The Happy Ever After Playlist

I’ll be honest… I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Sloan moving on, but she deserved this SO MUCH. I didn’t think I could love Josh and Kristen more than I already did, but The Happy Ever After Playlist fueled my love of them even more. Every girl should have a best friend like Kristen in their lives! Sloan. Oh Sloan. Watching her come back to life healed me as much as she healed herself. I was gutted when she lost Brandon and the life she envisioned for herself. I felt her pain as if I were living it too. Tucker had to have been a gift from Brandon that led her to Jason. Even though Brandon was gone, his presence was felt throughout this book, but in a way that added to Sloan and Jason’s story. I appreciated the way Brandon was woven into Sloan’s life because at one point in time, he was her life.

Abby Jimenez has a way of writing the perfect men, the perfect friendships and the most beautiful relationships that put you through the wringer before putting you back together. The Happy Ever After Playlist wasn’t just the happy ending that Sloan needed, it was the pretty bow on top of the gift that was the happy ending that Kristen, Josh, Sloan, Jason (and even Brandon) needed.

This is book 2 in the Friend Zone series and you do need to know Sloan's backstory.

Sloan is starting to go through the motions of living, she leaves her house on occasion. On this occasion she plans to visit Brandons graveside on the 2 year anniversary of his accident. The day their lives and dreams had come to a halt.

Instead she finds a dog, Tucker. She calls the number on his collar and doesn’t hear from the owner. Meanwhile she slowly starts to heal with Tucker by her side. She thinks Tuckers been abandoned and plans to keep him. Two weeks go by when Jason, the owner reaches out. This is where it gets very funny. Their instant banter and chemistry leaps off the page. You fall for both of them, you root for them together and of course Kristen and Josh in the background with their not so silent support.

The catch is Jason is a musician, on tour, catching fire. You can see the trouble coming even when they can't. So many tears for these two, if this is really the life of a touring musician under contract, I'm mad for them. How could they. I'll leave it at that. Its a love story with incredible strength, love and patience helping someone get over their profound loss and find their HEA. Be ready with your tissues.

4.5⭐️ bc I have to take away half a star for the emotional damage that third act conflict put me through 😂😭 I’m so sorry I LOVED this book but that is my absolute least favorite version of a third act breakup. SPOILERS INCOMING: I hate when one MC is like “the only way for me to protect the person I love is to absolutely devastate them and shatter their world and break their heart” like please don’t do that I can’t stand it when adults in books don’t have adult conversations instead of this even though I KNOW it’s necessary sometimes to move the plot along.

Okay anyways no more spoilers now. This was my second AJ book and I loved it even more than the first (aside from the third act conflict). Like it has been a hot minute since I’ve not wanted to put a book down so badly that I was reading in the shower, in the car at red lights, in the drive thru, at work, in the bathroom, anywhere I could have my phone out reading this book I DID and I feel like that really says something about how much I was enjoying it.

I LOVED Sloan and Jason. I loved that, with Sloan grieving Brandon, she still was like “I shouldn’t like Jason but god I do” because I was really dreading a story where the MMC was having to beg and plead for the FMC to even give him the time of day and that was not what we got here with them. It was essentially instalove which I always forget how much I actually enjoy (when it’s done as well as AJ did here) and I ate it up. And the DOG gosh I love a good dog main character (try to tell me Tucker isn’t a main character here - you’re wrong). I loved Jason and how accepting he was of Sloan and her grief and I love the kismet nature of it all. I just really loved everything about this book (except for you-know-what).

I thought this book was the best so far from this author because all of the characters were flawed but likable and the plot pulls you in from the beginning because it’s interesting and doesn’t drag. Kristen was way funnier in this story than the Friend Zone because her quick witted sometimes raunchy lines were perfect and it added a lot of humor to the story at the right times. The ending and epilogue’s drama filled but heartwarming and romantic. A Must Read!

Take a ride with AJ’s brilliant mind through Sloan and Jason’s love story, and I promise that you won’t soon forget it.

There is so much HONESTY in their story; a contemporary romantic comedy that is PACKED with REALITY for a change. A very wonderful and gripping change.

Don’t miss this story- you would seriously be missing something wonderful and moving. AJ did it again, and did t better than ever!

Just read this book, in fact if Abby writes it make it a part of your life. Per usual for me, I start almost every book by Abby in audio format, we are all busy, audio is key for me. But then with these books, I find myself grabbing the actual book to read when I can’t listen. I just have to know how it’s going to end!

Sloane and Jason have the best possible meet cute and Jason isn’t even there for it! Their relationship it definitely a practice in patience, vulnerability, and acceptance. It’s a beautifully told story that you are not going to be able to put down.

At this point this is my 5th book of Abby’s and I only have one more to go! I just love how she tells a story, she writes real people, with real issues that you can connect with. And that’s what I find myself doing everytime I read her books.

First, I LOVE that Sloan is not afraid to fall in love. She doesn't fight it. She doesn't try to delay it. She's self-aware enough to know what's what and how she wants to approach it. I love that she's equally reliant on her friends/family and determined to support herself in every way necessary. I love that there's no drama with her or with Jason. What you saw is what you got with them and with their relationship. It was also a fun bonus to see so much of Kristen and Josh up to their usual mischief. Kristen is a great character, and it was nice to see more of her and Sloan's relationship from Sloan's perspective. I was glad to see their approval and easy friendship with Jason despite their previous love for Brandon, and I felt like Brandon was honored and had just enough spotlight throughout the book. Overall, a great light read with notes of the importance of friendship and past love!

This book was…different than I expected. I’ve been devouring Abby Jimenez’s romances because I think for all their silly cliches, there is something very true in them, and most of them are about the role love can play in healing, rather than the idea that we have to be perfect to be loved in the first place.

This book wasn’t that. The setup with the dog was cute and I thought the book would be more about Sloan, through parenting this dog, working through her grief over Brandon and coming back to herself throughout romantic comedy shenanigans of fighting a guy she is attracted to over dog custody. But it kind of becomes something that feels like extremely well written Harry Styles Fan fiction, with all the conflicts being external to the characters, who feel kind of hollow to me in this one and codependent rather than two whole people who are madly in love. Theres not enough tension in the love story and Sloan doesn’t feel as developed as other heroines: she’s a cute blonde with tattoos who cooks and paints. I don’t even know what her tattoos are of why she has them what they mean to her it’s just a quirk to make her character aesthetically cool.

The rock star love plot is escapist and fun but I wish it could have carried more emotional impact, and