Say You'll Remember Me

This story was nothing short of unique and thrilling. The writing in it was in incredible and there wasn’t a dull moment in this book. 10/10 recommend if you’re looking for a very good romance.

It was okay. Definitely not this authors best but it wasn’t awful either. I thought the concept was interesting-ish but kind of stupid. The characters were fine but nothing special. It was one of those books I finished one afternoon cuz I was bored, not one to make me feel something.

I don’t read many YA Romances anymore…partially because it’s difficult to connect with the characters and the teenage angst that overwhelms them and partly because I teach high school freshman and have a freshman son of my own, so separating my reality from my reading world can be trying and let’s just say, it frightens me to think about my son experiencing some of the things that YA characters do:/

BUT, if there is one author who I would gladly delve into the hearts and minds of teenage characters, it’s Katie McGarry. She’s an amazing storyteller because she allows her characters’ stories to play out at their own speed, making most of them slow burn kind of reads, which is actually what I would expect from this age group.

What I also love about McGarry’s stories is that she constructs characters who are anything but stereotypical. Her heroes and heroines are unique in their struggles, their life experiences, and the way they look at their lives and learn to traverse through the ups and downs that make up their journey. Her characters are also relatable and realistically portrayed…even readers who are so beyond removed from this particular age group can acknowledge the truth behind the characters’ representations and all that they must confront at an age where it’s impossible to truly understand the magnitude of their experiences.

Elle and Drix appear to come from two completely different worlds - Elle seems to have a ‘golden’ life, living in luxury and reaping the benefits of her father’s government position while Drix struggles in life, not only because of his conviction for a crime he didn’t commit but also due to how he is viewed as a blight on society. But appearances can be deceiving, so even though everyone around them believes that Elle and Drix have no business being together, the bond that they form and that continually grows is one that refuses to remain idle simply because of people’s biases and misjudgments, and while building a relationship is difficult for them due to outside circumstances and interferences, it’s clear that they’ll fight for what they have, especially because it provides them with a calming presence in the maelstrom of their lives.

Drix epitomizes the tortured hero, and rightly so, because he has had to endure much more than the ordinary teenage boy and now that he’s finished paying, albeit somewhat, for a crime he didn’t commit, he now must assimilate back into society, knowing how people judge the young man that he is and struggling to find his footing in a world that has already let him down. McGarry does a fantastic job of allowing readers to clearly see the demons and darkness he struggles with…there is so much self-doubt and fear that affects Drix’s psyche, but when he’s with a certain girl, the negative thoughts quiet and he feels a sense of peace, even if his connection with her would not be well received by society, especially her father.

Elle is a strong heroine who looks beyond people’s appearances in order to judge them on their actual worth, and while she takes a few missteps when it comes to her asserting herself and her beliefs to her parents, she refuses to be told how to live her life and her connection with Drix is a lifeline to being the girl…the person she wants to be despite her meddling mother and father.

I always get so caught up in the world and characters that Katie McGarry creates, and Say You’ll Remember Be followed that same pattern. I adored Elle and Drix’s story…it was heartwarming, heartbreaking, angsty, at times, emotionally overwhelming in all of the best ways. The secondary characters were a great fit for the story line and the chemistry between the hero and heroine resonated off of the pages of the story. I truly didn’t want the story to end because I was completely immersed into the lives of the characters and the development of not only their love story but of the people they aspired to be despite what they had to battle against to do so.

4.5 Poison Apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)