touching. Fake dating like I’ve never read before. The way it made me clutch my heart each time Jacob and Briana held back their true feelings as a means to cope with anxiety and trauma.🥺

And the witty humour is always perfect. It can be hard to balance a tender story with humor but this book is a damn masterclass.

There was one spicy scene and it was the perfect release for all the built up tension. 🌶️

The anxiety rep was done in such a way that I felt I was fully immersed into Jacob’s thoughts. He owns up to mistakes. And the GESTURES. 🥰 He’s a cinnamon-y hero and I love it.

It has:
Workplace romance
Anxiety rep
Kidney disease
Childhood trauma
Mentions of cheating and pregnancy loss

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️/5 (1 steamy scene + 1 fade to black)


Thank you to @readforeverpub, @netgalley and Abby Jimenez for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

"And being liked by Jacob meant something because he was so shy. It’s like when someone’s pet comes to sit with you instead of their person, and you feel like the chosen one. It made me feel a little special, like he saw something in me."

"But I didn’t want anyone else in this bed with him either. The idea made me feel sort of panicked. I didn’t want anyone else to get handwritten letters. I didn’t want him to smile at another woman or hang out with them. I felt oddly possessive of him and this little universe we’d built…"

"I had never been so happy to be trapped in a room. She was wearing my shirt. It would smell like her when I got it back. I couldn’t wait."

After Part of Your World became an unexpected 2022 favorite of mine, I was super excited for Yours Truly. I love Abby's writing, and her characters in both books are so extremely lovable, I feel personally offended when I see a review that's less than 5 stars (though that's the case with most of the books I love). Jacob was instantly the (current) love of my life. Nothing makes me feel more feelings in my soul than an anxious man, but he was also the most gentle, kind, genuine, and PERFECT man I’ve seen in a minute. The things I would do to this man, the first of which is just hug him for an hour. A whole. Fucking. Hour.

I can’t even remember the last time I was so giggly and giddy and emotional and constantly on the verge of tears. Simultaneously. Briana was such a powerful bad bitch. I absolutely ADORED that she had a total crisis at the end and acted in a way that people misinterpret as being “weak”. LEAVE HER ALONE. Also if Jacob can understand and feel no anger or hesitation about their relationship, I think other people can stfu.

I’ve had this book since last August and as much as I would’ve loved to have read this earlier, I still read it at the perfect time. The stars were truly aligned for me; but even if they weren’t, I have this feeling that that was just the magic of this book. While there is THAT trope that I know romance readers often hate, [the P word], I have never read a book where I felt that the author didn’t do right by that storyline. So this book isn’t for everyone. I feel selfishly happy about it. I hope people who dislike it find out about this trope and make the decision of not reading this book. Because I swear if I see reviews that go “oh I loved the first 85% but then THAT happened and so I’m giving this 3 stars” I’m going to flip shit. If you have a strong dislike for a popularly-disliked trope, then I highly recommend reading that spoiler and finding out in advance so you’re not wasting your time.

ANYWAY, coming back to other things I loved about this book… I mean it’s literally everything. Not a single flaw. I even loved the use of some phrases that are a bit more Gen Z than Millennial but I thought it was hilarious. Every moment with Alexis and Daniel in Wakan, even Doug. I think a reread of Part of Your World is imminent.

And Jacob’s grandpa… that man..
“Give me a cigarette or I’ll tell Jacob you’re hittin’ on me. You got five minutes.”
A legend.

MVP: Lieutenant Dan. Obviously.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

Grey’s Anatomy starts back up next week and it was a perfect time to read about two doctors falling in love. Dr. Jacob Maddox is the kindest book boyfriend you’ll ever meet. I really enjoyed Bri and her humor. These two are a perfect match. It would have been a five star for me except the lack of communication that is often seen in a friends to lovers romance went on a tad too long. Overall, a sweet book and a slow burn that is worth the wait.


🥰really liked || 💋some steam
🤟friends to lovers, would you rather, funny side characters
📚The Cheat Sheet
🎶State of Grace by Taylor Swift

Abby is the queen of beautiful romance ! I am so thankful to have gotten this one as a ARC so thank you all so much. I laugh I cried I swooned. The perfect romance

The best Abby Jimenez book yet. ALL the stars!

