In this latest installment from Abby Jimenez we meet Briana and Jacob, two E.R. doctors who are recently single following traumatic relationships. While they briefly start off as enemies they are quickly drawn to each other. Jacob has never felt like someone understands his social anxiety quite the way Briana does. Briana has never met such a selfless man before.

I loved the build in chemistry between these two characters. While the attraction is instant I felt like they really get to know and understand one another. The letter writing at the beginning of the book was absolutely adorable and I wish it had continued but understand it wasn't necessary once the two characters were actually talking to each other.

Because of the anxiety there is a lot of miscommunication in this book. While Jacob's social anxiety is introduced early on and handled well, I felt like Briana's anxiety was ignored. It's clear throughout the book that she is dealing with past trauma but no one encourages her to do anything about it until the very end of the book. I felt this was a bit of a missed opportunity. Around the 80% mark I was ready for the miscommunications to end.

That being said, I loved both Jacob and Briana as characters and loved them together. They intend to be harmless safe havens for one another in a truly endearing way. I enjoyed this book as a whole and the romantic tension gave me butterflies. I love the way they look out for each other, stuck up for each other, and also pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones (but not too far) for each other.

This was a hit and I am thankful I had the chance to read it before it comes out in April!

I’m calling it now, this book will be one of my favorites of 2023. Oh my goodness this book gives the perfect cinnamon roll main male character and a very relatable main female. Jacob is so easy to adore and relate to with his anxiety, I loved how Bri takes the time to understand what he needs and he does the same for her.

Seriously this book deserves all the stars. 🌟

Jimenez does it again!⁣
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I've read each of Abby Jimenez's books and they all deliver. I have to call it, she builds tension like no other - the best in the biz.⁣
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Super Brief Summary⁣
Jimenez charms with this poignant and often hilarious romance between ER doctors. Briana Ortiz is initially suspicious that new hire Jacob Maddox is out to steal her promotion, but Jacob surprises her by taking himself out of the running. ⁣
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Read if you love:⁣
🔸Second chances⁣
🔸Fake dating⁣
🔸Real people romance⁣
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I say real people romance because Jimenez seems to always nail this, for example, one character is carrying some unhealed trauma and the other has social anxiety. I think my only tiny issue was from around 60-80% the miscommunication started to wear on me a little but overall it's a solid 4 star read for me!⁣
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Thank you @netgalley and @readforeverpub for this review copy. Yours Truly is out on April 11th!

Another fantastic book by Abby Jimenez! I have read all of her previous books and "Yours Truly" hit the mark again for me. In this book, we follow the story of ER physicians Briana Ortiz and Jacob Maddox. Briana is finalizing her divorce and coming to a standstill in her life when the arrival of the newly hired doctor, Jacob, threatens her promotion. After the first wrong impression, a tentative friendship blossoms between the two and thus begins their story as they navigate their own personal issues, overcome fears and try to love again.

One of the things I love about her romance books is how mental/physical health issues are incorporated into her stories and help make the characters so much more relatable and tangible. Happy to see some Hispanic representation and some awareness on autoimmune diseases in the book as well! Jacob is a perfect example of how women find vulnerability on a man sexy and his own struggle with anxiety adds depth to his character and his personal struggles. Overall it was a 10/10 read for me and I highly recommend reading the author's note at the very end-- it truly makes you enjoy the book so much more when you learn about the authors inspiration for it.

This is a new classic for the romance genre. Abby crafted one of the most beautiful books to exist. Yours Truly is chalk full of detailed, sensitive, and comprehensive representation, deep characters (main and side), words and lines that will fill you will love, hope, happiness, hurt, sadness, and fear, and a plot which will have you continually reading for hours. I have no idea how I am going to get out of this book hangover now.

Brianna Ortiz is is strong. She has faced so much in her life and her divorce is just about final. Her focus is now on her baby brother who is in desparate need of a kidney and her job. When Dr. Maddox joins the team Brianna is not impressed until he starts to write her letters. Jacob has had his own fair share of hardships and now it's getting worse. With Brianna as his support, maybe he can face it all.

