Abby Jimenez is one of my favorite authors, but I'm definitely not biased when I say that I absolutely adored this book. I did not expect to love it as much as I did.

What would you do if you met someone you really clicked with, shared an amazing date with BUT they're moving to the other side of the country the very next day?

Samantha walks into Xavier's clinic with a kitten in her bra who is missing a butthole. Meet cute, am I right? Xavier tells her (in a very asshole-ish way) that it's nearly impossible to save the little kitty from complications that would lead to its ultimate. A couple of weeks later she comes back with a very healthy kitten to a very apologetic Xavier, who asks Samantha on a date. And they go on the best date they've ever had They don't want the night to end, but it has to. Samantha is moving back home to California. Her mother has been diagnosed with dementia and it's progressively getting worse (remember when Emma in JFTS finds a disoriented lady at the bus stop? That's Samantha's mother). Samantha and her family refuse to put her mom in care and decide to take turns looking after her full-time.

But Xavier refuses to forget this woman or let her getaway. So he makes it to California and they have unforgettable time together. Xavier keeps looking for reasons to just go and see her. He's even considering the move, but it isn't possible given his situation with the clinic. And the budget is tight on both ends. Long distance is definitely doable. But it's also very hard.

I'm a sucker for acts of service, and this man is the literal embodiment of it. He REFUSES to consider not seeing Samantha even an option. He overworks himself into complete and utter exhaustion but still makes his way to her. Ladies, if he wanted to, HE WOULD. This grumpy VILF will fix you, I'm not joking. Even though he comes from a very dysfunctional family, the way he makes him with Samantha's family is so heartwarming.

The whole dementia situation was utterly heartbreaking to read and I cried on so many occasions. As a firsthand witness to a similar situation, it felt very personal. Very raw and emotional. Abby did an amazing job showing it as real as it could get.

I loved the plot, loved the characters, loved the writing, and also the humour thrown in between to keep the theme from getting too heavy. It is more than just a romance book.

I highly recommend reading this book if you want an emotional read that will also make you laugh at all the right times. Trust me.

Thank you so much for the ARC @NetGalley @LittleBrownBookGroup

so incredibly disappointed with this one :( i was so excited for it but i dnf’ed at 40%. the insta love was just not for me at all it didn’t feel like abby jimenez to me :(

Another classic from Abby, I laughed, I cried, I had the time of my life.Another classic from Abby, I laughed, I cried, I had the time of my life.

hm I'm a little disappointed ngl with say you'll remember me, as just for the summer was one of my favourite books of 2024...

unfortunately it wasn't what I expected for a couple of reasons,
firstly the insta-love trope was so heavy in this, I couldn't get on board with Xavier and Sam's relationship, it felt forced and they lacked chemistry throughout the book

in the start of the book Sam literally says to Xavier, we can't do this, we're too far away for a proper relationship and I've got my sick mother to care for and he genuinely doesn't even listen to her and forces her on another date???? that's such weird behaviour!

the tiktok references and other references to pop culture made me wince. and the mustard jokes weren't funny, like genuinely in real life, if a company made those kind of posts, they'd be branded as cringey...

"he had imprinted on me"?????? they'd spent 12+ hours together n this is what Sam was thinking already
the long distance frustrated me, and I understand it's difficult but for Xavier to constantly be travelling just to see her and leaving his practice was quite irresponsible.
the ending was too convenient, and Xaviers grand gesture had me rolling my eyes

the dementia plotline was handled incredibly well and I enjoyed reading the family dynamic, it felt very real and raw

all in all, the writing was fine but just the plot/characters just didn't do it for me unfortunately :(

Abby Jimenez never disappoints, and her books just get better and better. I didn't want this book to end. The connection this couple has transcended miles and lifes complexities. Abbys depiction of being a caregiver for a loved one and watching their battles was so well written. If you have never read any of Abby's books, I highly recommend them. Nothing compares to them. 5 star reads every single time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for this ARC.

