Meg thought she had her life figured out. After high school, she and her best friend Emily are going to Cornell. She has a great boyfriend and she loves her job, where she calls people to help them register to vote.
One night she makes a call to a rural town in Ohio and a guy her age picks up. Everything about Colby Moran is infuriating. He’s got an attitude and thinks voting is a waste of time. So when he hangs up on Meg, the two of them never expected to talk again. After all, she lives all the way in Philadelphia.
Colby’s year sucked. After a family tragedy, Colby closed off from the rest of the world. He has a job he can’t stand and he really doesn’t want some “rich” girl calling him to lecture about the political process. Only, he feels bad for he treated her over the phone and for some reason, needs to reach out to her.
That one call leads to a series of conversations between Meg and Colby, where the two can be completely honest with each other. It’s not always easy because the two can get heated over their different lifestyles and perspectives. But at the same time, Meg and Colby grow closer, wondering if this relationship only works at a distance or if it could be something more?
You Say It First is a great read if you love to follow politics. This is probably our favorite book from Cotugno yet! We loved the dual POV, but enjoyed reading from Meg’s more. She’s super Type-A and is terrified of disappointing people to a point where she walks on eggshells. It was so great to see that she could be herself with Colby, even if the two gave each other a hard time.
Colby’s POV was interesting because he really did want to care about things the way Meg did, he was just afraid that caring would lead to disappointment. He shows a lot of character growth, especially in the final 1/4 of the book.
Cotugno’s latest is more character driven than plot driven. It shows how Meg and Colby figure out what they want in life, while dealing with a lot of obstacles. We felt bad for both of them in terms of their family situations. Just know beforehand that suicide and alcoholism are represented in this book.
One problem we had was that the book ended too abruptly. We needed at least one more chapter explained what happened next and discussed Meg’s plan for the future. Even though it was a fairly happy ending, the open-endedness set up a possibility for a book 2.
Overall, we loved the theme of the importance of voting and political participation. Cotugno took two opposite people in different socioeconomic areas and showed them that they had more in common than they ever expected. Meg and Colby’s late night phone calls were the perfect way to find themselves.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this book. But it looks worth searching out. Thank you.
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It’s a great read!
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Your review is good. Sounds like you want to read more.
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Thank you! Yes, we think it need to be a bit longer.
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This book sounds interesting and not my usual read but I would love to give it a go x
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We hope you give it a try!
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This sounds like a great book. I will need to add it to my TBR pile! x
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We hope you like it!
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Oooh this sounds like an interesting read and definitely not what I was expecting, based on the cover!
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Thank you! Yes, never judge a book by it’s cover. 😉
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Great review! I hadn’t heard of this one before but I love that it’s a character driven plot which has a strong focus on politics! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you! The reason we picked it up was because of the political aspect.
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This book sounds really good. I like the political aspects of it.
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We loved the political aspects!
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I forgot about this book! I will have to put it on my TBR. Great review!
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Thank you! We hope you enjoy it!
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Glad you enjoyed this one! I agree, it was a fun read, but the ending could have been better.
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Thank you! We felt the ending was too rushed and we hoped for a more set in stone conclusion.
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Lovely review! I have never heard of this book but this made me so interested! I lobe politics in books 🥰
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Thank you! We love it too. We really enjoyed the book Most Likely last year.
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This book sounds really good.
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Thank you!
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This sounds very interesting from the synopsis, great review x
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Thank you!
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I love books with some politics involved in it. This sounds right up my alley. Thank you for the recommendation and great review!
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