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challenging
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Although it wasn’t my favorite book by Abby Jimenez, it offered a deeply moving portrayal of caring for someone with dementia and the emotional challenges faced by family/caregivers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia
Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Gaslighting
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
“You think that it's the big memories you should be chasing-and it is in a way. Birthdays and vacations and special occasions. But the small memories are the fabric of your life, the ones so inconsequential that you don't even remember them. You just remember how you felt when you were making them.”
Listen, Abby, I love your writing with my entire heart, but this one was not my favorite. Say You’ll Remember Me is the start of a new series, following Xavier (hot, grumpy veterinarian) and Samantha (cute, bubbly social media manager).
As someone who’s grown up in both the Midwest and California, I found the setting really endearing and spot on. I did enjoy the characters, though I didn’t find myself overly invested in them or their love story unfortunately. I love the way Xavier took care of everyone around him, and noticed tiny details, making everyone’s lives around him easier or happier with his actions (hot!). Samantha’s family dynamic feels really raw and realistic. And a moment of applause for Dr. Hank!!! What a lovely and pivotal character to the storyline. 😭
I know, I know, romance novels move fast, but as a slow burn girlie™ the insta-love in here felt so unrealistic to me. I couldn’t buy that they fell so deeply for one another with the small amount of time they really spent together, UFO or not. I think the writing felt a bit rushed and choppy, particularly between some chapters and jumping ahead in the timeline.
Overall, I enjoyed myself while reading this, but I didn’t find it that memorable or have the strong emotional reaction that I’m used to while reading her stories. That said, I will 100% be continuing the series.
“It's weird knowing what's going to be in your end-of-life montage, as it's happening. But I already knew when my life flashed before my eyes, the best parts of it were going to be about her.”
This will be an emotional read for lots of people- I recommend checking trigger warnings.
Listen, Abby, I love your writing with my entire heart, but this one was not my favorite. Say You’ll Remember Me is the start of a new series, following Xavier (hot, grumpy veterinarian) and Samantha (cute, bubbly social media manager).
As someone who’s grown up in both the Midwest and California, I found the setting really endearing and spot on. I did enjoy the characters, though I didn’t find myself overly invested in them or their love story unfortunately. I love the way Xavier took care of everyone around him, and noticed tiny details, making everyone’s lives around him easier or happier with his actions (hot!). Samantha’s family dynamic feels really raw and realistic. And a moment of applause for Dr. Hank!!! What a lovely and pivotal character to the storyline. 😭
I know, I know, romance novels move fast, but as a slow burn girlie™ the insta-love in here felt so unrealistic to me. I couldn’t buy that they fell so deeply for one another with the small amount of time they really spent together, UFO or not. I think the writing felt a bit rushed and choppy, particularly between some chapters and jumping ahead in the timeline.
Overall, I enjoyed myself while reading this, but I didn’t find it that memorable or have the strong emotional reaction that I’m used to while reading her stories. That said, I will 100% be continuing the series.
“It's weird knowing what's going to be in your end-of-life montage, as it's happening. But I already knew when my life flashed before my eyes, the best parts of it were going to be about her.”
This will be an emotional read for lots of people- I recommend checking trigger warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Grief
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Dementia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Minor: Sexual content
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was THRILLED to get the ARC of this gem, BUT I am so sad to rate this one so low! Like…so, so sad. It breaks my own heart TBH. But yeah, I’m not sure who was more miserable, me reading this book or the main characters 😅 This book was HEAVY and covered some major trauma. There was a lovely trigger warning page highlighting these prior to starting the actual book, but I felt that the trigger warning barely scratched the surface of the actual things that happened in this one. This one is especially heart-wrenching for pet owners and anyone who has a loved one with memory loss / dementia. That’s not a spoiler btw. Although there were still some giddy and hilarious Abby J moments, it still was just not her normal writing IMO. I was sad throughout this one. The last 3 chapters might have been my favorite, albeit things felt really rushed and a bit overlooked. Again: I am super bummed!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Dementia
Minor: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Gaslighting
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really wanted to like this book more than I did because the two other books I read by her were amazing. I just didn't connect to the story like I wished, and that was probably because I'm not a fan of insta-love. I want to watch a romance develop instead of them facing trials and tribulations while together. But, this might be something other people would enjoy about the book.
Do love the idea of a hot vet blowing up on the internet. That's funny.
Do love the idea of a hot vet blowing up on the internet. That's funny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Death
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“I’d like to look back on my life and remember every single thing. But if I don’t, I hope I remember that it was a love story. And that the love story was about you.”
“Because if you were my wife you would be my world. Everything starts with you and ends with you. Anything else is just the stuff that happens in the middle.”
