As the weather gets colder, the desire for comfort grows stronger. For me, it manifests in the way of curling up with a good book under a cozy blanket surrounded by my cats. One snuggly book I have read this year is “Yours Truly” by New York Times bestselling author Abby Jiminez. Jiminez is a Minnesota local who not only writes contemporary romances that make you believe in love again but also owns a “Cupcake Wars” featured cake shop named Nadia Cakes.
“Yours Truly” is not just a romance; it is a story about healing, trauma and the unexpected ways love can blossom when least expected. The heartfelt romance follows two emergency room doctors, Dr. Briana “Bri” Ortiz and Dr. Jacob Maddox, whose lives cross for unexpected reasons. Bri has the opportunity of a lifetime to be promoted to chief of emergency medicine. However, that all goes south when a new doctor, Jacob, transfers to her hospital and is also up for the same promotion. This only complicates matters more for both of them. Jacob suffers from severe social anxiety and is dealing with a complicated breakup, while Bri is balancing her emotions as she struggles with the finalization of her divorce and her terminally ill brother, Benny.
Bri and Jacob do not start on the right foot after he tells her off for bumping into him, so to make things right, he writes her a letter explaining himself. The two find themselves bonding over these letters and Jacob selflessly volunteers to donate his kidney to her brother, causing their friendship to become even stronger. Yet, when Jacob asks Bri to pretend to be his girlfriend under family pressure, their feelings take a turn and what seemed to be only a friendship starts to turn into heart-wrenching stolen moments alone.
As their relationship develops, both Bri and Jacob struggle with anxiety, miscommunication, mixed feelings and unresolved trauma, all while still dealing with the challenges of their past. But what comes of this relationship and how do they overcome these problems to stay friends, or maybe even more than friends?
This book has many important themes and messages that are hard to convey through fiction. Jiminez does an amazing job with these themes and makes sure that she carefully talks about them and how she includes them in her stories. Themes of child loss, PTSD and severe anxiety are just a few that she can convey through her stories. If you are at all interested in reading them, please take into account these themes and heed the trigger warnings at the beginning of her books.
Romance is a genre that I have only recently gotten into. I had never been interested in reading romance novels since I knew what the outcome would be: a happily ever after. But “Yours Truly” really made me rethink the genre. Even knowing how the story will end, you do not know how they got there, and that is what made this story so good and heart-wrenching. I have not cried over a book in so long, but the ending of this book made me bawl my eyes out.
I am going to be honest: I did not know if I would finish this book because it was such a slow burn and was not like anything I have read before, but the small witty jokes between the two characters and the anxiety representation made me stick around. The slow burn shows that the relationship was not an instant connection and how time heals wounds when nurtured properly.
“Yours Truly” is the second book in the “Part of Your World” trilogy. They can be read out of order, but it is highly recommended that you read them chronologically to understand the complexity of the relationships between the characters. The first book, “Part of Your World,” is about Bri’s best friend Alexis and her love story. Then, there is Bri and Jacob’s story, and finally, the third book is called “Just for the Summer” and is about Benny’s best friend, Justin’s love story. The main characters in every book are somehow connected and their stories all play out in the same universe as each other.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and gave it five stars, making it my only other five star read for this year besides “The Haunting of Ashburn House.” If you want to read this book, please consider reading “Part of Your World” first if you do not want spoilers. Otherwise, Jiminez has another standalone series called “The Friend Zone” trilogy and another book, “Say You’ll Remember Me,” coming in 2025.
If you are looking for a book that will make your heart race and your emotions soar, curl up with this book, the softest blanket and a warm drink (or the comfort drink of your choice) because “Yours Truly” is the kind of book you will not want to let go of, even after the last page.