Say You'll Remember Me

October 23, 2017
Striking and spirited, 17-year-old Elle Monroe is the only daughter of the governor of Kentucky, and her privileged, high-profile upbringing includes many expectations and little freedom. Hendrix “Drix” Pierce has led a life of poverty, disadvantage, and mistakes that have cost him. Elle and Drix meet by chance, and their chemistry is immediate, but the governor’s reelection and Drix’s plea deal for a crime he didn’t commit threaten any chance of romance. As they get to know each other in secret, Drix desperately tries to improve himself and stay out of prison, while Elle attempts to better understand who she is beyond what focus groups, her parents, and their staffers think. Steamy sensual scenes accent ideas about love and respect while other key moments challenge notions about loyalty, family, and power. Elle and Drix narrate alternating chapters with a naturalness and ease that echoes their relationship; there’s a smooth flow from scene to scene, and the story never flags. McGarry (the Thunder Road series) delivers a romantic tale with substance, and Elle and Drix are characters worth getting to know. Ages 13–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media.

December 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-In this sweet teen romance, the governor's rebellious daughter falls for a bad boy with a heart of gold. Sparks fly when Drix helps Elle avoid men who are harassing her at the state fair, and she's still interested after she finds out about his troubled past. Drix pled guilty to an armed robbery he didn't commit to protect his family. Elle's father, the governor of Kentucky, recruits Drix for a program to rehabilitate teens who have committed crimes. The two teens are thrown together repeatedly despite Elle's parents' objections to their budding relationship. Meanwhile, Drix attempts to deal with his precarious family situation and eventually risks danger to clear his name. Elle fights for more independence as her parents use her for publicity and political gain, though all she really wants to do is learn coding and invent apps. Drix may have a rough past that includes drugs, drinking, and seducing girls, but he now rescues puppies and will do anything for Elle. Romance fans will enjoy the family drama, forbidden love, and the steamy attraction between the two main characters-though no scenes go beyond passionate kisses. "Elle has lips made for sin" and "does he also feel this gravitational pull for my body to come closer to his?" might cause non-romance fans to roll their eyes, but it's a light, enjoyable read, if rather lengthy. VERDICT Purchase where there is demand for books by the author.-Miranda Doyle, Lake Oswego School District, OR

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2017
Romance blossoms across class lines.Even though he didn't commit the crime he was accused of, Drix--short for Hendrix--has spent 10 months (confusingly and frequently called a year) in a special program to end the school-to-prison pipeline, started by the governor as part of his bid for the U.S. Senate. Elle, full name Ellison, is the governor's daughter, expected by her ultracontrolling parents to be a perfect blue-eyed blonde political accessory. After a meet-cute with looming menace, the two white teens are drawn to each other. Drix knows Elle deserves the best, aka better than him (a confusing mirror of her parents' attitude), and dating her could destroy his second chance. Elle doesn't think so, and throughout the overstuffed, repetitious narrative, she works to change Drix's mind and prove to her parents she is committed to her envisioned future as a coder. Their romance is put to the test when Drix discovers who truly committed the crime he did the time for and Elle tries to intercede. Although the perils of the school-to-prison pipeline and life in politics are constantly told, they are rarely shown, causing little emotional impact. Further undercutting the romance is Elle's petulant naivete, which jars against Drix's didactic approach. Unsurprising and overlong. (Romance. 14-16)

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