Abby clearly did an immense amount of research behind this book. The way she effortlessly wove in so many facts into this and carefully crafted sensitive but insightful representation was amazing. This book will stick with me forever. This is a story of healing, hope, love, and peace.

I don't know how Abby Jimenez keeps getting better with every book but here we are. Yours Truly might just be her best yet.

I won't give a lot away but this one has a mix of enemies to lovers, fake dating, workplace romance and an only one bed scene.

There is a lot of mental health / social anxiety rep in this book, kidney disease, divorce, and also mentions of a previous miscarriage.

My only complaint about it was it does have the whole miscommunication trope for the second half but I still loved it despite this which is totally odd for me because it usually drives me nuts.

It does feature the main characters from Part of Your World a few times, so I recommend reading that one prior to Yours Truly.

I had such a fun time reading Yours Truly. Time went by so fast and I stayed up WAY too late with this one. Yours Truly had so many of my favorite tropes all rolled into one book. I found myself smiling throughout. I appreciated how the MMC's anxiety and introversion was represented; they were part of who he was, but neither was depicted as a weakness. If you loved Part of Your World, you'll have fun with this one too!

Oh my god this was SO GOOD!!!! Brianna is such a funny MC and I loved seeing the anxiety rep with Jacob. They’re such an amazing pairing and this book had so many important messages sprinkled throughout. 5+ stars absolutely!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!

Absolutely, 100%, all the superlatives, adored this one. I'm tempted to go back and read it again right away, but my full dance card beckons, and a reread will probably have to wait.

I loved these characters! The different struggles both were going through felt very real, and the characters' constant attention to "being harmless" to each other was touching. Their budding friendship was as sweet to watch as watching them fall in love with other. The side characters were great, the writing was often quite funny, and I liked that even the characters that seemed to really deserve being hated didn't end up hated in the end. It was a gentle, sensitive romance novel that managed to do so without being smarmy or message-y.

I appreciated the author's note in the end about her own medical history and how it figured into the character Benny, Brianna's brother.

Highly recommended--I'll be pushing this when it's out in April!

I loved this book and binged it--”Life’s Too Short” was kind of a low for me before these last two books got better.
Jacob and Briana are an off-shoot of Daniel and Alexis’s story, Briana being a best friend of Alexis. (I forget if Daniel and Alexis from Abby’s fourth book are related to the first three. I <i>think</i> so, but vaguely.)
I love how her writing sucks me in, and the development of her characters. The details she goes into describing someone’s anxiety disorder (Jacob), and the steps they go through as part of it (scoping things in advance so he’s not surprised by it, learning how to navigate chaotic environments); and two individuals going through really bad breakups hit deep down. For me, it really helped me to connect to the characters.

It has the wonderful pining and tension of “The Happy Ever Playlist.” There isn’t a deep-dive into their medical careers but just enough to keep the plot together. Their extended families, like all friends and families in Jimenez’s books, are amusing. (Although not quite the heights of “The Friend Zone” and “Part of Your World”--the “photography advice” in the latter comedy gold.) What stood out was the number of off-screen moments when their characters finally became intimate. It’s always interesting to see how Jimenez writes her characters’ intimate scenes from book to book, balancing out details. The one detailed scene here is a bit too obvious in its purpose, but it also depends on where she wants the emphasis of character development to fall. The sad irony until the last fifth (sixth?) of the book is Jacob and Briana’s own fears about their own desirability as people are projected onto the other, despite everyone’s assurances outside of their headspaces that they look crazy about each other and in love. But a sweet (and very progressive, on Jacob’s part) HEA.

“We’re all a little broken… we are a mosaic. We’re made up of all those we’ve met and all the things we’ve been through. “

Dr Briana Ortiz is a great ER physician but the rest of her life is falling apart. She is going through a divorce from her cheating husband, trying to get a promotion and her brother is very sick and waiting on a kidney transplant. Dr Jacob Maddox transfers to her ER and they don’t hit it off at first. But then Jacob sends her a letter. A very nice letter. They start spending time together and then one needs a favor the other can’t refuse.

I adored this book! I loved Jacob and the way anxiety was highlighted in a relationship. I could relate to so much of it. The banter in the book is fantastic and I both laughed and cried:) I like a fake relationship storyline and add in some cute animals and I’m in. My only complaint was some miscommunication. Definitely pick this up if you like romcoms!

After some epically poor first impressions, Briana and Jacob, two ER physicians, get off on the wrong foot. That is until Jacob decides to write Briana a letter opening up about how his social anxiety limits him. He hopes the letter will at least help clear the air.. and boy does it. From workplace enemies, to sharing the hospitals sob closet for lunch as friends... to kidney donors? … to a fake relationship? … and the slowest of burns; these two go through it all!

What is it with Abby Jimenez and writing the most lovable and wonderful MMC?! Jacob was on another level. Also... she made him 5'10”! Not a fictional mountain on a man of 6'5”. I really loved how detailed his anxiety was. It wasn't some quirky trait mentioned once or twice to add flair; it was thought out and well executed. Really great mental health rep. It was refreshing to see the MMC be the overthinker instead of the stereotypical female role. Men can have anxiety too!

The letters and correspondence before becoming friends were the perfect ice breaker and really assisted the anxiety theme. Considering letters were a downside to another recent review of mine, I was worried with this one. But there were funny and cheesy in a good way, and not dragged out to high hell.

Loved the random peppering of Jacob being Jason/Jaxon's doctor when he “broke his hand” LOL and Briana follows Vanessa's travel blog! (Easter eggs of previous Abby Jimenez books)

I absolutely loved Briana for most of the book. She knew how to meet Jacob where he was without babying him or pushing him to become someone he couldn't. But while reading, I really struggled around the 90% mark. I was so upset after being obsessed with them for the first 90%! HOWEVER, looking back after stepping away from it for a day, I think her trauma response was carried out reasonably well by the author. It was frustrating but it was supposed to be frustrating. Trauma doesn't always show up in life in a perfectly tied up love story way. But love shows up!

Highly recommend. If you're thinking of reading this one, DO IT.

This book was so good! It was my first book by Abby and I loved it. The writing was super easy to read and the story just flowed well. It was a very predictable story line but that doesn’t bother me. I love hallmark vibes. Jacob has the sweetest soul and seems to easy to love.

This might be my new Abby favorite. I absolutely loved both Bri and Jacob. Like every other Abby book she brought just the right amount angst without going over the top. Bri and Jacob were a delight together and it was a joy watching them fall for each other. Normally when a miscommunication happens it can be hard to not to want to yell at the characters but somehow I never felt the need in this book. Abby has become another auto buy author and this one did not disappoint!

THIS BOOK! Abby Jimenez is the rom-com queen. Her books make me swoon, and laugh, and giggle, and devour them like nothing else. This one is no different than her others, a couple of flawed but incredibly lovable main characters that your are rooting for from the start. I loved this enemies to lovers, to workplace romance, to fake dating, to *gasp* there's ONLY one bed! It was tropey magic.

*slight spoilers ahead* Even though, there were moments where I thought, JUST HAVE THE DANG CONVERSATION, I didn't mind because I loved the story and the dreaded miscommunication trope made the book go on longer which I never wanted it to end. *slight spoilers over!*

I loved the family element and the medical setting. A highly enjoyable read, one I will be shoving into all my friends' hands!

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever Publishers for my eARC copy of Yours Truly in exchange for an honest review. I immediately preordered this one because it's one I HAVE to have on my shelves.

TW/CW: Miscarriage, infidelity, surprise pregnancy, medical content, panic attack/anxiety, mental illness stigmas.

“You know, love shows up, Briana. And even if you keep me away from you, my heart will still be where you are. So just let me be where you are.”

