You Say It First by Katie Cotugno

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.

Reviewed by shannonmiz on

5 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 May, 2020: Finished reading
  • 20 May, 2020: Reviewed