I read a comment from Abby Jimenez that said she wrote this book before The Friend Zone and that both books can be read as stand alone books - little snippets of behind the scenes information that I love!

The Happy Ever After Playlist occurs two years after The Friend Zone, during which time Sloane has been grieving for her deceased fiance. One day while visiting his grave Sloane has an encounter with a dog which reinvigorates her will to really live. Sloane finds the dog's owner, but he is in another country so she watches the dog. As the days pass, Sloane and Jason (the dog's owner) build a relationship. When they finally meet in person, feelings get even more intense between them. Unfortunately some serious and difficult decisions need to be made.

This is one emotional and humorous story you don't want to miss! Seriously, Jimenez's writing will give you all the feels!

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and Abby Jimenez for the ARC of The Happy Ever After Playlist in exchange for my honest review.

Le swoon. I loved that we got to see Sloan’s next chapter 💕 I went from laughing to swooning, page by page. I don't want to spoil anything but I love how this dealt with grief and letting yourself feel again. If you love romance, do yourself a favor and preorder this immediately! It comes out April 2020. I borrowed my friend's ARC and then got an eARC from the publisher. Opinions are my own.

I requested the ARC solely based on the fact that I read “The Friend Zone” and enjoyed the author’s writing but I had no idea what the book was about. I had no idea the two books were related!! I feel like I have been reunited with old friends. Thank you so much for continuing Kristen and Sloan's friendship and writing about it. I absolutely love when we continue to see friendships of characters throughout the author's works.
While both books can be read as standalones, this story takes place two years after “The Friends Zone” ends. At that point, Sloan’s fiancée had passed away, she inconsolable, and now she’s having trouble getting on with her life. Out of nowhere appears an adorable dog that she takes care of while trying to locate the owner who happens to be out of the country. Of course you know what is going to happen, but the beauty of the story is seeing Sloan’s emotional journey to love again, without being too sappy. While she meets a wonderful, almost too good to be true guy, she isn’t waiting for him to save her. Sloan is quite capable of saving herself. As a bonus, I just love her friendship with Kristen. The characters in this book have such depth, and feel real, making the story more enjoyable.
Another HUGE plus to this book is the Spotify playlist that goes with this book. What an absolutely brilliant idea! Talk about creating the perfect accompaniment. I wish more books would do this.
My only issue, and I take full ownership, is the similarity in the names of the two friends love interests. I kept getting confused as to who was with Josh and who was with Jason. But besides that, I absolutely love this book and highly recommend it.
Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for an early release copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

When I read The Friend Zone last summer, I absolutely loved it, but I was also left heartbroken for Sloan. Therefore, I was thrilled to get an ARC from NetGalley for what I would call one of my most anticipated reads of 2020.

The Happy Ever After Playlist starts when Sloan, still reeling from the tragic loss of her fiancé Brandon, finds a dog, and then spends weeks trying to get in contact with said dog’s owner. This is how she meets Jason, our male protagonist, turns out he’s been out of the country on tour – he’s an up and coming musician! – and had no idea that his dog was missing. From their very first phone conversation, the chemistry between these two characters was palpable. After a bit of negotiating they agree that Sloan will keep the dog – Tucker – until Jason returns to the country; their phone and text conversations throughout this period were some of my favorite parts in this book. When they finally meet in person I was so ready for these two to make it happen.

Sloan is without a doubt attracted to Jason, but she’s understandably hesitant to start a relationship after grieving Brandon for two years – this is where Jason really shined. He was incredibly patient and understanding with Sloan’s feelings and never pushed her to do anything for which she was not yet ready. Sloan had to deal with Jason’s rising fame and all the pitfalls that it brought with it. There were a few small hiccups – and a huge, gut wrenching, tear your heart out hiccup – as they figured out how to make their relationship work, but I never once doubted that the love between these two characters would win in the end. And, may I say that Epilogue was absolute perfection. I also cannot forget to mention that Kristen and Josh were featured throughout this book and it was amazing to see them again and read about their love and dedication to Sloan’s happiness.

The Happy Every After Playlist was a roller coaster of emotions, that at times broke my heart, but in the best way. Watching Sloan find herself and find love again after the devastating loss of her fiancé was incredible. I will be adding The Happy Ever After Playlist to my reread shelf.

This book was everything!!

