User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
3 whyyyyy whhyyyyy whyyyy can’t I find a proper, loveable, edgy, twisty but also tear jerking, pant melting romance for so long, my favorite writers got me disappointed over and over again stars!
List started to get longer: first Jewel E. An did it with “Naked Love” and “Jersey Six”( some GR friends unfriended me after I gave two stars to that book, but I still stick with my review ), then Renee Carlino’s `Last Post” made me disappointed. Even Karina Halle released some good but not so good books lately.
Now one of my favorite and brilliant writers (Ten Tiny Breaths, Burying Water, Simple Wild are quiet great and remarkable reads), K. A. Tucker made me feel like my favorite brand of Chardonnay is no longer available at the markets!(Somebody burned the family’s vineyard, OH NOOOO!)
When I check the ARC COPY lists from NetGalley and saw this amazing writer’s book, I requested without thinking a second and as soon as the copy arrived, I danced, clapped, screamed, did all immature, awkward things( my neighbors still push me to see my shrink more randomly, I couldn’t say them I didn’t have one)!
But as soon as I start this one, I felt that something is not right, actually many, many, many things were not right.
Here is the list of the wrong things:
-Instead of too many flashback scenes, we may have stayed in the past and read a young adult camp story!
-I tried to turn the pages but I felt like I stuck in the mud and couldn’t move to anywhere.
-You may think this is slow burn romance. You are right. It’s so slow, too slow, never ever ending story, but it doesn’t burn, it is just SLOW and it’s hard to be considered as a romance. Where is romance? I was craving romance and when I didn’t get it, I feel like a frustrated person who watched the last episode of GOT over and over again!
-I didn’t find a moving plot maybe I lost it when I was yawning and taking a quick nap on my couch. At least this book helped me having lovely dreams.
-I didn’t like the character development. I didn’t like Piper and Kyle. I found them too immature and the lack of chemistry and their awkward behaviors made me detest them too many times.
So unfortunately, heart-breakingly this book didn’t work for me! I know what I’m looking for! A heart-wrenching, emotional, smartly written romance and I know deep in my heart, K.A. Tucker is one of the most gifted writers so in near future I hope she will give us better stories.
Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley to send me one ARC COPY is written by one of my favorite writers in exchange for my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
If I've said it once then I've said it one thousand times: K.A. Tucker knows how to write a romance that is equal parts steamy chemistry and female empowerment. It's not fair to try and compare different romance novels to an end of stating which types of stories are more worthy than others, and you'll never find me shaming readers for whatever form of storytelling they choose to enjoy, but within the sliver of sub-genre that this author chooses to write, she is in the top of her class. Upon closing out the final pages of one of her novels, I always feel like I've bettered myself by experiencing life from a POV that is different than my own. The amount of empathy Kathleen can evoke in this reader is quite extraordinary, and I'd like to invite you to check out her latest novel,
Say You Still Love Me, if you enjoy NA romance and are searching for one that's well done.
It's a tale as old as time; girl who comes from a well off family falls for a boy who her parents do not approve of. Summer love as camp counselors ends in heartache for girl, yet 13 years later life presents a second chance for these lovebirds. I'm sure you read this, promptly rolled your eyes, and thought "I've read this story a hundred times!", and you'd be right. SYSLM is based on an age old cliche, and whether or not it was due to the comfort and familiarity of the trope, or the author's talent at adding her unique flair, it was the perfect formula for a 5 star romance. Timing is everything, and I'm a sucker for second chance love stories, but the depth of the characters' connection is felt throughout, and I adored how Tucker convinced me to adore Piper as an individual first, and then built on my respect of her character before adding in the romance element.
