Say You’ll Remember Me has adorable rescue pets, a sunset cruise, an escape room… and that was all on the first date! It’s an emotional, long-distance love story with sweet leads, humor and family drama that felt very real and a little exhausting at times. I laughed, I cried and am very glad I got the chance to experience it all.

Samantha meets Dr. Xavier Rush, a veterinarian, when she takes her kitten in for a check-up only to find out the kitten is missing a butthole. (I am not making this up. It’s called atresia and it can happen to cats and dogs.) Xavier tells her the surgery would cost $10,000 and he recommends putting her kitten down so she wouldn’t be in pain. Instead, Samantha starts a GoFundMe and quickly raises the money for the surgery. She was surprised and happy when she notices that Xavier also donated – he is the best!

Samantha’s family needs her help to care for her mother who has dementia. Samantha works remotely doing social media for a mustard company and can live anywhere so she makes plans to move back home to California to help her family, who she’s very close to. She needs a health certificate for her kitten so she goes to see Xavier. She’s admiring his hotness when he surprises her and asks her out. But they only have one night because she is leaving the next morning for California – they end up having an epic, perfect date together! They go on a sunset animal adoption cruise (with cute pets) on Lake Minnetonka and then go on to an escape room – it’s an incredible night.

When Samantha gets to California, she finds out her mother’s dementia has progressed farther along than Samantha had realized. Her family lives with her grandmother who helps care for her mom along with her dad, her hilarious and Yoda-like brother, and her sister who lives there with her two boys. Her mother has been wandering off and they have to watch her constantly. (They decide they aren’t ready to put her in memory care yet and I appreciated the way Jimenez handled this difficult topic.)

Xavier works long hours at his veterinarian practice and is serious and a little grumpy. He’s hardworking and he always does the right thing – when he’s not at his practice, he’s doing volunteer work for animal adoptions. His parents were harsh and abusive and said they didn’t think he would amount to anything and he tries not to have contact with them – they are really nasty. He keeps thinking about Samantha and how much fun they had and wants to see her again.

They start a long-distance relationship, texting, talking and visiting each other when they can. They wonder how they can have anything permanent if her family needs her in California and he needs to be at his vet practice in Minnesota (that he borrowed heavily for). The couple has to deal with some hard things but it’s so well done here–I love Jimenez’s humor and her gentle way of handling tough topics.

The hardest parts were all of the obstacles they had to overcome in the story – the issues they faced felt very real. I was emotionally wrung out by the time I got to the end and I wished some of the resolution had come a little sooner. The bright spot was the humor and the love Samantha and Xavier had for each other. I especially loved when Samantha started writing the bios for the pets up for adoption – they were hilarious.

Abby Jimenez has done it again and given us a beautiful and meaningful story with loving leads and their rescue pets. While it covers some difficult topics, they are handled with care and kindness and I’ll be thinking about this story long after finishing it.