Say You Love Me

This book has a lot of inner dialogue. There are several pages of just what the main characters are thinking. We do not get as much dialogue between characters, as there are in other stories. This was my least favorite in the Four Week Fiance series. I really enjoyed the other two books, but I wanted a little more from this book. I wanted to get more interaction between the characters other than just their own thoughts. Also, Cody was just not a character I could root for! I wanted her to end up with Luke because he seemed like a better match.

Cody And Sally’s Angsty Story Is About An Emotionally Immature Bachelor And The Woman He Finally Realizes That He Cannot Live Without!

This is the third book in the Four Week Fiancé series. Books one and two are TJ and Mila’s story. The third and final book of the series follows Cody and Sally, their best friends. Cody and Mila are siblings, and both Cody and Sally make repeated appearances throughout the first two book in the series. While it is recommended to read the first two books first prior to the third, it is nevertheless possible to read this book as a stand-alone.

From book one:

Mila Brookstone, twenty-two, is an enigma. She is both a realist and a dreamer. A recent college grad, she worked her way up from secretary to an assistant job in the buying department of her family’s business. The new job was not accompanied with a pay increase and she is frustrated that she isn’t allowed to make actual decisions. She wants more responsibility, but her father is concerned about being accused of nepotism. She spends too much for her meager earnings and is messy, very unlike her organized best friend Sally. They’ve been friends since kindergarten and share everything, but they won’t attempt living together again. It hadn’t worked out well when they tried it in college. Sally happens to be in love with Cody, Mila’s older brother. Cody, however, is too busy with his playboy lifestyle to pay her any attention. Mila has had a crush of her own for years. Her brother’s best friend makes her want to hit him and kiss him at the same time. Each fall her family spends a weekend at their lake house. Mila’s best memories have happened there, in part due to the fact that her brother’s best friend normally attends, too. She is a woman now, a working college grad, but she knows it is up to her to make the first move so this year she has a plan to seduce him. Finding Mila’s enthusiasm infectious, Sally has ideas of her own.

TJ Walker, twenty-eight, is a millionaire in his own right thanks to an inheritance from his grandparents. But he lives in the shadow of his billionaire father. The nonchalant playboy smiles for the cameras, but TJ knows it is all a façade; underneath his father’s public persona is a cold and calculating man. Both TJ and his father’s wealth has caused more than a few to try to latch on to TJ, and he shudders when anyone wants to talk about his famous father. He has been best friends with Cody for twenty years, though, and their friendship is tried and true. They both enjoy a playboy lifestyle while working for their fathers. Cody does the accounting for his family business, which has hit hard times during the dip in the economy. TJ works for his father, too. He has plans for expansion and cost savings that will put the company in a strong position going forward, but his cheapskate father doesn’t have the foresight to see the value gained by a little up front investment. Instead, his father is pressuring him to do something that TJ knows is very wrong. He will do it, though. He has a plan, and he promises his father he will come through by the end of the weekend. But if the plan veers off course, TJ will be ruined.

TJ and Mila had played a game for years. Flirting and arguing, even a kiss once she had turned eighteen. But both enter the weekend with a plan to bring their relationship to the next step. Their plans go down the drain, however, because they get caught up in their games. Things get complicated when TJ invites Barbie along as his date. Then Mila’s fake boyfriend Troy suddenly materializes, adding to the chaos. Many hurt feelings occur during the course of the weekend, but somehow TJ and Mila manage to get some alone time together. Mila has dreamed of a romantic evening leading to losing her innocence to TJ. TJ has other ideas, though. He likes danger. He likes dark and dirty. He wants to show her who he really is, but isn’t sure she will stick around once she knows him. Their story ends in a cliffhanger.

In book two:

TJ and Mila return home and embark on their fake four week engagement. Mila gets to see a different side of TJ. He is dark, but beyond that he seems to shut down every time he is on the verge of opening up. He is keeping things from Mila, and she wavers between patience and recognizing the writing on the wall. TJ finds himself overwhelmed when Mila moves in, but he quickly grows to like having her living with him. But love and relationships aren’t in the cards for him. They always end in pain, and that is a bitter truth that he had learned the hard way in his youth. It shaped him. It was best to live in black and white. Night and day, with no shades of grey. It was best for both him and Mila if he didn’t fall in love. Especially because the truth would come out soon, and Mila would never forgive him. But Mila has a secret of her own that might cause a ripple, and she isn’t the only one. TJ and Mila move forward enjoying their time together but with the knowledge that things are not right between them. Their relationship is unclear and their future uncertain. Mila continues to love him quietly, and TJ enjoys the comfort he feels in her presence. But the deal he made weighs heavily on his conscience. It no longer seems the harmless business transaction that he had anticipated because hearts are on the line.

