SAVE THE DATE

by Morgan Matson

Format // Hardcover, 480 pages

Publication date // June 5th 2018

Published by // Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Synopsis //

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, 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.

Review //

Set against the backdrop of a disastrous wedding weekend, SAVE THE DATE follows youngest sibling Charlie who couldn’t be more excited to have her siblings back in their childhood home as they prepare for their sister Linnie’s wedding. Charlie is dreading all of the changes happening in her life: the sale of their home, choosing a college to attend (without her best friend by her side), and her mother’s world-famous comic strip coming to an end. All she wants is a perfect weekend together as a family once again, but around every corner is chaos and another thing that is bound to go wrong. There is a runaway wedding planner, family member drama, unexpected plus-ones, a dog on loan for the weekend, a neighbor with a grudge, and a childhood crush that has decided to take an interest (finally), just to name a few things in the mix. Thankfully, there is a cute wedding planner assistant there to help put things back together, and sweet family moments that make it all worth it.

There are so many reasons to love SAVE THE DATE. Morgan Matson does a fantastic job at portraying family dynamics and slowly budding relationships, and truly is a force to be reckoned with in the YA world. If she isn’t already, Matson belongs in the YA contemporary hall of fame.

Charlie is grasping at every bit of familiar she can; she yearns to have her siblings and family all together in their home, just like when they were growing up. She is in denial that the house is sold and she must move on to a new stage of her life this coming year as she transitions into college. She is still obsessed with her brother’s best friend Jesse, who she has loved since she was little, and is clinging to her idea of him even as he becomes a reality in her life.

As the pieces of this perfect wedding weekend starts to fall apart, Charlie is continuously made to confront her preference for the past and how this might actually be a bad thing. She grows so much over the course of three days, and that’s why I loved her character.

The Grant family was honestly so much fun to get to know. Five siblings in all: Linnie (the bride), Danny, J.J., Mike, and Charlie (plus Rodney, their brother-in-law to be). They all have unique personalities, fun nicknames, and interesting stories to tell about their shared childhood growing up in a chaotic family that was turned into the perfect family in Grant Central Station (Their mother’s comic strip). I loved that we got to know each and every member of the Grant family, and that they didn’t feel like minor characters.

I romance felt secondary to the family elements, but still was well done and fully explored. One romantic interest starts with a bang, and stays throughout the story, while the other is built up slowly over the course of the weekend. I loved how Morgan did the romance in this story.

SAVE THE DATE was wonderful, and I would highly recommend you pick it up for yourself!

Overall, I found myself reminded that the true magic of a Morgan Matson book is in the journey. She creates an incredibly thoughtful cast of characters, and tells their story in a way that makes you never want to put the book down. Charlie and the Grants experience the ups and downs of the wedding weekend together (with Bill, the cute wedding planning assistant by their side), and I loved being able to be a part of it. SAVE THE DATE is a perfect story that is chaotic, fun, and ultimately heartwarming. I would highly recommend this book to fans of YA contemporary novels by authors like Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

♡, GABI 

Goodreads // Amazon // Borrow from your local library