I just finished Life’s Too Short and immediately had to write a review. Out of Abby Jimenez’s books, this one is my absolute fave! They are all fantastic but this book was beyond amazing. I know at times it’s hard for authors to keep up momentum as they write more and more books, but not Abby!

This one is releasing April 6, 2021 and should be a preorder! No doubt about it. Thank you Forever Publishing for my gifted copy! #partner

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend if you're looking for

-m/f friends to lovers
-close proximity
-opposites attract.
-instalove
-a sunshine heroine looking to make the most of her life
-a grumpy hero who constantly works.
-slow burn
-closed door romance

Abby Jimenez is a talented writer, her work is very readable and enjoyable. But I struggled with this one. Both Vanessa and Adrian were interesting and likable, but I didn't see the connection between them. They both had clearly defined character traits that seemed to be forgotten in order to push the relationship forward. The tropes in this one were very reminiscent of her two prior books. Friends who cannot be in a relationship due to health issues, and instalove. Vanessa's niece she was caring for was forgotten throughout the book, and appeared to be more of a plot device than an emotional connection for both Vanessa and Aiden.

This book had a lot of potential and the threads were there. Vanessa dealing with grief and the potential for illness in her own life. Despite her emphasis on enjoying life, she constantly considered her potential short life, which she self-diagnosed. Vanessa and Aidan were best friends but had zero communication about their lives. I will be upfront instalove is one of my least favorite tropes. I did not let the inaccuracies of Aidan's employment as a lawyer impact my rating.

I enjoyed the aspects about living your life and the importance of family. But the HEA was so quickly resolved from the issues, tying everything into a neat bow. I will continue to read Abby Jimenez's books and am excited to see she will have a fourth book forthcoming.

CW: parental abandonment, grief, potential ALS diagnosis, hoarding, addiction

Rating: 2.5
Steam: 2

After reading this book I found out it’s third in the series. I can’t really tell if that’s important or not or if I’m missing something by starting with this book.
Adrian meets Vanessa’ when he knocks on her door at 4 am because baby Grace is marathon crying and won’t stop. He offers to hold her while Vanessa takes a shower, and from this the two become friends. Adrian ends up falling for Vanessa who is afraid of entering any relationship because she might develop ALS as her mother and older sister did. A romance story that’s lighthearted and serious at the same time.

I loved this book, as well as the other two books in the series. It shines light on the ALS disease. Abby has the perfect balance of being a serious topic and not ruining the uplifting vibe of the characters and the book as a whole and also not making light of the seriousness. This read made me smile, laugh, fall in love and cry... ugly cry. The perfect recipe for a perfect book. Abby Jimenez does it again and steals my heart.

Life’s too Short 🐶

Welp, Abby does it again.
I mean I have known for two years now that she’s one of my favorite authors but her new releases still blow me away every time!

Does anyone else have the same author in their top reads stack THREE times this year?!
Because after reading an advanced copy of this one, Abby has officially reached the top of my favorite authors of the year! And if you know me, you know I recommend Abby’s books to just about everyone! I don’t care if you only like thrillers, you need to read her books.

Alrighty so back to Life’s Too Short... this book PULLS at your heart strings. I was SO happy with the ending but god what am absolute whirlwind it took us to get there. I have been dyingggg for Adrians romance since he made his brief appearance is HEAP and he is as sweet and swoon worthy as he was before!
I mean a shirtless man and a baby and he can cook and he’s good in bed???????????? We have hit the lotto people! AND he shows that he truly cares when things get tough. Yup, I’m sold. Sign me up. Welcome to my latest book boyfriend. (Sorry Matt I still love you boo)
And Vanessa, she is the type of person we should all strive to be. Full of drive, stubbornness, always supporting her family, and just a little messed up, she is this perfect combination of hope and strength and bad ass we all need.

Thank you so so so so so much to my friends at @readforeverpub for the advanced copy, I am so grateful to be a part of your community and to help promote such amazing books!!!

