Name: Laura Carnevale's review of The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
Item: The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles)
Rating: 4
Author: Laura Carnevale

Amy Spalding

Seventeen, fashion-obsessed, and gay, Abby Ives has always been content playing the sidekick in other people’s lives. While her friends and sister have plunged headfirst into the world of dating and romances, Abby’s been happy to focus on her plus-size style blog and her dreams of taking the fashion industry by storm. When she lands a great internship at her favorite boutique, she’s thrilled to take the first step toward her dream career. Then she falls for her fellow intern, Jordi Perez. Hard. And now she’s competing against the girl she’s kissing to win the coveted paid job at the end of the internship. But really, nothing this summer is going as planned. She also unwittingly becomes friends with Jax, a lacrosseplaying bro-type who wants her help finding the best burger in Los Angeles, and she’s struggling to prove to her mother—the city’s celebrity health nut—that she’s perfectly content with who she is. Just as Abby starts to feel like she’s no longer the sidekick in her own life, Jordi’s photography surprisingly puts her in the spotlight. Instead of feeling like she’s landed a starring role, Abby feels betrayed. Can Abby find a way to reconcile her positive yet private sense of self with the image others have of her?

The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles)

Laura Carnevale

Jazelle H

This story was all kinds of soft and sweet. Abby's voice is strong, relatable, and all kinds of adorkable. Her passion for fashion is so apparent that it had me wondering what fruity fabric she might end up adorning herself in next. The relationship between Abby and each one of the characters--her unexpected friendship, childhood best-friendom, and of course, budding romance--is unique, necessary, and holds purpose in strengthening Jordi's character development. Not everything is wrapped up in a pretty little Hello Kitty worthy bow by the end of the story, which also gives it a more natural, relatable conclusion. However, the climax of the story and actual resolution scene feel a little rushed, especially when they could have been intensely powerful, emotional moments for the characters involved. It's Abby's unique quirks that truly help this book stand out, though. The body positivity message doesn't feel forced, but actually feels empowering--enough that I wish there was just a tad bit more of it when Abby's eyes start to open. In all, a fun read with easy-going momentum that had me disappointed for the last page.

Flavia Louise

Alexa Jade

Caroline Lewicki

I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this book but towards the end I was absolutely ravenous to find out what happens. It takes a bit to feel like there’s going to be an actual conflict but the conflict ends up being fairly satisfying and atypical of a teen romance novel. I thought I’d have trouble being invested in Abby and Jordi and their friends but I really did. This is a really great LGBTQ+ teen romance novel and a great book about body positivity.

Carolina

Sahi K

Firstly, don’t read this book when you are hungry. You’ll just crave food or snacks or coffee or numerous other things while reading almost every second page. Now, you can’t say I didn’t warn you 😀😀😀

I loved Abby’s character. She is very funny, has a great sense of style, loves fashion, promotes body positivity and wants everyone to be confident in their body and clothing choices. I love when she mentions that being fat is not an insult even though other people tend to make it that way. I thought the fat rep was great, atleast something that I could closely relate to, especially the part about parent’s opinions about our bodies and their belief that becoming thin will make us pretty and happy. As someone who is very subtly shamed about my weight frequently in the guise of “being healthy”, I was happy to see that neither Abby nor her friends consider her weight to be a problem.

The development of Abby and Jordi’s relationship is also very sweet. It starts off with friendship, hesitant smiles, little flirtations and the setup was so much fun to read about. I loved how Jordi never missed taking pictures of Abby because she found her so beautiful and considered it her best work. Their interactions, their well thought out dates and intense makeout sessions were too cute.

Along with the love story, my favorite part of the book were the friendships. Abby’s girl gang is awesome and I really loved their dynamic. It’s also realistically portrayed – Abby being closest to Maliah even though they are best friends with Zoe and Brooke, Abby not being very happy that Maliah is spending more time with her boyfriend leaving less for their girls only bonding. Abby’s almost accidental friendship with Jax is hilarious and I loved hanging out at all the burger joints with them. He may be a dudebro, but he grows on Abby over time and is also extremely supportive of her. There is one particular scene where he explains why he wanted to be her friend and it was very very sweet.

I love this book for a lots of things – bringing East LA to life for me (I’ve never been to the west coast), amazing friendships including f/f and f/m, a cute summer sapphic romance, well fleshed out POC characters and lots of beautiful clothes and food. But my favorite aspect of the book is definitely body positivity and also Abby’s belief that being confident in her body doesn’t mean that she needs to put herself (atleast her pictures) out there on social media.

Grace O'Callaghan

(Don’t read the last portion of the goodreads description, it spoils the book.)

This was such an incredibly satisfying read. I hardly ever see f/f romcom books and oh my gosh did this book deliver! So great to see something that is oversaturated in m/f romances be queer for a change. It’s cute, it’s tropey but it’s exactly the light, queer contemporary I needed.

We follow Abby, a gay, fat, fashion blogger who’s perfectly fine with being the sidekick to her best friend. But what happens when she starts crushing on Jordi Perez at their new internship at a boutique? Could it be possible that Abby is finally getting her own story? Filled with a workplace romance, misunderstanding, and an overwhelming amount of humour and cuteness this is a perfect queer summery read.

