Originally published on 5/28/25

Abby Jimenez is a bestselling romance author, best known for her viral Part of Your World series, which has over 2 million reviews on Goodreads, with readers gushing “This is one of the best romance novels of the year, and don’t you dare miss it” and “I just love how Abby Jimenez writes contemporary romance, it feels so believable.” Before she became a writer, Jimenez was a Food Network star and even won their hit baking show, Cupcake Wars, back in 2013. Now, more than 12 years later, the author has switched her spatulas for swoonworthy love stories, and Woman’s World recently caught up with Jimenez to discover just how she did it. Read on for more. 

Abby Jimenez opens up about how she went from baker to author

Unlike most authors, Jimenez didn’t go to college and instead opted to go straight into the world of baking after high school, which she joked happened because “all of my endeavors that I’ve been successful in were just sort of hobbies that I ended up turning into a business.” 

“I founded a bakery [Nadia’s Bakery] out of my home in 2007 and ended up opening an online store,” she continued. “I think if you love something, it becomes really easy to practice. And in my case, I became good at the things that I loved. And thankfully, I’m just lucky these are things other people like to buy.” 

Six years after starting Nadia’s Bakery, Jimenez appeared on Season 9 of the hit Food Network show Cupcake Wars and won. She was also highlighted in two seasons of TLC’s Fabulous Cakes. 

“I used to eat cake tops for lunch,” the author shared with First for Women. “I would just put it in a bowl and throw whatever fillings I had on top of it. And that would be my lunch. Not very good for me, but delicious.” 

These days, Jimenez has taken a step back from baking and now handles administrative duties for Nadia’s Bakery, which has three locations in two states. 

“I got really burned out on the baking,” she explained. “I’m very cognizant of not burning myself out, and I got very burned out on the cakes. With writing, I try really hard to keep it fun and not produce too many pieces a year, because I don’t want to burn myself out.” 

Jimenez has released one book a year since 2019, and if you were to ask her what she thought about that, she would say “the whole thing is just surreal.” 

“If you had told me 10 years ago that I was going to be a best-selling romance author, I would have never in a million years believed you,” she said. “I thought to be a writer, you had to be a journalist, you had to have a blog, you had to have gone to college for writing. And I didn’t. I  became a writer because I was a reader, and it’s so cool that my books are on Booktok [book TikTok] and in bookstores. It’s kind of hard to believe, honestly.” 

Abby Jimenez shares how she crafts such wonderful stories 

Fans of Jimenez know that her stories are often filled with lovable characters who face real-world problems, something she attributes to her childhood reading of Dr. Seuss and Piers Anthony novels. 

Says the author: “I read, of course, all the Dr. Seuss books. When I was little, I used to blow through all the Piers Anthony fantasy novels. And I was probably way too young to be blowing through those, but I absolutely loved them.” 

And while many authors talk of a rigorous outlining and research process before writing, Jimenez notes that her method is somewhat unconventional. In fact, she says her “writing process will be helpful to no one, because I think of the book in my head like most of my writing actually takes place, just like in my own brain.” 

“I think about the book for months and months and months before I write anything down,” Jimenez continued. “I don’t write chapter outlines. I write a synopsis for my editor, but only because she requires it. Once we’ve agreed on what I’m going to do with the story, I’ll discard that synopsis and write the entire thing from memory.  I write in chronological order. I don’t like to jump around, so if I write a chapter out of order, I have to fix it and go back. I know my characters extremely well. They exist in my mind before I put them on the page. I’m not meeting them as I’m writing them. I’m writing my stories like I’ve witnessed a love story.” 

What’s next for Abby Jimenez 

Fresh off the news that her latest book, Say You’ll Remember Me, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, Jimenez decided to team up with Sonic to help launch their Sweet Topped Lemonades—a line of lemonades topped with sweet cold foam in three flavors: Classic Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade and Blueberry Lavender Lemonade—as well as the the SONIC Foundation’s Limeades for Learning initiative, which is giving 100,000 books to students all over the country. The fast food chain is partnering with the nonprofit organization First Book to donate a portion of every drink, slush, blast and shake purchase to support local schools. Jimenez will serve as one of the campaign’s spokespeople alongside popular romance authors Christina Lauren and Ashley Poston.

“Sonic provides books to underprivileged areas within their markets, which I love. I always say that becoming a reader was the reason I became a writer. Access to free books is literally the reason I’m here. So when I heard about this, I was like, Oh my gosh, they’re speaking my love language every way,” the author said. 

According to Sonic, the drinks, which will be in restaurants starting June 2 (app members can gain early access!), boast “main character energy”—something Jimenez is all too familiar with.

Aside from that, Jimenez has yet to announce her next book, but all of her fans—including us—are anxiously waiting to see what it is. 

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/books/abby-jimenez-on-her-writing-process-favorite-books