Publishers Weekly
07/13/2020
Living in the Philadelphia suburbs, Meg Warren, 18, is passionate about politics, giving speeches at her private school and volunteering for nonpartisan nonprofit WeCount to talk people through voter registration. It’s WeCount that leads to her first phone conversation with fellow 18-year-old Colby Moran, who works a dead-end job in Alma, Ohio. After their heated argument about voting abruptly ends with Colby’s confession that his father recently killed himself, Meg can’t get Colby out of her head—though she knows she should focus on her misgivings about attending Cornell in the fall and her mother’s drinking problem, which has worsened since her parents’ divorce. Calling Colby to apologize, Meg admits a secret of her own, leading to a long-distance confidence and eventual in-person romance, even as the duo’s differences threaten the possibility of a real relationship. Alternating perspectives, Cotugno (How to Love) goes beyond romance and politics, adroitly tracing how both are changed by their conversations and experiences stepping into each other’s contrasting worlds. While the relationship itself may feel contrived, its longevity seems less important than the honesty and courage each individual gains to face the future. Ages 13–up. (June)
From the Publisher
Cotugno's latest slow-burn romance digs deep…. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, this is a must-read for teens questioning their futures or their own hearts.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)
“A realistic and captivating story that speaks to the issues relevant to teens today….Romance, politics, family drama, and more—this one has it all.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Cotugno writes with equal sympathy about opinionated characters with differing life experiences and worldviews. For collections where the smart-girl romances of Miranda Kenneally, Jenny Han, and Nandini Bajpai do well.” — School Library Journal
"In You Say It First, Katie Cotugno explores the messy victories and sweet imperfections of falling in love across party lines. Meg and Colby are brave and scared, flawed yet true to themselves, and as their relationship grows, we see how the wrong person can come along at exactly the right time. Katie's writing is always full of empathy, humor, and hope, and this book is no different. I absolutely loved it." — Robin Benway, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Far From the Tree
Robin Benway
"In You Say It First, Katie Cotugno explores the messy victories and sweet imperfections of falling in love across party lines. Meg and Colby are brave and scared, flawed yet true to themselves, and as their relationship grows, we see how the wrong person can come along at exactly the right time. Katie's writing is always full of empathy, humor, and hope, and this book is no different. I absolutely loved it."
ALA Booklist (starred review)
Cotugno's latest slow-burn romance digs deep…. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, this is a must-read for teens questioning their futures or their own hearts.”
School Library Journal
04/01/2020
Gr 9 Up—Meg is a force. She's active on her high school campus, she works phone shifts getting people registered to vote, she's a feminist, and she has just been accepted into Cornell. She has a nice group of friends and parents who love her. By all appearances, Meg has it together. But a year prior, when her parents got divorced, her mother's drinking and her father's new girlfriend sent Meg into autopilot without anyone noticing, not even Meg. It isn't until Meg's boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her that she wakes up and realizes she's been so busy holding things together that she's lost her own agenda. When small-town and hardworking Colby answers a call from Meg, the two make a connection that changes both of them. Five hundred miles away from one another, Colby and Meg begin a relationship based on good old-fashioned dialogue that enables them to move forward and quit letting life make decisions for them. Cotugno, rather than being politically heavy-handed, makes seamless the complexity of Meg and Colby's relationship. She writes with equal sympathy about opinionated characters with differing life experiences and worldviews. VERDICT For collections where the smart-girl romances of Miranda Kenneally, Jenny Han, and Nandini Bajpai do well.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA
Kirkus Reviews
2020-02-26
Two 18-year-olds form a turbulent connection after a chance phone call.
On the surface, Meg’s suburban life in Philadelphia seems picture perfect—she’s college-bound, politically active, and works at a voter registration call center. In reality, though, Meg is still suffering from her parents’ tumultuous divorce and avoids conflict at all costs. About an eight-hour drive away, in Alma, Ohio, Colby Moran is dealing with his own troubled family life while working a dead-end job. When a voter registration call accidentally connects Meg and Colby, the two decidedly do not hit it off. Despite this difficult start, they have an undeniable connection, and their long-distance phone calls turn into a friendship and, eventually, romance. Told in alternating perspectives, Meg’s and Colby’s distinct voices and equally flawed characters complement each other in an unconventional yet realistic way. Meg is an optimist and hell-bent on changing the world, one voter at a time; meanwhile, Colby doesn’t have many expectations about things changing and is mostly content living in his small town. Together, they challenge each other to think and act differently—but are they strong enough to overcome their differences? Part romance, part coming-of-age, this is a realistic and captivating story that speaks to the issues relevant to teens today. Most characters are cued as white; Meg is attracted to both boys and girls.
Romance, politics, family drama, and more—this one has it all. (Fiction. 14-18)