From book three:

This book opens a few months after the lake house weekend, which is where book one begins. TJ and Mila are now officially engaged, in love, and living together. They would love to see their best friends find happiness as well. They both know that Cody, however, would first need to shed his bachelor lifestyle first.

Sally, roughly twenty-two, is from a broken family. According to book one, her father is second generation Italian and her mother is from Guyana, South America. Here, however, her father returns to Guyana when she is just eleven, and prior to that her parents had shared custody of her since their divorce by the time she was three. Her mother never really recovered from the divorce, but Sally found a surrogate family with the Brookstones – much like TJ had. Despite the fact that they are opposites, Sally and Mila have been best friends since kindergarten. And for Sally, it was love at first sight when she met Mila’s older brother Cody. She and Mila had grown up crushing on Cody and TJ and suffering from their unrequited love. Unlike Mila, who had waited for TJ, Sally is a realist. She had dated throughout the years, and guys loved her exotic beauty. All but Cody, who rarely seems to give her much notice. Those moments when he does pay her attention have meant the world and kept her hopes alive that Cody might one day be open to dating her. When Mila and TJ had gotten together recently, it sparked new hope for Sally. If TJ could give up his playboy ways, it is possible that Cody might follow suit.

Cody Brookstone, roughly twenty-eight, loves his life. He runs the company that his grandfather had started, and in his spare time he enjoys hanging out with TJ, sports, beer, and women. He dates casually but he doesn’t do relationships. He loves the freedom of doing what he enjoys. Because he is unattached, he never needs to worry about hurt feelings, etc. He never makes empty promises to women, so he has no responsibility for their feelings and no guilt after the fact. But things have changed since TJ fell in love with Mila. Cody has other friends, but it was TJ with whom he spent the bulk of his time, and these days he feels a bit lost.

When Mila comes up with a plan to help Sally and Cody along, Sally has reservations. It is the best friend plan. Now that Sally and Cody are so often without their best friends, Mila suggests that Sally simply start hanging out with Cody in a platonic way. That they become best friends. Cody would theoretically want what he couldn’t have, and the hope is that eventually he would become aware of the feelings that he harbored for her. Sally has some doubts. She had been toying with the idea of putting Cody out of her mind for good. Loving him had brought her nothing but heartache, especially now that she is of an age when dating wouldn’t be so taboo. The weekend at the lake house had been a devastating blow. Her self-confidence had sufferered. She lost sleep. And she couldn’t seem to center herself in a world that didn’t revolve around her love for Cody. It had become unhealthy and she knew it. But Mila’s idea had merit, and she couldn’t walk away without trying.

Thanks to a little maneuvering by Mila, Cody and Sally spend time with one another and develop a true friendship. They are comfortable with one another and are a couple in many ways. Cody still seems oblivious to how he hurts Sally, though. He gives her mixed signals. He is jealous one moment and talking about women the next. Sally finds herself deeper in love but with absolutely no hope that Cody will ever consider anything but his own feelings. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom before change takes place. Cody and Sally eventually win their happy ending.

Cody and Sally’s angsty story is about an emotionally immature bachelor and the woman he finally realizes that he cannot live without. It is more serious in tone and very sad to read as Sally’s feelings are so callously disrespected. It is also hard to read how Sally puts herself through so much while at the same time being acutely aware how unhealthy the situation is. There are rambling scenes that drag – they mostly take place in their heads – but it is rewarding to see the couple follow in TJ and Mila’s footsteps and finally find love. The plot is fairly simple. The story is written in first person. The POV alternates between Cody and Sally. I rate this book four stars.

I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is Sally and Cody’s story. If you read Four-Week Fiance, you’ll remember them. Sally was the best friend of Cody’s sister and had been in love with him forever. Neither of the characters was very likable or had much depth. She was whiney and he was spoiled, lazy, and had wandering eyes. I truly love JS Cooper’s books but this was not my favorite. I read a complimentary copy and voluntarily chose to write a review.