Such a Win
Trigger Warning: This book deals with themes of emotional abuse.
I hopped onto Libby yesterday looking for an easy, breezy read for a reading sprint and picked up Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. (According to the app, I’ve actually read it before, but I have absolutely no memory of it!) It turned out to be beyond cute, and I definitely want to continue the series just to see if we get to stay in this charming town with its fantastic cast of supporting characters. I was so excited to dive in, and it did not disappoint—I found myself laughing out loud.
The main characters, Alexis and Daniel, had massive chemistry. Whoever said otherwise clearly doesn’t know what chemistry looks like! I appreciated that Abby didn’t feel the need to write every single sex scene in explicit detail, while still giving us a few. It was also incredibly endearing how hard Daniel fell for Alexis. Call it puppy love if you want, but some guys just fall head over heels, and that’s it. That feels very true to a small-town dynamic—when a local guy falls, he falls hard because he isn’t in a massive city where options are everywhere.
On the other hand, Alexis is a successful doctor who has just escaped a long-term emotionally abusive relationship with her ex, Neil. This dynamic was the one thing that bothered me at times. Throughout the book, Alexis constantly talks about how “mean” Neil was, comparing him to Daniel. As someone with personal experience surviving emotional abuse growing up, and later surviving a relationship that was both mentally and physically abusive, I found the execution a bit frustrating. The book paints Neil as this ultimate, cartoonish villain, yet if he was truly that level of evil, it wouldn’t have been worth the hassle—I would have just left him the house and walked away. Plus, despite being talked about constantly, Neil only actually interacts with Alexis about three times.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already recommended it to friends! I can’t wait to see what comes next, and I will definitely be reading more from Abby Jimenez!