Thank you to @readforeverpub, @authorabbyjimenez, and @thatsoestelle for my gifted copy of Life’s Too Short! This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and I was so excited to get my hands on a copy.

Vanessa Price is a travel blogger, logging her adventures on YouTube as she travels the world. She leaves no stone unturned and lives her life to the fullest, as she isn’t sure if she shares the same genetic condition that her mother died from at a young age. Putting a stop to all of this was her niece, who Vanessa didn’t expect to have custody of. Totally out of her element, she never expects Adrian Copeland, the handsome lawyer next door, to offer some help one evening. As they get to know each other and become closer, Vanessa realizes that they lead totally different lifestyles with different goals. However, life’s too short to avoid the biggest risk of all...

Abby Jimenez fans, I promise you won’t be disappointed. She’s back with her trademark humor, sarcasm, and ability to spin sorrow and tragedy into a book that you can’t put down. Fans of her first two books will find several delightful references to them, which always made me smile.

One thing I believe Jimenez does EXTREMELY well is character development. You want to know more about them, and she always delivers. Adrian and Vanessa are deep, meaningful, and well-rounded people, and a delight to learn more about as the book goes on. And of course, who can resist a sweet baby like Grace?? In addition, the supporting characters are also well-developed and interesting. The side stories involving them have just the right amount of substance without taking over the plot.

Life’s Too Short is out on April 6th, and there are several small bookstores taking preorders!

Chapter 1, I was hooked. Abby Jimenez always has a great opener to her books that grabs your attention and somehow makes you laugh right away. No slow build. Let's get this story started! I love it.

I loved both of these main characters so much, maybe more than any of Abby's characters so far in the whole series. Adrian was a dream come true with all of his manners and caring and respecting her wishes... SWOON. Vanessa was a bright shinny rainbow of fun and adventure even when her life threw her darkness that would have made anyone depressed. They complimented each other so well.

I love Abby's ability to write an enjoyable light funny read that tackles heavy issues. It shouldn't make sense. But she writes it in a way that does. It's enjoyable and heartwrenching, sad and funny, heartfelt and hilarious all in the same book.

There were moments where my heart was gripped so strongly in the feels, that I had to put my hand on my chest and take a breath.

I also feel like everything ended beautifully. This book didn't miss a single thing, everything came into play, there was no plot holes left open. It was beautifully written and everything tied together perfectly. This book was a joy to read and I finished the book with a full heart and a smile on my face.

I was super lucky to get an ARC of the third Friend Zone book from @netgalley. *The pub date for this book is April 6, 2021.*

This book is about Adrian (Josh’s cousin) and Vanessa, and it was my favorite of the three love stories. Vanessa is a spontaneous (and famous) YouTuber who recently took custody of her sister’s newborn, Grace. Adrian is the straight-laced, workaholic lawyer who lives next door. When Grace won’t stop crying, Adrian comes next door to help, and the two strike up a purely platonic relationship. Adrian was recently dumped, and Vanessa doesn’t do relationships because she may or may not have a terminal illness. (Her mom and older sister died young from ALS.) They develop a friendship while watching The Office, taking care of Grace, dealing with Vanessa’s dad’s hoarding, and Adrian’s mom’s second marriage. When they finally get together, it comes crashing down when Adrian realizes Vanessa may be dying and won’t fight.

I loved this! I liked Adrian, I liked Vanessa, I liked their banter. You even get a Kristen + Josh AND Sloane + Jason cameo. Highly recommend! I’m sorry y’all have to wait until April to read it!

Of the three books in this series, this was my least favourite. While there were parts of it I really enjoyed, there were some side elements to the plot and characters that I found a little needless-- between the dog that didn't really need to be there to main characters families being unlikeable, they really drag the story down. Also, for a book with a baby in it, there isn't much of a focus on the baby-- Claire is more of a side note in this story-- a convenient plot baby.

By far though, the aspect of this book that put me off the most was "The Office." It annoys me a bit when books try and shoe-horn in pop culture references-- because it really dates them. This particular story kept putting in Office references that fell flat for me. Between the whole "Van Beasly" thing to the references to the shirts, it just felt like too much. One or two references would have been enough, but it was throughout the story and it just seemed really out of place.

