I've loved Abby Jimenez's first two books and Life's Too Short was just as wonderful. I fell in love with these characters so quickly and I while I wanted to find out what was going to happen, I didn't want to because that meant it was going to be over!

Vanessa Price is the type of woman you want in your corner. She hasn't been dealt the best hand in life, she lost her mother too early and her older sister too, plus she's the one that does her best to hold the rest of her family together, which includes her Dad, younger sister and brother. Given that ALS runs in her family, and her grandmother, mother and sister all suffered from it, she's terrified she is going to be next. With that in mind, she started a channel where she shared her travel videos in order to raise money for ALS research and is determined to live life to its fullest while she still can.

She's thrown a curveball when her younger sister leaves her baby daughter in Vanessa's care. So she quickly goes from traveling the world to being a stay-at-home Mom trying to figure out what moves to make next. When she gets a late night visit from her neighbor, lawyer Adrian Copeland, due to the baby crying, who could have guessed that it was going to change everyone's lives.

While Adrian has his own family issues, he's always been married to his work as a partner at the law firm. He's had girlfriends here and there (including one he just broke up with), but when he meets Vanessa, things just seem different with her. He's caring, considerate, genuine and always ready to help however he can. Oh and did I mention he's drop dead gorgeous?!

Vanessa and Adrian build a friendship as they spend more and more time together. Both of them begin to feel themselves falling for the other, but due to conversations they've had, neither one voices how they are feeling. Are they going to be able to deny what is growing between them? Will Vanessa's health throw a huge wrench into things?

I truly loved everything about this book. I laughed, I cried, I cheered and I smiled as I moved my way through the story. I felt like the descriptions and storytelling were so vivid that everything just seemed to jump off the page for me and made it easy to visualize it all happening. This is definitely my favorite of The Friend Zone series, but do yourself a favor and pick up all three of them. I promise you won't regret it!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

I don’t know how the author manages every single time to weave a romcom along with bringing in awareness about a very serious/important topic. And Adrian is simply the perfect book boyfriend ever!! This one is as heartwarming as all her previous books and has both cute and funny moments throughout the book. It is a hattrick without a doubt as I have loved all the three books equally!

Vanessa is a successful and famous lifestyle youtuber and is loaded with grit. Her mantra is to enjoy life which she really reveled in. Even though she is dealt with a bad hand in life, she doesn't waste a single moment in enjoying it to the fullest which truly inspires us to follow that and take chances in life. Adrian is a handsome criminal lawyer with type-A personality and has his own family issues to deal with. When these two end up as neighbors, there is definitely a rollercoaster ride waiting for them. Add in a cute baby into the mix, it just can’t get better.

Trigger warning: : ALS, mental health , addiction, grief

Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I thought the clickbait chapter titles were top notch creative and perfect. I always joke about the clickbait we see on YouTube, and this just made giggle each time. I also tried to guess WTF was going to happen.

I’m honestly happy that Jimenez put a character in Life’s Too Short with drug addiction that didn’t just get better two chapters later. It’s not realistic. Magically, she’s clean. Uh huh. I always love how realistic Jimenez makes her characters and this is a prime example.

I loved Vanessa. She really was living life like it was her last day, and took that to heart. It really just reminded me that we’re not promised tomorrow, no matter what we think. She was blunt, hilarious, and a famous YouTuber. I did like that social media is starting to really show its self as a real career. She showed how she was able to afford everything and realize sponsors are everything.

Adrian. I have feelings about Adrian. I adored him, then got annoyed by him, then adored him again. Without giving too much away, I just felt like his need for control was too excessive to the point where he was trying to control everything. He does redeem himself in the end.

Overall, I swooned. I adored it. Abby Jimenez truly outdid herself again. Thank you so much Forever & NetGalley for the gifted copy. Life’s Too Short is out April 6th!

Abby Jimenez is a talented writer because she creates the most wonderful characters in her books. I really enjoyed this newest one and look forward to whatever she writes next. The characters in Life's Too Short were great and I did not want to put the book down. This book was less open door than her previous 2 and I personally prefer that. Thank you to Netgalley for this review copy.

