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 ''Say You'll Remember Me'' (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 Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

competition show ''

Cupcake Wars ''Cupcake Wars'' is an American reality competition series that premiered on December 27, 2009, on cable television network Food Network. The show, which is based on creating unique and professional-style cupcakes, was hosted by Justin Willma ...

''.

Baking career

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 Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...

location of Nadia Cakes in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

. Jimenez won

's ''

'' in 2013 and appeared on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's ''

Fabulous Cakes Fabulous may refer to: *Fabulous (band), a 1990s British rock band *Fabulous (album), ''Fabulous'' (album), by Sheena Easton, 2000 *''Fabulous'', an album by the Tamperer featuring Maya, 1999 *Fabulous (Charlie Gracie song), "Fabulous" (Charlie Gr ...

''. Her family later moved to suburban

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, and she went on to open Nadia Cakes shops in Maple Grove and Woodbury, and in addition to the Palmdale location. In 2018, a pink

rock candy Rock candy or sugar candy, also called rock sugar or crystal sugar, is a type of confection composed of relatively large sugar crystals. In some parts of the world, local variations are called Misri, nabat or navat. This candy is formed b ...

cake sold by the bakery

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

on social media, owing to its resemblance to a

vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...

Romance writing

During a camping trip to

Boundary Waters The Boundary Waters, also called the Quetico-Superior Country, is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the area just west of Lake Superior. While "Boundary Waters" is a common nam ...

, Jimenez told her children a story that she later developed into a

young adult novel Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

. 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 Empik (stylised as empi̓k) is a Polish commercial chain selling books, international Print media, press and media products (including film, music, and software). The chain also owns a photo company, Empik Foto, as well as a foreign language schoo ...

award in 2020. The audiobook for the novel, narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon, was nominated for that year's Audie Award for Romance. 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 The Minnesota Book Awards are presented annually for books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Minnesotans. The award, originally established in 1988, is organized by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. History ...

in the Genre Fiction category. ''Yours Truly'' was chosen as Book of the Year for 2023 by members of the

Book of the Month Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ch ...

club. Her 2024 novel ''Just for the Summer'' reached number 1 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. It was also chosen for

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

's book club for April 2024. Jimenez has most recently published ''Say You'll Remember Me'' on April 1, 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. According to the ''

Minnesota Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

'', Jimenez's novels incorporate "very real and relatable" life experiences like

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a Human bonding, bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, ...

, and

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

alongside common tropes in romance comedies, and their settings in Minnesota have led her to become a "one-woman booster for state tourism".

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Books noted in 2024 that her novels had sold over 1.5 million copies and had been translated into 28 different languages.

Works

''The Friend Zone'' series

* ''The Friend Zone'' (2019) * ''The Happy Ever After Playlist'' (2020) * ''Life's Too Short'' (2021)

''Part of Your World'' series

* ''Part of Your World'' (2022) * ''Yours Truly'' (2023) * ''Just for the Summer'' (2024)

''Say You'll Remember Me'' series

* ''Say You'll Remember Me'' (2025) * ''The Night We Met'' (2026)

Personal life

Jimenez announced in 2023 that she had been undergoing treatment for

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Abby Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American romantic fiction novelists American women romantic fiction writers American bakers 21st-century American women writers Writers from Minneapolis