That being said, I liked the first two books so much that I will probably keep reading this series if the author continues it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What happens when a super hot attorney falls for the girl next door? The only problem is that the girl next door comes with a lot of baggage, and the super hot attorney isn’t sure that he can handle it...

I would read Abby Jimenez’s to-do list at this point. She is just SO GOOD. She handles difficult topics such as addiction, mental illness, fostering babies AND dogs, and disability rights with grace. I’m hoping that this book helps to raise awareness for ALS research. I also appreciated the author’s note on her inspiration for this book, and I will be looking into that as well!

Bonus: This book is chock-full of references to The Office, and Abby totally name-drops Post Malone. We also get to see our beloved characters from The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist. Yaaasssss.

This book was so great. I read it all in one day. Way better than the second one. I cannot already wait for the 4th one. This was a nice slow burn.

I've read Abby's two previous books, I loved TFZ and was mad about HEAP. Life's Too Short was firmly in the middle, a meh read for me. Abby writes books that are very "readable" for me. They are fast paced and I am interested in what is happening. I started this book on a Saturday and finished on Sunday. I was very interested in Vanessa and Adrian. I enjoyed their friendship development and then as lovers. They really seemed to balance each other out. I also liked that he stepped in and was a great caregiver to Grace. Those few moments with them on the page together were very sweet.

Jimenez seems to be making a niche for herself with putting characters in tragic situations and putting them back together. And for me, I would love to see her branch out a little. Maybe make it less tragic?


I had a lot of little things that I did not like but didn't necessarily impact my enjoyment of the book.
Adrian is a criminal defense attorney and there is a comment about he spends his time arguing that guilty people are innocent. That is not exactly what criminal defense attorneys do.

There is a chapter/scene where Adrian takes Vanessa to meet Josh, Kristen, Sloan & Jason from the previous books. The women are having a conversation and the size of Josh's penis came up. And then Adrian's. This felt weird and squicky to me.

Here are some bigger things that did impact my enjoyment of the book.

Grace was a plot moppet. She had no purpose other than to bring the couple together. Once they were together, Grace was frequently absent (either not part of the scene until way late or with a sitter.)

For all that Vanessa talks about living, she is obsessed with dying. She spends so much time thinking about how this will be her last whatever. It became tiring.

Vanessa has a pain in her arm and absolutely refuses to go seek treatment. I found this infuriating. Why doesn't Vanessa have any friends? I feel like if she had friends at least one of them would have been like "girl, I respect you wanting to live/die on your terms, but go to the GD doctor and have this checked out."

Vanessa is insistent that Adrian seek counseling to deal with the grief, but why isn't Vanessa on page seeking treatment other than Nar-Anan? She has been through a lot (dead mom, dead sister, neglect as a child)

Speaking of neglect, Vanessa talks openly about her dad's issues and how he was so grief-stricken he didn't always care for the kids properly, why is she so willing to let him care for Grace. This is a big oh heck no for me.

Lastly and one of the most important things is that the forgiveness, aka grovel, was almost non-existent. They have a big disagreement and spend some time apart and then quickly, too quickly for me, resolve it.

Overall, I was invested in the book and their relationship. I wanted to see Vanessa and Adrian get their win. I found some plot points and lack of grovel incredibly disappointing. C-/D+

Thank you Forever Pub and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Pub date - 4/6/2021.

Abby Jimenez is the queen of contemporary romance and can do no wrong in my book. As soon as I received this ARC, I picked it right up because I knew I'd have a blast no matter what. Jimenez has a way of working in a serious topic (in this case ALS and end of life wishes) to her characters and storyline that just tugs at your heartstrings but also lifts you up. The book has laugh out loud moments - I was laughing within the first few pages of the book but will also have you reach for the box of tissues. I am just sad I finished so quickly because I don't know what romance I can pick up next that would compare!

