49 pages • 1 hour read
Abby JimenezYours Truly
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Jacob”
Jacob is anxious as he prepares to go to Briana’s, but his anxiety fades when he sees her. They talk about Amy as they eat, and Jacob reveals the many times Amy dropped him into anxiety-inducing social settings. Briana expresses surprise that Amy didn’t understand Jacob’s anxiety disorder. They discuss their previous relationships and the way their former partners hurt them. Benny comes into the room, so Briana snuggles with Jacob to give the impression they’re dating. When Benny’s gone, they agree to “be harmless” to each other, referencing the Hippocratic oath.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Briana”
After three weeks of dating, Jacob takes Briana to his home. Briana loves how neat it is and admires the beauty of his plant room. However, when she sees his bedroom, she has romantic thoughts and realizes she’s falling for Jacob. As they prepare to go to Amy and Jeremiah’s engagement party, Briana offers Jacob a hug. Briana enjoys the hug, but she worries that Jacob wishes she were Amy.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Jacob”
Briana gives Jacob a difficult code phrase as they arrive at his family’s home for Amy and Jeremiah’s engagement party. When Amy and Jeremiah approach them, Briana is immediately on guard when Amy makes a comment about Jacob’s capacity to be in a relationship. Briana announces to everyone that she and Jacob are so deeply in love that they are moving in together. This surprises everyone, including Jacob. Briana tells Jacob she doesn’t like Amy, but Jacob makes excuses for Amy. Jacob also points out that his family comes to his house unexpectedly all the time, so she’ll really have to move in. Briana encourages Jacob to tell his family that he is Benny’s kidney donor. As his family reacts positively to the news, Jacob uses his code phrase, and Briana sends him to the taxidermy room.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Jacob”
Amy follows Jacob to the taxidermy room and accuses him of changing for Briana. Amy also suggests that Briana is only with him for the kidney donation. Amy’s arguments against Briana and the comparison of the two relationships helps Jacob see that he never was in love with Amy but that he is falling in love with Briana.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Briana”
Briana follows Jacob to the taxidermy room, but she overhears him arguing with Amy before going inside. Briana is disappointed because she had begun to think she might want to date Jacob for real, but what she hears causes her to believe that Amy and Jacob could potentially get back together. Briana has already been with a man who loved someone else, and she isn’t interested in doing it again.
Briana is silent on the ride home. While she’s preparing Benny’s dialysis, she realizes that Jacob is on the porch. Jacob asks her out on a real date, but Briana refuses, telling him they should just stick to the plan. Briana calls Alexis and asks if she can stay the next few days with her at Grant House, the bed and breakfast where she is staying. Alexis agrees and waits up for her, and she comforts Briana after she tells her the whole story.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Jacob”
Jacob returns to his mother’s home and speaks to her about Briana. Joy tells Jacob that it is obvious Briana cares for him and that as long as he shows up, things will work out. Jacob understands that this will force him out of his comfort zone, but he decides that he can do it for Briana.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Briana”
Briana wakes when her cellphone rings. She is surprised when Jacob asks to join her at Grant House. Briana takes pictures of the driveway to show Jacob where he’ll need to park.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Jacob”
Jacob is surprised but pleased when Briana not only sends him pictures of the driveway but also sends detailed texts about the property, where he can find more information, and who he can expect to meet during the weekend. This proves to Jacob that Briana understands him much better than anyone else, including Amy.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Briana”
Briana is annoyed by how happy she is to see Jacob. She takes him up to the second guest bedroom, wishing they had a reason to touch. Jacob suggests taking a selfie, which does give them a reason to touch, but Briana pulls away when her thoughts turn to intimacy. She believes Jacob only wants the picture to make Amy jealous.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Jacob”
Briana and Jacob go to the VFW with Alexis and Daniel. Briana teases Jacob for refusing to punch her for a billion dollars. They leave, deciding to walk back to Grant House. They continue discussing Jacob’s refusal to punch Briana. Briana compares Jacob to Nick, and Jacob says they are nothing alike. They discuss Briana’s childhood, and Jacob learns how difficult it was for Briana’s mother, Rosa, after Briana’s father walked out. When they discuss potential baby names, Briana insists that if she were ever to get married again, she’d keep her mother’s surname. Jacob immediately agrees to take her surname.