Briana and Jacob. He’s sweet, kind, funny and awkwardly lovable. At first, she doesn’t like him because she thought he wanted to steal her job but he explains everything with a handwritten letter. Bri is going through a lot: a divorce and trying to find a kidney donor for her brother. She’s swearing off men forever, but that changes when her and Jacob begin a fake relationship.

💌READ IF YOU LIKE💌:
- friends to lovers
- only one bed
- exchanging letters
- second chance at love
- fake dating
- workplace romance
- terrible first impressions
- slow burn
- forced proximity
- mental health rep: anxiety
- 3 legged dog named Lieutenant Dan

cw: chronic kidney disease, cheating, anxiety, divorce, miscarriage, panic attack, family illness, depression, mention of suicide, parent abandonment, trust issues, gaslighting, miscommunication

Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the advanced copy! Yours Truly is available on April 11, 2023!

4.75⭐
PG-13 because there was a slightly cracked door in this book

The way that I truly adored this book. If you love a man who is just absolutely gone for his person, you will adore this book. I loved seeing Briana find happiness after Part of Your World and to have her find this perfect person to heal with who was also looking for his person who could understand him and think about his anxiety and just have them fall head over heels? Perfect.

I am not usually one for fake dating and this is probably going to be one of my favorite fake dating books until the end of time. And then the anxiety rep and the very personal kidney failure and transplant rep and all the small pieces that created this thoughtful romance that will make so many feel seen.. I loved it all. My only complaint would be the final trope twist at the end of the book didn't feel necessary and I would prefer to not have it. But otherwise this book was perfection.

If you are an Abby fan, she continues to age like fine wine. Her books have gotten better and better and I think this will be a favorite for me. An absolute must read romance this year, I hope others adore it as much as I did.

All of Abby Jimenez’s books blow me away, and when I can’t possibly fathom her putting out a better book than the one before, she writes Yours Truly.

Jimenez always hits the right notes when she sets out to include representation in her books. It’s purposeful and real. Jacob’s struggle with his anxiety throughout this book made my chest hurt with empathy. The detail to which Jimenez wrote this character was shocking— in that, I was shocked when I read scenes that were my lived experience. I can’t stress enough how relatable and communal Jacob’s experiences were. Every Jacob chapter broke my heart, and every thought Jacob had about Brianna sewed it back up.

The book as a whole was simply beautiful. A genuine, raw, and charming love story through and through, Yours Truly made me laugh and sob— the true sign of a great rom-com. I love the world building Jimenez threads through her books, too.

Five stars truly does not feel adequate for this book.

I will never not pick up a book by this author!! Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Copy.

Jiminez writes the best characters! They are all so unique and have complex stories and emotions that they navigate throughout the book. Briana and Jacob are no exception. Both are ER doctors who have both endured their fair share of heartbreak before meeting one another.

Jacob struggles with anxiety- and it’s written so so well. It couldn’t have been more accurate. I really appreciated that.

This story is emotional, sweet, and FUNNY. A must read when this publishes in April!!

Wow...WOW... This one... uffda. This one hit right in the feels, and not just the same zip code, or the same street. Like defying the laws of physics and occupying the same space. A chronic autoimmune disease is a really difficult thing to live with because a lot of it isn't something that's easily observed by other people. There is so much hiding and placating that goes on because if your loved ones really knew what your day-to-day was, it would break them. Abby absolutely nailed that with Benny and also with Jacob and his anxiety issues. SO GOOD. As I read Brianna's observations of her brother, you could feel there was so much more that she wasn't even seeing or understanding. But at the same time, he doesn't want to ask for her or be taken care of- so spot on!! The dynamic with Brianna and Jacob is so delightful as it builds. Abby does not disappoint, so the success continues. 10/10, highly recommend! And based on the sneak peak of the audiobook- I will be adding that version to my Goodreads READ list as soon as it's released!

TL;DR Book Highlights:
-Chronic illness written by someone who actually lives it
-Perfectly imperfect couple
-Disabled dog (definitely a secondary hero)
-Hilarious animal sock collection
-Penmanship alive and well
-Lessons about why you should make friends with the nurses
-Strong but flawed heroine