Where to start? This book was set in LA, which was the absolute perfect setting. It was just incredibly fitting with the whole atmosphere and sunshine. Also loved Spalding’s writing. It was so humourous and made my heart burst with joy. Really enjoyed the descriptions of clothes because I can never imagine what characters are wearing.

Abby was the sweetest human in the entire world. She’s just so excitable and passionate about everything, from her blog to her job to Jordi. I loved how bubbly and dorky she could be. An actual ball of sunshine.

Jordi was also amazing. She’s creative and also passionate, but in a more subtle way. She’s very dedicated to taking the best photos, but sometimes she takes it a bit too far.

Together, Jordi and Abby were the most pure and sweet thing ever. The way they plan their dates and the conversations they have are everything. Also when they kissed it made my gay, gay heart flop on the floor (metaphorically).

Yes this plot was cheesy and predictable, but that’s exactly what this book is about so don’t go expecting serious. The plot is mostly about the internship and trying to separate work from personal, but there was also a subplot which I really loved. No I’m not talking about the burger one, I’m talking about Abby’s subplot. Abby is a self proclaimed fat girl and for the most part she’s okay with herself, but what with her mom being a healthy eating freak, it puts pressure on Abby. She also doesn’t upload any pictures of herself on her blog, because she’s afraid of what everyone else will think of her. I really enjoyed her progression as she tries to not care about what other people think as much.

I couldn’t give it a higher rating because it was wrapped up a little too quickly at the end for my liking. But if you’re looking for a quick queer romcom, this is exactly that.

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Esta es una comedia romántica que va sobre dos chicas adolescentes enamorándose, y nada más.
A Abby le apasiona la moda y tiene un blog donde escribe sobre ello, enfocándose en ropas de talle grande: consejos, reflexiones, etc. Es lesbiana, gorda y orgullosa de ello. Abby conoce a Jordi, una fotógrafa amante de la ropa oscura, cuando ambas entran a hacer una pasantía en una tienda de ropa. Y a partir de allí tenemos todos los tropes y clichés de las comedias románticas... pero gay. Y fue muy bonito, super tierno y todo lo que uno necesita para pasar un buen rato, reirte y simplemente ver como dos personas se enamoran.

Katie

This was supposed to be the cute wlw romcom of my dreams. Unfortunately, it left a lot to be desired.

I think my biggest problem with this book is that it all felt underdeveloped. Everything. The relationships (romantic, platonic, and familial) all just barely grazed the surface. The plot was...nonexistent, which is not always bad in a contemporary romance. I can forgive a thin plot if the character relationships and development are good. Alas, the relationships were meh and the little "development" that there was seemed to come out of nowhere! Or, alternatively, some things are just never resolved.

(view spoiler)[For example, Abby's terrible relationship with her mother is kind of addressed, but not really? Abby had this really great line when they were having a heart to heart when her mom said she loved her and Abby replied something like, "Then why don't you like me?" Like DAMN that was good! But then the book continued like that conversation never happened?? Like Abby told her mom that the way Mom talks to her makes her feel like shit and the mom was basically like, "okay that's nice dear." What????? I definitely didn't feel like those problems in their relationship were resolved AT ALL. (hide spoiler)]

If my problems had just been what I wrote above, it still would have been 3 stars because you know what? It's cute, it's queer, and there were enough things I liked about it to leave it a 3. But then the ending. OH THE ENDING.

Warning: beneath the spoiler tag is a VERY long rant about how pissed off I was for the last few chapters. Continue with caution.

(view spoiler)[Okay so Jordi uses pictures of Abby in her art show to try to "prove" to Abby that she's beautiful or whatever. Except she didn't have Abby's permission, and she didn't ask because she KNEW Abby would say no. And then Abby's friends, who didn't like Jordi, take Jordi's side? Because Abby is "too hard on herself"? Abby and Jordi get back together, everyone is tossing rainbow confetti, hooray. I'm not mad that Abby and Jordi decided to give their relationship another try. I actually thought the way they handled it, by agreeing that Jordi needed to learn from this mistake rather than the both of them pretending the whole incident never happened, was very mature. That was one bit of growth/development/whatever that I DID like. But Abby's shitty friends, telling her that she should forgive Jordi for betraying her trust? And using photos of her WITHOUT HER CONSENT when Jordi KNEW it was crossing a line? No way. If Abby is on a journey of self-acceptance, fine, cool, whatever. No one else should be deciding for her when she should make certain steps. That is up to Abby, and her alone. Her friends should NOT have been acting like Jordi "had a point." No. Shut up. (hide spoiler)]

ANyway that's my review. It almost entirely consists of spoilers because I guess that's how I live my life. Have a nice day.

Becca Futrell

3.5 rounded up! What a cute & fluffy F/F read! Also I wanna break into Abby’s closet.

Laura Carnevale &
The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Reviews

Join the club

Laura Carnevale &The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Reviews

Join the club

Laura Carnevale &
The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding