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emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal death, Terminal illness
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death
funny
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My second five star of the year. Two in one month🥳
IMO, this is Abby Jimenez’s best work and I’ll tell you why
1. No third act break up
2. Samantha and Xavier just kept trying to be together and I think that’s so brave.
Between us girls, I did not understand the ACOTAR references because I didn’t get very far in that book before I dnfed it. I get that the girls were irked about it and also because the author is problematic. Hypocritically, I separated her work from Abby Jimenez’s work. Don’t jump me.
Now, i am not a fan of insta love as a trope but my goodness it worked in this one. I think they had chemistry from the get go and also being stuck in a ufo escape room cements a relationship in my eyes. They were already attracted to one another and it just built from there.
I was so stressed for them because all the trips Xavier was making was unsustainable and when he eventually crashed, it was brutal.
Samantha dealing with her family and her mom’s dementia and grandmother’s death was so heart wrenching. In my head I genuinely thought AJ would kill the mother and then Sam would go back to Minnesota. I genuinely did not want Xavier giving up his practice because that meant his parents would have some sort of joy and I wish them no such thing.
I loved Sam and her family so much. I liked they didn’t put the mom in a home even through that was the easy way out but they kept their promise to her
Xavier didn’t have a family but he ended up with the best found family.
I really really liked how it ended. Oh the epilogue made my heart soar.
I have not experienced the kind of love that makes you give up your livelihood to be with your partner. In their case, long distance was all they could do, but at some point something had to give. Xavier chose Samantha and it all worked out splendidly. His parents can choke. I love how he blended so well with his in-laws.
Abby you did the damn thing 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️
IMO, this is Abby Jimenez’s best work and I’ll tell you why
2. Samantha and Xavier just kept trying to be together and I think that’s so brave.
Between us girls, I did not understand the ACOTAR references because I didn’t get very far in that book before I dnfed it. I get that the girls were irked about it and also because the author is problematic. Hypocritically, I separated her work from Abby Jimenez’s work. Don’t jump me.
Now, i am not a fan of insta love as a trope but my goodness it worked in this one. I think they had chemistry from the get go and also being stuck in a ufo escape room cements a relationship in my eyes. They were already attracted to one another and it just built from there.
Samantha dealing with her family and her mom’s dementia
I loved Sam and her family so much.
Xavier didn’t have a family but he ended up with the best found family.
I have not experienced the kind of love that makes you give up your livelihood to be with your partner. In their case, long distance was all they could do, but at some point something had to give. Xavier chose Samantha and it all worked out splendidly. His parents can choke. I love how he blended so well with his in-laws.
Abby you did the damn thing 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse
Minor: Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Beautiful love story. Samantha’s humor was perfect with Xavier’s stoic personality. I really loved how much Xavier cared about animals, and it was fun to see the pets crossover from other Abby Jimenez books. I wish there had been less social media references thrown in because it felt forced and cringy at times. I also wish the ending had been longer because I wanted to hear more of their story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Grief, Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Dementia
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is my favorite Abby book yet, and that is really saying something. I swear with every book she just gets better and better. It's hard to explain why a romance in a book feels good and real versus not, but all I know is that in this book (and in most of her books really) Abby absolutely nails the feeling of falling in love and how it can physically be painful at times. The chemistry between Samantha and Xavier is immediate and palpable, and it doesn't feel like insta-love because we get both of their perspectives and they have this night that is just magical and chock-full of connection. The romance is beautiful and aching, and I appreciated that the circumstances keeping them apart didn't feel manufactured - it made it seem like a real love story where it is complicated to make things work because of a million life things. Samantha and Xavier are both immensely likable and easy to root for, and I found myself smiling really big at the end of this book.
And woof, Abby writes about heartbreak like no one else. Samantha and her family coping with and adjusting to their mom's dementia is incredibly intense and sad, and Abby doesn't shy away from what it would really be like - especially in a country where healthcare and care homes are so prohibitively expensive - to make the difficult choices about how best to support a parent who's struggling in that way. Abby also captures the weirdness of the transition from having a parent-child relationship with your parent to sometimes having a relationship of equals, but with all the same feelings as being your parent's child. Some of my favorite parts of the book were when the family had honest conversations about how they were coping - or not coping. I also really appreciated the way Xavier worked through the aftereffects of his abusive childhood, and there are scenes with him towards the end of the book that made me cry.
