Just for the Summer

Just for the Summer (2024) is an adult contemporary romance novel by Abby Jimenez that alternates between the first-person perspectives of Emma, a travel nurse with an abusive mother, and Justin, a software engineer with a troubled family. Brought together by the fact that every ex of theirs has found “The One” shortly after their breakup, Emma and Justin decide to temporarily date to cancel out their curses and hopefully find true love. What they don’t expect, however, is to find it in each other. Just for the Summer is the third installment in Part of Your World, a series of loosely connected romance novels following different couples based in Minnesota. The first two installments include Part of Your World (2022) and Yours Truly (2023). Just for the Summer includes cameos from previous couples Daniel and Alex (Part of Your World) and Briana and Jacob (Yours Truly).

This guide refers to the paperback edition published by Forever, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, in 2024.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of panic attacks, anxiety, PTSD, depression, and past child neglect.

Plot Summary

Emma is a travel nurse with an aversion to permanency due to the childhood trauma she experienced from her neglectful, toxic mother, Amber. Justin is a software engineer whose mother is going to prison for embezzlement, after which he will be forced to take custody of his three younger siblings, Alex, Sarah, and Chelsea. One thing Emma and Justin have in common: It seems that every person they date ends up finding The One directly after their breakup. Desperate to end their dating curse, Emma and Justin make a pact to temporarily date in order to find the person they’re meant to be with.

Emma convinces her fellow travel nurse, best friend, and foster sister Maddy to change their next six-week work assignment from Hawaii to Royaume Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Justin is located. They take up residence on an island in the middle of a lake only accessible by their single pontoon, where Emma receives a call from Amber after two years of silence. Amber agrees to mail a beloved stuffed animal she’s recently found to Emma’s current address. Maddy disapproves of Amber because she only brings pain and destruction into Emma’s life. Maddy convinces Emma to take a DNA test to see if she has other family members. Emma doesn’t believe she does, as her mother has always made that very clear.

Emma begins seeing Justin. He puts extreme effort into their dates. During their interactions, Emma shares her rough childhood with Justin, who is horrified. Emma reveals that Amber went away for an entire summer when she was young and left Emma to fend for herself. Emma was placed in foster care, where she eventually ended up with Maddy’s moms. Amber never reclaimed her. Shortly after this admission, Amber arrives in Minneapolis to surprise Emma. While Maddy and Justin are apprehensive about Amber’s presence, Emma is elated. Her elation quickly abates when Amber becomes infatuated with her landlord and coworker, Neil, and ignores Emma. Amber claims to be going to therapy and assures Emma she’s in a better mental place lately. While Emma holds out hope that this is true, Maddy does not believe it. Amber begins painting a rose mural in Neil’s home and decorating the mansion with flowers to make it more homey.

As Emma and Justin become closer, Emma makes it clear she will not give up her nomadic lifestyle to put down roots, while Justin informs her that his intention is not to casually date. Despite the conflict of interest, their intense attraction to each other prompts them to postpone having serious conversations until the end of Emma’s six-week work contract. Emma reveals to Justin that in moments of stress, she becomes “small” and retreats to her metaphorical island—an internal place where she shuts everyone out. Only Maddy and Amber can reach her on this island. In turn, Justin reveals that his mother is going to prison, and he will soon be taking custody of his siblings. This change will tether him to Minneapolis. Emma knows that if she continues to date Justin, she too will be tethered to one place. The thought terrifies her. Emma meets Justin’s family, and though she immediately loves them, she knows she’ll leave them as soon as her assignment is over.

When Justin officially takes custody of his siblings, Emma continues to date him. Maddy gains Emma more time to dwell over the fate of her and Justin’s relationship by agreeing to extend their assignment in Minnesota for another six weeks. This extra time allows Emma to become much closer to Justin and his siblings.

Amber eventually has an emotional explosion in which she takes out Neil by vandalizing his car and breaking one of his medical excellence trophies. The situation causes Emma to become small and retreat from Justin after telling him she still views their relationship as casual. For several days, Emma and Justin have minimal interactions over the phone. During this time, Emma falls sick and is stuck on the island alone while Maddy is out of town. Justin comes to her aid and nurses her back to health. His act of love allows Emma to make space for him on her metaphorical island and they become closer than ever. Emma admits that she’s falling in love with Justin and the life she’s made in Minneapolis. However, she’s still terrified of settling down.

For the next several weeks, Emma begins staying with Justin at his house and enjoys helping care for his siblings. This routine is interrupted by another Amber outburst that Emma must defuse. Amber has been caught stealing from Neil, and when he suggested they take a break from dating, Amber began trashing his home. Emma, Maddy, and Justin work together to clean Neil’s place and calm Amber down.

The following day, Maddy, Justin, and his siblings celebrate Emma’s birthday. Emma agrees to check the results of the DNA test she took several weeks ago. The results reveal she has a half-brother named Daniel Grant as well as several aunts and cousins on Amber’s side of the family. The news comes as a shock, as Amber has never mentioned a single relative to Emma. After contacting Daniel, Emma agrees to meet him in Wakan, Minnesota, where he lives. Her shock only increases when she visits Daniel’s house and finds a picture that proves Amber was in Wakan sipping on Bloody Marys the summer she abandoned Emma to foster care.

When Emma returns to Minneapolis and confronts Amber, she’s met with apathy. Emma’s love for Amber turns into resentment and she officially cuts ties with her mother. Unable to regulate her emotions afterward, Amber sets Neil’s house on fire and flees town. Emma becomes smaller than ever and her unresolved childhood trauma causes her to flee the city without telling Maddy or Justin. Maddy has hidden AirTags in Emma’s luggage and uses these to follow Emma to the hotel airport she books for the night. In an unprecedented heart-to-heart, Maddy convinces Emma to face her problems instead of running from them as she always does. Emma agrees to work on her issues and overcome her trauma with Maddy’s help. Emma returns to Justin’s to say goodbye and end their relationship. Until she works through her trauma, she cannot provide the stability and permanence Justin and his siblings need. Though devastated, Justin understands her reasoning.

For the next six months, Emma and Maddy work in Wakan, Minnesota, where Emma connects with the Grant family and attends therapy. Emma is diagnosed with complex PTSD, and therapy helps her successfully develop her ability to love and eliminate her flight response to stress. When she feels ready, Emma visits Justin in Minneapolis. For the first time, Emma explicitly tells Justin she loves him and offers to stay forever if he’ll have her. Justin eagerly accepts her offer and his family celebrates Emma’s return. Two years later, Justin and Emma get engaged.