FIVE FREAKING STARS OF COURSE!!! what did you all expect?!?! It is five stars again Abby!!! She really knows how to play with my emotions. I laughed. I cried. I swooned. I fell in love. 😭❤️😭I cannot even describe how much I love this book right now. It took me 2-3 reads before I wrote a review of the last 2 books by her! I’ve read this twice already so y’all know how much I love it. Really.

Sensitive topics + Dog = perfect book by Abby 😂

After reading this one, I realized that I’ve learned so much from every books I’ve read by Abby especially from this book. Life is indeed too short. Let’s live it.

Watch out Josh & Jason because Adrian is taking over my heart right now 😍😂

4.5 stars!

After reading The Friend Zone and HAEP, I was so excited to jump into this book! I’m not someone who reads synopses before books typically, so I was eager to find out who would be in this book and how it tied to the others. I won’t spoil it either, but I was really excited when Kristin, Josh, Sloan, and Jason made their cameo. Kristin cracked me up as always!

It had so many hard topics from addiction to ALS, hoarding, abandonment, mental health, etc. but it had that Abby Jimenez humor, and fun romance thrown in to keep you giggling and giddy. The last 10-20% of the book hit me like a bullet and I was almost gasping for air hoping for a happy ending!

Adrian is a partner at a law firm and Vanessa is a travel vlogger. If I had her personality I’d be hopping on that job bandwagon in an instant! Little Grace brings them together and there’s a foster pup involved. They’re big foodies and have that friends to lovers love story, with all of the emotional hardships at the core of their story. They become each other’s rock and safe space, and push each other to be better and cope with issues in their lives. Pick it up!

Some of my favorite tiny details, all food related 🤣:
☺️ Adrian brings her a cannoli without her asking for it
🦀 The Maryland t-shirts that said “I have crabs”
🧀 “I had bricks of cheese in my fridge bigger than this kid.”
🍰 “If some guy sent me a picture of a cake at 2:00am like ‘Hey girl, you up?’ I’d be like, ‘Hell yeah I’m up, come over.’”

I really loved that Abby Jimenez was inspired by real-life activist and YouTuber Claire Wineland, and that she worked with a pharmacist, attorneys to get all the details right!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever publishing for the opportunity to read this fun and heart strings pulling ARC, coming out April 6th!

Abby Jimenez gets better with each book. Life’s Too Short is endearing, highly emotional, and completely entertaining. Vanessa’s energy is addictive, Adrian’s need for control is grounding. Their story takes you on a true roller coaster and leaves you with a smile on your

I was really excited to read Life’s Too Short because Abby Jiminez’s first two books were two of my favorite romances. Unfortunately this one was a miss for me and I decided to DNF. Spoilers below.

In the other books I felt so drawn in to the characters and especially the female friendship. For me - this one felt like it was doing too much and trying too hard. Not only is Vanessa making the most of her life but she’s also becoming super famous and rich and running into celebrities left and right. Oh - the Banksy art with her in it? Just from when she met him at a water park in Singapore. The name dropping felt over the top to me.

In addition to Vanessa thinking she has early signs of ALS, she also has a sister struggling with addiction and abandoning her baby and her dad’s issues with hoarding. It’s a lot. I also felt it was too much for it to be wrapped up at the end that turns out it wasn’t ALS after all.

I will still be excited to try future books by Abby. Hoping maybe she will lean more into the romcom side of things and less of the very emotional, super heavy topics.

This is Jimenez’s third book and it has solidified my feelings about her writing; compulsively readable, witty laugh out loud banter, and knowing I’m about to read a heartbreaking, tear-inducing, story.

Life’s Too Short deals with some heavy stuff. Addiction, ALS, hoarding, death of family members, and past child neglect to name a few. The main characters in this one are easy to love but also at times pretty frustrating. So you know, real.

