(standalone)
Published: May 3, 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: purchased
Summary from Goodreads:
Andie had it all planned out.
When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future.
Important internship? Check.
Amazing friends? Check.
Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks).
But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life.
Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected.
And where’s the fun in that?
Morgan Matson has done it again, y'all. I saw this book at the store on May 3rd and knew I needed to buy it, not even realizing it was the release date, and I'm, like, 99.9% certain that was fate or destiny or serendipity. Matson has wiggled her way deeper into my nerd heart with this dynamic tale of summer memories, friendship, dorky romance, and dogs.
Okay, I'll admit, when I first delved into this novel, I was getting slightly nervous that I wouldn't love it as much as I loved the only other novel by Morgan Matson that I'd read (Since You've Been Gone) because it started out fairly slow. Before I knew it, though, it was 6:30 am and I was obsessed with the characters.
I could dedicate full paragraphs to each character because that's how well Matson develops them, but I'll (try to) keep it brief. Andie, the Type A protagonist, is used to playing it safe. She has so many walls, she doesn't even realize when she's blocking something off. A summer of instability shakes her up, though, and her walls begin to crumble. She makes some stupid decisions, but she grows a lot. I related to her a lot. The love interest, nerdy fantasy author Clark, is everything to me. I'm currently wishing he was real. And dating me. He wears Doctor Who shirts and writes books and is beyond socially awkward at times. What more could I possibly ask for????? He experiences a ton of growth too. I'm not even kidding...Clark is boyfriend goals. The other characters (Palmer, Toby, Bre, Tom, and her father) are all wonderful characters to read about, and they all contributed something special to the book.
Other wonderful parts of this novel: the realistic friendships, the family dynamic, and the dog walking, to name a few. On top of that, the summer atmosphere was the perfect book to kick off my summer vacation. I loved the feeling of fun summer nights with friends and memories and first love. Summer vacation just isn't the same in college, so this novel brought back pleasant feelings.
All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. The writing was great, the characters were all a pleasure to read about, and the feels were definitely there. I think the only thing keeping this from being a five-star knockout would be the length. It was 500+ pages. I enjoyed reading every single one of those pages, but I'll admit it could have been a little more exciting. I think fans of Matson will love this novel and will recognize the aspects of Matson's writing that are so wonderful in her other books.
4/5
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