Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Emily's best friend Sloane disappears, almost without a trace - the only thing left is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that wallflower Emily wouldn't normally do, and definitely without her best friend. But what if completing the list could bring Sloane back?

Dance until dawn? Sure, why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um...

Go skinny dipping? Wait... what?

Emily only has the summer to check everything off Sloane's list. The question is, what will she find at the end of it? (Goodreads description here)

Shall we all just take a minute to appreciate how beautiful this cover is. That font though (it makes me swoon). Seriously. I think this is a pretty good description of what's inside. Very pretty, very american, and very very contemporary. That certainly isn't a bad thing though, it was just what I was in the mood for. And yes, I have been singing the Kelly Clarkson song ever since I read it. It is a cracking tune though, so I've linked the video here.  

The concept of the book, basically a lonesome teenager completing a bucket list in order to make friends, and change for the better, though not original, was very well pulled off. The actual list was quite unique, and there were some very specific  tasks on there. For example 'hug a jamie'. Now i've never seen that one before!

The characters in the book were also very well developed. Even Sloane, who was the disappeared best friend. Although we only met her in flashbacks (nearly) I thought I had a real sense of her character. At first I was under the impression that she was a perfect american teenager, living the dream. But we soon became aware that this wasn't really true, and she just created this image to cover up everything that was wrong with her family. 

The narrater and main character, Emily, was also very relaistic. She was likeable and quite relatable. Although she was bland at times, this just added to how endearing the book was and how relatable Emily was. I got the impression that every reader would interpret her in their own way, which is something I really think shows a good author. It made me realise that romance and amazing friends are out there! (Man, I will read this back and cringe sooooo much!) However she was still quirky at times, and I can sort of imagine being friends with her in real life.

This book was 450 pages long, but I found it quite a quick read, perfect for the holidays! It wasn't up there with Anna and the French Kiss, but it was still very good, and now, whenever I think of contemporary, I will think of this. It basically fitted that genre perfectly. I was lovey dovey, but didn't take itself too seriously, and a real coming of age story.

I give this 

****

I will certainly be picking up Morgan Matson's other book, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour.

Have you read Since You've Been Gone? What do you think makes an MC relatable?

Top 5 Friday: Beach Reads

Summer is fast approaching, and that means it's the season for beach reads!! (sorry if this is a bit late for some of you) However I don't normally like conventional beach reads. By that I mean quite light, romance books, which I tend to find boring. So all of the books have a twist, and are books I wish I read while on my holidays. I've linked all of their Goodreads profiles in case you want more info. 

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Words cannot describe how much I love this book. It's a romance story about a girl who moves to Paris. But it's so much more! The story is so realistic and this is up there with one of my favourite books of all time.  Even if you don't normally like romance, give this a go. I think that everyone will love it!





2. How They Met and Other Stories by David Levithan

Now this one is a book of short stories. All the stories are about love and were written by David Levithan every valentines day since he was in high school.(How cute is that?!)This means that they stories have an amazing variety, and are really heartwarming. Although it is often hard to connect with characters in short stories, I still really wanted to read on and find out what would happen in the next story. 



3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

No list of unconventional beach reads would be complete without some John Green, and I thought that this one was most fitting. I didn't find this too deep, but it was still very interesting. It was also very original, and I certainly wasn't bored!



4. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Again, this is a love story, but it is very unconventional. The characters were very unique, but I still loved them and really related o them. This book really showed how pure and limitless love is, but wasn't all romance. Defiantly up there in my favourite books(again!).





5. Shipwrecked by Siobhan Curham

I loved this book soooo much! It's about a girl who gets shipwrecked on the island, and then has to try and uncover the Voodoo legend which surrounds it. I was so creepy and I became really attached to the characters. It does have a love story in it, but this isn't one of the main features of the book. I just found it a quick, but really exciting read that I would recommend to people who haven't really read any paranomal YA before (and everyone else!)

Happy reading!

Have you read any of these books? What's your favourite beach read?