NARRATORS: Teresa Palmer and Zachary Webber

RATING: ★★★

REVIEW: Let me just say that I’ve read every one of Abby Jimenez’s books, and I haven’t rated any of them less than four stars…until now. It killed my soul to give this one three stars, but the whole story was so different from Abby’s other books. The highlight: I listened to the first few chapters before I finished reading it with the ebook. The audiobook version is amazing because the narrators are reciting all of their lines through the whole book and not just in their individual chapters. It was like actually listening to them carry on a conversation, and I loved it. The misses: The Night We Met is just…sad. There’s hardly any witty banter between the two main characters, like I'm used to in Abby’s books, and their whole love story is more depressing than exciting. Let’s put it this way - there’s much more angst than passion. I will say that I liked the female lead, Larissa, a lot - although it was painful at times how much I related to her upbringing and relationship with her parents. Chris, the male lead, is admirable in my eyes for the way he takes such good care of Larissa, but is he swoon-worthy? Unfortunately, no. Even the ending felt disjointed and lacking. I hope this isn’t some terrible foreboding of what Abby’s future releases will be like because that would really break my heart.

NARRATORS: Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton

REVIEW: Hello, dear readers. I know…I know. You’re probably sick and tired of seeing book reviews for Abby Jimenez on my website. LOL. I do apologize, but what can I say? She’s just a really great author. I believe I'm caught up on all of her books now, except for her latest one, The Night We Met. I have that one in digital format, but I’d rather wait on the audiobook version. The Friend Zone was another funny, romantic, and enjoyable read. Lots of sarcastic and hilarious banter between the two main characters, and I was glad to see Abby took on something that’s rarely talked about in romantic comedies - women’s reproductive issues. Kristen, the female lead, suffers from uterine fibroid tumors, which have caused debilitating periods for most of her adult life, and she makes the difficult decision to have a hysterectomy. Josh, the male lead, wants a house full of children someday, so this causes problems between the two of them. There’s a lot of back and forth drama, especially on Kristen’s part, which honestly could’ve been solved with a simple conversation, but this is a romance book, so you’ve got to go through all of their angst first before they get their happy ending. This is book one in the Friend Zone series, and I wish I had read it first instead of The Happy Ever After Playlist (book two) because I knew what was going to happen toward the end, and I dreaded it. I’m not giving away any spoilers, so I’ll just leave this review with recommending reading the book series in order and not how I did it. 

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 12-cup non-stick muffin tin generously with baking spray. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients from flour to salt. Whisk to combine. In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients from eggs to oil. Whisk to combine then pour mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Whisk until JUST combined. Don’t over mix. There will be lumps but don’t worry. Using a 1/3 cup measure, fill 12 muffin tins to the top with batter. Add a few blueberries to each. Place in the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through bake time, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then with a paring knife or off set spatula, gently remove muffins from tin and transfer to cooling rack. 

NUTRITION INFO: 2 muffins, Calories: 249 kcal, Carbohydrates: 43 g, Protein: 10.5 g, Fat: 5 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 63.5 mg, Sodium: 273 mg, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 7 g

(Recipe and photo courtesy of Skinnytaste) 

TITLE: Yours Truly (audiobook) 
AUTHOR: Abby Jimenez 
NARRATORS: Kyla Garcia and Zachary Webber 
RATING: ★★★★

REVIEW: Yup...just finished another Abby Jimenez book. LOL. What can I say? I really enjoy her work. Yours Truly was kind of different from her other books, but not in a bad way. Normally, her male leads are always gruff and...what's the word...lumberjack-ish? (Not sure how else to describe them). They chop wood, build things with their bare hands, drive a truck...you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the male lead in Yours Truly, Jacob, wasn't like that. I mean, yes, he was handsome and sexy, but not in the usual way I'm used to in Abby's books. Jacob suffers from crippling anxiety, so he's quiet, introverted, and shy. The female lead, Briana, is totally opposite, so their relationship is very sweet and give-and-take. She draws him out of his comfort zone and he softens her rough edges. Briana has unresolved issues from her childhood and a past failed marriage, that causes a lot of problems and wore on my nerves at times, but they did get their happily ever after. As with all of Abby's books, I recommend it to anyone who loves a good rom-com.