Samantha works in marketing for a mustard brand in Minnesota and tall and frowny Xavier is a vet with his own practice. They meet over an impossibly cute stray cat that has an unusual and costly medical problem. They have one perfect date that mainly takes place in a locked escape room and then Sam is forced to move miles away. Their relationship has no future - and yet they both can't forget each other.

The story is told in alternating dual POV, so both Samantha and Xavier get their say. Both have baggage due to their parents. Xavier's parents are abusers, emotionally as well as physically, and Samantha has to move back home to California due to her mother's deteriorating health condition.

This book nearly broke me. There are two big topics that I have personal experience with: dementia and long-distance relationships. Both are described incredibly realistically and both suck. Especially caring for someone with dementia is exhausting and heartbreaking and you can only really appreciate it once you've done it yourself and you realise it's not just about memory loss. For some people, just reading about it will be too much, as well as learning about those caricature villains that are Xavier's parents. The relationships within Samantha's family are a bit more complex and revolve around how to best care for her mother.

Abby Jimenez' books seem to have many similarities to each other. They all deal with difficult topics, there is always a cute pet or two with a ridiculous name, a bearded man, the desire to have children, big feelings that border on obsession, and a couple of mentions of Nadia Cakes, the author's own business. There is always one apparent reason why two people who are incredibly perfect for each other can't be together. This time it is "we live too far from each other and we can't move, at all, ever". I get it, long distance is frustrating, tiring and expensive, but it usually has an end date.

The book is eminently readable and the big feelings will have many readers swoon, although everyone's problems seem to get solved a little too neatly and quickly at the end, but I adored lovely Dr Hank and his selflessness. Abby Jimenez means quality, and even though I would have liked a little less dementia drama I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it in one sitting. Also, the cover is utterly gorgeous.

"Love is the brightest color in a gray world."

Abby Jimenez has done it again. Is she now one of my auto-buy authors going into 2025? Yes, Yes she is.

Say You'll Remember Me gave me all the feels. From the moment that Xavier and Samantha met there was sparks flying, feelings caught and maybe a grumpy MC took a sneaky look at some goods. You knew these two were meant for each other from the moment they met, but alas like all good books it was not meant to be.... or was it?

Samantha works for a company and she does the social media on Instagram, you know the ones that come back with on liners to comments, the ones we all love. She is moving back home to help with her mother who has started to deteriorate with her health and she and her family are pulling in rank to help support her at home. Xavier is the grumpy Vet that she met and made an impression even though he was kinda rude. But sparks sparked and they gave it one night (a date) and at the end, Samantha told Xavier that she was moving and that he had to forget her. But Xavier isn't having any of it and puts himself out there to win Samantha over.

I do love Abby Jimenez, she creates characters that you can 100% see yourself as. It isn't all rainbows, unicorns and sparkles, they have lives and are working hard too reach their own dreams. Did this book make me tear up a little, yes it did. It made me think of my own experiences with what Samantha is going through and I think that is why the book impacted me more than other romances.

There were laugh out loud moment, sad moments and ones of such love you could feel it on the page. I loved every second of reading this book and can't wait for others to read it.

Book Tropes Featured
Dual POV
Long Distance Realtionship
Meet Cute
Cinnamon Roll MC

Okay hear me out, I’m a fan of the author’s work. But I’m in the minority with the opinion that this book is just not it for me. Spoilers ahead.

I’ll start by saying that this book is quite complex and emotional. It deals with some heavy topics throughout the book. None of it makes for a light-hearted romance that you think you will get when you do want to read a book in this genre. Yes, there’s a romance in it but it doesn’t feel like an integral part of the book (ironically).