My only main ‘issue’ in this one is the baby that our female main character is suddenly taking care of seemed to be more of a prop for the meet-cute of the main characters, than an actual legit baby who other than that first encounter is probably the easiest newborn in the history of newborns. I felt that aspect of the story was pretty misleading about how life truly is with a newborn baby to care for, especially if you aren’t prepared for it.

But alas, I swooned, I teared up, and I speed through this one like a mom who is finally on her way to Target solo after caring for a cranky toddler all day. (Yes, I mean me.)

I flew through this book in two days. It would have been one, but apparently when you reach 3am it’s time to put the book down and sleep.

I loved it. 4 Stars. And it might even be my favorite of the series so far, except that Sloane’s book (The Happy Ever After Playlist) was a demand for justice and therefore guaranteed to rank higher, always. So let’s just say that LIFE’S TOO SHORT is a close so close that it’s hard to even measure, second place.

I adored Vanessa and Adrian. The build on this one is perfect. Sweet and slow and lacking on smex but you don’t even notice it or miss it. No seriously, the smut factor is really low in this one and it’s wonderfully refreshing and beautiful (this coming from someone who loves some good smexy). The connection between the characters is amazing and made more amazing by the unhurried build.

Plus the family struggles and dynamics were fantastically integrated. Add in the health woes and it was layered and blended and created an emotional and raw portrait of the character(s). Heartfelt and achingly wonderful.

My only criticisms would be that I thought a few things were rushed through, especially near the end. And I wished Grace had given them a little more strife and struggle somewhere in there, she was just a little too perfect.

Overall though this book was amazing. I’m already ready to reread it.

*I received a free copy from the publisher via netgalley.

You guys... prepare to be emotionally wreckeddddd.

I thought TFZ and HEAP were bad... I was mistaken...

Also.... who can resist a man with a baby?!? I sure can’t! 😍

Huge thanks to @readforeverpub for choosing us for this #unitedbyromcomsfeature !! Publishes April 6th!

4.5 Stars


After reading The Friend Zone + The Happy Ever After Playlist earlier this year, I quickly fell in love with Abby Jimenez's writing. So when I found out she was releasing more books in this series I was so excited! I absolutely love her writing style, and each book has been completely addicting. And while this one is technically part of The Friend Zone series, it can be read as a standalone (but I highly recommend reading the others!)


Adrian + Vanessa's story hooked me from the very beginning and I couldn't get enough of them. While there were multiple times I wanted to shake them and call them idiots, I absolutely loved these characters. But while they each stood tall on their own, together they were pure magic. Through laughs and tears, these two just fit, and their relationship developed & evolved so perfectly as the story went on. The balance between comedy & drama is perfect, the pacing on point, and I loved every second of it!

𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈— 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆.

Honestly I’m blown away by this book. Life’s Too Short is by far my FAVORITE book by Abby Jimenez!!! I think it might just be my favorite book of 2021 and before you say it’s only March I know, but it was THAT GOOD!. I had complaints with the first two books in the Friend Zone series but this one was utter perfection. This book was meaningful, heartwarming, romantic, all sprinkled with Abby’s signature laugh out loud humor..

I am in love with Adrian and completely inspired by Vanessa and her strength. This book has a lot of life lessons. It shows life living with and caring for loved ones with terminal illness or disabilities. It reminds us to live our lives to its fullest, stop looking at the sun, seize the day and do what makes YOU happy. And it’s about forgiving and loving family, even the dysfunctional ones.

I’m really grateful for this advanced readers copy! Pre-order this book NOW because you don’t want to miss out on all the love and laughs this book has to offer!

Always remember “It is too fucking short. Eat the cake, take the vacation, dance in the rain. And don’t do anything that’s going to fuck you up.”

