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Abby Jimenez (writer)

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Abby Jimenez
Jimenez in 2024
Jimenez in 2024
OccupationNovelist and baker
NationalityAmerican
GenreRomance
Years active2007–present
Notable worksThe Friend Zone, The Happy Ever After Playlist, Life's Too Short, Part of Your World, Just for the Summer

Abby Jimenez is an American romance novelist and baker. She is author of three series of romance novels: The Friend Zone (2019–2021), Part of Your World (2022–2024), and Just for the Summer (2025-). She is the owner of a bake shop, Nadia Cakes, with locations in California and Minnesota, and she won the 2013 iteration of the Food Network competition show Cupcake Wars.

Baking career

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Jimenez was a retail manager in 2007 when she lost her job and founded Nadia Cakes out of her home kitchen in the same year. In 2009, she opened her first brick and mortar location of Nadia Cakes in Palmdale, California.[1] Jimenez won Food Network's Cupcake Wars in 2013[2][3] and appeared on TLC's Fabulous Cakes.[4] Her family later moved to suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she went on to open Nadia Cakes shops in Maple Grove and Woodbury, and in addition to the Palmdale location.[4] In 2018, a pink rock candy cake sold by the bakery went viral on social media, owing to its resemblance to a vagina.[5]

Romance writing

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During a camping trip to Boundary Waters, Jimenez told her children a story that she later developed into a young adult novel.[4] Though she ultimately discarded the novel,[4] she went on to write two series of romance novels. Her debut novel The Friend Zone was a bestseller in Poland and won an Empik award in 2020.[6] The audiobook for the novel, narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon, was nominated for that year's Audie Award for Romance.[7]

Her third and fourth novels Life's Too Short (2021) and Part of Your World (2022) both went on to become USA Today and New York Times Best Sellers. Her novels have been optioned by Thruline Entertainment, which has begun work on a film adaptation of The Happy Ever After Playlist.[8] Life's Too Short won the 2022 Minnesota Book Award in the Genre Fiction category.[9] Yours Truly was chosen as Book of the Year for 2023 by members of the Book of the Month club.[10] Her 2024 novel Just for the Summer reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[11] It was also chosen for Good Morning America's book club for April 2024.[12] Jimenez has most recently published Say You'll Remember Me on April 1, 2025.[13] The novel has already reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in the categories of "Combined Print and E-Book Fiction" and of "Hardcover Fiction".[11] Jimenez has most recently announced her next book titled The Night We Met, that will follow the love story of the friends of Say You'll Remember Me protagonist, Xavier. A third romance novel will follow The Night We Met to round out the Say You'll Remember Me series.[14]

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Jimenez's novels incorporate "very real and relatable" life experiences like anxiety, grief, and fertility alongside common tropes in romance comedies, and their settings in Minnesota have led her to become a "one-woman booster for state tourism".[4] PBS Books noted in 2024 that her novels had sold over 1.5 million copies and had been translated into 28 different languages.[15]

Works

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The Friend Zone series

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  • The Friend Zone (2019)[16][17]
  • The Happy Ever After Playlist (2020)[18][19]
  • Life's Too Short (2021)[8]

Part of Your World series

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  • Part of Your World (2022)[20]
  • Yours Truly (2023)[21]
  • Just for the Summer (2024)[22]

Say You'll Remember Me series

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  • Say You'll Remember Me (2025)[23]
  • The Night We Met (2026)[14]

Personal life

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Jimenez announced in 2023 that she had been undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Vaughan, Kelly. "Abby Jimenez's journey from baker to bestselling author". Today. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  2. ^ Khori, Sophia. "Meet Maple Grove bake shop owner, romance novelist Abby Jimenez". Press & News. hometownsource.com. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  3. ^ Aviles, Gwen. "Abby Jimenez's 'The Happy Ever After Playlist' explores healing from grief—with a dose of humor". NBC News. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Pearson, Erica (May 7, 2024). "Famed Twin Cities baker sets cupcakes aside to write bestselling 'Minnesota spicy' romance novels". Minnesota Star Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  5. ^ Jordan, Aimee (February 9, 2018). "Minnesota bakery's unique cake goes viral after people mistake it for female body part". Minnesota Star Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  6. ^ "Bestsellery Empiku 2020 rozdane! Sprawdź kto dostał nagrodę". www.empik.com (in Polish). Empik. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  7. ^ "Audies Award Finalists and Winners 2020". www.audiopub.org. Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on February 3, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Nadia Cakes Owner Abby Jimenez Releases Third Book". CCX Media. April 7, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  9. ^ "Winners announced for 2022 Minnesota Book Awards". MPR News. April 27, 2022.
  10. ^ "The best books of the year". www.bookofthemonth.com. Book of the Month. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Best Sellers - Books". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  12. ^ America, Good Morning. "'Just for the Summer' by Abby Jimenez is our 'GMA' Book Club pick for April". Good Morning America. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  13. ^ "Home". www.authorabbyjimenez.com. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Abby Jimenez Reveals How Say You'll Remember Me Sets Up Her Newest Book Series". E! Online. April 1, 2025. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  15. ^ ""Just for the Summer" by Abby Jimenez - LOC NBF 2024". PBS Books. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  16. ^ Thomas, Leah; Allen, Kelly; Newbould, Niko (December 13, 2019). "38 Brand-Spanking-New Books You Have to Read ASAP". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  17. ^ "2020 Audie Awards Finalists Named". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  18. ^ "See the cover for Abby Jimenez's follow-up to her best-selling 'The Friend Zone'". EW.com. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  19. ^ VanDenburgh, Barbara. "5 books not to miss: New Madeleine Albright memoir, 'Simon the Fiddler' by Paulette Jiles". USA Today. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  20. ^ "A tangled story about a wedding guest who falls for the groom tops April's must-read rom-coms". USA Today.
  21. ^ "Yours Truly". Publishers Weekly. November 18, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  22. ^ "Exclusive: Abby Jimenez's 'Just for the Summer' Cover Reveal and Excerpt Will Absolutely Make You Melt". Cosmopolitan. August 15, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  23. ^ "Say You'll Remember Me". Goodreads. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  24. ^ "Author and Entrepreneur Abby Jimenez Opens Up About Ovarian Cancer Battle". CCX Media. August 4, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
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