Abby Jimenez

One trouble-making dog brings together two perfect strangers in this USA Today bestselling romantic comedy full of "fierce humor and fiercer heart." (Casey McQuiston, NYT bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue) Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back. Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak? USA Today bestseller Publishers Weekly bestseller Featured on NBC, NPR, PopSugar, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Business Insider, Bustle, Oprah.com Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Best Romance SheReads Award Best Romance of 2020 Buzzfeed, Best Summer Romances of 2020 BookBub, 20 of the Best Romances of 2020 The Nerd Daily, Most Anticipated 2020 Titles Goodreads, 28 of the Hottest Romances of 2020 Bookpage, Most Anticipated Romance of 2020 Insider, Best Romance Books of 2020 SheReads Best Romances of 2020 Frolic’s Best Books of 2020

The Happy Ever After Playlist

'Sweet and achingly romantic - a truly wonderful love story' Beth O'Leary, author of The Flatshare From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes an adorable and fresh romantic comedy about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers. Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a 'take me home' look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: he wants Tucker back. Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: with his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak? Praise for Abby Jimenez: 'The Happy Ever After Playlist tackles love after loss with fierce humour and fiercer heart' Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue 'A deliciously hot, sweet debut. This book is an absolute treat.' L. G. Shen, USA Today Bestselling Author 'Harnessing sass, heartfelt struggle, and unapologetic sexuality, Jimenez's debut is as hysterical as it is tear-jerking' Publishers Weekly 'Let's get one thing straight, Abby Jimenez is hilarious' Goodreads reviewer 'Anyone who thinks they don't like romance needs to read The Friend Zone. It's a game changer' Goodreads reviewer 'In a time when rom-coms can so easily miss the mark, TFZ stands out like a diamond in the rough' Goodreads reviewer 'I laughed, I teared up, and most importantly, I didn't want to put it down' Goodreads reviewer 'It was so refreshing to see a difficult topic like infertility play such a significant role in a romantic comedy' Goodreads reviewer 'Not only is this book hilarious and heartfelt, it felt real' Goodreads reviewer 'Hilarious but also healing' Goodreads reviewer '5 stars isn't enough for this laugh out loud, beautifully honest, and sometimes heart-breaking novel' Goodreads reviewer

The Happily Ever After Playlist

Aubrey Hennig

lexie

Arianna

This book was pretty great. Some parts felt a little cringe to read or a little too much but other than that I enjoyed it a lot. It was a quick read, and I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first book of the series.

Julie Burszan 

Mia Caven

This book started off seemingly fast and like a lot of other romances but by the time it ended I think it was perfectly structured and I loved it. The characters were so perfect and it was just a page turning book

screaming, crying, throwing up!!! 😭😭

kels

Jenna

Petaco

Well it started out strong. I liked their banter in the beginning. Maybe that's where the book should have ended. After they actually got together it just went downhill. Too much drama. Too much angst. The relationship is too hot and cold. It's not healthy and maybe they are better as pen pals? Having this angle of a famous person was just too much. Yet another book I hated that focused on "famous people". It's a shame because up until all of the drama, I was rather enjoying the book. It made sense that the editor requested she write the first book to explain this one. I thought she did a great job at showing her struggle with grief. Unfortunately, the author, for some reason, felt like there was not enough angst and drama so she piled it on. 

(view spoiler)[ That break up was so stupid! Why even lie? You pressured her this whole time and now you decide to lie just so she would leave? Bye. So childish. Just talk things out.  (hide spoiler)]

Julie Palacio

my favorite book of the year , i cried so hard, literally bought another copy because mine had water damage

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes an adorable and fresh romantic comedy about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers. Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back. Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

Meghan Thompson 

4.25⭐️

let me just say that i think sloan was done dirty in the friend zone. my heart broke for her. 

with that being said…fuck Brandon HELLO JASON 

now this book had me at the beginning i was ready to give it five stars. the flirting and overall easy and funny relationship UGH!! was it a bit insta lovey? yeah but i eat that shit up. what fell flat for for me was the ending y’all were just doing too much. 

what i really appreciated in this book was the whole “yeah my husband is died but I’m not going to completely cut myself off from love” there was no comparing the two and i loved that Sloan could separate them. also i am just so proud of her in general and the resilience and strength she found in herself bcs in the first book I was WORRIED. 

overall this book gave me all the romcom feels and i enjoyed basically every second.

I am absolutely loving this series!!! These characters and storylines would make an amazing tv series!! 

Brittany Peterson

I just loved this book. Every chapter starts with a song which I think really helps sets the mood. The characters were so fun and I think you really feel it between them because of the constant banter. It makes them feel like a real, authentic couple. I didn’t love the third act breakup because it gave me such bad emotional whiplash, but the story is so adorable and the HEA is just 

This is in a series, but I read it as a stand-alone and didn’t think I was missing anything. 

