Abby Jimenez opens her latest novel, JUST FOR THE SUMMER, with a Reddit "AITA" post in which the author (Justin) reveals, among other things, that his relationship history is cursed. Every woman he has gotten halfway serious with has gone on to break up with him and immediately find her soulmate. Reading the post halfway across the country, Emma has a gasp of recognition as the exact same thing has happened with the guys she has dated.

Supported by her best friend, Maddy, Emma cautiously reaches out to Justin to share her own story --- and winds up embarking on a flirtatious series of exchanges that feel unlike anything she has encountered before. Soon the two of them land on a wacky plan, hatched up by Justin's friends. If they date each other a few times and then break up with each other, aren't they each destined to go on to find their own soulmates?

"JUST FOR THE SUMMER is a gorgeous summer read, and just like Emma and Justin's love, it's one that will stick around long after the steamy season is over."

There's just one small problem: Emma, a traveling nurse, is currently in Colorado and set to head to Hawaii for a three-month stint there. This is Maddy's choice as they take turns picking their next destination. And Justin is in Minnesota, where, thanks to family circumstances he hasn't yet revealed to Emma during their texts and phone calls, he needs to stay and care for his three younger siblings. Usually, Emma is more than happy to go wherever her and Maddy's whims take her; at any moment, she's ready to pack up her whole life into two suitcases. But something about Justin makes her want to change the way they have been living. And after all, it would be just for the summer. Right?

So that's how Emma and Maddy find themselves renting a charming (if slightly dilapidated) summer cottage on an island in the middle of a Minneapolis lake, learning to drive a pontoon boat to get back and forth from the mainland. But Emma and Justin's whimsical fling soon gets far more complicated, not just because of their respective explosive family situations but because they might start catching feelings for each other, despite themselves.

Emma, who has spent her whole life recovering from the trauma of a neglectful mother and years of foster care, wants to believe in new beginnings when her mother, a Minnesota native, shows up unexpectedly and begins her own whirlwind romance with Emma and Maddy's wealthy landlord. Meanwhile, Justin finds himself overwhelmed by exhaustion and resentment as he takes on new responsibilities he wasn't quite ready for. Emma and Justin find sources of mutual support in one another, not to mention plenty of mutual attraction. But this can't be the real deal, can it?

Longtime readers will want to keep their eyes open for cameos by characters from Jimenez’s prior novels. In fact, two of them take on new significance, culminating in a plot twist that most won't see coming. Again, Jimenez shows that she can effectively blend heavy emotional topics with achingly beautiful love stories. In the case of Emma, the drama here is as much about the work she needs to do for herself as it is about her relationship with Justin. But readers will be rooting for both of them to succeed together. JUST FOR THE SUMMER is a gorgeous summer read, and just like Emma and Justin's love, it's one that will stick around long after the steamy season is over.