If you enjoy the nostalgia of summer camp, tender young love, and a renewed hope that there is some good left in the world, do yourself a favor and add
Say You Still Love Me to your late summer TBR. I don't know how I'll wait patiently for the author's next novel, but I do know one thing: it will be worth every painful moment of delayed gratification. 💖
Rating: really liked it
for those needing a new go-to NA romance author who writes stories with great authenticity and female empowerment, then look no further! k a tucker is your girl!
this is not my first 5 star rating for one of her books, but its definitely my favourite one. by far. if you know me, you know im an absolute sucker for both the ‘second chance at love’ and ‘childhood sweethearts’ tropes. so imagine how much my heart melted when i found out this story combined both them!
the romance is the reason i picked this up and definitely why i finished it, but i also quite enjoyed the side story of piper in the workplace. as someone who has once worked in an environment predominately ran by men, i could totally empathise with piper and was really inspired by how strongly she handled herself against the stuffy old men.
something i might have changed to make this tad bit better would be the narrative style. with second chance at love plots, i think telling the story in chronological order is more effective as it allows the reader to understand why the characters fell for each other in the first place. i didnt really mind the alternating flashback chapters, but if tucker really wanted to keep them, then maybe have them from kyles POV instead? dunno. i just think this could have been arranged in a much more impactful way.
anyway, i really loved this and i will recommend it to literally anyone who will listen. lol.
↠ 4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars 
Say You Still Love Me is the perfect summer read. It made me wish I had gone to a summer camp as a teen. It was a great blend of young love and adult romance.
Kyle and Piper met as camp counselors one summer when they were teenagers and it was love at first site. These two were from different sides of the tracks, but that didn’t matter to them. They fell hard and fast for one another. It was the best summer of Piper’s life until something happened that pulled the two of them apart. After that, Kyle sort of disappeared from her life. A decade passes and she doesn’t hear a peep from him. Until one day at work, she sees him…
Kyle may not have forgotten me, but he doesn’t seem to want to remember us.
I was confused to what Kyle’s motives were. It was apparent he was back in Piper’s life for a reason and even though I adored teenage Kyle, I wasn’t sure about adult Kyle. It didn’t take long to see that he was a good guy though, and very much there for Piper and her best interests. He’s always been there for her in some way or another, even if she couldn’t see it.
This book went back and forth with each chapter. One chapter would be Kyle and Piper’s time at camp, and the next chapter would be the present. There was a lot of build up to what happened that summer as well as the present. I couldn’t stop reading and as soon as I got invested in a time period, it would jump backward or forward. Even though it could be a bit distracting, I think overall it worked for this book. Parts of this book felt like a YA novel and the other half felt like a contemporary romance.
I really did enjoy the camp aspect of the book and watching Kyle and Piper fall in love. I also loved the current plot and watching them rekindle their romance. This book was very well written and character driven. It was so easy to get invested in the story of Kyle and Piper.
If you love second chance romance, books about first love, and books where the hero is from the wrong side of the tracks, pick this one up. KA Tucker always delivers. The writing was fantastic and this is one sweet and sexy romance you don’t want to miss.
Rating: really liked it
4 Second Chance at Love StarsThis story was adorable. It kept me up way past my bedtime because I just had to read through to the happy ending - I was in that kind of mood.
Piper Calloway is 29, smart, beautiful, rich and being groomed to take over her father's multibillion-dollar real estate development firm. Sounds like she has it all right? Well, looks can be deceiving because she is also single, having recently broken off her engagement to a man she has to continue to work with every day and battling a male-dominated business daily in order to earn the respect she deserves and works hard for.
Enter Kyle, the new security guard at her building and the boy who broke her heart thirteen years ago. She has never forgotten Kyle. Not the magical summer they spent together or the disappearing act he pulled after an accident involving another camper left them both fired and unable to ever return to camp. Can fate be bringing him back into Piper's life?
Told in dual timelines - Then/Camp and Now - we experience all the butterflies, stolen moments, desire and intense feelings that come with first love. We see how Piper and Kyle fell in love and slowly connect the dots to what led them apart in the present.
Say You Still Love Me was a quick, easy read that I enjoyed. Thank you K.A. Tucker, Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an arc of this second chance romance.
Rating: really liked it
I was living for the summer camp nostalgia in this, because it took me right back to when my husband and I met as camp counsellors in the USA over 15 years ago... 😍
Piper, a 29 year old successful and feisty vice president at her fathers multimillion dollar company is being groomed to take over is loving the single life, but constantly has to prove her worth in a male dominated industry. Then she bumps into Kyle Miller, who was her first love 13 years previously. She hasn't heard from him since they were summer camp counsellors together and he broke her heart. Why is he suddenly back in her life, and why is he pretending that he doesn't know her?Ah I really enjoyed this cute second chance romance, which was written on a dual timeline, so also had flashback chapters to the couple when they first met, and experienced first love at a summer camp! I will admit that my fond memories of falling in love at the summer camp where I worked for two summers did colour my experience of this, as it bought back memories that I haven't thought about in years! It was fun, sweet and I stayed up way too late reading it!
