A long distance romance that’s equal turns swoony (he’s a hot veterinarian!) and exhausting (she writes Instagram posts about mustard), Say You’ll Remember Me is both easy to enjoy and frustrating to be around. Check out my full Say You’ll Remember Me review below!
Say You’ll Remember Me review
As a romance lover, there are lots of tropes you see over and over–second chance romance, friends to lover, enemies to lovers, etc etc. But one trope you don’t see that often is long distance romance. A long distance relationship in a book and in real life is frustrating. Never getting to see the other person, always missing important dates–it’s an expected temporary situation because as a reader and as someone in the relationship, we all have to believe it will some day no longer be long distance. It’s even harder in a book or movie to not have your main characters in the same place for the majority of the story. For all the reasons long distance relationships are avoided, Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez can be exhausting as well despite Jimenez’s signature banter.
Say You’ll Remember Me (this title isn’t helping as it sounds like it’s a terminal romance or a ghost story about Taylor Swift) focuses on the romance of handsome, grumpy veterinarian Xavier and upbeat, marketing manager Samantha. The two initially butt heads when Samantha brings her kitten in to Xavier and he, fresh off of a difficult interaction with another owner, tells her she should consider putting her kitten down because of a difficult medical diagnosis. Samantha proves Xavier wrong and he apologizes–and asks her on a magical first date. The only problem is–at the end of the date Samantha reveals she’s moving to California the next day to help provide care for her mother who is deteriorating with dementia. Their connection is strong, but how can love overcome this kind of distance with no end in sight?
I have read a few books by Abby Jimenez, and her grasp on current trends and interweaving them into the way character’s talk and think always feels authentic. Her characters have beautiful banter that makes their attraction feel believable and is really inviting to a reader. The same is definitely true here as it’s easy to fall in love with Xavier and Samantha’s relationship based on the way they interact. Yes, it’s insta-love. But it feels very natural and very sweet. It’s this handle on banter that goes a long way in this book, particularly when Xavier and Samantha are hopelessly in different locations.
Xavier in particular feels like a lovely, if pretty unbelievable, MMC. He’s smart, a small business owner, loves animals, and has childhood trauma he is working to overcome. There is nothing he won’t do for Samantha which is both sweet and can sometimes overstep into doormat. He doesn’t care about being a doormat, so you forgive him. But in retrospect, this is the element that feels like it holds me back from rating the story higher.
Samantha’s part of the story is defined by her family dynamics, which is a harder world than Xavier’s to enjoy. Samantha’s family dynamics in general felt difficult to buy in to with the idea that all of the adult kids in the family would be able and willing to move home to help take care of mom. Then, once they’re there, the majority of caretaking still falls to dad and grandma. Samantha’s mother’s dementia is also depicted in a way that it feels like too much for anyone in the family to really help with, like they need professional help, which is frustrating in terms of the romance. Samantha making this sacrifice but then being pretty ineffectual back home is frustrating when, as a reader, you can see how much Xavier is being expected to sacrifice for her.
Ultimately the book is about Xavier and Samantha surviving and figuring out how to overcome their long distance romance. The issue for me is that, while both are suffering, it’s Xavier who is expected to make the sacrifice. He’s expected to make a sacrifice both by him and by Samantha, and ultimately by the reader. Samantha is let off the hook in a way because she’s already making a sacrifice by moving home with her siblings to take care of her ailing mother. But ultimately why should only one of these two be sacrificing to be together? To me, that’s the hanging question of this book. How can they both make sacrifices to be together? It’s constantly Xavier trying to figure out how to sacrifice for Samantha. I felt like it made the romance feel unbalanced which was a bit of a turn off to me.
I also think that, when it comes to long distance romance, some of the frustration of this book is how repetitive it can be. Much of the middle of this book is dedicated to the frustrations of Xavier and Samantha’s relationship. The reasons it will never work are repeated over and over on both sides of the equation. I found myself really frustrated with this and really exhausted by it. That feeling sort of overwhelms the hopefulness of their budding relationship.
I did in the end enjoy spending time with this book and think that romance readers with enjoy the banter and connection between Xavier and Samantha in a way that makes some of these other issues more forgivable. But long distance is tough, and this book both acknowledges that and falls prey to it. And while Xavier is definitely a VILF (v for veterinarian), the demands of this relationship demand sacrifice on both sides which I wish had been acknowledged. Say You’ll Remember Me (still, with the title) definitely delivers on the sweet in its romance–but it could have also delivered a bit more escape.
My Say You’ll Remember Me Rating
4 out of 5 stars
My Recipe for Romance
Try Say You’ll Remember Me with my Strawberry Lemonade Cookies! The perfect marriage of sweet (strawberry) and sour/grumpy (lemon) for a delicious cookie.
Synopsis for Say You’ll Remember Me
Synopsis (from Amazon)
There's no such thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediate yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong . . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake.
But after one incredible and seemingly endless date, Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be. Only no amount of distance or time is enough to forget what's between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.
Buy Say You’ll Remember Me for Kindle here.