The number of times this book made me smile and giggle should be illegal! It described love; experiencing it, bearing witness to it, and trying to live without it, in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way. I enjoyed this book so much that I could hardly put it down. Although I think uprooting his life was ridiculous, I do admire him for realising that he was still holding onto resentment, and that Xavier would rather be with his wife than hold onto old wounds. I can't say enough great things about this book
However, the acotar/rhys references… Abby you’re better than that.
“Because if you were my wife you would be my world. Everything starts with you and ends with you. Anything else is just the stuff that happens in the middle.”
The number of times this book made me smile and giggle should be illegal! It described love; experiencing it, bearing witness to it, and trying to live without it, in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way. I enjoyed this book so much that I could hardly put it down. Although I think uprooting his life was ridiculous, I do admire him for realising that he was still holding onto resentment, and that Xavier would rather be with his wife than hold onto old wounds. I can't say enough great things about this book
However, the acotar/rhys references… Abby you’re better than that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse
emotional
sad
slow-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
Dr. Xavier Rush is a super handsome vet that happens to be helping Samantha with her cat’s medical issue. He finds her incredibly attractive and asks her out on a date. Their date goes wonderful…until it doesn’t. They get trapped in an escape room and, once they escape, Samantha ends up confessing that she will be moving back home to California. She tells him to forget her because why waste the time building a relationship that’s going to be long-distance? As Samantha is helping her family take care of her mother with dementia, Xavier proves that “if he wanted to, he would.” He spends everything he has just to make their relationship work because he just can’t forget about her. Their love is the kind where he wants to make memories. He’s such a swoon-worthy MMC…I mean, c’mon, he says this:
“Because if you were my wife, you would be my world. Everything starts and ends with you. Anything else is just the stuff that happens in the middle.”
Overall, this book had some very tough topics to read through, especially relating to animal cruelty. Abby mentions in her content warnings that the main character’s pets will never die, but that did not stop her from going there with past experiences that shaped the main characters. There were some other difficult/heavy topics that came up as well (e.g., Samantha’s mom having dementia and her dad experiencing burnout) that were handled pretty well but could have been fleshed out a little better with deeper conversations. I’m a huge fan of character-driven stories and I wanted more healing family conversations rather than Samantha yelling at everyone to work like a team. I was frustrated for a lot of this book, but hey, I love a book that evokes emotions (good or bad).
The things I enjoyed: Xavier going above and beyond to make a connection work. When you find your person, you just know…I appreciated how Abby made the reader feel so frustrated and just want the two main characters to figure it out, but let’s be honest. Long distance relationships are hard! I loved all the ways Samantha wanted to help her family, all while trying to be logical about things.
Read this if you enjoy:
🐾handsome, swoony vet MMC
🐾slow burn
🐾long-distance relationship
🐾no third-act break-up
🐾strong family ties
🐾opposites attract
Spoiler trigger/content warnings:
🐾Dementia involving a parent (mother of the MFC)
🐾Family death
🐾Cheating
🐾Long-distance relationship
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinions.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
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
Moderate: Death, Dementia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
🎡 Say You’ll Remember Me by Author Name 🎡
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Okay - I did really enjoy reading this book. There were parts that I really liked, and I definitely laughed at some parts during the first half. As a whole, I didn’t dislike this book.
I liked some of the characters (Tina and Maggie, Hank, Tristan on occasion), but found most of them weren’t developed in the way I’d like. I felt like Xavier didn’t have a personality outside of just being perfect and grumpy, and it felt like he’d wait for Samantha to tell him how to feel and then he would feel that way. Samantha felt emotionally immature, as did much of her family, and I felt I didn’t get to know them well.
This also made the rest of the book feel kind of underdeveloped. I absolutely loved the first bit of this book, but by the end, felt like I had read two different stories. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, which had me questioning why they fell for each other in the first place, and why so quickly. I was not feeling any chemistry for the most part. The usual Abby banter wasn’t there, and a lot of the writing was super plain. I had to suspend my disbelief a lot, and felt that we didn’t get to really see why our two main characters felt so strongly about each other. While the beginning was cute and gave glimpses of their personalities, the last 100 or so pages were just kind of depressing and I felt a lot happened, but also nothing at all. Like constant trauma but also super repetitive and also like they’ve seen each other a handful of times what’s going on here.
The storyline with the mom was also very very heavy and I felt it was kind of underdeveloped as well.
Also I get that Samantha is a social media manager, but there were a lot of TikTok and pop culture references that felt kind of forced and became a bit much for my liking. I also found this with other topics that I felt were brought up randomly just to say something about them for no reason other than having a good take (like infertility).
Like I said before, I didn’t dislike reading this, and I read it quickly. It didn’t deliver the way Abby usually does for me, but of course, I’ll be picking up her next book and hoping for some more of her usual magic.
Read this if you like:
- insta love
- grumpy sunshine
- long distance
- mustard
Vibes: ⛴️🐶🐱🌴🌭✈️🎡
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content, Dementia, Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death