Sloan has been in the dumps since her fiance Brandon was killed in a car accident two years ago. On the anniversary of his accident Sloan saves a dog in the middle of the road, well the dog jumped through her sunroof, but it is still counted as saving right? After a couple of weeks on hearing nothing from the owner he finally calls, he is out of the county has didn't have cell phone service. After agreeing to take care of Tucker the dog until Jason the owner gets back in the states. they continue to talk and text throughout his time away. Sloan agrees to meet Jason for an "appointment" when he gets back. She is not going to call it a date. Sloan is instantly hooked to Jason an up and coming music artist and Jason os hooked on Sloan, so hooked he invites her to Minnesota to meet his family.

This book is all the things! It has Minnesota, meat raffles, the boundary waters, music, and a tour.

I actually enjoyed this book. Adorable, compulsively readable romance. There are the standard over-the-top gestures and coincidences and Jimenez did a great job of capturing the intensity of falling deeply in love, but I would've appreciated a bit more exploration of how dangerously co-dependent Sloan and Jason are.
The author's note at the end of the book mentions how she wrote this based on a friend who was widowed at a young age and how she struggled to put herself back together. A fine sentiment, but the way the book was written it really read like Sloan couldn't stop actively grieving her ex-fiance and really just substituted her obsession with Brandon with an obsession with Jason.

Alright. I’m ready to talk about The Happy Ever After Playlist.

Took me long enough….yes, thanks for noticing. This novel really hit me all in the feels and I had to let it simmer before giving my complete thoughts.

I wanted to love this novel as much as I loved The Friend Zone. I wanted a marathon reading session. I wanted to reconnect with the characters that I fell in love with last year. Welp, that happened….except for the added bonus. I loved HEA even better!

I.Loved.This.Book The characters, the story, the fairy tale quality with a big smack of real life…..it’s my jam.

I actually fell so hard for this book, it keeps entering my mind. Abby, is an incredibly visual writer and because of that…I am treated to daily flashbacks 😊.

Read the synopsis if you want the full low down on what this book is about. But trust me. Pick it up. Even if you did not enjoy The Friend Zone….this is a different story with similar characters but bringing to life a new chapter.

PS:

I thought about not including this in my review….but I want to and I do what I want. When I posted on Instagram how much I enjoyed HEA, Abby reached out to me. What came out of that conversation was a greater understanding of The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist. Y’all. These were real people. Both Kristen and Sloane are real life stories….I adored that. As real as the characters were for me and trust me….they were real. This brought to light a whole new feeling from this novel. Go in knowing that grief looks different for everyone. Infertility looks different for everyone. Thank goodness we have authors that are willing to share a piece of themselves with us. {stepping off my soapbox…thank you for your time!}

I loved loved The Happy Ever After Playlist! Its a tie between The Friend Zone for my favorite romance book this year! The book is about Sloane, a California artist, that lost her fiancee two years ago. She is trying to find her new normal after grieving for so long. Sloane finds a dog, and she takes him to her house, while she finds the owner. What she finds is a connection with Jason (dog's owner) that is hard to ignore. Will she be able to love again?

I seriously binged read the book in one day! I loved it so much. I was so sad when it was over. It made me laugh cry, and feel all the emotions! This is a 5 star book for me and I highly recommend it!

Abby Jimenez knocks it out of the park again with a fun romance that I could not put down! Sloan's fiance has passed away nearly two years before when she finds a stray dog (or perhaps that stray dog finds her) and goes on a quest to find his owner. Just when she thinks the search may be over and the dog may be hers for good, his owner turns up. Not only is he funny, flirtatious and gorgeous, but he's also famous. The story unfolds from there!

Abby has done it again! The Happy Ever After Playlist SLAYED me. I had all of the feels for this one. It is maybe even better than The Friend Zone if that is possible?!?! I need for Jason to be a real man because he is INCREDIBLE. The originality of the characters and the crazy chemistry of the Jason and Sloan was so great. Abby deals with grief in a perfect way and it was just such a great book that I won't forget anytime soon.

I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had all the feels: laughing, crying, steamy and friendship.

Sloan is grieving her fiancé ,Brandon, after his motorcycle accident two years ago. On the day she goes to visit his grave an abandoned dog hops thru her sunroof.

When the owner finally turns up, she finds herself texting and talking to him. Could she put herself out there again for another man? What about once she finds out who this hunky man really is?

