You Say It First

by Katie Cotugno

An addictive, irresistible YA novel about two teens from different worlds who fall for each other after a voter registration call turns into a long-distance romance—from Katie Cotugno, the New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days. Perfect for fans of Mary H.K. Choi, Robin Benway, and Nicola Yoon.

One conversation can change everything.

Meg has her entire life set up perfectly: she and her best friend, Emily, plan to head to Cornell together in the fall, and she works at a voter registration call center in her Philadelphia suburb. But everything changes when one of those calls connects her to a stranger from small-town Ohio.

Colby is stuck in a rut, reeling from a family tragedy and working a dead-end job. The last thing he has time for is some privileged rich girl preaching the sanctity of the political process. So he says the worst thing he can think of and hangs up.

But things don’t end there.…

That night on the phone winds up being the first in a series of candid, sometimes heated, always surprising conversations that lead to a long-distance friendship and then—slowly—to something more. Across state lines and phone lines, Meg and Colby form a once-in-a-lifetime connection. But in the end, are they just too different to make it work?

You Say It First is a propulsive, layered novel about how sometimes the person who has the least in common with us can be the one who changes us most.

• ISBN10: 0062674129
• ISBN13: 9780062674128
• Publish Date: 6 August 2020 (first published 16 June 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 22 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: Balzer and Bray
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[girlinthepages]

You Say It First actually made it on my most anticipated books of 2020 list after I read and immensely enjoyed Katie Cotugno's 99 Days and 9 Days and 9 Nights. However while I enjoyed her latest novel (and loved the cover!) it lacked the edge that I so loved from her previous books.

The story follows Meg, a perfect, Type A student who works phonebanking at a voter registration call center and who's world seems perfect from the outside but has some deep fissures forming behind the scenes. She meets Colby, a bit of an aimless soul dealing with the grief of losing his father, during this phonebanking and one conversation turns to many which turns into a full-fledged virtual relationship. Meg and Colby's relationship was extremely relatable for Millenials and Gen Z'ers in some ways, because who among us hasn't had a high school relationship that was (at least at first) primarily conducted via text/phone calls/Myspace? It was also very timely to see Meg and Colby have real, honest discussions about their political views which leaned left for Meg and mostly apathetic for Colby. However, I was often frustrated by elements of the story, particularly Meg's aversion to ever admitting she was upset by anything and Colby's self-sabotaging ways. This story also just felt timid to me in terms of the topics it dealt with compared to the previous Cotugno books I've read, where she really took some hard teenage concepts and confronted them head on and I feel like this book was about having to drag the scandal out of the characters who were intent on masking the drama in their lives.

Overall: I enjoyed You Say It First and really respected the way the political element was handled, and think it's a great book for anyone exploring the political landscape and how involved they want to be. However, it's not my favorite of Cotugno's novels.

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[bgsbooks18]

I received a E copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not change my opinion on this book. Thank you Edelweiss for sending me a copy of this book.

Meg has her life planned out. She's going to go to the same college as her best friend and she working at a call center. So her life is going pretty well. She calls a number to register for voting, when a different person answers. The person that answered was the mans son. Well the phone call did not go as planned to say the least.
Colby is having a hard time since his dad pasted away. He's currently working at a dead end job and he's not sure what to do next.

Since the call between the two did not go well. Meg leaves her personal number to the boy on the phone. It was mainly to apologize for the way the call went but also in case the boy needed someone to talk to about his dad. Well long story short they ended up becoming friends. Someone that you could tell your secrets to and it didn't matter because you would never meet them. The relationship slowly grows into more than a friendship. They begin to have feelings for each other. Since they both come from different worlds, they had to make some changes.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it very cute and fun. I would definitely recommend for a nice summer read. This book definitely help me get out on my reading funk.

[Sam@WLABB]

Meg was passionate about being part of the political process, and put her money where her mouth was by dedicating her time and effort to many causes she was believed in. One such cause was voter registration, but she never thought her phonebanking would lead to an unlikely friendship and so much more.

I always lament being a lonely moderate in this VERY politically polarized environment. So, I will admit, I approached this book with trepidation. However, it was a pleasant surprise, and not what I was expecting at all. I should have just trusted Katie Cotugno.

I definitely knew where Meg stood, politically, but Colby didn't seem to have too much conviction either way. He seemed more fed up with or disappointed in the political process, while Meg was a firm believer, that change was possible via this avenue. I thought the idea of being part of the process was such an important one, and I also liked that Meg spotlighted local politics. The federal government does not make all the rules, and I, therefore, appreciated the focus on getting involved locally.

For me, the beauty of the relationship, that blossomed between Colby and Meg, was how they challenged each other. Things were great at school for Meg, where everyone agreed with all her views, but along came Colby, and he had her questioning multiple aspects of her life. Meg also pushed Colby, and she dared him to see more possibilities, to believe that change could happen. They debated, they discussed, and they forced each other to see things from a different point of view. It was that change in perspective, which resulted in a lot of personal growth for them both.

I found myself fully absorbed in this story. I sped right through it, and overall, was pleased with what I read. I was a bit conflicted about the ending, though. I found it symbolically beautiful, but would have loved to have seen beyond that point. I will say, that I knew enough about the direction in which the characters were heading. However, I was somewhat excited about these developments, and greedy me wanted the story to go a wee bit longer, so I could see how it all worked out.

Overall: I throughly enjoyed this blend of romance, personal drama, and politics. It was about embracing differences, and seeing them as a way to refine and examine our own beliefs.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

I both love and hate when a book makes me feel stuff. Especially when it was stuff I wasn't trying to feel! But regardless of whether I like feelings, it does mean it was clearly a damn good book. So let's talk about why I enjoyed it so much! 

• ►The relationship just felt so honest. Meg and Colby are so wonderfully flawed, so messy as individuals, and that is just plain relatable. Then, they bring their messy selves into this relationship, and they actually have to like, choose whether they want to make it work. Obviously they have great chemistry and such, but in a relationship like this, where they live hundreds of miles apart, and have no prior connection, it would be easy to give up. Sometimes, each of them wants to because it gets hard sometimes to be open and work at something. And that is just real as anything.



• ►Both characters grow a lot during the book. One of the elements of this book that I loved the most is that both characters had to work through their own crap. It wasn't like "oh look they found each other and everything is perfect", no. It was more that they needed to grow as individuals before there would even be a chance for them to work as a couple.



• ►Voting! Meg volunteers for an organization that registers people from all over the country to vote over the phone. This of course is how Meg meets Colby, which the synopsis tells you. But more than that, there is a ton of great discussion on why it is so important to vote!



• ►The characters each have their own strong relationships outside the romance. Family and friendships play a huge role in both of their stories, which is as it should be. They had to navigate growing and changing friendships, and how family dynamics change over time. It was great to love each character in their own "home world" as well as when their worlds collide.



• ►There were feels. Which I said, and sometimes it is rude when books make you think about stuff that you don't want to think about, and hit you right the heck in the feels. Which this one did. But how can I be mad when it felt so honest? Alas, I cannot.

Bottom Line: It's a feel-good story that still somehow feels incredibly realistic and relatable. Basically, a huge win.