Before Abby Jimenez wrote bestsellers like Just for the Summer and her newest novel Say You’ll Remember Me, she built a baking empire from scratch—and picked up a Food Network title in the process.
Abby Jimenez knows the recipe for success.
The secret ingredient? Betting on herself. After all, years before becoming the author of several bestselling rom-coms—her latest, Say You’ll Remember Me, is out April 1—she built a baking business right out of her home.
After being laid off from ger retail job, “It was very scary opening up our first bakery,” Abby admitted to E! News in an exclusive interview. “I started Nadia Cakes out of my house in 2007. I had no culinary background. I had taken two and a half classes to learn how to decorate cakes, and I had my own cake recipes.”
Not to mention, at the time, she and husband Carlos Jimenez were balancing life with three little ones: 2-year-old Naomi, 12-month-old Nadia and newborn Maya, who, as she emphasized were “all in diapers.” (Their daughters are now all in their late teens and early twenties.)
But turning her passion for baking into her profession wasn’t without its risks, and by the time Abby and Carlos were ready to expand Nadia Cakes into a full-fledged bakery, they were in serious debt.
Failure was not an option.
“My husband quit his job three weeks after the bakery opened,” she explained of Carlos’ decision join the company as CFO, “because we recognized that you put everything into Nadia Cakes to make sure that it’s successful, or we’re going to lose everything.”
It was a risk that paid off, with Nadia Cakes subsequently expanding beyond its original location in southern California to two bakeries in Minnesota, where the Jimenez family now calls home.
“I definitely didn’t embark on this journey to be an award-winning baker or a Food Network champion,” she stressed. “I was just doing what I had to do to pay my bills and take care of my family, like that’s all I was doing.”
It also burnt Abby out. Exhausted, she stepped back to focus on another passion: Writing.
“When it came down to the books, that was probably the least amount of risk that I’d ever had to take on,” Abby explained to E!, “because I didn’t need the books to accomplish any goal that I had set out for myself.”
“I was writing the books because it was fun,” she added. “It was something that I deeply enjoyed doing, and it was fulfilling for me.”
And since her debut novel, The Friend Zone, hit shelves in 2019, she’s published a new book every single year—including BookTok favorites like The Happy Ever After Playlist, Part of Your World and Just for the Summer.
While Abby’s characters have ranged from doctors and traveling nurses to carpenters and influencers, she’s yet to focus on a baker. Though the usual shoutout to Nadia Cakes in her books is enough for her.
“I feel like there’s a touch of baking PTSD there,” she acknowledged. “I find it more fun to research other careers and write about those instead.”
And true to form, Say You’ll Remember Me, her sixth novel, stays far away from the (professional) kitchen. In it, witty social media manager Samantha and serious veterinarian Xavier fall fast on a perfect first date—only for Samantha to leave Minnesota for California to care for her mom, who suffers from dementia.
“This is a book about making memories and losing memories,” Abby shared, “I wrote a lot of my own memories into this book.”
But while Abby’s characters often find themselves navigating life’s most challenging hurdles, her books are always infused with humor.
“The beauty of writing a rom-com is it can be funny to the people who are reading it—because it’s not happening to them,” she explained. “It’s a balance that I always love to strike. I will always write that into my books.”
And rest assured, her characters will always get their rom-com ending. As she is quick to remind readers, “At the end of the day, they’re going to get a happy ever after, no matter what I put them through in the pages.”
Say You’ll Remember Me releases April 1. For more books hitting shelves this spring, keep reading.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Release: March 18
At long last, Collins is revealing what really when down when Haymitch Abernathy entered the Hunger Games for the Second Quarter Quell—and she doesn’t disappoint. Harrowing and heartbreaking, Sunrise on the Reaping is possibly Collins’ most gruesome outing in Panem yet, though like its predecessors it offers glimmers of the hope to come. Plus, it is chock full of nods to both The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as well as the original trilogy—including familiar faces popping up.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Release: March 18
In 2012, the journal of a Lutheran pastor from 1912 is uncovered and, in it, he recounts his interactions with a Blackfeet man—and vampire—Good Stab. Moving between three time periods (2012, 1912, and the time of the 1870 Marias Massacre, in which around 200 Blackfeet people were slaughtered by the U.S. army) the story is a chilling tale of murder and revenge, with supernatural elements that only heighten the narrative.