Jill calls, telling Jacob she stopped by his house to borrow a bread maker. Jacob points to this as an example of why Briana has to really move in with him. Briana mentions Amy, and Jacob admits that they spoke at the engagement party but doesn’t offer details. Briana insists that Amy was jealous. When they arrive at Grant House, Jacob invites Briana to his room so he can return a sweater to her. As he searches for the sweater, the door slams. Jacob says a reluctant goodnight to Briana, but when she tries to open the door, she can’t. It’s stuck.
Chapters 21-30 Analysis
These chapters foreground the exploration of Anxiety Within Relationships. Jacob not only finds himself experiencing less anxiety in Briana’s company, but his discussion with Briana about how Amy handled his anxiety also shows a difference between Amy and Briana and suggests that his relationship with Brianna is different from his previous relationship. Briana goes out of her way to make Jacob feel more comfortable, even when she is upset with him, as when she prepares him to come to Grant House. At the same time, Briana accepts Jacob’s anxiety as simply a part of his personality, which allows him to feel more comfortable in social situations that previously left him on the verge of a panic attack. The novel further explores Jacob’s anxiety when Briana suddenly becomes aloof and refuses to go on a date with him. Jacob is unaware of what caused the change in Briana, which increases his anxiety over their interactions.
Jacob’s conversation with his mother introduces the theme of Love Shows Up. She tells Jacob that when two people are truly in love, they are there for each other no matter what. Indeed, these chapters present multiple examples of people showing up for those they care about. Briana shows up for Jacob by making choices that accommodate Jacob’s anxiety, such as choosing the sob closet for their lunch date rather than the cafeteria. The theme also appears in Briana’s relationship with Benny. She was there for him when they were children, and now that Benny is struggling with his health, Briana is again showing up for him, moving him into the family home and managing his care to make his daily life easier. Benny in turn shows up for Briana despite his depression, questioning her about her relationship with Jacob and expressing concern for her well-being.
Briana and Jacob learn more about their past failed relationships, and Briana forms an opinion about Amy that is confirmed upon meeting. Briana sees Amy as the antagonist of Jacob’s story, and Amy plays the role by making a rude comment about Jacob finding a girlfriend. Brianna reacts by announcing that she is moving in with Jacob. This creates new problems for her and Jacob, especially when Jacob convinces Briana that his family is nosy and will find out the truth. At the same time, it creates more opportunities for intimacy, something Briana and Jacob clearly desire. The pivotal moment when Briana overhears Jacob and Amy argue simultaneously cools Briana’s desires and reveals the depth of her feelings for Jacob. Briana’s assumption that Amy is jealous of her relationship with Jacob seems an obvious conclusion from the argument she overhears. However, it is also a reflection of Briana’s own feelings for Jacob. Briana believes Jacob loves Amy and is jealous. She doesn’t want to see Jacob with anyone else, and she feels threatened by this other woman.
The setting of Grant House represents a departure from the professional setting of Royaume’s emergency room and the chaos of Jacob’s family home. Grant Home is an old bed and breakfast that appeared in Jimenez’s previous novel, Part of Your World. This house has a certain mystique about it, causing Alexis to warn Briana that “things happen here that [she] can’t explain” (251). The house acts as an anthropomorphized character, such as when Jacob’s guest room door slams shut and locks him and Briana inside, as though the house wants them to admit their feelings for one another. The convenient timing of the door getting stuck both plays into romance tropes where the two leads are forced to be alone as well as deepens the house’s mystical character.
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By Abby Jimenez
