Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

56 reviews

emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

4.5 ⭐️

I’m usually not a big fan of the insta love trope but I liked it here. It was nice to see two people actually liking each other and not hiding the whole story. But it felt repetitive at some point. 

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

5⭐️ | 0.5🌶️

Did this book wreck me?✅
Were there at least five points throughout my reading where I ugly cried? ✅
Is there a picture of me after the last ugly cry? 🤷🏻‍♀️😬 that’s between me & Snapchat. 
Did I love this book? 💯

This was a 5⭐️ read for me. I also had an immersive reading experience, reading the physical book while listening to the audiobook, possibly amplifying my emotional response. But also, life is happening and there are certain parts of the book that hit close to home. 

I’ll share one of my favorite, non-spoilery quotes which helped bring on the feels: 

“[T]here is nothing more beautiful than being a witness to someone’s life. To know them inside and out and be with them through everything, share the same memories. Memories are everything. I want that.”

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challenging emotional funny inspiring sad 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: Yes

I didn’t know what to expect, but wow. This book made me feel every single emotion, which I didn’t even really know was possible from reading a book. I laughed out loud, got teary-eyed, smiled, was anxious, all of the above!!

Something felt like it was missing from the book, so I do wish some parts were a bit more detailed, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. It felt realistic and as if I were a fly on the wall experiencing the family’s story first hand. It was my first Abby Jimenez book, so I’m excited to read more in the future and I’m hopeful to one day get more of this family in another book.

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Xavier is a veterinarian. He’s known for a gruff bedside manner, but he’s also very good at his job. When Samantha comes in with a kitten who has a life-threatening condition, he gives it to her straight; and she serves it right back. With the way she put up with no nonsense, he can’t stop thinking about her. Good thing she and the kitten come back and so begins a fast-falling love between two people who face all kinds of barriers.

What started with me laughing out loud had me in tears within the first 40 pages. I’ve mentioned this before, but my mom died of early-onset Alzheimer’s last year. Samantha’s mother in this book has the disease, and at times I felt like I was reading my own journal entries as a daughter grapples with her mother’s diagnosis and slow fade. The theme of memory is woven throughout and touches not only the romance but also the family aspects. 

I’ve read every full-length novel by this author, and it may be my own life experience colliding with this book, but this one felt heavier. Abby’s signature humor sprinkled throughout was still present, but at times, probably because of a long-distance element to the plot, this was excruciating. My one other small reason that this didn’t get the sparkling 5-stars is that Xavier was almost too perfect. He has a sad backstory, but if he were answering questions for a job interview, they would be like Michael Scott’s, “I work too hard, I care too much…” 😂

A few notable highlights:

🧡 excellent communication between Xavier and Samantha
🧡 no third-act breakup
🧡 humor and heart
🧡 somehow the near-instant love was believable
🧡 California references (a plus for a California native)

Overall, I recommend this to readers who like romances that lean heavily toward women’s fiction (this one a bit more than the author’s previous work). Thank you to NetGalley and Forever publishing for the digital review copy.

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful medium-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: Complicated

Don't mind me. I'm just crying on the train because of this book.

Abby Jimenez, you truly have a gift.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional medium-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful medium-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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Wow. Abby Jimenez has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She can write with so much poise and balance between more traditional romcom plot/dialogue and the hard, complex realities of life. This book was no different, navigating the main romance and both main characters' complex family dynamics. I literally laughed out loud a few times, I cried, I smiled, I felt the pain...and I'll be re-reading soon. 

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