Happy New Year!

I finished reading my first book of 2018, and I loved it! I’ve had SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson on my to-read list forever (it came out in 2014), so I was excited to snag a copy on my annual trek to the Scholastic Warehouse Sale. Here’s the description.

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell. But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend.

Here are the five things I loved most.

1. The friendships – Really this novel is all about friendship in its various forms–girl friendships, girl/guy friendships, guy friendships. And then it’s about the more specific friendships Emily forms with Sloane, Frank, Dawn, and even goofy Collins. I loved how unique and complicated each of these relationships were.

2. The list – The list Sloane leaves for Emily is both fun and scary, as you can see just from the few listed in the description. As a teenager, I would have said a resounding “Nope!” to a few of them. However, I completely bought into Emily’s reasoning for pursuing the list, despite it seeming to go against her personality.

3. Emily’s growth – Tying in with the previous point, I loved how Emily grew during the story and discovered who she was without Sloane.

4. The tension – There was so much tension threading through this story. From the growing romantic tension to the increasingly unanswered questions about Sloane, I found it completely gripping.

5. The flashbacks – It’s tricky to get flashbacks right, but they’re very well-done in this novel. Every snippet gave the reader another glimpse into Emily and Sloane’s story, another clue either to why Sloane might have left or why she’d suggested a particular item for the list.

I thoroughly enjoyed SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE and will definitely be checking out other books by Morgan Matson. I’m open to suggestions on what I should read next!