Mini Review | Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Published On: May 6, 2014
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 449
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★

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It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um...
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?

The perfect summer read.
As is the case with all of Morgan Matson's books, this has everything you need in a summer read. It has friendship, romance, adventure and plenty of fun that just made me want to get out and enjoy my summer.

Lists are my thing.
I'm definitely a list person and I really love when lists are used within a book. This was a great summer bucket list with some really cool tasks on it. I enjoyed the way this list was used within this book as not only did it allow for some really fun adventures, it also provided for a whole lot of character development.

Emily is my favourite.
Of all of Morgan Matson's characters, Emily is by far my favourite. She was very genuine and also reminded me a lot of myself so I could relate to her quite a bit. It was nice to see her character grow and develop throughout the book into an even more likeable character.

Sloane is not my favourite.
I can't say I'm a fan of Sloane, her character just annoyed me and I was quite glad she wasn't feature too much. I understand that the whole idea of this list is for Emily to become her own person without Sloane, but to me it seemed that any time she had tried to be her own person with Sloane around she was shot down. To me, she was a very overbearing friend. She did redeem herself a bit by the end of the book but she's still not a favourite character of mine.

New friends are the best friends.
I really loved the developing friendships throughout the book, in fact that was probably one of my favourite aspects. These friendships illustrated the fact that sometime the best friends are people you don't expect to become friends with in the first place, that you can have unexpected things in common with a person and that can bring you together. And also Frank, he was pretty great.

Love playlists.
I had loved the playlists in Amy & Rodger's Epic Detour so I was glad to see some more playlists making an appearance in this book. I think the make a really nice, fun addition to the story as well as providing another layer to the characters since the music you listen to says a lot about a person.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and think it is the perfect book to read during the summer. It did a great job of getting me in the mood for summer, while also being a cute summer romance with a great emphasis on friendship. I would probably say this is my favourite of Morgan Matson's books so I would definitely recommend it if you are a fan of her other books.