since you've been gone // morgan matson

published: 2014
pages: 449
isbn: 978-1-4424-3500-1
read from: 5/30 2016 to 6/23/2016

rating: 1) hated it 2) liked it 3) LOVED IT

SYNOPSIS ((amazon))

Emily is about to take some risks and have the most unexpected summer ever. 

Before Sloane, Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, and she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—someone who yanks you out of your shell.

But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. There’s just a random to-do list with thirteen bizarre tasks that Emily would never try. But what if they can lead her to Sloane?

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a stranger? Wait…what?

Getting through Sloane’s list will mean a lot of firsts, and with a whole summer ahead of her—and with the unexpected help of the handsome Frank Porter—who knows what she’ll find.

Go Skinny Dipping? Um…

SPOILERS

uhm Basically, Sloane leaves Em without any notice. no heads up, she doesn't answer when she calls her. she just disappears into the wind. 

so to cut it short, Em does every single thing on the list thinking that it will lead her to Sloane and in the long run it does but maybe not in the way Em thinks it will (and honestly, not the way i thought either.) 

she ends up becoming friends with Dawn who walks into her job (#7) after she catches her friend making out with her boyfriend. she takes off with her that same night (i believe to do #11 on the list) and from there on, she becomes friends with her as well frank and collins. 

frank and the gang help her finish up the list and its towards the very end that she has an epiphany about where Sloane could have been. 

and low and behold, James (#11) was right! (well he didnt really help her, he just made a comment about a sticker on her car (which i LOVED!))

so she takes off and actually finds her! 

and that's about it. 

i don't want to go too into it. 

MY RAMBLINGS
(just thoughts on the book itself)

first off, if you don't think of Kelly Clarkson when you read that title, then I'm sorry because you missed Summer of '06's biggest hit (it says it was 2004 but i remember it my senior year of HS.) 

anyways, i had been wanting to read this book for a while but i just never got around to it. 

AND THEN (!!!) i finally found the young adult section in my library (i have NO IDEA why i just never asked where it was at) and this was just standing there waiting for me!

so i checked it out, return time came and i checked it out again. 

I'm not sure why i didn't get into it right away but it definitely caught my attention these last 2 days. i picked it back up at lunch yesterday, read it all throughout the rest of my shift and i got to work so early today that i was able to finish it. and honestly i couldn't really put it down so i HAD to finish it. 

nevertheless, as long as it took me i actually really liked this book. 

i didn't really give out any spoilers up above cause iduno but i would say, if you have the time, check it out. 

i fell in love with Emily finally gaining strength to be her own person, i fell in love with Frank's "other" side, i thought Collins and Dawn were the absolute best. and i even fell in love with Em's little brother Beckett. and her parents who were total absentee's when they "should have been there." 

i got mad at Sloane for leaving and for making Em feel the way she did when Steve was around. I got mad at her for loving Em like she did as a friend and letting her spill her guts but then completely fabricated her life JUST because she didn't want to be honest with her and didn't want to lose that friendship. 

i was VERY happy when Em told her how she felt about that. 

i specially loved the scene where they do living room theater. 

to see frank and dawn come together like that for Em was just about the best and that's when i fell in love with their friendship. 

to me, this was a good read simply for the fact that it shows you how amazing it is to be able to have a best friend and i know this sucks to say but i think the idea of a best friend these days isn't really out there anymore (at least to me and basically only in those who invest in their relationships with their partners) but also because it shows you how amazing it is to finally stand up for yourself!

i loved how it showed how great it could be and how quickly it could also fall apart. 

hey!

whatdoyouknow!, i actually really loved/learned from this book. 

I'm definitely checking out her other books. 

You Did It, Wanda!

thanks for reading!

#lesreads on IG

PS: i have NO idea why my blog is being all stupid with the font and what not. ugh, i need to update it. sorry!