Since You’ve Been Gone
The Pre-Sloane Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?
Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go Skinny Dipping? Um…
I love this book. I really enjoyed this book. It’s the first book i’ve read from Morgan matson and I have to say she made a good impression on me. The character development was great and since its contemporary there was no necessary world development. I loved the plot of this book and how everything was written. Everyone should read this. It’s a great read and I hope you enjoy it.
AHA!! I loved this book so much. I found a theme, the characters were so relatable, and I love the plot. Okay I want to get my first rant topic out…Sloane. Okay at the beginning of this book I wasn’t really caring about Sloane but as Emily started to become more outgoing and less shy I was starting to dislike Emily and Sloane’s relationship. At first I thought it was Sloane’s fault but more into the book and time I came to realization that it was just Sloane and Emily’s relationship. It wasn’t good for Emily to become less social and she wasn’t making as many friends because it was usually Sloane making the friends and Emily was an automatic friend. Like as I saw the flashbacks I was getting more and more annoyed with Sloane and Emily. I mean I guess it wasn’t totally Emily’s problem that Sloane was making her more shy but Emily never really needed Sloane as much as she thought she would. Like you could see that Emily did fine by herself the whole summer. Anyway. Comment down below if you felt the same way or not.
Okay another thing is Gideon. [How do u pronounce that?] Part of me was hoping that they would get back together because it was just so sad how Gideon still like Emily and how it just ended so quickly. Like at Frank’s party when we see Gideon and Emily is talking to him then Benji come from behind and puts an arm around her Gideon got so protective and I could just imagine the feelings and how hurt he felt in that moment because their relationship ended just so quickly.
But we got the Frank and Emily relationship. This was something I saw but there was Gideon and Lissa holding me back from confirming it. Then the moment Emily started liking Frank the BOOM! I see a relationshiiippp. I honestly think Emily and Frank’s relationship is the most unexpected but it was pretty predictable when you’re reading the book. I honestly have mixed feeling about Emily and Frank’s kiss in the car. I mean when I was reading it I was absolutely freaking out because Emily and Frank are kissing and Frank has a girlfriend and I was still hoping Gideon and Emily would have a thing.
So this list that Sloane left Emily.. I really liked the idea of Sloane giving Emily a list every time she went on vacation. I did kind of see the list as a way for Sloane to make Emily more socialized because as you can see by the time Emily finished the list she had 3 new friends (but then lost them). I really liked what she put on the list how there were inside jokes in them and only Emily was about to get what each of them meant. Some of these things on the list was probably for Emily to get out of her comfort zone. Kiss a stranger was something I was looking forward to because well what was Emily going to do? Walk up to someone and just kiss them? Skinny-dipping? Dancing until dawn? If I were Emily right after Sloane left the only thing I would do is ride a horse.
Another thing I wanted to talk about was how Emily developed more as a character. She became less shy, what life really was like when you had to talk to people instead of someone talking for you, and making friends. I really like how Morgan put that into the story and Emily just seems richer as a character.
I really hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did! Thanks for reading!
Morgan Matson
Morgan Matson received her MFA in Writing for Children from the New School. She was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start author for her first book, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, which was also recognized as an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. Her second book, Second Chance Summer, won the California State Book Award. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her at MorganMatson.com.
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