The romance is an insta-love type of story. Not the biggest issue for me. My first issue was how ‘relevant’ I think Abby was trying to be by showing off how clued in she is to trends. Okay, so the first mention of Rhysand in the second chapter was funny, albeit ruined my reading experience by bringing me back to reality. To then mention it (maybe?) 4 more times, was unnecessary. It feels lazy to use another character to base your character off of. (To then also have a name that looks similar to Xaden might be a coincidence but after Rhys was mentioned so many times, I’m not convinced)

The mustard jokes and captions were also something I didn’t think were as funny as they were made out to be? Maybe I just felt like she was forcing humour into the book but it came across more cringe than anything else.

Speaking of, the book events were just SO over the top. Everything bad that could happen, happened. To both characters. Even their first two dates just felt too dramatised for it to seem believable. Their whole struggle to be together felt repetitive. I didn’t count, but I’m sure Samantha said the same thing about 7 times on how much she hates he’s far away but can’t do anything to fix it.

The one thing I liked, which I think did end up being the main focus of the story (not the romance) was the family dynamic that Samantha had. I liked their interactions with each other. Another repetitive moment was Samantha always saying about her mom not being the same and how she used to be so vibrant but now it’s a gray world. I felt like I kept reading the same thing over and over again. I did find the dementia quite harrowing to read though, that was written about well.

And why did Xavier’s friends keep bringing up his parents every time they encountered them? Surely if you know his history you know maybe to not mention anything about their whereabouts or what they’re saying about their son??

Also everything was just SUPER convenient most of the time. I felt like a few things were resolved too quickly, which could be why so many things happen in this book in order to keep the pace going.

Lastly, the whole reasoning at the end for Xavier’s decision was just frustrating. You know what, this whole book felt like a Hallmark Christmas movie!! Everything being OTT and then the part at the end where someone upends their life for someone else cause it’s for love.

Okay, I think I’m done. I do want to repeat (ha) that I like the family parts of this book and how they all united together in the end. The romance just felt silly but I appreciate all the hard times they had to go through. I just wasn’t too convinced by their actual love for each other.

I think Abby Jimenez read ACOTAR recently because: Rhysand mention count: 5.

Samantha meets hot vet Xavier when she rescues an abandoned kitty who doesn’t have a butthole. Xavier has no bedside manners, is grumpy, and likes animals not humans. Samantha is extroverted, bright, and optimistic.
However, after an impromptu date which involved getting locked in an escape room overnight, the two realise they are meant to be.

The only thing is, Samantha is moving 2,000 miles away to look after her mother who has early onset dementia.

<b>“This is Peanuts,” the woman said. “He likes treats and sleeping.”
I leaned over and ruffled the dog’s ears. “Same, Peanuts. Same.”</b>

This was extremely insta love. Their relationship in that sense was easy. The hard part is the logistics. They are made for each other, have no problems or arguments, but neither can give up their current lives.

Despite this feeling easier on the relationship side, Abby explores families. Healthy and unhealthy relationships and how this affects your later life.

What was upsetting to read was Samantha seeing her mum fade away before her eyes. The emotional and physical damage caused by that to the people around the patient.

Per usual, I did giggle OUTLOUD in a silent bus. I just couldn’t keep it in. This one didn’t make me tear up, but it did make reflect on my current relationship with those around me and my and their futures.

<b>“It’s the result of a parallel life. A shared collection of experiences, like a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger as it goes. And then you get to a point where you’re so far in, you can never replace that person. Not really. No one else can ever be the same kind of witness because you’ve lived through so much. It really is a once in a lifetime thing.” Her eyes went a little sad. “Can you imagine losing that? One memory at a time?”
</b>
What did annoy me (apart from the not so funny mustard captions for the most part), was Samantha saying ‘STAP!’. I think more than three times was too many for me.

Arc gifted by Little brown book group.

Absolutely brilliant book!
I am a big fan of this author and love the writing style!
I cant wait to read more!

