Yours Truly
By: Abby Jiminez
Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:
This book was such a sweet, sugar-coated CUPCAKE of surprise!!!
My heart is now a pile of dissolved sugar and I do not know how I am going to recover.
For real I do not think words can honestly express the gaping crater sized void that has now filled my life since I’ve finished this book.
This book was an explosion. A tsunami crashing against my shores. I’m taking catastrophic level of destruction – and I am thanking it throughly for the havoc this book has left on my life.
First off, the book follows two doctors: Bri – a bubbly, fun-loving, family oriented grounded ER doctor…. and James – an introverted, kind-hearted, soft anxiety ridden individual… who is also happens to be an ER doctor… and who also just happens to switch jobs and end up working at the same hospital as Bri. A few mix ups later and Bri suddenly thinks James is out for her job, rude, and all around an man she cannot stand to hear about let alone stand next to. However that all starts to change when a few letters start to be swapped between the two…
Let me just start off by saying that James is the love of my life.
Seriously, I would write sonnets about James. I would shout “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” by Frankie Valli on the stairs of a high school soccer field a la Heath Ledger styles in order to snatch myself a James. He is the soft, gentle, head over heels all in softie that we simply all need in are lives.
Not to mention James struggle with anxiety and the way it was portrayed in this book made me feel so connected and understood. It gave me a new perspective on how other people internalize their struggles and the way it comes off to others and how some people who do not understand where James was coming from or his struggles with social anxiety would find him rude or passive aggressive when really he was just overthinking his thoughts/movements (I also loved how James journaled as a coping mechanism for his anxiety):
“I had to remember that not everyone over-thought everything the way I did. Wouldn’t it be amazing to live like that? To not carry that burden around with you. To not feel constantly overwhelmed and overstimulated and second-guess every little thing.”
And I absolutely ADORED the way Bri understood him and gave him space without him having to ask for it, or details he would need without him requesting it. It was like the two of them were in sync with one another need without them having to ask. Like an invisible thread connected them and kept pulling them back towards one another against their conscious will *sobs*:
PLUS the push and pull between James and Bri had me at the edge of my seat while simultaneously making hand gestures from the PURE frustration the severe lack of COMMUNICATION between these two. Seriously these two were so meant for each other and they both just kept getting in their own way from being with one another!! It was MADDENING!!
“Have you ever heard the saying that if you’re with someone who doesn’t speak your language, you’ll spend a lifetime having to translate your soul? Amy never spoke your language. […] Briana’s different. She understands you, even when you don’t say anything at all.”
But the angst, the funny families, a swearing parrot, and my heart was MELTING by the time I finished this masterpiece. I also loved how the two of them swapped letters in the beginning – letters or notes swapped between any two main characters in a book is my pure weakness.
“I always think that when we’re quiet, we’re agreeing to be harmless to each other. That we’re just sharing the same space and letting each other exist exactly as we are, and neither of us would hurt or upset the other one.”
Anyways, please read this book. Just do it. You will not be sorry. Easily one of the best books I have read this year!
5 Stars
What about you all? Have you read this book? Have it on your TBR? Lets chat in the comments!!
-BubblyBooks