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A review by emmareadstoomuch
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
5.0
This is the best Morgan Matson book.
And now, nearly 10 years after first reading it, I'm giving it 5 stars.
I am old and curmudgeonly. I am essentially an elderly grump shouting at ornery kids to get off his lawn. But I love this little number anyway.
This book has everything. (Please go back in time and read that in a Stefon voice if you didn’t the first time.) Road trips. Heart-shaped sunglasses. Bucket lists. That thing where characters have significant others but only to add a bit more spice to the will-they-won’t-they (even though the answer is clearly of course they will) and yes there’s cheating but actually it’s okay because the unseen girlfriend was also done with the relationship. Summertime. Pizza. Fun banter-y groups of friends. Playlists. The classic contemporary plot format in which everything starts out okay but with definite room for improvement and then gets good and then gets PERFECT and then gets so so so so so bad like even worse than the beginning but then turns perfect again and actually perfect-er than when you thought it was perfect because character development. And also romance, of course.
It is, in other words, as if someone took all of the best contemporary tropes and wrote them on lil pieces of paper and then tossed them in the air and then they floated down like confetti or snowflakes onto Morgan Matson’s angel head and she wrote this book.
I am a sucker for road trips and for bucket lists and for playlists and for snack descriptions and for summer and for banter and ESPECIALLY for when the friendships are more prevalent in a book than the budding romances.
And this book nails all of that. It is the most fun thing ever.
To give a touch of synopsis: We follow Emily, who has literally one friend. (Sounds like every character in every other book, am I right? It’s funny because most authors are too lazy or romance-focused to build realistic worlds populated with full, human-seeming individuals!) The friend’s name is Sloane, she is fun and adventurous and superhot, and she full-on disappeared a couple days back without telling Emily where she was going. AND NOW SHE’S NOT ANSWERING HER PHONE.
AND HER HOUSE IS EMPTY.
AHHHH.
Instead of worrying about whether ol’ Sloane and her parents got Mafia murdered, Emily focuses her boundless attention on a list of tasks that gal mailed her. Emily is very shy and introverted, where Sloane is extremely...not that, so the list is stuff like “skinny dip!!!” and “kiss a stranger!!!”
In her attempts to finish the list (in the hopes it’ll give her some Sloane-related answers), Emily makes friends and has fun and learns it’s not the end of the quest but the friends you make along the way and blah blah blah it’s cute. It’s fun. It’s summery.
It’s the best Morgan Matson book! (So far.)
Bottom line: This is essentially if mad scientists gathered all my favorite clichés and mixed em all together and published them in a 500 page hardcover with a reversible collectible cover. In other words: PERFECT.
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pre-review
in a well-ordered universe, morgan matson would just write every contemporary???
she is the only one that seems to recognize that the ideal contemporary is a careful mix of friendship + banter + road trips + bucket lists + summer + snacks and then a liiiiiiiil bit of romance.
this book is the sh*t.
review to come
And now, nearly 10 years after first reading it, I'm giving it 5 stars.
I am old and curmudgeonly. I am essentially an elderly grump shouting at ornery kids to get off his lawn. But I love this little number anyway.
This book has everything. (Please go back in time and read that in a Stefon voice if you didn’t the first time.) Road trips. Heart-shaped sunglasses. Bucket lists. That thing where characters have significant others but only to add a bit more spice to the will-they-won’t-they (even though the answer is clearly of course they will) and yes there’s cheating but actually it’s okay because the unseen girlfriend was also done with the relationship. Summertime. Pizza. Fun banter-y groups of friends. Playlists. The classic contemporary plot format in which everything starts out okay but with definite room for improvement and then gets good and then gets PERFECT and then gets so so so so so bad like even worse than the beginning but then turns perfect again and actually perfect-er than when you thought it was perfect because character development. And also romance, of course.
It is, in other words, as if someone took all of the best contemporary tropes and wrote them on lil pieces of paper and then tossed them in the air and then they floated down like confetti or snowflakes onto Morgan Matson’s angel head and she wrote this book.
I am a sucker for road trips and for bucket lists and for playlists and for snack descriptions and for summer and for banter and ESPECIALLY for when the friendships are more prevalent in a book than the budding romances.
And this book nails all of that. It is the most fun thing ever.
To give a touch of synopsis: We follow Emily, who has literally one friend. (Sounds like every character in every other book, am I right? It’s funny because most authors are too lazy or romance-focused to build realistic worlds populated with full, human-seeming individuals!) The friend’s name is Sloane, she is fun and adventurous and superhot, and she full-on disappeared a couple days back without telling Emily where she was going. AND NOW SHE’S NOT ANSWERING HER PHONE.
AND HER HOUSE IS EMPTY.
AHHHH.
Instead of worrying about whether ol’ Sloane and her parents got Mafia murdered, Emily focuses her boundless attention on a list of tasks that gal mailed her. Emily is very shy and introverted, where Sloane is extremely...not that, so the list is stuff like “skinny dip!!!” and “kiss a stranger!!!”
In her attempts to finish the list (in the hopes it’ll give her some Sloane-related answers), Emily makes friends and has fun and learns it’s not the end of the quest but the friends you make along the way and blah blah blah it’s cute. It’s fun. It’s summery.
It’s the best Morgan Matson book! (So far.)
Bottom line: This is essentially if mad scientists gathered all my favorite clichés and mixed em all together and published them in a 500 page hardcover with a reversible collectible cover. In other words: PERFECT.
------------------
pre-review
in a well-ordered universe, morgan matson would just write every contemporary???
she is the only one that seems to recognize that the ideal contemporary is a careful mix of friendship + banter + road trips + bucket lists + summer + snacks and then a liiiiiiiil bit of romance.
this book is the sh*t.
review to come