The Happy Ever After Playlist

I just finished reading The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez and I loved it! It’s the second book in the series. The first is The Friend Zone, and the third, Life’s Too Short, will be released in April 2021. I can’t wait!

While I am reviewing The Happy Ever After Playlist, this is kind of a review for Abby Jimenez in general. I read The Friend Zone shortly after it came out last year. I had seen it on our Lucky Duck shelf. The cover drew my eye because of all the bright colors. The title also made me take notice. I read the synopsis and decided that it sounded like a light-hearted read. It was and it wasn’t. There were emotional ups and downs in this book. I really enjoyed it because I felt I could relate to the main character, there were lots of pop culture references that were relevant to my interests, the chapters were in alternating points of view, and Abby Jimenez’s story telling style resonated with me. I couldn’t put it down and when I finally did finish it, I had to check to see if she had any other books. That’s when I saw that The Happy Ever After Playlist was going to be released in April 2020. I immediately pre-ordered the book.

When The Happy Ever After Playlist arrived in April, I didn’t want to get into it right away, because I knew it would start in a place of sadness. I wasn’t ready to handle that because of my own health issues at the time. Now that I’m feeling better, I decided to finally read it. I couldn’t have been happier with it! I found that I related even more to Sloan in this book than I did to Kristen in the first one. Sloan and I have a lot in common, right down to loving the rainbow wash at the automatic car wash. It was strange to read a character that liked so many of the same things that I like, including the really weird ones like that. It was almost as if Jimenez had seen my mind and was writing a book specifically for me. The unique thing about this book is that it has an actual playlist. Each chapter begins by listing a song and artist. At the end of the book, all of the chapter songs are listed together on a page. I listened to each song before I read the chapter, to set the mood. I really enjoyed this approach!

Abby Jimenez has now made the list of my favorite authors and I’m really looking forward to reading her next book. For anyone interested in reading her books, I wouldn’t call them clean romances per say. I would say the steaminess is at about a three and there is some strong language. They are well worth the read!

Abby Jimenez books:

The Friend Zone