This has a bit less spice than some of Abby's other books, but I didn't mind because I feel like the romance dial was turned up to 100 (in a good way). The yearning! The longing! I loved this one so, so much.
And woof, Abby writes about heartbreak like no one else. Samantha and her family coping with and adjusting to their mom's dementia is incredibly intense and sad, and Abby doesn't shy away from what it would really be like - especially in a country where healthcare and care homes are so prohibitively expensive - to make the difficult choices about how best to support a parent who's struggling in that way. Abby also captures the weirdness of the transition from having a parent-child relationship with your parent to sometimes having a relationship of equals, but with all the same feelings as being your parent's child. Some of my favorite parts of the book were when the family had honest conversations about how they were coping - or not coping. I also really appreciated the way Xavier worked through the aftereffects of his abusive childhood, and there are scenes with him towards the end of the book that made me cry.
This has a bit less spice than some of Abby's other books, but I didn't mind because I feel like the romance dial was turned up to 100 (in a good way). The yearning! The longing! I loved this one so, so much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Violence
Minor: Alcoholism
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Samantha and Xavier are my favs! The ending seemed a little rushed, but I love this story and the side characters are amazing. The banter is top tier and the topics this books tackles are done beautifully and are very relatable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Grief
emotional
sad
slow-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
I listened to the audiobook version of Say You’ll Remember Me, and while the narrators were excellent, I found the story exhausting and found myself feeling more emotionally drained than entertained by the end.
I picked this up expecting something closer to a lighthearted rom-com, especially with that bright, playful pink cover. Instead, the story felt overwhelmingly heavy, dwelling on grief, caregiving, childhood trauma, and memory loss. While I appreciate books that tackle real-life issues, this one leaned so hard into the sadness that it often lost sight of the romance and joy I was hoping for. I wasn’t expecting pure fluff, but the emotional weight wasn’t balanced with enough levity or momentum to keep things engaging.
I didn’t have as big an issue with the TikTok or Gen Z slang as some other readers, though I definitely noticed it, but I did feel the middle of the book dragged. Much of the plot felt repetitive: long-distance angst, brief reunions, emotional spirals, repeat. The characters kept insisting their love was worth it, but I struggled to understand why. I wanted to root for Sam and Xavier, but so much of their relationship was told rather than shown, especially given how little time they actually spent together on the page. Maybe I just am not a fan of the insta-love trope, especially when it doesn’t have a chance to grow because the characters spend so little time actually together.
If you’re looking for a heavy contemporary fiction read with some romance in it and have the emotional bandwidth for difficult topics, this might work for you. I don’t know why but it seems like every book I have picked up lately has dealt with parental caregiving or death and grief and I just really could use a break from it. I need to start checking the content warnings!
I picked this up expecting something closer to a lighthearted rom-com, especially with that bright, playful pink cover. Instead, the story felt overwhelmingly heavy, dwelling on grief, caregiving, childhood trauma, and memory loss. While I appreciate books that tackle real-life issues, this one leaned so hard into the sadness that it often lost sight of the romance and joy I was hoping for. I wasn’t expecting pure fluff, but the emotional weight wasn’t balanced with enough levity or momentum to keep things engaging.
I didn’t have as big an issue with the TikTok or Gen Z slang as some other readers, though I definitely noticed it, but I did feel the middle of the book dragged. Much of the plot felt repetitive: long-distance angst, brief reunions, emotional spirals, repeat. The characters kept insisting their love was worth it, but I struggled to understand why. I wanted to root for Sam and Xavier, but so much of their relationship was told rather than shown, especially given how little time they actually spent together on the page. Maybe I just am not a fan of the insta-love trope, especially when it doesn’t have a chance to grow because the characters spend so little time actually together.
If you’re looking for a heavy contemporary fiction read with some romance in it and have the emotional bandwidth for difficult topics, this might work for you. I don’t know why but it seems like every book I have picked up lately has dealt with parental caregiving or death and grief and I just really could use a break from it. I need to start checking the content warnings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content