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megtk_01's review against another edition
4.0
So I have been saying since I've been out of college that I am not a fan mushy romances and therefore I often shy away from YA contemporary novels. I tend to roll my eyes one too many time at the ridiculousness and the love triangles (I mean seriously how many love triangles do we need?).
But Morgan Matson has not disappointed me yet. I was convinced by a friend to read Since You've Been Gone and loved it. Then I decided to give The Unexpected Everything a try. It was a bit more romantic than Since You've Been Gone, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. I loved it.
Once again, I dragged my feet about Save the Date. I loved the other two books I read by Morgan Matson, so why not this one? But still. I have to be in the right mood and I didn't want a teenage romance. Still, eventually I caved.
And once again I question myself. Why am I resisting her so much? I loved this story about Charlie Grant, the youngest in a large family who just wants to have everyone back under the same roof for her big sister's wedding. But of course there are complications: the brother who hasn't been home in over a year, the super hot friend of her brother's who is suddenly very much there, her house being sold, a crowd of guests --some invited, some unexpected--staying under the same roof, and a wedding. Charlie just wants it to be perfect and she'll work her butt off to make it that way. But can she fix everything? Or is it likely to fall apart in front of her.
Save the Date is funny and heartwarming. It's much less about the romance she has envisioned with her brother's best friend and more about family. I don't come from a large family, but it was very easy to imagine it from Matson's writing. I could feel the comfort, but also the sense of it sometimes being too much (especially adding in all the guests who end up staying at their house for the wedding).
Morgan Matson has once again convinced me that I need to step outside my box of middle grade fiction and YA fantasy and science fiction. Thank you for creating a YA contemporary that isn't all about finding a guy and losing your entire self over him only to realize you're trapped in a romantic love triangle. Thank you for giving us a story that is about family and finding yourself more than finding a date. It's nice that the romance is there, but not the main point.
But Morgan Matson has not disappointed me yet. I was convinced by a friend to read Since You've Been Gone and loved it. Then I decided to give The Unexpected Everything a try. It was a bit more romantic than Since You've Been Gone, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. I loved it.
Once again, I dragged my feet about Save the Date. I loved the other two books I read by Morgan Matson, so why not this one? But still. I have to be in the right mood and I didn't want a teenage romance. Still, eventually I caved.
And once again I question myself. Why am I resisting her so much? I loved this story about Charlie Grant, the youngest in a large family who just wants to have everyone back under the same roof for her big sister's wedding. But of course there are complications: the brother who hasn't been home in over a year, the super hot friend of her brother's who is suddenly very much there, her house being sold, a crowd of guests --some invited, some unexpected--staying under the same roof, and a wedding. Charlie just wants it to be perfect and she'll work her butt off to make it that way. But can she fix everything? Or is it likely to fall apart in front of her.
Save the Date is funny and heartwarming. It's much less about the romance she has envisioned with her brother's best friend and more about family. I don't come from a large family, but it was very easy to imagine it from Matson's writing. I could feel the comfort, but also the sense of it sometimes being too much (especially adding in all the guests who end up staying at their house for the wedding).
Morgan Matson has once again convinced me that I need to step outside my box of middle grade fiction and YA fantasy and science fiction. Thank you for creating a YA contemporary that isn't all about finding a guy and losing your entire self over him only to realize you're trapped in a romantic love triangle. Thank you for giving us a story that is about family and finding yourself more than finding a date. It's nice that the romance is there, but not the main point.
harleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
This is probably my favorite Morgan Matson book! So glad I finally decided to pick this up!
shriti_sunshine's review against another edition
4.0
My first book in 2019 and oh! It was a delight.
This story works the best if you have an active imagination. Maybe family reunion and weddings is a theme done to death on screen but still I loved every page of the crazy Grant family drama. I didn't even have to work very hard to imagine the Grant siblings. Have you seen the show - New Girl? I let Zooey Deschanel slip into Charlie's shoes and everything just seemed to flow from there. You gotta imagine it to feel it.
This book will not be winning any literary prizes any time soon but it made me laugh and miss my family so that's gotta count for something, right?
This story works the best if you have an active imagination. Maybe family reunion and weddings is a theme done to death on screen but still I loved every page of the crazy Grant family drama. I didn't even have to work very hard to imagine the Grant siblings. Have you seen the show - New Girl? I let Zooey Deschanel slip into Charlie's shoes and everything just seemed to flow from there. You gotta imagine it to feel it.
This book will not be winning any literary prizes any time soon but it made me laugh and miss my family so that's gotta count for something, right?
runningonbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t even begin to express how much I loved this book. I normally don’t read contemporary books but this book had me going through a roller coaster of emotions.
Charlie (Charlotte) believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that her family is perfect. Throughout the story she realizes that it isn’t quite true and that her dreams don’t often live up to her reality.
Most of the story takes place in three days. In those day she is helping to make sure her sister gets the perfect wedding at their family home that she always wished for and everything that can and will go wrong does. The wedding happens but not without a lot of bumps in the road.
The ending was perfect. I was laughing crying. The whole thing with Mike and his mom resolving what happened and then some serious snotty crying after reading the last comic strip. The emotional shift Charlie made at the end was the most meaningful part of the story. It shows that despite the comfort she had in the vision of the perfect family and her unwillingness at first to let that go and move on.
Charlie (Charlotte) believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that her family is perfect. Throughout the story she realizes that it isn’t quite true and that her dreams don’t often live up to her reality.
