Review of The Night We Met (Say You'll Remember Me #2) by Abby Jimenez

Abby Jimenez knows how to layer difficult situations and messy complications into her rom-coms, and her main protagonists must confront and overcome past and present difficulties in order to banter their way through the story and build a sweet life together. I was hooked on the chemistry and fascinated by the significant, heartbreaking obstacles and how they might possibly be addressed to allow for love.

Larissa made a split-second decision one night after a concert, when she was shoeless and in need of a ride home: she chose joking, fun-time-guy Mike to drive her, and they quickly started to date. Then she became friends with his far-more-serious best friend, Chris, a pharmacist who is kind, thoughtful, and more quiet. That fateful night, Chris had come across as more aloof--but he had been grieving the loss of his mother and his complicated feelings around it.

Now Mike is binge drinking and hiding it from Larissa, and Chris's many attempts to help Mike patch things up with Larissa only serve to layer Chris's thoughtfulness over Mike's personality, fooling Larissa into finding depth and caring in Mike that doesn't exist.

Larissa and Chris feel more and more connected to each other, but because they'd never hurt Mike, they have to remain just friends.

Jimenez inevitably offers great banter and fantastic premises, and she incorporates real-world issues, which add depth. Early in this story she had already explored money troubles, death and grief, identity theft and financial repercussions, and more. I wasn't sure I was up for reading about the extensive money troubles--this stresses me out--but Jimenez manages realistically complicated scenarios with grace and impressive nuance, including this particular sticky situation, hooking me completely.

I did at times very much feel as though Chris was going too far, taking measures Larissa wasn't asking him to take and playing the role of Savior Male above all else. Yet his actions were undeniably sweet and came from a place of caring help rather than control. Larissa did in fact need and appreciate the help, and Chris couched it all as partnership and selflessness.

The sweetness between Chris and Larissa is irresistible, and Jimenez takes what feels like an impossibility of a future and ekes out a story and a love that manages to move forward--despite messy, complex, potentially heartbreaking repercussions.

I listened to The Night We Met courtesy of Harper Wave and Libro.fm.

More Books to Check Out

You might also want to check out these other Bossy reviews of books by Abby Jimenez or other rom-coms I've loved.