I obviously really loved the flashback chapters, for sentimental reasons! The setting of the summer camp, the young impulsive nature of the characters, the adorable first love, where you have butterflies when you see each other, cant stop thinking about each other, make any excuse to be near each other...ah those were the days ha ha!
However I did also enjoy the present tense chapters, where Piper had to be tough in a male dominated business. She was so strong and hard working, and I liked her a lot. I did wish that we saw more of Kyle in the present, as I enjoyed seeing them reconnect.
Was this predictable and cheesy? YEP! Did I care? A big fat nope! I was grinning as I read it, and was on a high chasing my HEA. This story was nothing that you won't have seen before. A classic story of rich girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who her parents hate. Sprinkle in a little tragic backstory, and throw them together again 13 years later and voilà!
I did think the characters were a little young in the flashbacks, as on my camp the 16 year olds were SIT's (staff in training) and you had to be 18/19 to be a full counsellor. I was 21 and 23 when I worked as a camp counsellor, but had I been 16, then I'm sure I would've been getting up to no good just like these characters did lol! The age of the character's when they first met, did give this a bit of a YA feel to it though.
Usually I despise insta-love and the like, buuuut camp is a strange place! You all spend all day an night with these people in a little bubble for the whole summer, and you forget about reality, they become your family and it's so intense! You can definitely get swept away in your feelings! The difference between this book and my life is that this couple were separated, with many secrets, but my husband and I decided to get to know each other in real life, first long distance, seeing each other at weekends, and then fully as we moved in together. We've always been open and honest, and our story certainly doesn't have all of the twists that this story does, but then that's why it's not in a book I guess!
So this was a fun, quick read that would appeal to people who have been to summer camp, either as a camper, or as a counsellor. It isn't the deepest tale, but it was full of love and hope, and I was in the mood for that! Great as a light beach read, or for snuggling under the duvet with! I'm not sure it was better than The Simple Wild, but it was certainly an improvement on Until It Fades! I will definitely be checking out more of this author's books when I need a good romance to lift my spirits because this one put a real smile on my face!
Rating: really liked it
I adored
The Simple Wild, so
Say You Still Love Me had some pretty big shoes to fill and wow did it just..... not. This book was SO bland. I can't even believe this was written by the same person who wrote one of my favorite romances of all time. I never ever felt like there were any stakes, and I honestly could not have cared less about ANY of the characters. Also, did 95% of the sexy scenes in this book need to happen while the characters were underage???? This was just messy, y'all. I'm SAD.
Rating: really liked it
SAY YOU STILL LOVE ME is NOW AVAILABLE! Grab it in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format!
Rating: really liked it
Ugh, too darn cute.
I got a good dose of character development, enjoyable plot, an adorable second chance romance story with a summer camp as the backdrop.
I wasn’t sure whether I was going to like this book since I wasn’t the biggest fan of
The Simple Wild, but this story had me head over heels.
Now I need more of K.A. Tucker in my life.
———————————
An overdue buddy-read with Karima! 💛
Rating: really liked it
We starrrt at 5 stars (I read it, didn't I?)
+1 star for the bitter-sweet plot
-1 star for the brainless shit the characters do
+1 star for the all-around happy ending (apart from Eric, of course, dreadful situation!)
+1 star nicely cut heroes (the 'Now' part, the 'Wawa' camp was largely 'ewwww' for me)
-1 star for clichees
+1 star for the feminist vibes
+1 star for a decent take on corporations clockwork and challenges of flexibility introduction into those. Of course, it's all very token and supeficial but I'll like with that!
We end at 5 stars!
