I have always been a reader of all genres; throw a book at me, and I will read it. However, romance was one of those genres that I would never touch unless it was tossed in my direction with a passionate recommendation. One book of that kind was the Part of Your World series by Abby Jimenez. My friend raved about this trilogy for weeks, and I was curious if it would be any good. Spoiler: it was.
Abby Jimenez is a New York Times Best Selling romance author who is best known for her witty characters, realistic dialogue, and cozy stories. Jimenez’s popularity increased with the growing amount of romance readers in the last few years, and she has released a book every year since 2019. Her newest novel, Say You’ll Remember Me, has kept her quite busy as she kicked off a book tour to various places across the U.S. and Canada.
If you have yet to see Jimenez’s books on the shelf, there’s a good chance you saw a viral clip of her book tour. On Apr. 16 in Toronto, a fire alarm went off during Jimenez’s event, resulting in firefighters showing up and hundreds of romance novel fans cheering them on. One clip that pans from Abby Jimenez to the group of firemen currently has 15.7 million views on TikTok.
I actually laughed out loud at this clip. The video and her response sums up her stories so well. Jimenez creates characters that learn to smile and laugh during trying times. She writes up real-life problems with depth and emotion but makes sure that if her readers are crying, they have to be able to laugh as well. She is quickly mastering the romance genre. This book tour only elevated her notoriety.
Miraculously, my incredibly small, incredibly mundane hometown library ended up on Abby Jimenez’s itinerary.
I grew up in a town with a single traffic light. I graduated high school with 100 others, most of which I had known since kindergarten. My school had a “Bring Your Tractor to School Day” and the installation of the Circle K felt like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Eaton, a town just twenty minutes north of UNC, is the place I learned to read and write. The Eaton Public Library was one of my favorite sanctuaries. On Apr. 24th, I had a ticket to see an author in that very building.
Due to a horribly timed bathroom break, I ended up towards the back of the event room. I sat with my newly signed books in my lap and looked around at the library I grew up in. This building was the same one where I discovered my love of reading. I could see my ten year old self walking through the aisles, handing my mom books to check out for the month, always biting off more than I could chew. Now, I sat waiting to see a New York Times Best Seller in that same library. And even better, it was an author I actually enjoyed.
Abby Jimenez came prepared. She walked up to the stage with purpose, jokingly ensured no one in the audience would pull the fire alarm, and then dove straight into the story of her life. She never imagined that she would be an author. She believed she would work in retail management her whole life. Like most things, though, change is inevitable, and Jimenez had to adapt accordingly. Her tenacity only helped her further her future success as she began baking from home. Her at-home business soon became a real California bakery and not long after that, Abby had three locations and a Cupcake War championship.
After her success in the baking industry, Abby wanted to go back to her roots, and more specifically, her love for reading. She spent years getting rejected by publishing agencies as she tried to get a piece of her work out into the world. Eventually, in 2019, The Friend Zone was published. The rest was history.
Throughout the conversation, Jimenez said a lot of things that stuck with me, but only two I want to mention. Firstly, Jimenez put an emphasis on how hard it is to get it right in the publishing industry. She discussed her failures just as much as her successes and explained the importance of those setbacks as they prompted the most growth. Secondly, she had no secret method to her writing. For her, writing is so much more than just sitting down and throwing it onto a page. In fact, she said her stories exist in her mind for months as she thinks them through in their entirety before laying them out in ink.
As someone who has followed various authors for years, this concept was incredibly refreshing after constantly hearing that a talented writer can just sit down and create. Jimenez emphasized the work it actually takes and acknowledged that a lot of the time, that still won’t work. Only sometimes, it does, and that’s what really makes all the difference.
Abby Jimenez could have gone to a bookstore in Denver. She could have sold hundreds of tickets for very good money. Instead, she did a free event in my single-traffic-light hometown. Not only is that a testament to who Jimenez is as a person, but it was also incredibly inspiring to the girl in the back of the room who used to consume books like they were air in that small library. Through her visit to Eaton, Jimenez showed her support of small public libraries and her appreciation for her readers that reside in them. I was just a reader before, but now I am a certified Abby Jimenez fan.