Review: Since You've Been Gone

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Summary: It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um... 
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?  

I was on Instagram one day and I came across a selfie of the author, Morgan Matson, and I really liked the picture. I thought she was really pretty and I totally loved her bangs and so I did the normal thing and stalked her Instagram and I found out she was an author and a lot of people I trust loved this book so you know I just had to read it too.

I felt like the beginning of the book was too slow for me and it took me about 100 pages to finally start liking it. I think it was because Emily seemed a bit too whiny to me. I mean I know her best friend disappeared, but it was a little weird to me.

Emily's kinda awkward and shy which is totally me! I love it when I find a character that I can relate to in some way because it's just the best feeling!
This book is truly about friendship and finding who you are. I loved seeing Emily slowly discovering who she was and those moments were probably my favorite.

Like I said before, I related to Emily is one way, but in some ways it was hard for me to relate to her especially when she would talk about her and Sloane doing things. I think it was because I've never had a best friend and I was a little bit jealous of her {which sounds crazy, I know}. My sisters have always been my best friends which is awesome, but I've just always wanted someone else, just like Emily and Sloane.

"You're the brightest thing in the room...You shine."

I loved the cute little romance aspect in the book because it's not really the main focus of the whole book, but it still made me feel all the feels and didn't stop me from squealing. It was incredibly awesome to just sit back and see a friendship turn into something more.

One problem I did have with this book is that it needed to be a couple of chapters longer. It's a good ending, but for me it's missing that extra something. I like knowing what happens to the other characters even though they're minor characters because I like to know things about people. And I need closure because I just wonder what happened to them.

"it was like hitting the snooze button on your alarm- your sleep in that window is never very good, since you know it's borrowed time, and that it will be over all too soon." 

I did not expect this book to make me cry, but as the end was nearing and things started really happening it was close to 3 AM on a Friday night/morning and my cheeks were sticky with dried up tears.

This book made me want to dance till dawn, listen to music, and try a bunch of other things. It's a perfect summer read {even though I read it in February} and in a well-ordered universe you would read this book :)

P.S. I can't read the title without breaking into "Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson!