book review: yours truly by abby jimenez

welcome to our first ever book month book review! in february, our book month book was yours truly by abby jimenez. i chose this book because i read just for the summer this past july and loved it so much. so i really wanted to read another one of her books and thought this would be perfect for this month because of valentines day! and guys. omg. i loved this book so so much. abby jimenez you are a genius and an amazing writer. i'm literally so excited to talk about this!



spoiler-free synopsis

dr. briana ortiz feels like her life is falling apart. she's filing for divorce from her cheating ex-husband, her brother is going into kidney failure and she's taking care of him, and her boss is considering another person for the job she wants. and she hates the new doctor that she ran into in the hallway. 
dr. jacob maddox also feels like his life is falling apart. he's just transferred to a new hospital, his social anxiety is through the roof, and his brother is marrying his ex-girlfriend. when he doesn't make a good impression on the beautiful doctor who runs into him in the hall, he decides he needs to make the situation right. so he writes her a letter. 
when briana receives the letter from jacob, she realizes she was all wrong about him. quick to rectify the situation, briana befriends jacob and tries to show him how to navigate the social aspects of the hospital. and they keep writing letters to each other. lots and lots of letters. they also keep having long phone calls, talking for hours. 
jacob's family is still worried about how he'll handle his brother and ex getting married. in order to alleviate their stress, he decides to make up a fake girlfriend. he asks briana to pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his family. but pretty soon their feelings start to get complicated. and they get even more complicated when jacob decides to donate his kidney to briana's brother. 


summary & review 

i do want to give a quick disclaimer that this book is the second book of an interconnected series which i did not realize until i had read the whole series out of order (i read book 3, then book 2, then book 1 LOL oops). i didn't realize this until it was too late but if that bothers you then you have to read part of your world first! i just read that one too and it is also amazing. 

but back to this book. guys i literally finished this in two days i'm not even kidding. abby jimenez books are like a drug i'm addicted to and i always finish them in like a day. her writing is just so perfect and i love her characters every. single. time. i think it's very easy to look at this book and think it's like a cheesy romance book (which it definitely has parts of that) but there is some hard-hitting stuff in here. 

jacob is quite literally the sweetest male character i've ever read about but he has severe social anxiety. although i don't have social anxiety, i have experienced anxiety in my life, and jacob's perspective felt so authentic and realistic. i love the representation where he had trouble meeting strangers because he came off as standoffish, he constantly over-thought every single thing, and that he felt like a burden to the people around him. it felt like a very accurate depiction of life with anxiety. he was also just the best person ever in this book and he was so good at communicating with briana as their friendship developed. guys he literally offers to donate his kidney to briana's brother to make her happy. like what. why is no one doing that for me. 

briana is such an empowering female character as well. she is super ambitious in her career, selflessly takes care of her brother, extremely independent but compassionate, and is just an extremely lovable character. she really brings jacob out of his shell but understands him. and despite the horrible things going on in her life (and there are a lot), she remains a very positive person. i resonated with a lot of her character traits and found her to be super relatable. 

together, i think jacob and briana are the perfect definition of opposites attract. briana is beloved by everyone in the hospital, super outgoing and friendly but a little moody and irritable, very talkative, emotional, and goes with the flow. jacob however has a tough exterior, is extremely introverted and anxious but very patient and empathetic, not super emotional, and prefers a routine. they just work though. 

i love how their story unfolds over time too. they both don't know one another but briana gets irritated with him early. but when jacob discovers she feels this way, he writes her the letter. the letter is so sweet because he opens up about having social anxiety to her even though she was basically a stranger because he felt so bad and didn't want her to dislike him. when she finally starts to understand him, she quickly picks up on things he does and doesn't like. she also hints that her brother has some sort of social anxiety too so she understands jacob very well, which he isn't used to. he's used to having to explain himself to everyone all the time. like his ex (boooo) who made him feel bad for having social anxiety and would force him into situations he did not want to be in. but briana literally offers to eat in the supply closet with him because she assumes (correctly) that he would get overwhelmed in the cafeteria. when he offers to donate the kidney to her brother, he does it anonymously, but the news ends up coming out quickly. briana feels so grateful toward him because she has been literally watching her brother deteriorate for months and fall into a depression due to the illness. even though briana says yes to being his fake girlfriend because she is so grateful to him, it's quickly obvious they just like spending time together. their relationship was very genuine from the beginning. they both take care of each other in really special ways. if you're love language is acts of service, this is literally the most perfect book for you to read!!

this book is a slowww burn because these two are working through a lot of stuff in their personal lives but they eventually do find their way to one another. the end of this book is lowkey packed with stuff so i'll try my best to explain what goes down. ❗SPOILERS AHEAD!❗near the end of the book, they've been doing the whole fake dating thing for a while, and it's definitely starting to feel more real to them. they realize they like spending time together but briana is scared to get wrapped up in things, even though she has a lot of feelings for him. jacob, on the other hand, really likes her a lot but is scared to say something. when briana runs into an old guy friend, jacob gets super in his head, his anxiety gets out of control. he really likes briana but he just marinates in his anxious thoughts about her texting this other guy. when they go to his family event, he's still super in his head about the situation, and then his ex announces she's pregnant. like bruh. so then he freaks out and runs away and briana goes after him. he starts having a panic attack and she calms him down and then they hook up for the first time (and it's like the first time they've admitted to their feelings) but briana freaks out because she thinks he still has feelings for his ex and that's why he was sad (lots of miscommunication in this). they eventually sort out the situation though, he explains he had the panic attack about her not about his ex, and they are happy...

...OR SO YOU THINK. yes this book's ending felt like it would never actually end. when they're at the wedding for his brother and his ex, brianna runs into her ex at the hotel. and his new girlfriend is pregnant. and then she freaks out because she thinks jacob will turn out like him. and if you're thinking what the heck is wrong with her why would she think that. well it's revealed later that briana is actually pregnant with jacob's baby. it's also revealed she's had a miscarriage in the past (with her ex) and the whole situation is making her very depressed and she tries to push jacob away before he hurts her like her ex did. so it makes more sense. when she tells jacob about the pregnancy, he's super excited but she basically tells him they can't work out because she still has trauma. but jacob is going into surgery to give her brother his kidney. before he does, he asks her what she needs from him. she says the only thing that could help would be to look into his soul. basically saying it was impossible for him to help her. 

but guess what this man does. he gives her his journal to read while he's in surgery. are you kidding me right now. so she reads every single thought he's ever had since he's met her. he let her look into his soul. i died at this part btw. like my soul actually left my body. despite the chaos of this ending, this scene was perfect. obviously she discovers that he has loved her the whole time and that he would never do anything to hurt her. it's honestly a very nice ending. 

this book was honestly the perfect valentine's month read. i am determined to read all of abby jimenez's books because i have yet to read one that wasn't absolutely amazing and unique. i need someone to make movies for all of these books like asap so i can experience them again. you need to add this to your tbr if you love drama, well-written characters, greys anatomy, or cheesy rom coms. i rated this book a 4.7 out of 5 :)


my favorite quotes 

"i'm sorry someone made you feel like it's hard to love you"

"he let me look into his soul. and the only thing in there was us."

"there is no greater show of love than someone bringing you food without being told."

"because love shows up. and here i am."

"you can't spell disappointment without men."

"you and me? we're different. we agree to be harmless to each other."

"i want you to know that watching two complete strangers fall in love has been one of the greatest gifts of my life."


playlist for the book


more books by abby jimenez

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