This book has turned me inside out; it’s seriously the best book Abby Jimenez has ever written, because Jacob is the best hero she has ever written. I knew coming into this that I was excited for Briana’s book after meeting her in Part of Your World, but I was not prepared for the gentle, sensitive, journaling, plant-loving force that is Jacob. I think Yours Truly hit me so hard because it is about true, unabashed, open love. Sure this is a romance, but the LOVE story is immaculate between Briana and Jacob. I have no shame admitting that I openly wept over this book because the way Jacob sees Briana, thinks about her, talks about her, acts around her and does things for her is so beautiful. He is the embodiment of how we all desire to be thought of and loved. Theirs is the kind of love that sonnets are written about, that move mountains, and make everything else pale by comparison. Yours Truly has dual POV where both Briana’s and Jacob’s internal dialogue, fears, and hopes are written on the page. So that even though they are initially fake-dating, the reader gets to see just how little fake-ness there is to their feelings. Of course this trope has been done before, but there is just something so effortless in the way Jimenez writes her characters’ emotions and how she has them interact.

Briana and Jacob begin as enemies (or at least Briana thinks she hates Jacob) because of a first encounter at the hospital where Jacob interrupts Briana’s consultation with a patient who happens to be her brother. Jacob feels terrible about how they interacted, and to ease his social anxiety towards the situation and Bri, he decides to journal his anxiety out through the form of writing her a letter. A back and forth dialogue begins and we get a glimpse of the personality of each MC. Both are dealing with difficult situations involving exes; Jacob left his job as an ER doctor at the hospital where his ex still works, and Briana is on the eve of her divorce being final. Through the letters, Briana begins to see that maybe Jacob isn’t whom she first judged him to be. I LOVED the letters. There is something so personal about holding one and receiving one and knowing that a person couldn’t overthink and delete their words off the page. The letter writing is romance at its finest. This is where their relationship truly begins and they open up to one another in the way only writing can do. Jacob and Bri are so funny and as they continue to write they soften towards each other.

I think when two people are open, it allows them to see the needs of others around them, and that is exactly what happens; Briana sees how to help Jacob with his crippling anxiety, and Jacob sees how to “show up” for Briana. “Love shows up” is a theme throughout the book and the promise to be harmless towards one another. And that is exactly what makes this book so good—you can FEEL the love and see it in their actions—even friends and family members comment and notice that regardless of fake-dating, love is ever present. So like with any good fake-dating plot, Jacob and Bri begin to feel more than expected and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the happiness of the other. There is somewhat of a miscommunication trope embedded here as well, but it didn’t bother me like typically would because Jacob’s struggles with communication and anxiety coupled with Briana’s lack of trust in men to “stay”, makes it plausible. I think I fell for this book so hard because of how the MCs treat each other. I want to be loved the way Jacob loves Briana. I want to be seen and comforted the way Briana attunes herself to Jacob and meets his needs. Anytime and author can make me feel this way, I know they have done their job in convincing me and the audience that these characters are meant to be. I know this is a book I will be thinking about long after reading and cannot wait to read more from Abby Jimenez. A big thank you to Forever for an advanced copy of Yours Truly in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date April 11
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is one of my most anticipated reads for 2023, and it truly breaks my heart to not give it 5 stars. I really struggled with this one. It’s nothing like Part Of Your World, and I was hoping for so much more with Brianna’s book.

Every romance trope that I hate was in it. It could have easily been 150 pages shorter, or 300 pages shorter if they talked to each other.

But, if you absolutely loved The Friend Zone, I can promise you’ll love this one too! This is definitely a lot more like her previous trilogy than Part Of Your World.

I loved the anxiety rep, but I struggle when anxiety becomes a characters personality. I wish Jacob would have been more developed, because I never truly believed their relationship. It just seemed so unmatched.

While I am disappointed with this one, I can promise it will be a huge hit when it releases. So keep it on your radar!

Another hit by Abby! She has truly became one of my favorite authors.

I loved Briana and Jacobs story. They are both ER doctors, him his new co-worker. A sort of enemies (on her part) to fake dating to lovers. They both have a lot in their past and issues to work through. I love the comfort and peace they find in one another. This story was so beautifully written, I read it one day and couldn’t put it down.

My only complaint is that for such intelligent people, there was underlying miscommunication throughout the book, but I understand why and it kept the plot pushing forward. Also would’ve loved a little more spice!

Still a 5/5 stars for me and I’m still thinking about this book days later.