Wow. Life's Too Short was a lot. These books are always a lot of emotion but one of my favorite parts about them is the balance of laughter and tears. I recommend TFZ and HEAP because you do get all of the things..you laugh, you cry, you gasp in surprise. Life's Too Short was just a much heavier read than what I expected. It was very real and honest, but lacked the laughter that I have come to find so engaging from her previous books. The writing is fabulous. The story is good. Just know that it's not quite the same fun ride that you usually get from this series.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5. I love how Abby Jimenez writes the Friend Zone series and continues the heartfelt, sarcastic, steamy and ultimately happy-ever-after love stories with this 'live every day like it's your last' heroine and 'by the books' lawyer love interest. I particularly enjoy how her female characters enjoy being around other women; so often, strong and spirited heroines are depicted as not getting along with other women as a way to show how 'different' they are from 'usual girls' (ugh) and in Abby's books, the female friendships are always supportive and fun to read..

She does it again. Absolutely loved this book. Probably my favorite from Abby. As someone who has an autoimmune disease, the ALS storyline spoke to me. I would have wanted a little more steam and more communication between the characters but again, loved it.

Abby Jiminez brings us a third beautiful story in her The Friend Zone trilogy. She's a masterful writer, with the power to evoke significant emotion and create likeable, yet flawed, characters.

But.

BUT.

~SPOILERS~SPOILERS~SPOILERS~SPOILERS~

I'm starting to get tired of the tragic tale with a miracle epilogue. This book seemed like a redux of The Friend Zone, and didn't really introduce anything new. It stared two leads who spent a majority of the book being friends, with the female lead having a medical condition that kept her from being in a real relationship with the male lead, which was ultimately overcome, but ultimately discovered to be a nonfactor in the epilogue. Yeah. Spot the difference? I can't.

I think this book would have been so much better without the epilogue (and I think the same of The Friend Zone). Without the epilogue, it would have been a tragic romance about living life to the fullest and loving who you love. With the epilogue... it just feels like a waste of time. Like why did I just read it all for it to not really matter in the end?

Jiminez has great potential, but didn't bring anything new to the table with this book. HEAP is a truly excellent novel and my favorite of the trilogy, because (1) the tragedy happens prior to the book's beginning, so it's a rather happy book overall, and (2) it's a celebrity romance, which we all love, and (3) it's DIFFERENT. It's something I hadn't seen before. I hope once Jiminez leaves this trilogy behind and writes something new we either see her double down on the tragedy or write something happy. She's a wonderful writer, so I have high hopes.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 7/10

I picked up my first Abby Jimenez book to get out of a reading slump, and each one of her books is better than the last.

“Life’s Too Short” comes out April 6. Thanks to Netgalley and Forever, the romance imprint of Grand Central Publishing, for an advanced reader copy. Opinions are my own.

It is the third book in the Friend Zone series and while you don’t have to read them in order, I highly recommend it.

In “Life’s Too Short,” we meet neighbors Vanessa and Adrian, who are quite clearly into each other from the get-go. Vanessa is a YouTube-famous travel vlogger who’s raising her sister’s newborn while her sister battles drug addiction. Adrian is a high profile attorney.

There’s a strong possibility Vanessa will develop ALS, which killed her sister (and would have killed her mother, but she was killed in a car accident first). Vanessa is determined not to waste a second of her life; she jets off at a moment’s notice to create new content for her channel. Adrian has a much more ... rigid personality. As the two of them figure out if and how they can build a life together, the reader is treated to a really, really good contemporary romance story.

As an aside, this book was chock-full of references to “The Office,” and you know that makes my heart flutter.

Kristen, Sloan and their partners from “The Friend Zone” and “Happily Ever Playlist” make an appearance in this book, and it was such a fun surprise when they showed up.

With “Life’s Too Short,” Jimenez remains my reigning rom-com queen. Her books are smart, steamy, and incredibly readable.

Life’s too Short

Wow, this was one of those romance books that just lifts you up so much. So much tension is created between the characters and you're just biting your nails waiting for them to both realize they are meant for one another! When they end up together and the book still has another 30% you know they will have another obstacle before love prevails, but you are there for it!

Synopsis

Vanessa was almost certain her life would be taken by ALS. Her mother had it and herolder sister died from it. It was only a matter of time before it took her life. That’s why Vanessa decided to travel the globe and live everyday as it was her last. During her travels she became a youtube sensation with most of the proceeds going to ALS research and supporting her dysfunctional family.

