I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and Little Brown UK.

On Netgalley, this book is drowning in five star reviews and I'm about to throw it a three=star life preserver.

If you want fun and flirty summer romance - this isn't the book for you. As Abby Jimenez is rather famous for at this point, there are very heavy themes clumsily woven into what is marketed as a much lighter kind of novel. I had a similar issue with 'Part of Your World' and ultimately, I think it's going to be a me issue. So. The key problem I had is this book does not warrant the number of pages it's published on. The opening is strong and promising, with a very unique premise - though you do ultimately know where it's going to end up at just from reading the synopsis.

However, too many things are thrown at the wall here and only a handful of them stick. The plot drags, endlessly, through the middle, with unnecessary conflict thrown in and then dealt with in a matter of minutes. I get particularly sensitive about the portrayal of mental health in books and whilst this certainly had some good points, Jimenez is really just scratching the top of the iceberg here. This isn't the book to seriously consider the complexities of PTSD or abandonment issues or crappy childhoods so it never gets the time it deserves. There's also a prison storyline, which??? Was this just to give Justin some kind of back story?

If you like Abby Jimenez, you'll probably go wild for this book - just as people will for Emily Henry. And that's great! But I found myself skimming more and more of this the further in I got, the more I was waiting for a very inevitable conclusion. I don't think it's doing anything particularly new or interesting, but if this is your thing, go for it.

'Just For The Summer' is available from April 2nd.