Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2), by Abby Jimenez

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This one started out so well: Briana and Jacob, two ER doctors start off on the wrong foot but end up falling in love through letters and lunch dates in a closet. And, yes, in the beginning, it’s fun, heart-warming and a very nice read.

»I don’t have any tattoos. I’ve always been too afraid to commit to something so permanent. But Jewel is amazing at what she does, so I thought she’d give me something profoundly beautiful, an everlasting imprint that I’d cherish. Something I never knew I needed to carry with me through life.
She gave me a tiny lawn mower on my chest next to a small patch of shaved chest hair.«

I was congratulating myself on choosing such a great light read and was thinking how nice it is to read about plausible adults (both are in their thirties and “feel” like that) and how easily Jimenez seems to pull that off.

»When I knocked at almost eight o’clock, my anxiety was at a low hum. But when she opened the door, it quieted down and then disappeared with a blip.«

Ok, the ever-present topics of (fasten your seatbelt!) divorce, organ failure and donation, anxiety, loss of an unborn child, infidelity, depression, suicide, and even more, could have been a bit of a red flag (hey, this is a light romcom!) but for the most part, I was reading enthusiastically.

For about two thirds of the book, it would have earned five stars from me. Potentially even an un-manly squeal on top.

I liked the chemistry and banter between Briana and Jacob, and I appreciated how they supported each other through their personal challenges. I also liked the secondary characters, especially Jacob’s sister and the parrot. They added some humour and warmth to the story.

After many pages of fake-dating, though, I was starting to get impatient. Both Briana and Jacob had completely and undeniably fallen in love and the happily-ever-after was easily within reach – if only they had talked to each other. Miscommunication is one thing but not talking about the elephant in the room at all can only work for some time. Especially when it’s a bright red, heart-shaped elephant that has “I love you!” written all over it.

Even the “one bed only” scene doesn’t move the story forward…

Down we were to four stars.

Jimenez doesn’t find a good breaking point for making things real, though. When she finally does, drama immediately follows. Our protagonists barely get a minute to enjoy themselves. I was hoping for a short, relatively harmless drama, though, even though I should have known better because there were still about 20% of the book left…

I was about to DNF and at three stars.

When the first drama was resolved, I turned the page to the next chapter and the most idiotic thing happened that caused yet another – and much more severe – drama. The two “ingredients” to said drama were also so much over-the-top that my remaining satisfaction turned into annoyance and I was seriously considering to DNF once again. Especially so since Jimenez made Briana pull out the most cliché “argument” ever:

»Jacob was a man. And men do what men do.«

That left me with two remaining stars. Thankfully, there was not enough book left for Jimenez to disappoint me any more and the ending was passable.

All in all, this started out great, embarked on a long dry (sic) spell and died from drama.

Two out of five stars.


Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam




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