tbh a bit heartbroken that we weren’t given a whole book dedicated to maddy and doug because um… maddy is perfect - hilarious, kind, caring, and scarytbh a bit heartbroken that we weren’t given a whole book dedicated to maddy and doug because um… maddy is perfect - hilarious, kind, caring, and scary (i love her) and seeing her pov was great. she and the cutie afraid of her deserve their own book. period.
also, i’m pretty sure we meet doug in the first book of the series, but since i haven’t read that one yet i haven’t seen enough of doug to really love him the way i love maddy, but i’m sure if i re-read this after i finish the whole series i might love him even more. ...more
꒰ pre-read. ꒱ i can’t get enough of this series, so obviously jumping right into this one! i loved bri’s character in the first book so i’m excited to ꒰ pre-read. ꒱ i can’t get enough of this series, so obviously jumping right into this one! i loved bri’s character in the first book so i’m excited to see more of her here. hoping for some grey’s anatomy vibes <3...more
“Love follows you. It goes where you go. It doesn’t know about social divides or distance or common sense. It doesn’t even stop
3.75 stars!
“Love follows you. It goes where you go. It doesn’t know about social divides or distance or common sense. It doesn’t even stop when the person you love dies. It does what it wants.”
so, i struggled with this rating a bit - i kept wavering between a mid tier 3 and 4, but this is where i’ve settled. i just gotta hand it to abby jimenez because she writes the most perfect men to ever exist so i rounded it up.
i really liked the set up for this story - rich girl gets involved with the boy outside of “her world” that her family would never approve of and what follows is angst, pining, and a lot of cute moments.
daniel was such a green flag (but all of abby’s men are lol). he’s a character that you can’t help but fall in love with because of his selflessness, the effort he puts into his relationships, his communication and asking for what he wants and just his whole heart. ugh, i can’t believe that abby is over here making me fall in love with another guy this month, but alas here we are.
alexis was a great character, but she made it way less easy to love her. i could totally understand her qualms when it came to not wanting to lose the life she’d always known but it was really rough seeing her continuously reject daniel when we knew that’s the opposite of what she wanted. even so, i found her character arc was a really good one - she went from being someone who couldn’t do anything on her own to a person that she could be proud of and i loved seeing her growth and taking back the pieces she was missing.
besides some of the rocky back and forth between them, daniel and alexis were very cute together. i loved how they supported each other’s ambitions and i really loved their connection (even if it was a bit insta love).
also, i have to note that the small town setting here was *chef’s kiss*. i loved all the side characters and how they all always banded together if someone was in need. it was wholesome, endearing and has me looking at maps to find my own small town to move to asap.
overall, abby jimenez continues to impress me and i’m still so upset with myself for waiting so long to read her books. if you want lovable characters (including a baby goat in pajamas and a dog that cannot get enough) and you want to see the cutest guy from the “other side of the tracks” prove he’s the actual best, definitely pick this up. i highly recommend it.
more quotes i loved
“Grace costs you nothing.”
“You know what’s so dangerous about drowning? It’s silent. So unless someone’s paying close attention to you, no one saves you.”
“When she called, my mood lifted. When I saw her coming down the driveway, my heart would pound. When she was here, I slept better. When she was gone, I was sad. She felt like the sun. Like she was the reason for everything. Like I’d always been waiting for her to get closer and bring me to life.”
“There’s something more final than forever. It’s never. Never is infinite.”
“Well, you don’t steal a hoodie and not wear it. Otherwise it’s just another senseless crime.”
.・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・.
꒰ pre-read. ꒱ after loving just for the summer, it’s time for me to go back and read the rest of the series (and maybe everything abby’s ever written ...more
“I fell in love with you when I was at rock bottom. But I’ll never be able to look back on those dark days with anything but
4.25 stars!
“I fell in love with you when I was at rock bottom. But I’ll never be able to look back on those dark days with anything but a smile. I wanted to jump, but I never once expected the fall to go up.”
so, this is only the second book i’ve picked up by aly martinez, but i have to say she’s quickly becoming an author that i love (and an underrated one at that) - the characters she writes and the emotions she evokes are everything.
the story starts by dropping us right into the action where we see our two mcs (on page one) meet on the top of a san fransisco bridge. this was super refreshing because a lot of books i’ve been reading lately don’t have the mcs really interacting until 30% in and it always feels tedious or too drawn out, but you won’t find that here. the story was pretty straightforward and didn’t ever feel bogged down by useless fluff - it mainly focused on levee and sam’s interactions and the flow felt extremely satisfying.
sam and levee were both interesting and complicated characters consumed by dark thoughts, habits and baggage. even so, they were also so human and relatable. this is one of those books that explores life, death, and mental health but also manages to keep things on the lighter side so it never felt too heavy. it was the perfect blend of heartfelt moments that made me tear up and funny banter to make me laugh out loud.
i do want to mention that this story might not work for someone who doesn’t like insta lust/love - i’m not the biggest fan of it myself, but in this instance i didn’t mind it. even though the mcs are pulled toward each other fairly quickly, i found the genuine emotions and connection overshadowed the insta lust for me.
overall, this ended up being exactly the heartfelt romance i was looking for and i can’t wait to read more and more of aly’s books.
also can we talk about the cover? it’s gorgeous and so fitting. i’m in love.
”Everything else would fall into place. We’d fall up together.”
.・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・.
i knew based off the blurb that i’d love this and it didn’t disappoint - 4.25 stars! be back with a full review soon <3
꒰ pre-read. ꒱ i’ve been craving something a bit more heartfelt with deeper emotions so i’m hoping aly martinez will deliver for me ...more