Abby Jimenez (writer)

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.{{cite news |last1=Vaughan |first1=Kelly |title=Abby Jimenez's journey from baker to bestselling author|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/books/abby-jimenez-author-interview-rcna145924 |access-date=July 11, 2024 |work=Today}} Jimenez won Food Network's Cupcake Wars in 2013{{cite news |last1=Khori |first1=Sophia |title=Meet Maple Grove bake shop owner, romance novelist Abby Jimenez |url=https://www.hometownsource.com/press_and_news/free/meet-maple-grove-bake-shop-owner-romance-novelist-abby-jimenez/article_940a5e36-16c0-11ea-880f-77791c53362e.html |access-date=December 4, 2019 |work=Press & News |publisher=hometownsource.com}}{{cite news |last1=Aviles |first1=Gwen |title=Abby Jimenez's 'The Happy Ever After Playlist' explores healing from grief—with a dose of humor |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/abby-jimenez-s-happy-ever-after-playlist-explores-healing-grief-n1183751 |access-date=April 14, 2020 |work=NBC News}} and appeared on TLC's Fabulous Cakes. 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.{{cite news |last1=Pearson |first1=Erica |title=Famed Twin Cities baker sets cupcakes aside to write bestselling 'Minnesota spicy' romance novels |url=https://www.startribune.com/famed-twin-cities-baker-sets-cupcakes-aside-to-write-bestselling-minnesota-spicy-romance-novels/600364198 |access-date=October 19, 2024 |work=Minnesota Star Tribune |date=May 7, 2024}} In 2018, a pink rock candy cake sold by the bakery went viral on social media, owing to its resemblance to a vagina.{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Aimee |title=Minnesota bakery's unique cake goes viral after people mistake it for female body part |url=https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-bakery-s-unique-cake-goes-viral-after-people-mistake-it-for-female-body-part/472959143 |access-date=October 19, 2024 |work=Minnesota Star Tribune |date=February 9, 2018}}

During a camping trip to Boundary Waters, Jimenez told her children a story that she later developed into a young adult novel. Though she ultimately discarded the novel, 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.{{Cite web |title=Bestsellery Empiku 2020 rozdane! Sprawdź kto dostał nagrodę |url=https://www.empik.com/empikultura/bestsellery-empiku-2020-rozdane-sprawdz-kto-dostal-nagrode,117220,a |access-date=September 1, 2022 |website=www.empik.com |publisher=Empik |language=pl}} The audiobook for the novel, narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon, was nominated for that year's Audie Award for Romance.{{cite web |title=Audies Award Finalists and Winners 2020 |url=https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2020-audies |website=www.audiopub.org |publisher=Audio Publishers Association |access-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-date=February 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203150625/https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2020-audies |url-status=dead }}

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. Life's Too Short won the 2022 Minnesota Book Award in the Genre Fiction category.{{cite web|title=Winners announced for 2022 Minnesota Book Awards|url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/04/27/winners-announced-for-2022-minnesota-book-awards/|website=MPR News|date=April 27, 2022}} Yours Truly was chosen as Book of the Year for 2023 by members of the Book of the Month club.{{Cite web |title=The best books of the year |url=https://www.bookofthemonth.com/best-books-of-the-year |access-date=February 28, 2024 |website=www.bookofthemonth.com |publisher=Book of the Month}} Her 2024 novel Just for the Summer reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.{{Cite news |title=Best Sellers - Books |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/ |access-date=April 11, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} It was also chosen for Good Morning America's book club for April 2024.{{Cite web |last=America |first=Good Morning |title='Just for the Summer' by Abby Jimenez is our 'GMA' Book Club pick for April |url=https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/summer-abby-jimenez-gma-book-club-pick-april-108700798 |access-date=April 11, 2024 |website=Good Morning America}} Jimenez has most recently published Say You'll Remember Me on April 1, 2025.{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.authorabbyjimenez.com/ |website=www.authorabbyjimenez.com |access-date=9 January 2025}} 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". 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.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-01 |title=Abby Jimenez Reveals How Say You’ll Remember Me Sets Up Her Newest Book Series |url=https://www.eonline.com/news/1415515/abby-jimenez-interview-say-youll-remember-me-book |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=E! Online}}

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". PBS Books noted in 2024 that her novels had sold over 1.5 million copies and had been translated into 28 different languages.{{Cite web |title="Just for the Summer" by Abby Jimenez - LOC NBF 2024 |url=https://www.pbsbooks.org/event/loc-bookfest-2024-jimenez/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=PBS Books |language=en-US}}

• The Friend Zone (2019){{Cite web|last1=Thomas|first1=Leah|last2=Allen|first2=Kelly|last3=Newbould|first3=Niko|date=December 13, 2019|title=38 Brand-Spanking-New Books You Have to Read ASAP|url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/g25335539/new-books-2019-reading-list/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=Cosmopolitan}}{{Cite web|title=2020 Audie Awards Finalists Named|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/82319-2020-audie-awards-finalists-named.html|url-status=live|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=Publishers Weekly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310035144/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/82319-2020-audie-awards-finalists-named.html |archive-date=March 10, 2020 }}
• The Happy Ever After Playlist (2020){{Cite web|title=See the cover for Abby Jimenez's follow-up to her best-selling 'The Friend Zone'|url=https://ew.com/books/2019/08/07/the-happy-ever-after-playlist-cover-abby-jimenez/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=EW.com}}{{Cite web|last=VanDenburgh|first=Barbara|title=5 books not to miss: New Madeleine Albright memoir, 'Simon the Fiddler' by Paulette Jiles|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/04/11/new-books-madeleine-albright-memoir-paulette-jiles-simon-fiddler/2974891001/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=USA Today}}
• Life's Too Short (2021){{cite web|title=Nadia Cakes Owner Abby Jimenez Releases Third Book|url=https://ccxmedia.org/news/nadia-cakes-owner-abby-jimenez-releases-third-book/|publisher=CCX Media|date=April 7, 2021|access-date=July 10, 2021}}

• Part of Your World (2022){{cite web|title=A tangled story about a wedding guest who falls for the groom tops April's must-read rom-coms|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/04/01/april-rom-coms-mia-sosa-wedding-crasher/7050297001/|website=USA Today}}
• Yours Truly (2023){{Cite web |date=November 18, 2022 |title=Yours Truly |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781538704394 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |website=Publishers Weekly}}
• Just for the Summer (2024){{Cite web |date=August 15, 2023 |title=Exclusive: Abby Jimenez's 'Just for the Summer' Cover Reveal and Excerpt Will Absolutely Make You Melt |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/a44812304/abby-jimenez-just-for-the-summer-cover-reveal-excerpt/ |access-date=January 13, 2024 |website=Cosmopolitan}}

• Say You'll Remember Me (2025){{Cite web |title=Say You'll Remember Me |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216437557-say-you-ll-remember-me |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}
• The Night We Met (2026)

Jimenez announced in 2023 that she had been undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer.{{cite news |title=Author and Entrepreneur Abby Jimenez Opens Up About Ovarian Cancer Battle |url=https://ccxmedia.org/news/author-and-entrepreneur-abby-jimenez-opens-up-about-ovarian-cancer-battle/ |access-date=October 19, 2024 |publisher=CCX Media |date=August 4, 2023}}

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• {{Official website|https://www.authorabbyjimenez.com/}}

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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American women novelists

Category:American romantic fiction novelists

Category:American women romantic fiction writers

Category:American bakers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:Writers from Minneapolis