Not too many scenes and doesn’t take up the whole book, but it’s still there and it’s still hot 

Tropes: love after loss, instalove 

I just loved this book. Every chapter starts with a song which I think really helps sets the mood. The characters were so fun and I think you really feel it between them because of the constant banter. It makes them feel like a real, authentic couple. I didn’t love the third act breakup because it gave me such bad emotional whiplash, but the story is so adorable and the HEA is just chefs kiss 

Gives me total classic romcom vibes. 

This is in a series, but I read it as a stand-alone and didn’t think I was missing anything. 

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Not too many scenes and doesn’t take up the whole book, but it’s still there and it’s still hot 

celene

3.5 omg,,, the last chapter and the epilogue tho,,, gaaah i cri,,,

Jess Griffin

i really loved this book. reading ‘the friend zone’ knowing sloan was the main character in this book made me so excited for this series of interconnected standalones.

although the drama in the last half of the book became slightly repetitive/overwhelming towards the end, i am so happy jason and sloan got their happy ending.

sloan’s journey of grief from the end of ‘the friend zone’ to the progress she made in her own book was truly insightful and inspiring. it was great to see this portrayed in a contemporary romcom.

abby jiminez has a running theme of “happy happy happy BOOM SADNESS” in her books & i only have ‘part of your world’ left to read from her works so i can’t wait to see how she breaks my heart in that one :)

Jennifer mitchell

I can’t remember the last time a book made me actually sob. Form tears? Sure. But this book had me bawling like a baby. The characters felt so real. You could feel the grief, pain, and love through every word.

I really enjoyed this one and find Abby Jimenez’s books to be sooo bingeable. BUT the conflict in this one is not great. This is not something I would personally ever forgive so I had trouble buying into the resolution sadly. A great story and fun couple but not my favorite by this author!

Kerry Kalinoski

Steph Lodico

** spoiler alert **
           I had a million qualms about this book - none that had to do with the writing style and plot, and all of it content and perspective. There will be spoilers so I can properly complain. Also, trigger warning for discussion of SA.


First, lack of taking seriously sexual assault… I actually liked Lola’s arc and how that subplot was nicely woven into the larger picture while shining a light on a very important issue within the industry. And I despised how no one ever (including her in her apology) truly addressed that she literally sexually assaulted Jason. I understand she was somewhat framed to be a harasser, but nothing excuses her publicly groping someone without their permission when it was clearly unwanted. She’s allowed to have her backstory, and since Jason seemed at peace with her in the end, I don’t mind the compassion that was given to her character. But letting that slide without any substantial acknowledgment felt like a gross perpetuation of sexual assault against men not actually being considered assault.

Second, not great relationship… They barely acknowledge the unhealthy dynamics of Sloan & Jason’s relationship—brutally codependent in the name of being soulmates. I understand the intense pain of being without someone you love deeply for a long time without getting over them, I do. But the inability to properly function without the company of your partner is not something we need to be romanticizing here, and it was actually really annoying to read. For one, I understood why constant touring would be really tiring even for a person not performing, but I was so confused why Sloan was THAT worn out because I assumed she do literally everything with Jason and had some time to herself, until I saw how extremely codependent they were and I got that she did in fact do basically everything short of singing while on tour. And they really never addressed growing out of this unhealthy attachment. 

The relationship also happened way. too. fast. There’s fast and then there’s just outright ridiculous. I too support Sloan going on tour (part of the time) with her boyfriend! But her boyfriend of 2 weeks? And the timeline of how they fell in love when they still hardly knew each other just felt insane. All of this would have been way more passable if Sloan were noticeably working through her grief in some way, but after she slept with Jason she was just suddenly totally over the death of her late partner and it hardly ever came up again except to compare her feelings about losing Jason to her feelings about losing Brandon. It felt like an absolute disservice to Brandon’s character, especially if you had read about him as an alive character in The Friend Zone. And just a rather unrealistic portrayal of moving on after this type of bereavement in my opinion. It seemed like she needed a much slower love story, even if it was faster than she was used to, but like at least still in the range of sane. I appreciated the author’s note at the end explaining how she pulled from her own friend’s story, but it seemed like her message there was “seek the help you need like therapy” which was not present AT ALL in the story. If we had seen Sloan in therapy processing these emotions about Brandon, it would have made all of this much more believable. 

