“Since You’ve Been Gone”

By Morgan Matson

Page Count: 449 pages

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Chick Lit.

RATING: ★★★★☆/4/5

“Since You’ve Been Gone” might attract a reader for many reasons, such as the fact that it’s written by Morgan Matson, one of the geniuses in fiction for achingly good summer stories; the eye-popping front cover that made the book stand out like a sore thumb on the shelves…or as in my case, association the legendary Kelly Clarkson break-up song that made you hate your ex when you were twelve, and in fact – didn’t even have an ex! Ah, good times…

“Since You’ve Been Gone” is Morgan Matson’s third novel since her debut in 2010 with “Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour”, which I’m sure everyone still remembers for the fuzzy feeling of summertime happiness that it left you with, and her third contemporary follows Emily, a character who’s life has been most significantly defined by the appearance of Sloane, her now best-friend. Sloane is everything that Emily is not, but it is only with her by her side that Emily manages to come out of her shell a little bit, and when summer comes, Emily is looking forward to long summer days with her best-friend, until she discovers that Sloane is missing, and the only lead Emily has is a note from Sloane, with a bucket-list of things for Emily to do. With hopes of solving the mystery of Sloane’s sudden disappearance, Emily embarks on a summer of her lifetime, where nothing much is off-limits anymore.

I will go ahead and say that there were many things about this book that I enjoyed, for example, for once, I actually enjoyed and approved of the love interest; I adored the whole concept of the list and how it was the catalyst to Emily’s character development; I enjoyed the friendships and loved their development even more, and a lot more things that I could say about Morgan Matson’s writing, but I have a feeling not even the most loyal of readers would stick around for that.

On the other side of things, there were parts and certain points of the book I can’t quite get behind and enjoy. One of them being the ending, which I found very anticlimactic, and something that I could have foretold from the first page of the book, it just seemed too easy, and was quite a disappointment. That being said, I found the last two chapters of the book a stretch, and immediately, my experience of the book went somewhere from four-point five stars, to just barely making it to four.

However, the last two chapters play a very small part in the grand scheme of things,  and the friendships that made my heart ache and characters that are way too lovable mostly made up for it, and it will come as no shock to anymore when I say that “Since You’ve Been Gone” is the ideal summer read; it is a Morgan Matson book after all!

Perfect for those seeking summer adventures in the pages of a book! 

Reviewed by Samanta Ned.