3.5 ⭐️ Abby Jimenez’s way of tackling hard topics in the midst of two characters falling in love will forever be something I love about her books. I also enjoyed the FMC’s complicated family, past, and how she learned to cope with it. However, the MMC lacked depth to me. The story with his dad felt underdeveloped and in the end, he just changed his entire life in the blink of an eye. The entire ending (including Vanessa’s way of “breaking up”) felt rushed and a little too dramatic for my taste! Overall a good book but not one of my favorites.

Overall I enjoyed it but I was less emotionally engaged than I am with Abby Jimenez's books. While this had all the makings of a super cute romcom, for some reason by the time the characters finally get together I just wasn't invested in them. I did love their friendship, and exploring Vanessa's unstable home life with her family, and Adrian's anxiety and emotional hurdles. But the romance part of it was lacking. 

 I like Abby’s more recent stuff way more than this trilogy. Most rom com lovers will love this. It’s like a weird Hallmark movie where everyone has way too much baggage. None of the characters have nuance- they are all caricatures. There is the upbeat assistant (think Darcy from the Thor movies), the addict who messes everything up and keeps relapsing, the kooky grandma, the super famous vapid YouTuber, the screw up brother. Even the MCs did not really have much to them. Everyone smells amazing even when they haven’t showered and have vomit in their hair- seriously 😒. You have the workaholic guy who somehow just forgets he has a job once he meets the perfect girl and there are no repercussions. Work? Nah, leave early every day and show up when you want. Then you have the tragic girl bc all of these books are so deeply tragic and she is defined by her trauma and personal/family trauma. I actually didn’t care if they got together and I was actively rooting for them to end up alone in the end. It was not for me. It was another far fetched super quick romance that wasn’t even sort of probable or realistic - and since it was not fun and light there was no pay off. I know I’m in the minority here. I give it 3 stars only because I do enjoy her writing even when the plot is pissing me off. So that’s talent I guess??