5 stars ...ALL THE STARS!!

Thank you to the publisher @readforeverpub for my netgalley widget to read this title early!!! I have been (im)patiently awaiting the arrival of Jimenez's HEAP as soon as I closed The Friend Zone last May! I couldn't wait to get my hands on (or, eyes on) this book! I was shocked to find out this was actually Jimenez's FIRST book she wrote, prior to TFZ! And to think she wrote this "for fun", never thinking it would be published!

I honestly can't decide which book I loved more! Obviously TFZ is all Kristen, and HEAP is all Sloan, so I guess I can love them equally.

I absolutely loved Jason & Sloan's story. As I read through the chapters I felt all the emotions: love, fear, angst, distress, forgiveness, etc. A lot of their story reminded me of falling in love myself, and I was able to relate to all those fears and emotions of resistance and apprehension that Sloan felt upon meeting Jason. There were times I honestly didn’t know if they would make it, or not, but without giving anything else away, I will leave with you this: THE ENDING IS PERFECT 😊

Add this to your #TBR list ASAP if it’s not already on it! This is out 4/14/2020!
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If you read THE FRIEND ZONE, you know that Jimenez’s writing is compulsively readable and nigh unputdownable. So why I decided to pick it up at nine PM on a work night and stay up almost until midnight to finish and then write this review.. well, it wasn’t a decision, I just lived it. I don’t regret it now but we’ll speak later as to how I feel in the morning.

Additionally, if you’ve read Jimenez’s debut, you know that going into this one is going to be emotional. The events of the first book in this universe, events that directly change Sloan’s world, are a lot. And we open up two years after that event and Sloan is.. not doing well.

While we eventually get to a place where there’s a new love interest and there’s flirting and connection and sweetness, the grief doesn’t poof disappear. I really appreciated the balance that the author had between taking steps to move on — initially nothing to do with the romance — and the hesitations, the relapses, the moments that required her to pause and step back. It felt natural and not overblown and also heightened the intensity of the romance because this powerful connection had a counterweight of.. not sadness but maybe appreciation? Hard to say. But the early chapters? I devoured. I delighted.

Later there is some drama with an ex, the record label, a harsh tour schedule, and other than a few blips, I thought all the speed bumps were pretty acceptable. If you’ve read any rockstar romances, you probably won’t be too surprised with how it plays out, but this one is more wholesome than most, mostly because the characters themselves are pretty wholesome excellent humans. That said, I’m not quite sure I buy the big confessional but, again, it’s what you do in a rockstar romance, and it makes for great cinematic-dramatic style romance so, hey, whatever man. The ending is also hella cheese but HEAs are what it’s all about and it’s literally in the title, so.

So, yeah, smooth sailing all the way through? Maybe not. I can’t quite decide if this was on par with THE FRIEND ZONE or if the former was a little better, but this was still a really fun read, with characters just zany enough for comic relief (Kristen), supportive found-family friends, swoony love, a heaping portion of emotions and feels, a DOG, and a big time second chance at love — not with the same guy, of course, but a second chance nonetheless.

This is definitely going to be a hit.

“The Happy Ever After Playlist” by Abby Jimenez is one of those books that checks off all the boxes for a fresh and romantic read: yummy book boyfriend, witty banter, a supportive best friend, angsty scenarios that resolve, an included rockstar and lovable pet, a friends to lovers premise, and emotional depth with laugh out loud moments.

Blurb: Sloan, who lost her fiancé, can’t seem to get her life in order. While still grieving the loss of her fiancé, a dog jumps into her car and changes her life forever.

Sloan looks everywhere for the owner of the dog and ends up developing a phone friendship with the notorious pet owner, who just so happens to be a rockstar.

The two develop deeper feelings, but can Sloan fall for someone who is constantly on the road and can her heart survive anymore heartbreak?

The first book by Abby Jimenez, “The Friend Zone,” was one of my favorite romance reads last year, so when I heard that Sloan was getting her happily ever after, I was immediately jumping up and down. I wanted so badly for Sloan to find happiness again.

This book gave me everything I was hoping for and more, including an epic kind of love and an angsty climax. Jason and Sloan are without a doubt one of the cutest romance book couples and I couldn’t be anymore pleased by this sweet and redemptive romance! An adorable and relishing read!

