Wednesday 18 June 2014

The View: Since You've Been Gone

Title: Since You've Been Gone 
Author: Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Bought
Rating: Amazing

Summary (Good Reads): 
The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough. Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um..

What I thought of Since You've Been Gone..
This has been hot on my TBR list since I first heard about it, and I couldn't wait for it to be in my hands. I've never actually read anything by Morgan Matson before, so this was a completely new experience, but boy, did I enjoy it!

Since You've Been Gone is a light, funny story and absolutely perfect for the Summer season. The story focuses on Emily and the way she copes with Sloane's disappearance for the most part, but it also focuses on Emily growing as a person and learning not to rely so much on others. At first it bugged me a little, because you can see how much the main character relies on her best friend, but really, Matson portrays best friendship perfectly as they always seem to rely each other, and in some cases, one will rely on the other more. I really enjoyed seeing Emily's self confidence and worth sky rocket upwards as the book progressed. 

I really enjoyed following Emily's journey to completing the tasks on the list that Sloane had left her. There were some on there that actually seemed like good fun, and I almost wished that I could be a part of the story, helping and encouraging Emily with some of the tasks. I also really enjoyed seeing Emily's relationship with others grow. This was a big thing as I love books that involve friendships, so this was great for me! I also thought it was really great of Matson to portray falling in love as it really is. There are so many books out there that show the character falling straight in love, but as we all know, in reality, it's not like that. The love in this book is something that you can predict happening within the first few chapters, but the relationship between the two characters just flows so well.

Also, can I just add, the playlists that Matson included in this book had so many good songs! With the likes of Taylor Swift and The Beatles, I was loving this little feature!

So is there anything I didn't like about this book? Well no, actually. I really can't think of any faults that Since You've Been Gone had. Having now read SYBG, I really would like to check out more of Matson's books, and already have Second Chance Summer on my TBR list!

All I can say is, and this is not really anything to do with the books in terms of it's content, but more to do with myself personally, I think I would've read this in a much shorter time space, had I not been revising for my exams and such, as this really didn't give me a lot of time to read, and made my reading a bit choppy. If/when I read this again, I hope to read it where my pattern isn't so chopped up due to exams or other circumstances as I know that this would make me enjoy it even more than I did, plus it would give me a chance to read more in one sitting!

ps. Me and Frank Porter share the same birthday!


Have you read this book at all? What did you think? Did you enjoy it? If you haven't read it, would you consider it? Let me know what you all think!

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