Title: Part of Your World

Author: Abby Jimenez

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Why I read it: Recommended by a friend

I have to be honest – at first, I hated this book.

The cheesiness, the insta-love, the cringeworthy amount of times I had to hear both main characters talk about just how amazing the sex was. I am not just saying this to nitpick romance (I did know what I was getting into), but I swear the first half of the book didn’t have a plot. 

Part of Your World is a dual-POV romance where Alexis, our female lead, who is a doctor in a long, prestigious lineage of doctors, falls for Daniel, a small-town boy, 10 years her junior, who also comes from a long, lineage of townsfolk who live in a somewhat magical town where he also happens to be the mayor. She’s rich, he’s poor, she’s highly educated, he’s not so much. It’s a classic tale of two people who aren’t meant to be together, are drawn together, and both of them become better for it. Until they’re faced with a seemingly impossible choice: will they stay together, forcing one of them to give up their destiny, or will they part and always wonder what could have been?

The book opens with him saving her, and they spend a wonderful night sleeping together, where both their worlds are turned upside down. This premise is cute, and I don’t normally have an issue with it; however, Alexis made such a point of saying that she never does this. I find it hard to believe that if she never does that, she would not have slept with him after knowing him for only two hours. I get that things happen, but I think a much better payoff would have been them having this wonderful evening, her leaving with maybe a kiss, and then they’re drawn back together. The beginning felt rushed, which, in my opinion, set a weird tone for the first half of the book. I like a little build-up with my romance, so sue me!

A couple of other qualms before I get into what I did like: 1) Alexis kept harping on how “old” she thinks she is. I think it was meant to show her insecurity and the effects of her past relationship, but I don’t think it accomplished what the author wanted it to accomplish. 2) The beginning of the book was so repetitive and predictable that I found myself getting bored. 

Good news – the second half was SO MUCH BETTER. It felt like I was reading an entirely different story! There was plot, there was substance, there was conflict, all things that kept me interested and turning pages. I found the ending to be so perfect, and I was very happy with the outcome, as it would have been easy for the author to write a different ending that is too common in love stories. I will refrain from sharing because I don’t want to spoil it, because for the first time in a romance, I didn’t see what was coming at the end.

Points to the author for doing a great job tackling domestic violence in this book, highlighting the different forms it takes. It opened my eyes to a whole world that I don’t think I would have thought much about otherwise. The author’s note at the end was touching. The fact that this was inspired by her friend made it more meaningful to me. 

I can see why this is a crowd favorite in the romance community, as, like I have said, it is cute! I don’t read a lot of romances, but this was one where, after I finished it, I wished it were a movie. While I struggled with the beginning of this story, I think I would make such an adorable romcom, so here’s hoping for a movie adaptation someday.

Other fun tidbits: apparently, the author won Cake Wars and owns a bakery! And she mentions her bakery a few times in this book. Always read the author’s notes, people!

TL;DR:  Super cute, even if the beginning is a little much. The ending is worth mucking through the repetitiveness of the first half.