Q:
Unfortunately for them, I’m not going anywhere. And I’m beyond fed up, because I heard the same bullshit update from Tripp in the last meeting. (c)
Q:
I stroll out of the boardroom with my head held high, making sure my heels clack extra loud for Tripp, in case he missed the part where the tart just handed him his ass. (c)
Q:
We’re quite comfortable in the “plotting together to trounce misogynistic jerks” stage, though. (c)
Q:
Maybe there’s someone who you’d mesh with better?” Chad and Ashley are as opposite as you can get, and not in a good way. Ashley is all about organic foods, vegetarianism, and protecting nature, while Chad had a deer head—from a deer that he shot—stuffed and mounted above their bed. Ashley uses laundry baskets instead of dresser drawers to store her clothes, while Chad vacuums the vacuum cleaner. Ashley will spend hours on Pinterest, looking for ways to up-cycle a chipped teapot to avoid it going into a landfill; Chad is an engineer for an energy company—that Ashley has protested outside. Ashley spends a few hours every Thanksgiving working at a soup kitchen; Chad thinks the homeless are all lazy people looking for a handout. (c)
Q:
Noted. So I shouldn’t mention . . . basically anything about my life around him. (c)
Q:
With Christa as my bunk mate, I basically have a walking, talking agenda anyway. (c)
Q:
“We have turtles at home, I’m crushing hard on Kyle, and I dumped my high school soccer team captain’s ass for trying to pressure me into having sex.”
Probably not what Darian had in mind for this ice breaker, but there you have it. (c)
Q:
I sigh heavily. In my father’s eyes, a man’s worth is set by his family name, his bank account, and his shoes. (c)
Q:
“It is confusing, isn’t it? Life? To be so sure of something in your head but unable to ignore what’s in your heart.” (c)
Q:
How was your weekend?”
He shrugs. “The usual. Grandkids, church, poker. Not at the same time.”
“Sounds relaxing.” (c)
Q:
“What’s wrong with his tail?”
“Anxiety.”
His dark eyebrows rise. “Cats get anxiety?”
“This one does.” (c)
Q:
“Your ex paid me a visit today.”
“What did he say?” ...
“He didn’t say anything. He just stood there and stared at me.”
“Stared at you.”
“For ten or twelve seconds, until Gus stepped in and asked if he was okay. And then he left.” (c)
Q:
“Maybe I should start screwing the help, too.”And . . . he’s back.
“I think that’s a great idea. She already has your children’s names picked out.”
“What?” Panic flashes across his face.
“I’m kidding. Now go away so I can work.” (c)
Q:
“Do you know what I see when I’m in that building?”
“Old men staring at my ass?”...
“But it doesn’t happen as often as you think. More than that, I see people sitting up straight when you enter a room; I see their eyes glued to you when you speak. When I hear your name floating around, it’s said with respect.” He smirks. “Sometimes with a bit of fear.” He pushes a strand of hair off my face. “And I see a woman who has I don’t even want to know how much money to burn, busting her ass all day and coming home exhausted at night to the penthouse condo that she’s welcomed her camp friends to live in rent-free, and having conversations about kids with new assistants, and stopping to greet the old security guard at the front desk when everyone else is too busy to look up. Do you know how happy that makes Gus?” ...
“No, it’s because you’re still you. You’re still the same kind, generous, down-to-earth girl from Wawa who cares about people no matter where they fit. Hell, you could be sailing around in a yacht, or drinking fucking lattes in a courtyard in Paris or whatever it is you rich people do, and yet here you are, working hard doing something that’s important to you, trying to please your father, with bags under your eyes, eating takeout on a Friday night.” (c)
Q:
That cat has mastered the art of snubbing in a way few humans can match. (c)
Q:
“Interesting . . . I didn’t think being told to shove a golf club up his ass would motivate him so well.”(c)
Q:
Eight weeks, eight new sets of kids. Eighty little girls. What if they all cry themselves to sleep every night?
This must be why camp counselor looks so good on college applications—they know you’ve endured hell and lived to talk about it. (c)
Q:
“I remember wondering where they got those pantyhose from. Like, if they went out and bought them or took them from our mother’s dresser.” (с)
Q:
“How’s the condo?”
“Besides the psychotic Siamese cat that was sitting on my nightstand watching me sleep the other night?” (c)
Q:
“You never judge.”
“I’m a huge stoner, remember? Stoners don’t judge.” (c)
Q:
“Why are you staring at me like that?”...
“No reason. I’ve just always wondered, when aliens abduct a human, do they undress them before infecting the host body or were you still wearing your suit?” (c)
Rating: really liked it
How many of us would jump at a second chance with a lost love, or wish we had that opportunity at some point in our lives? What would we be willing to risk to see that second chance through?
Piper Calloway is being groomed to take over her father's multibillion-dollar real estate development firm, if he's ever willing to retire. She definitely knows her stuff and can go toe-to-toe with any man in the business, but many believe she's only risen through the ranks of the company because she's the boss's daughter. Since she's beautiful and 29, and a woman, many aren't willing to take her seriously—at their own peril.
As if battling for respect from one of her father's right-hand men isn't hard enough to deal with on a daily basis, she also needs to work closely with David, her fiancé, who is a fellow VP at the firm. He's handsome and intelligent—and he knows it—but Piper's father still hasn't gotten over their ending their engagement, since David is both surrogate son and sidekick. David is just biding his time until Piper realizes the error of her ways.
One day, in the midst of all her daily chaos, she sees a face she hasn't seen since the summer she was 16 years old. Kyle Miller, the handsome, cocky boy who stole her heart when they were summer camp counselors 13 years ago—and then broke her heart when the summer ended and they went their separate ways—has grown into an immensely handsome man. She's never been able to find him on social media, never heard from him again—what is he doing in her building?
"Because, even after all these years, with college and boyfriends, and my career and my engagement to David, Kyle Miller has always been a sliver in my heart, a shadow in my thoughts. A lingering 'what if' that I have never been able to truly shake."
It turns out Kyle is now a security guard in her building, and at first, he didn't seem to even know her name. But when he admits that was an act, he also admits he'd like to keep their relationship formal. Too many years have passed, she's nearly the CEO of the company that owns the building in which he works, and he's just a security guard. Once again, they're on either side of the financial divide, and Kyle would like to keep it that way.
Piper can't seem to shake the feelings that Kyle has reignited. Was this just a summer relationship between two high school kids, not destined to go anywhere, or did it have the potential to be so much more? Why did Kyle cut her off completely, change his name, and disappear, leaving her wondering whether the feelings he told her he had were genuine or just a way to get what he wanted that summer? Can a relationship succeed between two people who are so different that forces will try to keep them apart?
K.A. Tucker's new book,
Say You Still Love Me , explores the idea of a second chance years later, when so much has changed, but the people are still the same at their core. Can a teenage relationship from summer camp blossom into something serious, all these years later? Can a relationship in which the participants are so far apart financially ever work? Are there secrets which can keep them apart even now?
The narration shifts between when Piper and Kyle first meet at camp 13 years ago and present day. It also shifts between Piper's attempts to understand Kyle's disappearance and his distance since then and her struggles to succeed outside her father's shadow. It's an exploration of friendship, first love, family, and the secrets that threaten to destroy it all, or which incite us to want to throw it all away.
I read Tucker's last book,
The Simple Wild , earlier this year and fell completely in love with it. I was really excited to get the opportunity to read
Say You Still Love Me before it was published. I really enjoy the way Tucker writes, and her combination of emotion, humor, and sex is really appealing.
I definitely enjoyed this book, and loved the concept (especially having gone to summer camp for 10 seasons and seen many couples from that time married now), but I honestly could have done without the narration from camp. I felt that part of the story dragged and took far too long to tell. I understood Tucker was setting the scene but it seemed to just be the same things over and over again.
More and more, I'm becoming a fan of rom-coms, and Tucker is definitely an author I'll turn to again and again.
Say You Still Love Me was an enjoyable, emotional read that brought a tear to my eye.
NetGalley and Atria Books provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!
This book publishes August 6, 2019.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.
You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Rating: really liked it
IT'S LIVE!!!!
She did it again. I honestly didn’t think it would happen again – but I cried. I got to the point when I couldn’t keep on reading, and had to put the book down. Because I couldn’t see through my tears – lol.
