Book review: Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
Source: Borrowed

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.

There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.

There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.

Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.

Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.

Without a doubt, Save the Date was one of my most-anticipated YA releases of 2018. I love Morgan Matson and this book sounded so cute! I’ve been in a bit of a slump recently, so it took me a little while to get into it, but it was so worth it once I did.

The story is, as expected, very cute. It’s Charlie’s older sister’s big day, and just about anything that could possibly go wrong does. The book plays out a lot like Sixteen Candles, with the houseful of guests and all the shenanigans. It’s also funny! Especially toward the end, I was laughing out loud.

But it’s not a romance. I kept expecting that romance to show up based on other books I’ve read from Morgan Matson, but it never did. And that’s fine (even good! not everything has to be a romance!) but it was a little surprising, especially since I’ve seen this advertised as… romance. It’s much more of a story about family dynamics than it is a romance.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Despite their issues, I’d love to be part of the Grant family! I also think it would be a blast to read the column.

Previously: The Unexpected Everything • Since You’ve Been Gone