Have you ever read a book from a new (to you) author and instantly knew their writing style was a perfect fit for you?

Queue Abby Jimenez. I had the wonderful opportunity to read this new book of hers and I absolutely loved it from start to finish! Fun, quick-witted and humorous, her writing is just up my alley. Thank you Forever Publishing for the advanced copy of Truly Yours!

I don’t want to give too much away on this one but let’s just say it involves two Doctors with great chemistry, an exchanging of letters, and a fake relationship. All elements for a fantastic RomCom if you ask me! If you want a swoon-worthy book that tugs on your heart strings read this when it’s released in April! Now, BRB as I read all of Abby’s other books!

The amount of serotonin I get from reading a book by Abby Jimenez is unmatched.

Her characters are funny, vulnerable and deal with problems that are realistic.

I received this arc and started reading it only to realize it was the "sequel" in a series of interconnected stand-alones. I wanted to get the full experience so I read the first (and loved it) and this one was even better.

I genuinely loved getting to read about Briana and Jacob. Their relationship got off to a rocky start, but once they got a better understanding of who the other was, the relationship was so strong. I really appreciated their communication skills and the level of understanding they had towards one another. I'm not ready for this series to be over so if Abby feels like releasing another book in this series, I would not be opposed.

I found that the pacing was off in certain spots, but I loved this book and am very much looking forward to having a physical copy in my hands!

Abby has a way of effortlessly taking her readers on a journey and this book is no exception. Bri has a tough life and I could relate to that. I worry and care for all of my brothers the same way Bri does. At first the letter writing seemed unrealistic in the story line, but the more I got to know the characters the more I could really see it playing out that way! Then when she went to visit Daniel and Alexis and he followed her.... the message Bri sent him so he knew what to expect, pure gold. So much goodness in this book you simply don't want to put it down!

Thank you, netgalley for my advanced copy of this book.

I have not read an Abby Jimenez book that I haven’t loved. Her books can make me laugh AND cry.

I also loved how we got to see characters from a past book.

LOVED this one! Highly recommend.

This was my first book by Abby Jimenez and I really enjoyed it. There was a previous book that introduced Brianna's character but Yours Truly can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone.

I liked both Bri and Jacob very much and enjoyed the dual POV. This was important to really get to know both characters. This story has so much well timed humor balanced with the perfect amount of seriousness, including several heavy topics. I loved watching Bri and Jacob first becoming friends. It was sweet and had me cheering for them right from the beginning and looking forward to seeing them ultimately becoming a real couple. It wasn't easy and they both had to work through some issues but that just made it so much more touching.

I'll definitely read more books by this author, including going back to read the first book that involved some of these characters, Part of Your World.

OK friends, I don’t even know where to start. Abby Jimenez has yet again left me speechless. This is her fifth book release, and dare I say, this one touched me the most out of any of her previous works. As someone who suffers from social anxiety and spends the majority of her time at home, I felt this on a visceral level. As the kids say today I felt seen. A major part of this book deals with medical issues that I have intimate knowledge about within my immediate family. There is so much thought, love, and research put into every aspect of Yours Truly. I know this is gonna sound all over the place and it's not really telling you anything about the book as far as a synopsis, but honestly, you can read the blurb for that., For me, Yours Truly will go down as one of my all-time favorite books in romance. Simply because of the realness, openness, and honesty Jiménez has shared. TENS TENS, across-the-board.
~Tanja

4.5⭐️ 1🌶
I received an ebook ARC of Yours truly by Abby Jimenez in exchange for an honest review.
This book follows Brie and Jacob. If you read Part of Your World then you’ll know Brie as Alexis’s best friend.
Brie works in the ER and Jacob has just switched hospitals and now works in the same ER. Brie is divorced from a 10 year marriage where her husband was cheating on her and Jacob is dealing with the fact that his ex and his brother are together along with his extreme anxiety and panic attacks.
I related so much to Jacob in this book! I’m a lot like Jacob and felt very seen throughout this story because of my anxiety. And I just loved jacobs character so much! Brie was a little different for me though, I struggled with liking her through a lot of the book but then the ending changed things for me when I had all the information about her. I understood her so much better at that point and the ending wrapped it up so perfectly for me. There’s definitely some cheesy moments in this but its also incredibly sweet and emotional. I went back and reread all my highlights and I fell even more in love with it after having read the entire story and understanding Brie so much better.
Overall I very much enjoyed this book! Also, I’m completely in love with Jacob!
Tropes: fake dating, work place romance, one bed, forced proximity