What I love about this author’s writing is that she doesn’t overdo the emotional. She doesn’t rip out my heart and stomp all over it. There is nothing manipulated about the way she goes about. It just sneaks up on me, when I least expect it and – pow!!!
So, this book is for everyone who loves summer camp. Who loves the idea of a summer of falling in love. A first love that endures hardships and years of separation. Say You Still Love Me is the perfect romance novel about second chances.
Besides a fantastic story arc, I really enjoyed the cast. The characters are down to earth, kind, and relatable. The friendships, and emotional connections are palpable and real. And I love how very different most of the personalities are. None was boring, two dimensional or just plain superficial.
The only thing that always takes some of the joy out of these kind of novels are the flashbacks. A reason why I’m not the biggest fan of the popular second chance trope. If the author does the flashbacks too well, I always wish that it would have been a YA novel instead. I’m a huge sucker for first love. It’s passionate, and emotionally charged. The newness of first love is uniquely exciting and the feelings just jump off the pages. So, going back between past and present is jarring and messes with my mind.
But in the end, I got used to the alternating chapters, and in retrospect, the way the author had this novel set up only shows how well she knows her craft.
The novel was everything I wanted it to be.
The story spoke to me, lured me in, and even made me cry. Perfect ingredients for a romance novel that touches hearts and allows the reader to reminisce about their own summer camp days. Or for someone like me who never went to a summer camp, to imagine how it could have been and also to contemplate all the things I missed out on.
Say You Still Love Me wasn’t as poignant as Be the Girl or as engrossing as The Simple Wild but it was in its entirety a wonderful addition to my KA TUCKER collection. Especially her latest books are MUST READ novels for me. Her words, writing and characters speak to me, and are by far some of the best romance novels available.
Her books have become a new obsession of mine, and Say You Still Love Me did not disappoint.
ARC generously provided in exchange for an honest review.
___________________________________
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Rating: really liked it
I actually loved that it’s sort of a reverse Cinderella situation with this book. I’m used to reading books with rich alpha male Hs, so it’s nice to find one where the roles are swapped. I enjoyed reading about the time during which the main leads spent together at the summer camp when they were both still in high school. Unfortunately, the adult version of their characters were much less
fun to read.
I honestly would prefer reading about the
teenage version of these characters rather than having to deal with their inanity throughout the
adult/present chapters. Instead of having alternate chapters that take back 13 years into the past and are delivered only through the h’s POV, I think I would’ve appreciated more if the author had written the book in a dual POVs and without the dual timelines.
I also feel like there’s too much talk shop/business talk in this book. I wanted the “adult chapters” to show more about how our characters reconnect after 13 years not seeing each other, rebuild their friendship, and eventually fall in love again. Instead I got pages after pages of (view spoiler)
[our h trying to expose the foul play of this misogynist villainy old man to her father who is the ceo of the company she’s inheriting (hide spoiler)]. I just don’t like that this becomes the plot device the author used to build a base for the climax and resolution of our characters’ relationship.
Rating: really liked it
*****FOUR STARS*****{ARC Generously Provided by Publisher}
Because, even after all these years, with college and boyfriends, and my career and my engagement to David, Kyle Miller has always been a sliver in my heart, a shadow in my thoughts. A lingering “what if” that I have never been able to truly shake.
”SAY YOU STILL LOVE ME” is a sweet and steamy second chance romance that is both young adult and adult contemporary. It started off a bit too slow for me but luckily towards the second half of the story the plot started to rev up and I couldn’t wait to find out how it all would end. There were surprises I didn’t see coming.
Piper Calloway and Kyle Miller met and fell instantly in love during their shared summer as counselors at camp Wawa. It's hard to believe that you can find your true soulmate at sixteen, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that what they shared was more than a summer fling.
The story goes back and forth between present and past. We see how adult Piper and Kyle are living their lives and it’s obvious that thirteen years of separation has done absolutely nothing to erase the feelings they had for each other. I did feel that there may have been a little too much emphasis played on the back story which created the slowness for me. Maybe I am getting a bit tired of the switch from past to present in most of the books I have been reading lately.
Luckily plot twists take place towards the end, which explains Kyle’s actions in the past and why he suddenly reappears in Piper’s life. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read. It’s definitely worth adding to your summer reads list!
