Book Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I gave it 4/5 stars! Here's why.

  This book was incredibly enjoyable! I loved going through the list with Emily and slowly watching it becoming more about herself and her friends than about Sloane. My only complaint here is that sometimes the characters would say something like "You can cross of number 8 if you do this" and I'd just forget what #8 was in the first place, but that's just a minor thing. 

  Emily was such a relatable character and I absolutely adore her. The book is so realistic in terms of her decisions towards the people around her like I totally understand where she was coming from with the whole thing with Gideon. Poor Gideon :( 

  I loved her relationships with Dawn, Sloane, Collins and especially Frank. She's such a realistic character with remarkable flaws that I can relate to completely. My one complaint regarding the characters is the parents. Like so many other YA books, the parents are just THERE, and it was semi-frustrating how okay they were with everything and how they never had one argument with their daughter. It was a bit unrealistic, but absentee parents still exist.

  The plot overall was really enjoyable and I loved it. I did. Maybe if there was a more prominent climax, it would have been better..? Anyway it was good. Really good.

  Now, here's a spoilery bit. So if you haven't read the book, please leave now.

  Okay, so towards the end, I was starting to get a bit of dejavu. Girl becomes friends with boy who has a girlfriend. Girl starts having a crush on boy who has a girlfriend. Girl kisses boy who has a girlfriend. Boy disappears. Girl finds out boy went to see his girlfriend. Boy comes back. Boy says he only went to see her to break up with her. 

  If you feel like this certain bit of the plot is familiar... here's why. Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins has that exact same mini storyline. When Anna and Etienne kissed, Etienne disappeared. Josh told Anna he was visiting his girlfriend Ellie, the same way Collins told Emily that Frank was visiting Lissa. Guess what? Both Etienne and Frank come back, and oh! Guess what! They didn't visit their girlfriends to have some lovey dovey time! They went to break up with her! But Emily and Anna didn't know that!

  So that part of the story was pretty predictable, and I'm not accusing anyone of plagiarism or ripping off because the two stories over all are very different, but it ticked me off because I saw it coming. That's why I couldn't give it 5 stars.

  But overall, it was a great book, really enjoyable. 

  What did YOU think of Since You've Been Gone? Leave a comment below!