With each book I’ve read by Abby Jimenez, I’ve dived into different storylines from Josh and Kristen’s in, “The Friend Zone”, to Sloan and Jason in, “The Happy Ever After Playlist”, both book which were great and left me feeling lots of emotions. In, “The Happy Ever After Playlist”, Adrian made an appearance going on a double date with Sloan, Kristen, and Josh. Something about Adrian had me feeling like, “oh yes, I would definitely love to read about him”. What do you know? My wish was granted when I found out this book, “Life’s too Short” was going to be about Adrian and of course Vanessa.

Vanessa’s life was centered around her traveling content, she was a pretty successful YouTuber, traveling the world and enjoying life to the fullest. Seemed like Vanessa was living her best life, until one day she was suddenly the guardian of her sister’s baby. Vanessa’s life changed drastically going from traveling the world to a messy apartment trying to take care of a baby. Child care is by no means easy and Vanessa had to learn the hard way. Adrian, a criminal defense attorney lived right next door to Vanessa. One difficult night of trying to figure out why the baby was crying, Adrian found himself going next door to help Vanessa out, and BOOM! Baby whisperer got the baby to go to sleep and give Vanessa a moment of reprieve. Let’s just say not only was Vanessa thankful for Adrian’s help, but she found it extremely sexy seeing him holding the baby in her muscular arms. 

Within the first few pages, I had a feeling this was going to be my favorite out of the Friend Zone series. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the previous two books as well as the characters, but something about Vanessa and Adrian just spoke to me. Especially the way Adrian was so stern yet focused in everything he did, honestly I found that hot! Vanessa was trying to make the best out of her situation and I admired her for it. I kind of got the impression that Adrian was a bit grumpy especially in the beginning, but then he’d have these sweet moments where I would go “aww” and want him for myself. Plus seeing the way Vanessa and Adrian interacted together was funny and endearing. 

I really loved how Vanessa and Adrian just struck up a friendship so naturally. From the moment Adrian offered to help Vanessa out with her baby niece, Grace, Adrian suddenly found himself hanging out with Vanessa and enjoying it. Vanessa also liked hanging out with Adrian, he went from the legendary single gorgeous bachelor the whole building would talk about to her actually spending time with him, and watching, “The Office”. By the way, I loved that Vanessa and Adrian watched, “The Office” and the little references to the show, loved it. Anyways, it went from strangers/neighbors to friends and then lovers. Majority of the time, I always gobbling up all the moments between Adrian and Vanessa! Clearly, Vanessa and Adrian were attracted to each other, and had great chemistry so I while they were still in the friend territory, I was just waiting for the moment when they would pounce on each other and act on their feelings for one another! 

The humor and heart in this story was amazing! Vanessa and Adrian together were not only fantastic, but some if not majority of their time had me smiling and laughing. I also loved seeing how Adrian became more laid back, and started to take the time to have a work/ life balance. I’m pretty sure through out the time I was reading this book, I was either smiling like a love sick teenager or laughing out loud at the fun shenanigans that happened, mostly it was in part with Vanessa, but still pretty hilarious. 

At the heart of this story was the message of, “life’s short”, and that was something that Vanessa lived by. With Vanessa’s mom and sister passing away, especially with having ALS, Vanessa always felt like one day it would be her time, and she’d succumb to the same illness as her family members. A lot of what Vanessa did in the story was her preparing herself and her family for the day when she no longer was alive, and she felt the need to seize the day. Vanessa also taught Adrian to be more spontaneous and enjoy life just as she had always aspired to do. My heart ached for Vanessa because on top of everything she did, she always felt like she had to keep everything and everyone together. Vanessa had her struggles through out the story, but with Adrian he became her support system, the man to alleviate her pain, and show her she didn’t have to do everything on her own.  In a way, Vanessa inspired me to not only take charge in my life, but also do little things here and there everyday to spruce up my joy, finding joy in whatever way I could in my day to day life. The title of the book made a lot more sense once I started reading, and I gotta say not only was it perfect, but it was significant and meaningful. 

This was such a beautiful, awe inspiring, heartfelt, and emotional story. I’m telling you with each book I’ve read from Abby, I’ve been able to learn something through the characters she’s written. Vanessa’s battle with ALS was tough and knowing that she could succumb to the same illness that took her sister was something that she didn’t let hold her back in living her life. Adrian took the steps to better help himself in his mental health and to seek help when it came to Vanessa’s possible chance with ALS. I loved Vanessa and Adrian, they were both amazing and the depth of their love was oh so sweet and passionate. The ending was swoon worthy and romantic, but for sure the epilogue just added even more to the beauty of their love. I cannot get over how amazing this book was, and I’m utterly in love with everything about it. While I loved each and every character in the “Friend Zone” series, gotta say that Vanessa and Adrian took the cake in stealing my heart wholeheartedly.