You Say It First

By: Katie Cotugno

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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 best-selling 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.

©2020 Katie Cotugno (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

My favorite by Contugno

Ive read all of Katie Contugno’s books and this is my favorite! I loved that there were 2 different perspectives of this story. Lots of ups and downs, leaving you always questioning what’s next.

Good for a placeholder

A little hyper angsty but has some VERY good vocab usage. Heard words in this book that I hadn't heard in ages since school vocab lists. w
It was nice to exercise my brain in that way.

I love both narrators voices and they are both very easy to blend in with the story, no annoying attributes.

There were some less common life messages in the story that were a nice step aside for this genre of book. So that was nice too.

Easy to keep listening to and it is a good one to keep you interested while not DEMANDING your time.

Thank you to the author.

Unsympathetic

Colby was traumatized by finding his father’s suicide. That’s horrible. But he doesn’t know a year later when he applies for a job, and the employer leaves a phone message, that he has to call back right away or the job goes to the next applicant. How pathetic. The main characters in the story don’t have qualities that make me want to sympathize.