Here are my overall ratings:
Hero:
4Heroine:
4Plot:
4Angst:
4.5Steam:
4Chemistry Between Hero & Heroine:
5”SAY YOU STILL LOVE ME” releases on August 6th.
AMAZON: https://amzn.to/2JCUa76
Rating: really liked it
Many thanks to Atria Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review ”I was an addict and Kyle was my drug of choice.”
This was everything that
Twice in a Blue Moon tried and failed to be. Throughout the entire book, I just kept muttering to myself
”Twice in a Blue Moon ... but better.” because it felt almost exactly like TIAB but actually well done.
So, what’s this book about? When Piper Calloway is sent off to a run down(ish) summer camp to be a counselor, she expects her entire summer to be miserable. And it is, until she meets Kyle. Kyle is charming and attractive. Slowly and then all at once, Piper falls head over heels for him. But when an accident happens, Piper is forced to go home from camp, leaving Kyle behind.
A decade later Piper is climbing the ladder in her father’s business. She is successful and happy but she still thinks back to that one summer fling, constantly wondering why Kyle never spoke to her after she left. One day, out of the blue, Kyle shows up and every kiss, smile and joke shared between Kyle and Piper comes rushing back in painful detail. Piper must decide between trying to rekindle what they had or avoiding him altogether. But deep down she wants him to say he still loves her. See what I did there? I loved how accurate the title is. It sums up the entire novel in five words.
K.A. Tucker chose to tell
Say You Still Love Me via two timelines which was extremely enjoyable and effective. We switch back and forth from Piper’s summer at camp to the present at her job, though most of the book is in the present. Tucker (I’ll never get used to that) expertly reveals enough from the past to keep the reader thirsty for more and just when you think she’s saved the best for last, she slaps you with a scene from the past that makes you look at the present in a whole new way.
➵
Kyle -
I’ve been doing it occasionally but now, I am starting a tradition. With every romcom, I will find pictures of people that I think look like the character (or my mental image of them) and share them with you. SO:
Young Kyle:
Adult Kyle
[Credit: Michael Provost]
Even though Kyle was attractive, he didn’t earn a spot on my fictional crushes list. He was just not someone that I would gravitate towards in real life. There was anything wrong with him. He just didn’t float my boat.
➵
Piper - Random note, my brain kept autocorrecting to Amy. I don’t know why but my brain
was is convinced that the main character in
Say You Still Love Me is Amy. brains are weird
Anyway, I really loved Piper. She was spunky, smart and feminist.
And speaking of feminism… I was pleasantly surprised to see it done well in this. Again, I go back to
Twice in a Blue Moon which tried and failed to incorporate feminism but ended up shoving it down the reader's throat. Something I see a lot in books is authors trying to have feminism in their stories, which is not a bad thing. It’s great! But sometimes, it’s shoved in our faces so much that it gets annoying. Tucker (yup, still not used to it) expertly incorporated feminism and empowerment into Piper’s story perfectly in a way that didn’t annoy or turn away readers.
Also, the sex scenes and smut were superb!
And finally, the romance in this book warmed my heart like hot apple cider on a chilly autumn evening. With characters that every reader will fall in love with immediately and an ensnaring plot,
Say You Still Love Me is a romance that every reader will fall in love with.
Bottom Line:
5 Stars
Age Rating: [ R ]
Content Screening - Educational Value (0/5) - [None] ~ Positive Messages (3/5) - [Forgiveness, female empowerment] ~ Violence (3/5) - [Character falls and is severely injured] ~ Sex (4/5) - [Many detailed kissing & sex scenes] ~ Langauge (4/5) - [F**k, sh*t, d*ck, b*tch, d*mn] ~ Drinking & Drugs (2/5) - [Legal drinking, smoking]
Trigger and Content Warning - Severe injuries, heart troubles, brain damage, anxiety
Cover: 4/5 ~ Characters: 4/5 ~ Plot (4/5) ~ Audio (3/5)
Publication Date: August 6th, 2019
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Romance/Comedy
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omg, what fun this was!!!
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no, i didn't request a copy because the author's last name is Tucker
what makes you think that?
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