How the hell does Abby Jimenez keep getting better with each book? Seriously - when I first read The Friend Zone, it was one of my favorite romances, then The Happy Ever After Playlist raised the bar even higher. I have no idea how she does it - but she’s gone ahead and topped the amazing The Happy Ever After Playlist with the third entry of the series, Life’s Too Short.

One of Jimenez’s strengths is how she can infuse humor and sass into even the most emotional of scenes. There are very few books that actually make me laugh out loud, but all of her books are all on that list. From a plot point of view, there was plenty going on in Life’s Too Short - it’s impossible to not get glued to the pages of this book. Even the side plots are entertaining and easy to become invested in.

One of the core elements of Jimenez’s books is that the lead is always dealing with a massive struggle of some sort and finds love despite of it all: Kristen in The Friend Zone was dealing with infertility and Sloan from The Happy Ever After Playlist was dealing with the sudden loss of her husband. In Life’s Too Short, Vanessa is struggling with her odds of getting ALS and being forced into raising her sister’s baby.

Naturally, having a lead character facing down a possible terminal illness made this book very emotional - Vanessa assumed with her luck that she had inherited the disease and decided to distance herself from people as a result. She refused to date, and before she was saddled with the responsibility of her niece, she quit her day job and decided to travel around the world before she ran out of time. She also came from a troubled family - she was constantly bailing them out of their messes. A big part of her character growth came from learning to stop coddling and belittling the members of her family and learning to trust them more. She also ended up learning to let people in and stopped treating herself like a disaster in the making. She learned to not only be individually strong, but how to draw strength from those around her.

The romance between Adrian and Vanessa was gloriously slow burning and really delivered on the payoff. They were mutually attracted to each other from the get go, but each believed the other was not into them. Part of their love story was also the formation of their tiny family - before they even started dating, Vanessa, her niece, and Adrian were already a family unit. The couple was not without their ups and downs (they had a major fight I wasn’t sure they would recover from) but their chemistry was flawless and they mutually helped each other become better people.

Life’s Too Short is a poignant and fun romance that will definitely make you feel everything from happiness, to swooning, to bawling your eyes out and everything in between. If you haven’t already, you should definitely read the first two books in the series: The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist. I seriously cannot wait to read whatever Abby Jimenez writes next (fortunately, she has another three book deal). 5/5

’ve been a fan of the author since her first book came out and had to read the second book as soon as possible. I was lucky to get to read her third book early and it has become my favorite! Life’s Too Short was well written, funny, and kept me wanting to find out what was going to happen.

Oh. My. Goodness. Be prepared to stay up late reading this, quietly wiping away your tears so if you're like me you don't wake up your sleeping husband at 1am. "What's wrong?" "Oh nothing, just Adrian and Vanessa!!"

Abby Jimenez has outdone herself with her third novel - I enjoyed her previous two releases immensely, but "Life's Too Short" had even more heart, emotions, and fascinating discussion fodder. Vanessa knows exactly what she is going to do with the remaining time she has before a family illness takes her too, and it does not include falling in love with Adrian, despite how helpful he is as he helps her care for her sister's baby daughter. Adrian loves control, structure, and plans - everything Vanessa eschews thanks to her future. But he can't help loving the impact Vanessa has on his life, even if he doesn't entirely understand the whole YouTuber thing.

I appreciated that there wasn't too much gratuitous steam factor. The small asides about disability rights and activism were so refreshing and did not feel heavy handed. The plot sparked some good conversations about caring for those with life-threatening illness, and I loved the nuance and character growth.

Thank you so much to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. I'm so excited for everyone to read "Life's Too Short" in April '21!

I am continually impressed by Abby Jimenez’s ability to create the perfect balance of emotions in her novels. There are moments in Life’s Too Short that are painful and will have you clutching your heart and then the next minute, you’ll be laughing hysterically until your sides hurt. Readers are introduced to such wonderfully relatable characters that you can’t help but root for them to find their way to happily ever after. This is book 3 in The Friend Zone series, but it can definitely be read as a standalone. The previous two books are amazing though and The Happy Ever After Playlist is where we are first introduced to the hero, so I highly recommend reading them as well.

