Romantic mayhem ensues with author Abby Jimenez’s ‘Part of Your World’ – The Oswegonian
By Gabrielle Koreger
Abby Jimenez’s “Part of Your World” (“Life’s Too Short”) is a small-town, age-gap romance. Alexis is a doctor in a hospital founded by his family 125 years ago. Her family expects a lot from her, but carrying the weight of the family name is not something she wants. Daniel is the mayor of a small town called Wakan. His family founded the town and every generation has lived there since.
When Alexis’ car is taken off the road by a raccoon, she gets stuck in a ditch before Daniel offers to pull her out. After a night together, Alexis is sure she can just go home and forget about this small town, but she finds herself missing Daniel and the chaos that comes with it. Although they live two hours away from each other and their lives could not be more different, Alexis and Daniel decide to continue seeing each other.
Jimenez has done a great job of giving Wakan a typical small-town feel, while giving it its own personality. It was nice to see how everyone in the city always came together to help each other no matter what. You can really see how much the city means to Daniel and the more he shows Alexis the more she falls in love with it.
This book is a romantic comedy and parts of it will have you laughing out loud. One of Daniel’s friends owns a farm and the names of his animals are just hilarious. There are also plenty of scenes with a baby goat in pajamas that are sure to put a smile on your face. Although this book is comical, it also touches on some important topics, such as emotional and physical abuse. Alexis is fresh out of a relationship with someone who emotionally abused her for years and you see her struggling to acknowledge that she is not at fault. She also struggles with emotional abuse from her father. There is another supporting character who is in a physically abusive relationship with her significant other. Jimenez does an amazing job of showing how these types of relationships not only affect the person in the relationship, but everyone around them. We see characters having to watch their loved ones go through this while they are powerless to do anything to stop it. Jimenez was very realistic in this regard and she leaves an important message for her readers.
Parts of this book are a little predictable, but that doesn’t take away from the story. Alexis has amazing character development and she becomes more and more admirable throughout the novel. Jimenez uses Alexis as an example to show people that you don’t have to have your life completely figured out, even if you’re almost 40. Alexis knows what she wants to do but she has never had the power to be able to achieve her goals. . As we read, we see her finally doing what she always wanted to do, which is to keep helping people, but on her terms.
The ending of this book will make you want more books set in this town. This is the first volume in a series that will be released next year. The next book will focus on her best friend, Bri, and hopefully one of Daniel’s friends.
Image of AuthorAbbyJim by Twitter