Abby Jimenez has done it again! Her writing feels so comforting and I always adore how realistic her characters are. I really enjoyed both our main characters in this one and the FMC's plot of dealing with her mother and her family was just so heartbreaking, but Abby Jimenez handled it so well. I still think Yours Truly is my number one by Abby, but this comes as a close second! You would definitely enjoy this if you're a big fan of her work and even if you've never tried her! The MMC is one of my favs now, he's just so loyal and caring, I need this man in my life. Overall, a fantastic read! One I'd recommend you pick up as soon as it comes out (April 1st 2025). Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

BRB sobbing my heart out - 16/12/24

18/12/2024 - I've finally composed myself to share my thoughts.

Okay, I need to start this by saying that the first 10% of this book is messy! Initially, I thought I had started the wrong book because this didn't feel like an Abby Jimenez book. It was rushed, confusing and a bit all over the place. However, once this book found its feet it doesn't stop.

Xavier and Samantha felt like soulmates from their first date, which was full of classic Jimenez humour! So when Samantha has to move 2,000 miles away to care for her mother, I was a bit like HOLD ON. However, Xavier doesn't give up and I absolutely adored him for it. He was the perfect grumpy vet, a VILF if you will, who only lit up around Samantha.

Now, this book features a character (Samantha's mother) who has a diagnosis of dementia. This definitely hit me a lot harder than I was expecting, and some of the events in the book hit a little too close to home. But I applaud the realism, Abby didn't shy away from how hard it is to care for a parent with dementia.

A strong plot, great writing as always and lots of humour to help you through the difficult moments. This is definitely up there with one of Abby Jimenez's best books!

Book includes:
- Grumpy x sunshine
- Insta-love (just a little bit)
- Caring for a family member (dementia)
- Long-distance relationship

I was so excited when I got the arc for this book, I’ve been a fan of Abby’s for quite some time now, I own all of her books, needless to say she’s an auto-buy author for me so huge thanks to the publisher 🥰

Now.. let’s get in to it. I’m sad to say I didn’t love it like I have Abby’s other books. I feel like there was a noticeable change in her writing style in this book compared to her previous works that didn’t really work for me- there were lots of pop culture mentions, especially ACOTAR and Rhysand (which really gave me the ick) and I noticed a few instances of using TikTok slang in her writing eg “it’s giving..” which I didn’t like, I wish I had highlighted some other examples of this to share. I also found the dialogue to be quite repetitive at times, one example is characters describing Xavier as Tall and Frowning a lot-

“Also, you’re very tall, you can’t frown and be tall. It’s intimidating”

“You’re too big and frowny to take her somewhere secluded on the first date”

“You are very tall and you don’t smile very much”

“Also he’s really tall and he frowns a lot”

“You are very tall and you frown a lot”

Okay.. we get it! He’s tall and he frowns. We don’t need it repeating to us over and over again.

As for the romance, I found this to be a little too insta-love for my liking, I really wish they had a little more time together before she had to leave to make it more believable for the reader. I did actually like them together though, well apart from the constant mustard jokes and mentions, they just weren’t funny.

The dementia was handled very well and was an interesting addition that I don’t think I’ve seen in a romance before.

My favourite part of the book was probably Xavier, he quite literally made the entire relationship work. If it wasn’t for him there wouldn’t be one. Plus he was super sweet and an animal lover so he gets extra points for that.

Overall I didn’t hate it, there were parts I liked but I had issues with it that ultimately dropped my rating down to 3⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc for an honest review.

Boy was this HARD to get through. Honestly anything that could go wrong did. I’m all for a book that has deep topics in but this one had pretty much everything going on which made it so hard to actually enjoy the book.

I found the FMC to be so incredibly annoying and selfish which made her unlikeable and also not worth the trouble for the MMC who worked so so hard to keep her happy and put in the most amount of effort that he worked himself to the bone, sacrificing way more than her. Half of the book revolved around how they worked hard just to see each other which is information that just takes away from the plot that could have been about them actually seeing each other instead.

I also think that how this all tied up in the end was just unrealistic and just felt like these characters had gone through so much hardship but somehow it all worked out miraculously okay? Just unrealistic and disappointing.