One of my favorite things in a romance is the meet cute and Abby Jimenez writes them so well! They’re hilariously unique and set things up so wonderfully for the characters. Throw in her trademark witty banter and dialogue and I was sold. Vanessa and Adrian’s story was just the right combination of serious and sweet. I loved how the friendship developed naturally between them and seeing that slow burn build up and up and up until it boiled over was delicious. Adrian Copeland had me swooning left and right and if he isn’t inducted into the book boyfriend hall of fame after this, I will riot. Yes, he makes some mistakes along the way, but I loved that he owns up to them and that his heart was always in the right place. Vanessa's view on life was a great reminder that nothing in this world is guaranteed and that anything besides living is just waiting to die. They were such a great complement to each other.

The secondary characters were awesome as always and Brent and Becky stole the show every time they were on the page. I also loved the cameos from Josh, Kristen, Jason, and Sloan. Those scenes were such a treat and it made me so happy to get a little update on them (and to see that Kristen hadn’t lost her sense of humor). I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ve listed a few CW below just in case. Just know that Kristen’s theory about the Copeland men is right (a 25 pound dumbbell! LOL) and you will laugh, (probably) cry, swoon, have a goofy grin on your face, and be left feeling happy and above all else, hopeful.

CW: ALS, anxiety, death of loved one/family member, infidelity, substance abuse, mental health issues

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

I would like to start this review mentioning that it hits close to home for those dealing with degenerative diseases. However, I felt like it was beautifully handled. It was honest, real and authentic.
The characters are a delight. Adrian is complex and Vanessa has done extensive work on being true to who she is. The book is funny, I found myself chucking out loud and highlighting parts. At the same time in some parts I had to pause for a bit to fully take in what was happening. It was extremely difficult to stop reading it, if I didn’t have other engagements I would have read it cover to cover. It flows without having long boring parts.
I was overjoyed when previous characters from Abby’s book were mentioned.
I’m very impressed with how specific Abby can be about the story. The names of restaurants, places, characters. It gives the story a realistic feel. It always makes me want to go to those places.
I will reread this book several times and listen to the audiobook when it comes out. Highly recommend.

This was another smart and funny read by Abby Jimenez. One of the things I love about her books is that she tackles tough issues (infertility in The Friend Zone, grief in Happy Ever After Playlist) with heart and humor, and it never feels too heavy. I have a tendency to seek out romances that tackle big issues and pack this extra punch, and with Life's Too Short, Jimenez delivers again.

In LTS, the characters deal with a myriad of issues - a potential fatal diagnosis, familial illness, addiction, anxiety, childhood wounds, and general family messiness - and yet, the love story between Vanessa and Adrian rose above it all and really shined. Their relationship was sweet and honest, with smart, clever dialogue propelling their relationship forward and building to an emotional, believable conclusion. The handful of side characters are well-fleshed out, and we got check-ins from our fave characters from TFZ & HEAP, too.

Definitely put this one on your to-read list.

Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez

The third book in The Friend Zone series features Vanessa is a travel vlogger who lives each day like it’s her last. Coming from a long line of women with ALS, she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the gene. But all of her travel plans are halted when her sister drops off her baby at her doorstep. Luckily she gets a little help from her hot lawyer neighbour, Adrian.

💖Abby’s books always manage to infuse serious, heart wrenching and real life with humour and romance. Both characters had intriguing emotional backstories and issues to overcome, all of which were handled so well.

💖As with TFZ and HEAP, Abby’s heroes are always serious book bf material. Adrian is nurturing, kind and adorable. I love how much he cared for both Vanessa, the baby, and Harry Puppins.

💖Harry Puppins needs his own shout out. He’s an ancient, toothless little grump but I laughed each time he was mentioned.

💖Kristen/Josh and Sloan/Jason cameos made me smile!

Thank you so much to Forever, Netgalley and Abby Jimenez for allowing me early access to one of my most anticipated 2021 reads! 💖