Third, the slightly unrealistic portrayal of stardom… I won’t fight anything about how corrupt, shallow, exploitative, and downright evil the industry can be, or even potential violence. Honestly that I buy. Some other things were less convincing—they totally trample all over any sense of appropriate boundaries and work life balance, but working your artist so much that they would realistically hurt their voice and jeopardize that tour, not even consulting your artist before upending their life, etc. seems a little over the top. Like I can see how the artist wouldn’t have much choice in extending a tour (several times) but everyone else finding that out first seems a step too far. That said, I’m no rockstar so I don’t really know; it just seems counterintuitive to their own selfish interests and was frustrating to me as a reader how little attention that was given.


I thought we saw smooth character development for Sloan despite my above complaints regarding her healing from Brandon; I wanted more character development wise for Jason regarding his songwriting. I felt like it was propped up as a symbol and only vaguely played out, whereas Sloan’s creative reset/growth was more fully fleshed out. I really appreciated how above and beyond this man went for his partner though and how thoughtful he was (after his initial tabloid fiasco that he messed up almost beyond belief). I just felt that overall the story was a bit surface level and did not carry out its intention well, and I was left really disappointed with its careless handling of problematic situations.

Lyric Hooey

3.5 ⭐️

Very cute, of course. Only docked marks for 1) many moments of wanting to yell into the book "why can't you just communicate this! it would solve everything!" and 2) I hate when things get good right at the epilogue and then you're left with wanting more happiness and less drama. Would recommend this book though if you are into this sorta thing!

Kathleen Tom

OH GOOD LORD HELP ME!! 

Abby Jimenez, BIG FAT THANK YOU FOR THIS BOOK! You don’t know what this book do to me, hours of laughing my ass off in the beginning of the books, half of it was swooning over Jason & Sloan flirtship to relationships to on-tourship and crying my heart out when something happened between them (not going to reveal about what) and so happy it hurts at the end. I’m happy with the ending of it but it hurts because it ends. 

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!! ❤️❤️

5 Stars ⭐️

Steffi J

Abby Jimenez is REALLY good at creating book boyfriends :) first half of the book is a very cute, run-of-the-mill romcom. Second half of the book is dramatic and full of feels, with just the right amount of pining. The story is not only about romance. It’s about loss, grief, acceptance, moving on. This is the second book I’ve read written by Abby Jimenez, and there’s just something about her writing style that sucks you in and keeps you wanting for more. She makes you feel what the characters are feeling. Magical. Love it.

"Come Back. . . Be Here" by Taylor Swift 

I love that the book wasn't just about Sloan finding love again but also about Sloan finding herself and living for herself. and Jason was wow! overwhelmingly devoted and in love with Sloan

** spoiler alert **
           The Friendzone is definitely a comfort read for me and it meant something very special to me so I was beyond excited to read this. I couldn’t stop thinking about Sloan after finishing the first book and how badly I wanted her to have her happy ending. I needed to read this book to have closure on how she ended up.

The humour of the characters is what got me with the first book and I was so happy to see that it wasn’t lost in this one.

Jason and Sloan’s interactions left me feeling giddy and I found myself smiling like an idiot while I read on multiple occasions. 

“You’re worth the wait. You’re worth everything.”

Can I please ask where I can find a Jason and when can he become available to purchase?

SPOILER BELOW

I will admit that when we believed that Lola was behind all the things going wrong, I was bothered because I’m not fond of stories making women out to be villains in stories. I’m so happy it wasn’t the case and I was pleased when Lola was able to have her redemption and the help she needed. I felt it was so important that it showed that because addiction and mental health are real issues that so many people deal with. She was crying out for help and someone listened. I’m so happy for her.

“She was every love song I’ve never been good enough to write.”

This line is so beautiful and I will never forget it. 

There was something so special about this book. It was heartbreaking and so beautiful. I became obsessed so quickly. I went into this wanting closure and I got that and more. This is definitely a comfort read.

chichi lewis

Abby did it again!! This book took me through another roller coaster of emotions. For the first time I actually thought “ hmmm this may not have a happy ending” but of course in true Abby fashion it does! This book made me sad, happy, mad and frustrated. Just all the feels! Loved it!

Janna Niemi

This book is such a good sequel to the Friend Zone. Sloan is such an interesting character and after what happened to her, I was super interested in reading her love story. And what a story it was. 
The plot is great and I enjoyed the lost dog story and how Sloan and Jason fall in love and how they face and fight the obstacles life places in front of them. 
A super great, super emotional story and I loved every word of it!

Jennifer Eggleston 

Epic

Abby Jimenez managed to make me cry again ...tears of sadness, laughter, and joy.

I couldn’t put down this story. Sloan and Jason were irresistible. Jason was the total hero. Sloan was heroine that you only wanted some much deserved happiness ... no more in-between. 

There were ups and downs but thankfully the power of love allowed an amazing HEA.

The Happy Ever After Playlist

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