I think when reading romance books, you always know there will be important topics at play and I think the topic of dementia and how it effects a family and their lives was especially well represented but the rest of the bad omens just kept coming and coming which in ways took the ‘shine’ off the seriousness of the main topic and just felt like a million eye rolls that every bad thing just kept happening one after the other.

I would have much preferred to have had the main focus of the book to have been more about dementia and how the family adapted to their new lives, how they worked together to support each other and their sick mother rather than reading about all the other inconveniences that happened that somehow just became irrelevant in the end anyway.

Overall I’m disappointed in this one after having read and like Abbey’s previous books, I just don’t think this one really compares to her other work but I can also understand that maybe not all of her books would be my cup of tea and unfortunately this isn’t one of them.

Abby Jimenez never fails. From navigating a long distance relationship, family trauma, sibling bonds, a dog in witness protection and debilitating diseases - what did this book not have? The story of Samantha and Xavier is a heartbreaking one but it demonstrates that through love, pure communication and the strongest of strong wills, LDR can be a success.

"Sometimes the challenges we face either break us or make us stronger. And sonetimes they do both."

My opinion on this book changed a few times throughout. Firstly, it was a lot heavier than I expected from something mainly marketed as a romance. However, the themes of dementia and having to become a caregiver to someone close to you, as well as the topic of childhood abuse were handled very well, in my opinion.

I really liked the writingstyle and I really appreciated, that Samantha being witty and good at her marketing job was convayed in a show not tell kind of way.

The middle part did get a little repetitive, but that might be a personal impression.

The characters felt real and I liked their complicated dynamics.

My first Abby Jimenez story - I’m so glad that I was fortunate to read this ARC! A cute and quick read, will
be back to read more of her books! I can see why she’s a popular author.

First, I can’t believe I bagged an E-ARC of this. Thank you so much to NetGalley for the honour of being able to read this before it comes out!

Second, the fact that I started this when I had to be in work and couldn’t binge read it in one sitting upset me greatly.

Now the actual review, some spoilers ahead…

The MFC, Samantha is dealing with a lot at the moment, her mother is sick, her cat has no bum hole (yes really) and she’s just met the love of her life. Xavier, the tall, hot vet falls for Samantha pretty much instantly. But their lives together are about to become very hard!

Samantha has to move states to help look after her mum but that’s not going to stop Xavier from pursuing this spark that he feels. The toll being ‘long distance’ takes on these two is heart breaking and as the reader you are desperate for them to make it work!

Samantha’s mum is suffering from dementia and as someone who both works with people with dementia and has a family member who has recently been diagnosed this is one of the most realistic depictions of the Illness that I have ever read. There is no other way to describe the illness than it’s S*it. Abbey really delivers when explaining the toll this illness takes on not only the person with it but their loved ones having to watch them disappear.

I laughed and cried reading this book and I can honestly say it is her best one yet.

LOVE LOVE LOVED this book, my first Abby Jimenez and I'm dying for more already. The characters were so beautifully crafted and the emotion in this book was just stunning. I loved the storyline and I was rooting for them throughout. I feel like this is a romance that will stick with me for a while - so emotive and raw.

My favorite Abbie jiminez book to date. This was perfect. I related so much to all the different discussions within this book.

It discussed some hard hitting topics such as abuse, mistakes parents make and how that makes you feel when you’re older, do you understand and forgive? Do they change and apologize? Also the importance of family. How every moment you spend with them is precious. Making memories with loved ones, and those kind of core memories that you know will stick with you when you’re still in the moment.

As a healthcare worker who works with dementia patients and their families, I felt Abbie really researched this topic so well and depicted it perfectly from both the dementia patients, and the family around them.

This was beautiful and heartbreaking. And Xavier is everything. I also loved the aspect of him being a vet and the inclusion of animals so much in this book. Also the ending was perfect and the full circle moment for Xavier was cute. I hope Samantha’s sister gets a book next 💗

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. Due to be published April 25th.