Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Book Review

 

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Book Review

Say You’ll Remember Me. This book just came out, and I was so excited to get started because I absolutely love her books. I recently read a short story by her called Fall Risk, and at just 90 pages, it was one of the best romances ever. So I knew that her newest novel was going to be a masterpiece. Not only that, but I adored Just for the Summer and couldn’t wait to begin this one. With that being said, let’s go ahead and get started.

Just to give you a little blurb before the review, this book is about Samantha and Xavier. Samantha is moving back to her home in California from Minnesota because her mother has dementia, and she needs to help take care of her. Xavier is from Minnesota. 

They go on a date—their very first date—the day before Samantha is supposed to leave for California. That first date ends up being so impactful and memorable that they cannot stop thinking about each other. But with thousands of miles between them, how are they going to make a relationship work? That is what this book is about. And it really hit me where it hurts.

This book was so great and honestly so relevant to my life because my husband and I were in a long-distance relationship for about five years. It was a long time. So you get the long-distance relationship in this book, but the coolest thing is that there’s hardly any conflict. 

There’s hardly anything where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen next?” It’s mainly driven by the romance and the day-to-day moments, which I loved because you don’t get many novels without heavy conflict.

You don’t often get a book where it’s simply, “We’re in love, we’re far away, and nothing else is wrong.” That was so cool to read about, and Abby Gimenez made this such an enjoyable novel without shocking plot twists.

A lot of romance novels have big twists—like ones by Colleen Hoover—where you’re shocked at the end. But this felt like real life. This honestly reminded me of a real-life romance. It felt like the truest version of a love story, and I absolutely adored it. That’s why I loved it so much.

As far as the plot goes, there’s hardly any conflict. It’s basically just a long-distance relationship and them trying to navigate how to have a romance while being far apart. There were a couple things at the end that felt a little too convenient for me, but I’ll get into those in the spoilers, not right now.

As far as characters go, I really love Samantha. She’s honestly one of my favorite female main characters right now because she did the funniest, most relatable things. I listened to this on audiobook and also read a few pages, switching between formats. 

Samantha would do things like shriek when bugs flew around, and it was so relatable. I loved how she felt like a real person with real relationships, and Abby Gimenez really knows how to write a female main character. She honestly was the perfect middle child, and as a middle child myself, I can say her personality matched perfectly.

With Xavier, I had a couple of issues. You could tell he was written by a woman because he did some incredibly romantic things that felt a little unrealistic. There were moments that felt over the top and pulled me out of the story. His character seemed too perfect at times. But I still loved him, and he was wonderful overall—just a few moments that didn’t quite land for me.

The long-distance relationship aspect hit hard. Everything Samantha said she felt, everything Xavier said he felt—I felt that in my soul because of my own five-year long-distance relationship. It brought me back to those emotions, and I remembered how hard it was. It was really relatable, and I enjoyed reading about Samantha and Xavier’s relationship.

Now I’m going to go into spoilers. There aren’t many because, like I said, the book doesn’t have a lot of conflict or big “bam” moments. But there was one thing that felt way too convenient, and that was Hank. Hank shows up because he used to work with Xavier’s receptionists, and they tell him Xavier needs help. 

So Hank offers to work for free three to four times a week. That was fine. But at the end, when Hank finds two or three more retirees willing to work for free to keep the clinic going, it felt too convenient. It made more sense to me if Xavier had actually sacrificed something to move to California. 

It didn’t feel like he had to sacrifice anything since the clinic survived with unpaid retirees. It felt unrealistic and pulled me out of the story. It was a tiny part, though, so I didn’t take off any stars for it.

Overall, five out of five stars. I really enjoyed this book. If I lowered it for the things I mentioned in the spoilers, it would be 4.5 out of 5, but still rounded up to five. This romance was light, airy, fun, beautiful, and relatable. 

That’s the main thing—it felt relatable, like a real romance you could see any day. It’s probably one of my top reads this year. I love Abby Gimenez. I highly recommend reading Fall Risk if you haven’t—it’s a cute, quick 90-page read. I loved that there was hardly any conflict. 

You don’t often see a book driven only by the romance. Abby Gimenez did an amazing job writing that, and I loved the characters besides a few small nitpicks about Xavier.

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