As you’ll recall, while I don’t typically read genre/formula fiction, I’ll pick one up now and again as a bit of a palate cleanser. If I’m going romance, Abby Jimenez will typically fit the bill. The writing is sharp, the dialogue is typically great, hilarity often ensues, and there’s going to be a dog. Oh, and her stories have heart.
I was a bit let down by last year’s Say You’ll Remember Me, but I still preordered The Night We Met (Forever 2026). While the “best friend’s girl” trope usually gives me the ick, it did feel like the Jimenez I fell in love with was back. It’s not my favorite – Part of Your World and Yours Truly hold a special place in my heart – but it’s cheeky and full of heart, and I devoured it like a nut-free grazing board. That said, Larissa and Chris both need therapy before they need each other.
The novel hits that Jimenez formula that she does so well. Our leading lady is, as always, beautiful. Larissa is a drop-dead gorgeous waitress with a nut allergy who estranged father has racked up significant debt using her social security number and whose mother is dating another alcoholic loser in a string of alcoholic losers. She is barely scraping by and picks up little side-jobs here and there. She wants someone to take care of her. Chris is always prepared and always-available-to-help-a-friend pharmacist who wants to help her. There’s just one problem – she’s is dating Chris’s best friend, Mike. Well, there are other problems (like Chris’s unhealthy desire to “help” stemming from the trauma behind his mother’s death and Mike’s blackout drunk anxiety lapses and Lexi in general), but the main obstacle here is that Chris and Larissa “belong together,” but she is with Mike.
There’s an unhinged Yorkie, modeled after Jimenez’s own infamous Magwai, that serves as the catalyst that keeps Chris and Larissa in daily contact. (If you’re not following Jimenez on social media, you really should. She’s hilarious.) Mike also keeps them in steady contact as he often begs Chris to serve as his stand-in when he’s too drunk.
As far as covers go, I do think this one is beautiful (love the colors and fireworks) BUT again, it doesn’t match the book. I’d have liked to see a deer on the cover and a comical billboard, if anyone is asking.
A Girl Named Tommi 