Since You've Been Gone Review

Since You've Been Gone
Morgan Matson
Simon & Schuster
May 2014
4/5
Quotes:
"It just gets hard, always being someone's second choice."
“Real friends are the ones you can count on no matter what.
The ones who go into the forest to find you and bring you home.
And real friends never have to tell you that they’re your friends.”  
“He looked right at me as he gave me a half smile. "You're the brightest thing in the room," He said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. "You shine."
My breath caught in my throat. People said those kinds of things about Sloane-not about me.
"What?" Frank asked, his eyes on mine.
"Just..." I took a shaky breath. "Nobody's ever said something like that to me."
"Then they don't see what I see," He said.”  
“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”  
“All the stuff you can’t wait to get away from, until it’s not there anymore, and then you miss it like crazy.”  

Since You've Been Gone is one of those books that I wish I would have picked up sooner. Part of my hesitation was honestly because I knew I'd be singing the Kelly Clarkson song in my head the entire time I read it. Despite my fears, I heard so many great things about it and about how swoony the male lead is. So I eventually gave it a shot and I'm so glad that I did. I've never read anything by Morgan Matson before even though I know she's becoming a pretty popular YA author. However, I am definitely interested in reading more from her.

Emily is an awkward and shy teenager who planned on spending the summer with her best friend Sloane. But Sloane mysteriously took off without telling Emily anything, all she sent behind was a list of things that she wanted Emily to accomplish. Emily quickly makes the connection that every item on the list is something that scares her. Her summer takes an unexpected turn when she starts hanging out with Frank Porter, the class President and total good kid. She also forms a friendship with his best friend Matthew Collins, and Dawn, a girl who works next door to the ice cream shop where Emily works. All three of her new friends help her knock off each item on the list one by one. For Emily, it turns out to be one summer to remember.

I love the characters in Since You've Been Gone. Emily is such a relatable main character. Sometimes in Young Adult books, it can be annoying when the main character considers herself to be awkward just because she trips on her own feet or has difficulty talking to a cute guy. Emily is a genuinely awkward girl who has trouble fitting in. She's awkward through the fact that she has trouble forming sentences in front of people that she doesn't know, not just boys. I really related to how she relied on Sloane to help her socialize with others. Sloane was a people person and Emily's more social side came out when she was around her. I've been in that position before, so I totally got where Emily was coming from. I also loved some of the supporting characters like Matthew Collins. I loved how Emily would notice his subtle changes in behavior and how she got to the bottom of what was going on with him. I love stories where the supporting characters are complex and we get to see the main character bond with them. That doesn't always happen in Young Adult novels and I think this was extremely well done.

Frank Porter is such a great character and I absolutely loved him. It's always awesome to see the love interest be such a solid guy. I mean honestly, how many books have you read where the guy was the class President and smart guy who also happens to have incredible taste in music. I think part of his general appeal is that his characteristics are very similar to real high school boys. Many high school boys in YA books are portrayed as being these perfect and flawless guys who have every girl drooling over them. On the other hand, Frank has flaws just like real guys you meet in high school have. I loved how his relationship with Emily started as a friendship and slowly built into more. Pretty much every scene between them was so incredible to read. I just loved the average interactions that they had and all of the random things they bonded over. It all felt insanely realistic to me.

The big reason why this book didn't get a perfect rating from me was that Frank had a girlfriend for the majority of the book. At the beginning, his relationship is introduced as being perfect since they are both insanely smart kids who are very involved in school. Anyway, I felt like the plot was completely pointless. It became more and more obvious that something wasn't right between Frank and his girlfriend as the book went on. I feel like I would have been even more invested in the relationship and the plot if there was no girlfriend at all. The book would have just flowed a little more naturally and smoothly for me if that was the case. Don't get me wrong though, this book is fast paced and really great aside from that minor issue.