The first in this series was awesome and the follow up did not disappoint. I really enjoyed this story. Such lovely characters, can't wait to read more from this author.

I went into this so unsure, my expectations weren't super high because Sloan wasnt my favourite character from the Friend Zone, not even a close second and I loved Brandon so I was reluctant to see her with someone other than him, even though he had died and I knew she couldnt end up with him.
But I loved this book so much. It made me really love Sloan, something that was lacking for me from the first book. And Jason is a perfect guy for her to end up with, they just fit right together, which I didnt think the author would be able to do since, as i said, i loved brandon. I 100% recommend this.

The Happy Ever After Playlist is another 5 star read from Abby Jimenez. Abby knows how to give you all the possible feels and she does it so well. I finished the book last night and I'm still in awe. Sloan and Jason are amazing characters that make this story perfection!!

After I read Abby's first book 'The Friend Zone', I was so excited to read this book because she had a way of making a story so emotional, relatable, and exciting. And she did that with The Happy Ever After Playlist. She created a story that is heartbreaking and beautiful that grabs your attention within the first few pages.

The story follows Sloan and Jason who are two people from different worlds. Sloan is an artist who is still dealing with the pain and heartache of losing her husband. Jason is a musician who is turning into a rockstar after he lands a major deal where he is the featured artist on a movie soundtrack.

Sloan is used to being in her own little bubble. She has a best friend named Kristen who gets her through the good and the bad. Sloan is also used to not letting anyone else in because of her fear of losing another person she loves. On one of the hardest days of her life, a dog falls into her lap and her life changes. How can a dog change her life you may be asking? Well, that dog happens to be Jason's.

Jason and Sloan have a unique bond that is unexplainable. They start to develop a strong friendship even though they have never met. When they make plans to meet, they don't expect to fall in love.

I don't want to give too much away but this is a whirlwind romance full of passion, drama, emotions, and lovable dog!!

I give The Happy Ever After Playlist 5 stars. Abby Jimenez writes with her whole heart and it shows! Sloan and Jason are the best of characters I could hope for. I loved this whole story and can't wait to re-read it just so I can fall in love with the story all over again!!

Abby Jimenez is one of my favorite authors hands down! When I finished reading this book, I had to decide whether I loved The Friend Zone better than HEAP, and I think that Abby just keeps getting better and better. Both these books are my top reads for 2019 and now for 2020.

It has been two years since Brandon, Sloan’s fiancée dies of a tragic motorcycle accident from a drunk driver, and Sloan is still grieving the loss. Sloan has had no desire to do much of anything anymore and have lost her passion and have let her talents go to the wayside including taking care of herself. In an interesting turn of events, she runs into a dog named Tucker and ends up getting to know the owner, Jason.

Jason ends up being half way across the world and in the meantime, Sloan ends up taking care of Tucker and that is when their friendship developed through text messages first then phone calls. The way they met and how their friendship developed was absolutely brilliant. The progression was as natural as it can get and that is where Abby’s brilliance comes in - nothing cringy and everything heart fluttering and swoon worthy.
The second part of the story line is when Sloan discovers that Jason is a rising musician who just signed an incredible record and tour around the world. There will be plenty of romantic moments and equally as much of a challenging situation for a new couple navigating the recently found fame and popularity that will test their relationship and trust with each other.

chapter of the book lists a song that sets the mood for that chapter. I found myself listening to the songs first before. This book had me in all of my emotions. It tugged my heart strings, I shed a few tears, and most of all I was left with the satisfaction of the couple I was rooting for from the very beginning.

I highly recommend this book and give it all the marvelous stars and more.

Such a wonderful book! I loved everything about this! The perfect blend of heartwarming, funny, tension, and heartbreaking!!
Sloan and Jason were just perfect for each other. Of course they had to go through this amazing journey that had me at the edge of my seat until the end.
My one regret is that the cover doesn’t match the character description. Would it have been that difficult to add beard and tattoos?
I’m now going back to read The Friend Zone.

This follow-up to The Friend Zone was one I needed. You absolutely should read The Friend Zone first. This book gives you the chance to pick back up with the characters you came to love in the first book. Abby Jimenez again takes some serious and heavy subjects on but does it with humor and grace.
Thanks to Netgalley and Forever Publishing for the advanced readers copy.