Hello there!
A new week starts and this one is a very relaxed one for me, because after working the weekend, I'm only working today and tomorrow and then I'll have the rest of the week off! *dances*
I'm starting the week with a new Mark This Book Monday entry and this one is special, because it's the first book chosen for my new book club, The Readers Lounge, organized by the lovely Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover!
I was concerned that the book wouldn't arrive in time to read it before the end of the month, because the post over here has been insanely slow and it's still recovering from a massive backlog over Xmas, but it arrived in time and then I read it at night in one sitting, so problem solved! ;)
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Since You've Been Gone was chosen as the first book of the book club I'm part of, the Reading Lounge and even if I wasn't entirely too sure if I'd like it. But luckily it was exactly what I needed to fight my blue mood & distract me of my insomnia! I didn't stop reading till nearly 6 am and I was finished with the book!
Emily is our main character and she's a very shy girl, used to having her best friend Sloane taking the lead in everything and dragging her out of her shell. Once Sloane seems to simply up and disappear without a trace, Emily is lost and a bit paralized without her. And then a list sent by Sloane appears and pushes Emily to get out of her shell, her comfort zone and to make friends and rely on herself.
I really enjoyed seeing Emily grow during the summer, finding herself in situations she wouldn't have been before (even less without Sloane next to her) and sometimes losing her nerve before compliting a task but always trying and finding that she's capable of more than she thought she would.
I loved that Emily's family is around, even if they're peculiar and are quite distracted for most of the summer, her parents are there and I simply loved their theater tradition and laid back but not lax attitude. Emily's brother was a riot with his daredevil ways!
I also really liked that we got the flashback moments to when Emily and Sloane met and their interactions and going out, because that way we could really get a sense of their friendship and how much it meant for Emily. I feel the book would have been incomplete without them, not as easy to relate to Emily's sense of loss.
This book managed to make me smile, laugh and giggle loads of times, not only there were fun and witty dialogs but some of the situations were simply hilarious! And the most fun were always those that involved Emily completing a task from the list.
Emily grows, find new friends, makes mistakes, learns from them and by the end of the summer she can stand on her own two feet, doesn't need Sloane to go out and interact with people and discover what she likes or not, but she still wants to find her friend. And once she does, that friendship is stronger for that.
I loved that friendship was such a central theme to this book and that the message for the most part about friendships and interactions was positive, without name calling or slut-shaming or any other pitfalls about female friendships that I abhor in books (and in society in general).
One of those contemporaries that makes me want to read more of them and well deserving of 4 stars!
View all my reviews
A new week starts and this one is a very relaxed one for me, because after working the weekend, I'm only working today and tomorrow and then I'll have the rest of the week off! *dances*
I'm starting the week with a new Mark This Book Monday entry and this one is special, because it's the first book chosen for my new book club, The Readers Lounge, organized by the lovely Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover!
I was concerned that the book wouldn't arrive in time to read it before the end of the month, because the post over here has been insanely slow and it's still recovering from a massive backlog over Xmas, but it arrived in time and then I read it at night in one sitting, so problem solved! ;)
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan MatsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Since You've Been Gone was chosen as the first book of the book club I'm part of, the Reading Lounge and even if I wasn't entirely too sure if I'd like it. But luckily it was exactly what I needed to fight my blue mood & distract me of my insomnia! I didn't stop reading till nearly 6 am and I was finished with the book!
Emily is our main character and she's a very shy girl, used to having her best friend Sloane taking the lead in everything and dragging her out of her shell. Once Sloane seems to simply up and disappear without a trace, Emily is lost and a bit paralized without her. And then a list sent by Sloane appears and pushes Emily to get out of her shell, her comfort zone and to make friends and rely on herself.
I really enjoyed seeing Emily grow during the summer, finding herself in situations she wouldn't have been before (even less without Sloane next to her) and sometimes losing her nerve before compliting a task but always trying and finding that she's capable of more than she thought she would.
I loved that Emily's family is around, even if they're peculiar and are quite distracted for most of the summer, her parents are there and I simply loved their theater tradition and laid back but not lax attitude. Emily's brother was a riot with his daredevil ways!
I also really liked that we got the flashback moments to when Emily and Sloane met and their interactions and going out, because that way we could really get a sense of their friendship and how much it meant for Emily. I feel the book would have been incomplete without them, not as easy to relate to Emily's sense of loss.
This book managed to make me smile, laugh and giggle loads of times, not only there were fun and witty dialogs but some of the situations were simply hilarious! And the most fun were always those that involved Emily completing a task from the list.
Emily grows, find new friends, makes mistakes, learns from them and by the end of the summer she can stand on her own two feet, doesn't need Sloane to go out and interact with people and discover what she likes or not, but she still wants to find her friend. And once she does, that friendship is stronger for that.
I loved that friendship was such a central theme to this book and that the message for the most part about friendships and interactions was positive, without name calling or slut-shaming or any other pitfalls about female friendships that I abhor in books (and in society in general).
One of those contemporaries that makes me want to read more of them and well deserving of 4 stars!
View all my reviews