Her father had let himself go professionally and personally once he lost his wife. Her younger sister, Annabel, didn’t handle her sister’s death well and turned to addiction. Vanessa’s traveling lifestyle changes once Annabel leaves her newborn baby Grace on her doorstep to care for.

This could have been a disaster but instead brings Adrian into Vanessa’s life. He is a successful, attractive defense attorney that is her neighbor. He also owns the building. He offers to help Vanessa calm Grace down one night when she refuses to stop crying. That night begins the bond between Vanessa and Adrian. Vanessa is spontaneous and wants to live every moment to its fullest where Adrian likes more control over life. They each bring to the relationship what the other is missing.

This was the best romance I have read in a very long time. Although it deals with serious topics such as terminal disease and addiction, the banter between Vanessa and Adrian brings a lightness to it that keeps you from being able to close the book to the very end! I can’t wait to read more of Abby Jimenez’s work.

"One Day Syndrome. You live your life like there’ll always be one day to do all the things you put off. One day you’ll take the trip. One day you’ll have the family. One day you’ll try the thing. You’re all work and not enough play. Money can’t make you happy unless you know what you want, Adrian. So what do you want?”

Life’s Too Short follows Vanessa, a famous traveling YouTuber who doesn’t know whether she shares the same genetic disease ALS as her late mother and sister. Living each day to its fullest, Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing a new challenge: motherhood. When her addicted half sister abandons her child and Vanessa is appointed her legal guardian, it throws her life plans of seeing everything there is to see in the world for a loop. Overwhelmed with a baby that won’t stop crying, Vanessa is at her wit’s end.

Enter Adrian Copeland, the unbelievably hot lawyer next door, who immediately burrows into Vanessa’s heart when he soothes the baby within seconds. As they grow closer, Vanessa realises that Adrian’s need for structure is the exact opposite of her carefree lifestyle. And yet, the two of them keep finding their way into each other’s lives until one tragedy is followed by another and it’s anyone’s guess what the future holds…

First things first, this story was nearly flawless. I loved how this book both had me laughing at some of the playful banter between Vanessa and Adrian yet also had the ability to make me tear up when things weren’t going the way I envisioned. And that mostly comes down to the lifelike and painfully relatable main characters, Vanessa and Adrian. From their incredible meet-cute to the very end, these two held my attention like I was a watching a tennis match go down right in front of me.

Vanessa has been dealt some shitty cards in life – she’s inherited health conditions that almost certainly determine that she will have ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and most likely not live past the age of thirty. ALS may sound familiar to those who remember the ice bucket challenge that was going around a few years ago, but it was harrowing to watch Vanessa spend her present with the knowledge that she probably won’t get a future. Already having seen her sister be consumed by the illness, her other sister falling into drug addiction and her father becoming a hoarder, you’d think Vanessa would just tuck in her tail and give up. Nuh-uh. Vanessa is a fighter. She dedicated her life to living every moment as if it was her last—which it very well might be—traveling the world, experiencing everything and not shying away from challenges. Even when she’s faced with sudden motherhood after being appointed the guardian of her sister’s baby, she takes it in stride and does what she can to make it all work out.

Adrian, meanwhile has always been a workaholic who rarely relaxes or takes time off for himself. After a brutal end to a long-distance relationship, he finds comfort in Vanessa’s friendship and the easy familiarity they quickly become accustomed to. Watching Adrian realise that there’s another way of living and that there’s more to life than work (without ever giving up on being a passionate lawyer) really made this a beautiful romance to witness. The two of them definitely had chemistry and their interactions always left me either laughing or awing.

There were so many topics discussed in this book—from expectations in a relationship to found family and repairing broken bonds to addiction, mental illness and physical illness—and yet it never seemed like it was too much. Everything tied in together quite well and made for a harmonious, fast-paced and unputdownable romance.

Life-affirming and generously upbeat despite the daunting theme, Life’s Too Short is a swoonworthy romance with dashing characters and a reminder to live each day to its fullest!