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Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez: A Heavy Love Story

Sierra at Nadia Cakes hold a copy of Say You'll Remember Me.

Last Updated on July 3, 2026 by Sierra Richard

Say You’ll Remember Me* by Abby Jimenez is a complicated love story that reads more like literary fiction. Here’s my honest take and who might enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Commissions may be earned on links in this article marked with “*”.

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Book Recap

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Samantha Diaz knows nothing about cats, but she does realize that if they don’t have a butthole, that’s not good. She decides to bring her butthole-less cat to local veterinarian Dr. Xavier Rush so he could save the day, except he didn’t think he could. Samantha believed that Pooter (the butthole-less cat) could be saved which sparked a social media campaign to raise money for his surgery. After Pooter was able to poot again, she returns to Xavier to show him he was wrong, and he requests a date. The date was magical. The best Samantha has ever had, but there was one problem, she was moving across the country the next day to care for her mother who had early onset dementia. Could their one night of romance be enough to last a long distance relationship? This is the first book in Abby Jimenez‘s Say You’ll Remember Me series.

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Top Tropes/Themes: 

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️ (a couple open door scenes)

Release Date: April 1, 2025

Let’s talk about it…

Say You’ll Remember Me is a complex love story that reads more like literary fiction than romance which left me feeling less than satisfied with the ending. The romance is between a veterinarian and a social media manager who have to maintain their relationship across the country despite their own personal drama. 

The Romance wasn’t very romantic

To say this is a heavy book is an understatement. The family and financial struggles of the main characters can really take a toll on the reader. The romance should be the payoff. While there is no question that Xavier and Samantha are right for each other, the miscommunication and overall lack of time on page together makes it difficult to connect with them. I personally don’t like the insta-love trope and given that they decide to have a long-distance relationship after a single date, their connection seemed forced from the start. Even though things worked out well in the end, I still didn’t find the conclusion to be satisfying.

Early Onset Dementia was Well Portrayed

Having a family member with dementia is extremely difficult, but this book adds an extra layer with Samantha’s mother experiencing early onset dementia in her 40s. Abby Jimenez does a great job of showing the struggles of being a caregiver for someone with that diagnosis and accurately sharing how the family dynamics are often altered due to such a condition.

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The Best Character was Pooter

I honestly didn’t like the human characters very much. Xavier was so focused on doing things for Samantha that he thought would help her or make her feel better and instead ended up causing more problems in several instances. Samantha did the best she could but the story focused so much on her mom and her job struggles that I felt like we didn’t get to see her in much depth. That leaves us with the poor cat who was born without a butthole. Pooter was cute. Pooter was a fighter. Pooter was the best character by far.

Is Say You’ll Remember Me Worth Reading?

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite read. I originally thought about giving it 4 stars, probably because I did read it at Abby’s cupcake store, Nadia Cakes, but later changed my mind when I realized my overall feelings about the book were “meh.” Despite that, I did decide to continue reading the series with the second book called, The Night We Met.*

FAQs: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

Is Say You’ll Remember Me spicy? 

I gave this book a 2 chili pepper rating. There were some open door scenes, but they were very mild and only a couple of them throughout the entire book.

What other books are similar to this?

Abby Jimenez has a large backlog including two other series, The Friend Zone* and Part of Your World.* If you are looking for a romance book that leans more into literary fiction, Overdue by Stephanie Perkins* may be a good book for you. For something that is a little bit lighter than this Abby Jimnez read, but still provides an emotional storyline, I recommend Emily Henry’s A Great Big Beautiful Life.*

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