The Summer of Jordi Pérez (and the Best Burger in Los Ángeles)

The Summer of Jordi Pérez (and the Best Burger in Los Ángeles)

Amy Spalding

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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's been happy to focus on her plus-size style blog and her dreams of taking the fashion industry by storm. When she lands a great internship at her favorite boutique, she's thrilled to take the first step toward her dream career. Then she falls for her fellow intern, Jordi Perez. Hard. And now she's competing against the girl she's kissing to win the coveted paid job at the end of the internship.But really, nothing this summer is going as planned. She also unwittingly becomes friends with Jax, a lacrosse-playing bro-type who wants her help finding the best burger in Los Angeles, and she's struggling to prove to her mother―the city's celebrity health nut―that she's perfectly content with who she is.Just as Abby starts to feel like she's no longer the sidekick in her own life, Jordi's photography surprisingly puts her in the spotlight. Instead of feeling like she's landed a starring role, Abby feels betrayed. Can Abby find a way to reconcile her positive yet private sense of self with the image others have of her?


From the Forum

No posts yet

Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update

Recent Reviews

Your rating:

  • charkattacks
    Dec 02, 2024
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • emilyblaze
    Apr 07, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • dbsguide
    Mar 10, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2019/07/16/the-summer-of-jordi-perez-by-amy-spalding/

    The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles)
    AMY SPALDING
    Year Published: 2018
    Publisher: Sky Pony Press
    Genre: Young Adult ~ Contemporary ~ LGBT+ characters ~ Romance
    Stars: 4

    Disclaimer: I received this e-arc through Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. The image header and the quote edits used are my own and the link at the top of the post links back to the book’s Goodreads page. All quotes given in the review are from the e-arc and therefore might not be accurate. The summary is my own (well, I summarised the Goodreads description). All opinions expressed are my own.

    Lil' summary: Abby Ives has always been the one content to just be happy with her blog about plus-size fashion and style and she seems to be thinking she’ll do more of the same when she starts an internship at her favourite boutique. That seems more difficult when she starts to fall in love with Jordi Perez, the other boutique intern.

    So why the best burger in Los Angeles? Well, they live in Los Angeles and burgers are amazing. Okay, the burgers are because she makes an unintentional friend, Jax, who has to go out and try burgers for his dad’s app.

    And then things start to change, and Abby has to decide if she still wants to be in the shadows, or step out a bit.

    Review: I absolutely loved this book. It’s more about fashion, it’s more about a good summer. It’s about love, and acceptance, and understanding why you do what you’re good at. It’s about finding yourself and finding more friends and even love (listen, I get happy at some cliché things, and this is definitely one of them).

    Abby is such a good character. She’s realistic and funny. She makes you root for her, you want her to be happy and to get what she wants. What’s more is that she makes you feel like you’re there – which is something I always enjoy in books and something I think is important to have – the ability to relate to a character.

    Her love interest, Jordi, was a good character. I liked to see her passion of photography and was happy to see her as Abby’s love interest.

    Another point of the book that I really liked was the romance. It was super sweet and so cute and just something that I really liked seeing. That and it had the feeling of a total rom-com – like something you could see on the big screen.

    A side character I just wanted to squeeze becuase he too great was Jax – he was absolutely delightful to read. He was kind, and a good friend to my girl, Abby. And I mean, he had the best job – where can I get a job like this? Like eating burgers in the name of helping your dad? Could we carry on to trying the other foods – like the ice-cream? Or the nachos or sushi? Yes, please, I will sign up for all of those.

    All in all, a very cute read, definitely perfect for the summer and great if you need a pick-me-up book with good ownvoices representation.

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...