Review: The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) - Amy Spalding

Synopsis

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 has stayed focused on her plus-size style blog and her dreams of taking the fashion industry by storm. When she lands a prized internship at her favorite local boutique, she’s thrilled to take her first step into her dream career. She doesn't expect to fall for her fellow intern, Jordi Perez. Abby knows it's a big no-no to fall for a colleague. She also knows that Jordi documents her whole life in photographs, while Abby would prefer to stay behind the scenes.

Then again, nothing is going as expected this summer. She's competing against the girl she's kissing to win a paid job at the boutique. She's somehow managed to befriend Jax, a lacrosse-playing bro type who needs help in a project that involves eating burgers across L.A.'s eastside. Suddenly, she doesn't feel like a sidekick. Is it possible Abby's finally in her own story?

But when Jordi's photography puts Abby in the spotlight, it feels like a betrayal, rather than a starring role. Can Abby find a way to reconcile her positive yet private sense of self with the image that other people have of her?

Is this just Abby’s summer of fashion? Or will it truly be The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles)? (Goodreads)

Thoughts

I had been looking forward to reading The Summer of Jordi Perez for several months now, and when my book slump hit and I was desperate to get out of it, a cute contemporary under 300 pages sounded like the perfect solution. The thing is, I almost DNFd this book a few times because, despite its short length, it felt like a chore to read. It took me a week to read. For context, I finished Sawkill Girls (which is 450 pages long) in about 3 days and Five Feet Apart, which is a few pages longer than Jordi Perez in 1 day. 

My issues with this book are all in the writing: it just wasn't for me. It was a lot of telling without showing. Abby Ives runs a popular plus-size fashion blog, has candy-pink hair, and wears fun fruity clothing. She's successful and has some serious passion, but that didn't actually come through on the page. Yes, she loves shopping...why didn't we focus on her actually looking through the clothes when she would shop? Why didn't she share more of the opinions she would put on her blog instead of just saying "I run a popular blog"? I totally get that this book's intention was most likely to focus on the romance, but I still wanted Abby to have a personality outside of her extremely sudden feelings for Jordi. 
The relationship starts at around the 60-page mark and it felt too soon for me, honestly. I barely knew either character, let alone felt any sort of spark or tension, so how could I root for them?

Despite the lack of emphasis on Abby's passion for fashion, there was an extreme emphasis on her lack of confidence. While I think a ton of people can relate, it was annoying to hear a repetition of "I'll never fall in love, who would ever like me, I'll just stick to crushing on celebrities, why does she like me, no one else will ever like me again, etc." I'm sure I said a ton of stuff like this growing up and I still say negative things regarding other aspects of my life on the daily, but the book kept driving this specific point home without really going into why Abby feels this way at the tender age of 17, as if she doesn't have her whole life ahead of her. 

My final issue is that the burgers are such a side note to the story (I get it, they are in parenthesis and not meant to be the focal point...kinda like this sentence...) that I don't even understand why they were included in the title. I would've loved more time focusing on the food, and I would've loved even more time with Jax. And as I was about to say I don't think they did ever find the best burger, I realized that they did and it was said in like one sentence in one of the last paragraphs of the book when everything was getting wrapped up super quickly in a neat little bow...another frustration of mine.

Rating

I am not here to discourage anyone from reading this because it has plenty of great reviews. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. The writing stays on the surface, and I like to get to know my characters and why they feel the way they do in a deeper sense.