Most of the story takes place in three days. In those day she is helping to make sure her sister gets the perfect wedding at their family home that she always wished for and everything that can and will go wrong does. The wedding happens but not without a lot of bumps in the road.
The ending was perfect. I was laughing crying. The whole thing with Mike and his mom resolving what happened and then some serious snotty crying after reading the last comic strip. The emotional shift Charlie made at the end was the most meaningful part of the story. It shows that despite the comfort she had in the vision of the perfect family and her unwillingness at first to let that go and move on.
sotnasck's review against another edition
2.0
For my tenth birthday, my grandmother and my mother decided to make a big birthday party. They did all by themselves, the food, the decorations, everything... My mother is a very talented woman and I mean this when I say that the decorations were beautiful, it was ballerina themed. Anyway, back then pictures were not digital and we had to use films and print the pictures. My aunt had just bought this very nice camera that could use a bigger film and so we would have more pictures, and my mother agreed and that made my aunt responsible for photography and registering the party. The party was beautiful and my mother and grandmother were very proud. But a few days later we found out that my aunt had forgotten to put the film inside the camera and so all the pictures taken during the party doesn't exist. We have nothing of that day besides 4 pictures that were taken by one uncle who took pictures of his son in front of the table with the decorations. There are no family pictures, or me with my friends or even just me, the birthday girl.
Now that's the kind of thing that happens. Stuff really do go wrong no matter how much plan and thought go into the event. But in the case of this book I gotta say that at some point, enough is enough. For a book so long it wasted too much of itself on things going wrong at the wedding instead of the characters, who had so much potential by the way. The family conflict and Charlie figuring out that life is not as we make it to be are two great and interesting plot points that I had to wait too long to get to it and then it went by a bit fast.
I feel like it would have been much better if the story was focused less in the wedding, 60% of that cut and it would make no difference on the plot and only make it flow easier. Such great characters that were not explored, which for me is a first in a Morgan Matson book. The strongest of the book is of course the family dynamic, that was pretty great. I just wish there had been more of it.
Now that's the kind of thing that happens. Stuff really do go wrong no matter how much plan and thought go into the event. But in the case of this book I gotta say that at some point, enough is enough. For a book so long it wasted too much of itself on things going wrong at the wedding instead of the characters, who had so much potential by the way. The family conflict and Charlie figuring out that life is not as we make it to be are two great and interesting plot points that I had to wait too long to get to it and then it went by a bit fast.
I feel like it would have been much better if the story was focused less in the wedding, 60% of that cut and it would make no difference on the plot and only make it flow easier. Such great characters that were not explored, which for me is a first in a Morgan Matson book. The strongest of the book is of course the family dynamic, that was pretty great. I just wish there had been more of it.
maggiemaggio's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Morgan Matson and I are usually just a little out of sync and that was the case here. I liked this book and had fun reading it, but I won't recommend it or return to it. At times the big family gave me a headache and I can't believe there hadn't been more internal strife about their exploits in their mom's comic strip but oh well. An entertaining summer read where suspense has to be suspended just a bit.
emilie_rose's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but I feel like it tried to fit too much into it, mostly in everything that went wrong with the wedding. I know that was the point of the book, but it was not actually necessary that everything went wrong. I think that all of the disasters detracted from the rest of the story, which was dealing with the family dynamics and Charlie adjusting to the change of the status quo in her life.
All of the disasters that happened made things like or the way that Charlie changed her views on things seem like they faded into the background. I think that this book would have benefited from toning it down on a few of the crazy things that happened and putting more focus on the characters.
It also made it hard to really believe in a potential relationship between Bill and Charlie. Yeah, their interactions were cute, but again, seemed like they were sandwiched into the story, rather than actually being the focus.
I did love seeing Andie and Clark briefly, one of my favorite parts of books like this is catching up with other characters and seeing the connections to Stanwich/Putnam/Hartfield, since I have read most of Matson's/Katie Finn's books.
All in all, this was a book with a great idea that tried to fit too much into it and in doing so, had the best parts of the book, in my opinions, the dynamics and the shifting of the characters viewpoints, got a little lost. But it was enjoyable none the less.
All of the disasters that happened made things like
Spoiler
finding out that the parents were getting divorcedIt also made it hard to really believe in a potential relationship between Bill and Charlie. Yeah, their interactions were cute, but again, seemed like they were sandwiched into the story, rather than actually being the focus.
I did love seeing Andie and Clark briefly, one of my favorite parts of books like this is catching up with other characters and seeing the connections to Stanwich/Putnam/Hartfield, since I have read most of Matson's/Katie Finn's books.
All in all, this was a book with a great idea that tried to fit too much into it and in doing so, had the best parts of the book, in my opinions, the dynamics and the shifting of the characters viewpoints, got a little lost. But it was enjoyable none the less.
lisamparkin's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful. One of my favorite contemporaries in recent memory. This is Morgan Matson's best.
I LOVED the crazy Grant family. Their dialogue and personalities are unmatched. I would have wanted a bit more depth from the parents or more interaction between them and a few of the kids, but I love every bit of what this family represents - their very real struggles and conflicts.
Although I definitely favor Charlie, J.J. is the real MVP.
PLEASE read this fun, hilarious new book as soon as possible.
I LOVED the crazy Grant family. Their dialogue and personalities are unmatched. I would have wanted a bit more depth from the parents or more interaction between them and a few of the kids, but I love every bit of what this family represents - their very real struggles and conflicts.
Although I definitely favor Charlie, J.J. is the real MVP.
PLEASE read this fun, hilarious new book as soon as possible.