You know when you’re reading and you’re just so perfectly in sync with a book and the whole experience feels like pure magic? That’s exactly my experience reading Yours Truly. Literally nothing else existed on the same physical plane as myself when I was spending my time with Briana and Jacob (and that’s saying a lot because I take hour-long train rides twice a day into and out of Penn Station). Abby Jimenez has an unrivaled ability to craft the most compelling characters in the romance genre as a whole. But I should probably give you a synopsis before I continue this gush-fest. We met Dr. Briana Ortiz in Abby’s last book, Part of Your World, and aside from being Alexis’s best friend, she’s also going through a difficult divorce and caring for her younger brother who’s in need of a new kidney. The one thing going right in her life is the promotion she’s about to receive at the hospital she’s spent 10 years working at as an ER doctor… until Jacob, the new doctor, shows up and her boss decides to delay his retirement so Jacob has a fair shot at the job too. Briana immediately categorizes Jacob as a rival and the pair get off to a rocky start. But when she and Jacob start trading letters, she gets to know the sensitive, anxiety-ridden, cinnamon roll of a man that she didn’t initially see. Jacob is also having some family issues- his ex-girlfriend has just announced her engagement to Jacob’s brother and in an effort to make his family think he’s okay with everything, he tells them he has a girlfriend. Enter the fake dating but slowly falling in love with each other trope of my dreams. Jacobs experiences anxiety very similarly to the way that I do and I found his honesty about it and Briana’s response to his needs so heartwarming. I love the continued glimpses we get into Briana and Alexis’s friendship, Briana’s fierce loyalty to those she cares about, and how two broken people find the most beautiful kind of love. I also adored Jacob’s quirky family and the dynamics amongst them all. I was laughing out loud at their first dinner with Briana. I also cried an unprecedented amount of times while reading because Yours Truly has so much heart. I could’ve read 1,000 more pages about these characters and I can tell you already that it will be on my favorite books of the year list. If you haven’t already, please preorder this gem and trust me when I say, you will have zero regrets!

I had never read Abby Jimenez before, and did not realize the main character actually makes an appearance in the last book until after I started reading this book and talking about it to my co-workers non-stop. I will be reading the rest of her books immediately!
This was just the kind of book I was looking for! The characters are sweet, but not saccharine sweet. They seem like real, flawed, believable kinds of people that readers want to root for.
I also thought that the story being told primarily with letters worked really well! I cannot wait to recommend this to romance fans!

I was quite disappointed but this new Abby Jimenez title. While it was appreciated to see a male main character suffering with anxiety (and have it described in a very accurate way), the writing style I just could not get behind. It felt wooden, cold, and the characters lacked chemistry. Not a recommend for me.

I loved this book! I am definitely someone who leans towards more character driven books; I have to love the characters to love a book too. I thought Jacob was relatable (maybe a little to relatable with the anxiety rep) and super sweet. Bri was amazing too and so strong. Their chemistry was so strong and I loved their dynamic.

The book also includes some of my favorite tropes, including slow burn and fake dating. There was also dual pov, which I loved. Getting a look at how both characters are experiencing the story is always interesting and keeps the story compelling.

I have been meaning to read Abby Jimenez’s books for a while and I’m so pleased that I received this one from the publisher. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I found Jacob Maddox, our male protagonist to be super relatable and I was very satisfied with the portrayal of his anxiety and introversion. As someone who has socially anxiety, a character like this was really appreciated. My only complaint is that perhaps he is a little too perfect!

I also really liked Bri, our female MC. She has been through a lot in her life, but especially in the last year and a half. I appreciate the way the Jimenez used her character to express living and moving forward with your life through grief, trauma, and caregiving for a sick relative.

These two make a really adorable couple and I was rooting for them the whole way through. I think the fact that their friendship/relationship begins with them exchanging letters was super fun! They also had a really good communication style throughout most of the novel.

My only complaint was that it felt like the first few chapters would have made more sense had I read Part of Your World first. Yours Truly is not a direct sequel, but many characters and some of the issues they are facing seem to be addressed in that novel first. This left me a little confused in the first few chapters, especially about Bri’s brother Benny. Ultimately, it all made sense, and this turned out to be a really good book!