Book Review: Save The Date by Morgan Matson

Save The Date by Morgan Matson

Pages: 417
Publish date: June 14, 2018
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781471163883
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

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 and 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.

Save the Date:

This post was supposed to be up ages ago. I thought it was, but silly me didn’t check and my review has now disappeared into the internet. Anyway, here we go again.

I received a free copy of Save the Date by Morgan Matson in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I’ve always been a big fan of Morgan Matson books, so when I hear she was bringing out something new, I needed to give it a go. However, Save the Date wasn’t what I was expecting. And that isn’t a bad thing. Going in I thought it was going to be more romance focused and honestly it wasn’t really. Romance intertwined throughout the novel, but it was more about family and forgiving.

Save the Date follows Charlie Grant as her family comes together one last time in their family home for her older sisters wedding. And basically, nothing goes to plan. There are alarms going off, a wedding planner that has disappeared, and high tension between family members. With the weekend shaping up to be a disaster, Charlie tries to do everything in her power to make it the perfect wedding and weekend. And it also just happens that the wedding planners nephew happens to be totally cute.

I really enjoyed Charlie as a protagonist, she was likable, real and made plenty of mistakes. Charlie has a lot going on in her life, from trying to decide what college she should go to, and the thought of her family falling apart. One of the things I really enjoyed about Save the Date was that Charlie felt so real. Her thoughts and problems just bounced off the page and really caught me. I adored that she cared so much for her family and would do anything for them.

I also liked how they all played a part in Charlie becoming who she is in the book. The reader is able to see throughout Save the Date that Charlie starts to grow and not only find herself, but footing in this large world. Even though all the chaos with the wedding happening, the reader is really able to grasp who Charlie is and who she wants to become.

The idea of family is a massive theme through Save the Date and even Morgan Matson books in general. One of the reasons that I really enjoy Morgan Matson books is because she doesn’t hide away from many things relating to family. It’s very real and even raw at times. And that is what Save the Date entails and explores. The Grant family aren’t your happy family that a lot of books depicted. There is a lot of heat, hurt and trouble surrounding the siblings and their parents. And as the novel does go we get to really see it all unfold. The reader is able to see how this family comes together when everything is going around them and how they stick together. But also how they can fall apart.

The plot for Save the Date was a little out there. It was crazy, fun and sometimes took the reader on a journey. But also at times, it seemed unbelievable. That might be the only reason why I didn’t love this book as much as Morgan Matson’s others. At times things just seemed so far-fetched that I had to really slow down and read what was happening. Honesty it did make the book fun and interesting, but it also dragged the story on far more than I think it needed. I did feel that there were parts that I didn’t enjoy about the family, especially relating to Charlie’s parents that didn’t sit with me right.

As I said at the start I thought that there was going to more of a romance drive of the book. And while it didn’t bother me, I was a little put back when I started reading. In saying all this, I did enjoy the romance that was in the book. I do wish there was more of it, especially towards the end, but that is because I thought it was totally cute and wanted more.

Overall I really enjoyed Save The Date by Morgan Matson. It was fun and excited read that just put a smile on my face. It’s about family, friendship and growing up. I love books about family and Save the Date really highlights the ups and downs and family and the many relationships that being apart of any relationship entail. I loved Charlie as a protagonist as she was real and was able to capture my attention from the start. Nevertheless, Save the Date was just a good read that really looked at many different themes.

Have you read Save the Date by Morgan Matson? What did you think of it? Are you planning on it? What’s your favourite Morgan Matson novel? Let’s Chat!