Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

2 reviews

rachelshubin's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Say You’ll Remember Me is a difficult book to rate. It is being marketed as a romance book but it should be sold as women’s fiction. There’s not a lot of romance compared to the actually “family member with dementia dynamic.” Dementia + a romance story ≠ a romance book. Romance was a subplot at best, and as some other reviewers have mentioned - it’s heavy on the trauma and too light on the romance.  I would’ve judged this story less harshly if I knew it was more of women’s literature than a romance, hence a 3 star rating. 

If I was to rate this story…the chemistry between the characters, the humor, and the banter was all a 5/5! Really no notes, it was addictive and fun and enjoyable! Unfortunately the actual plot and the progression of the story was a total downer and gave me anxiety as I waited for the other shoe to drop. It’s fine if you want to put your characters through trauma, but as the reader, it was too much trauma. I genuinely couldn’t conceive of a way they could be together. Yes, life is messy, but is it this messy? I felt exhausted as everything that could go wrong, went wrong. 

On the topic of dementia, my grandfather had it so the idea of this story was already close to home. I wish Abby had focused a little on how shitty the system is for the families who want to care for their sick family member, but how cost inhibitive that can be. She focused a lot on the problems families go through with caring for their loved ones and also how hard it is to have them not recognize you. 

Pros: there were many funny moments, some good friends (except Sam basically had no friends so that kinda made her one dimensional) and there were so many ACOTAR/Rhysand references which was super fun! The writing style is Abby’s classic addictive detailing. 

Cons: well, I’ve already listed a ton but honestly…a social media manager for mustard? That was a choice. There was also sooo much working against the MCs that their Happily Ever After was really unrealistic at the end. 

It’s not my least favorite Abby Jimenez read, but it’s definitely down there

Fave order (I still have one of hers to read)
  1. Just For the Summer
  2. Part of Your World
  3. Yours Truly
  4. The Friend Zone 
  5. Happily Ever After Playlist


I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy! Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. 
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marthabeans's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I finished the book just a few moments ago and to say it was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I LOVED Xavier and Samantha from the moment they met. They have some of the best chemistry in any book I’ve read recently. I teared up multiple times and loved all of the calls to earlier parts of the book in the end. It was an added perk to the emotional pay off. 

Here are some of spoiler-free notes from passages I highlighted on my kindle:

“THIS IS EMOTIONAL WARFARE.”
“SHADOW DADDY!!”
“I love this for them.”
“!!!!!!”
“Xavier is my new book husband.”
“Oh, you sweet summer child.”

I could not put it down and would give Abby naming rights to all future children if she writes another book about these two. 

Hands down, my favorite romcom I’ve read all year. I’ll be daydreaming about Xavier and Samantha for a while. Excuse me while I go and preorder multiple copies of this. 
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