Saltwater by Kate Hays
Release: March 25
Every year, the Lingates return to their luxurious villa in Capri, despite a 1992 tragedy that left family member Sarah dead at the bottom of a cliff. Though deemed a horrible accident, something isn’t quite right. And exactly 30 years later, the mystery intensifies as the necklace Sarah was wearing that fateful night turns up, setting off a deadly chain of events that uncovers the secrets from that night—including what actually happened to Sarah.
All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett
Release: April 1
American college graduate Anna arrives to start a new life in London, only for the reality of the city to dampen all she’d envisioned about her dream home. That is, until she gets caught up in the world of the elite when she’s hired as a tutor by a wealthy family and is soon befriended by her student’s older sister. But in keeping up with this life of luxury, may just come with a price.
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
Release: April 1
For Samatha and Xavier, a bad first impression soon gives way to a life-changing first date—which was not what Samantha had in mind for her final night in Minnesota before moving nearly 2,000 miles away. But as she navigates a devastating family crisis and Xavier tries to keep his head down and build his budding vet practice, they can’t seem to forget their magical night together. It’s heartfelt, funny and utterly unputdownable.
Fearless by Lauren Roberts
Release: April 8
Lauren Roberts is back with the epic conclusion to the Powerless series, which sees Paedyn and Kai both back in Ilya. But while they are reunited at last, a decision might break them forever—and destroy Ilya in the process.
The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose
Release: April 15
Five years after The Perfect Divorce, Jeneva Rose is once more throwing Sarah Morgan for a loop, as she discovers her marriage to her second husband isn’t without its secrets, namely his infidelity. However, as she seeks a divorce, new evidence surrounding the murder case involving her first husband pops up. Plus, husband no. 2’s mistress soon goes missing. Suffice to say, Rose doles out an endless supply of juicy twists and turns in this exciting page-turner.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Release: April 22
Taking light inspiration from Taylor Swift’s “Last Great American Dynasty,” the latest from Henry follows writers Alice and Hayden who arrive on a small island off the coast of Georgia for the opportunity of a lifetime: The chance to write the definitive biography of the now-reclusive 20th century tabloid sensation Margaret Ives. But as they battle it out for the top prize—and try to piece together Margaret’s ever-elusive story—sparks can’t help but fly.
Matriarch by Tina Knowles
Release: April 22
Knowles is laying her cards down down down down and telling her story—from the very beginning in Galveston, TX, as the youngest of seven to life to, as the title suggests, matriarch of one of the biggest families in pop culture. Prepare to get to know Ms. Tina Knowles like never before.
The Pretender by Jo Harkin
Release: April 22
Chances are you’ve never heard of Lambert Simnel but back in the late 15th century, he nearly brought the rising Tudor rule to its knees when he emerged out of nowhere as a long thought-to-be-dead Plantagenet duke, who may just have a claim to the throne of England. This gripping story follows a young man, a puppet for the Tudor detractors, who is thrust into the world of aristocracy—and all the dangers and deceit that come with it.
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
Release: May 6
Fortune is back in Barry’s Bay, this time to see Charlie Florek meet his match in Alice Everly. Set a few years after Every Summer After, a heartbroken Alice winds up at the lake—where she spent the summer that changed everything for her as a teen—for some time with her recently-injured grandmother. She quickly befriends Charlie, their neighbor and cottage’s caretaker for the summer and, we’ll, we’ll let Fortune take it from here. After all, fans have been begging her to give Charlie his happily ever after for years—and she’s fully delivered with a sweet, summer love story.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Release: May 6
Backman is a can’t-miss author for a reason. Set in dual timelines, My Friends follows a pivotal summer for a group of teenagers and a budding artist who 25 years later is mesmerized by a painting depicting three of those friends—and she’s determine to learn more about the people, and the place, behind it. In true Backman fashion, it’s a beautiful, occasionally heartbreaking examination of life, loss, and the people who sustain us.
The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz
Release: May 20
Looking for closure after her fiancée’s death, Abby goes to the island where the tragedy took place. There, she meets a man who says he knows what happened before her fiancée’s sudden death—only he goes missing soon after. Now trapped on an island with her fiancée’s possible killer on the loose, and a close-knit group of ex-pats who are more suspicious than ever, Abby goes on a quest to get to the truth before it’s too late.
Source: www.eonline.com