4.5 Stars

**This book was sent to me by the publisher and NetGalley for review**

Charlie Grant's oldest sister is getting married and this will be the first time her whole family has been together...ever since the incident with her brother. All she can think about is one last perfect weekend before her parents sell their childhood home and she goes off to college. But nothing seems to go as planned. Her favorite brother brings home his new girlfriend, her mom's comic strip is ending, and the wedding problems seem to be never ending.

Charlie has been living in the shadow of her comic strip character for her whole life, mixing up stories her mom created and reality. Now that the strip is ending, she has to make her own decisions about where to go to school, who to be, and who to love. She also soon realizes that even though the Grant's are portrayed as this perfect family to the world, they are far from it.

This book is amazing! Even though I own all of Morgan Matson's books, this was my first read and I'm so happy I read it. I could picture this book being made into a movie. It had moments that were crazy and ridiculous, funny and heartfelt...basically everything you want from a YA Contemporary. The only reason it wasn't given a full 5 stars was because the story takes place over one weekend and I feel there were a few things that could've been left out. Overall though, a fantastic read and I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

Although classified as a YA book, and am many decades beyond those targeted readers in age, I found this a heartwarming, enjoyable book. It is centred around a family wedding, where many things which were carefully planned go wrong. There is plenty of humour in the mixups. The story focuses on family dynamics and the pressure of growing up under public scrutiny. Would make a good movie.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon& Schuster for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

I decided at the last minute, to request an eARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This was a quick, light read that gave me all kinds of Sixteen Candles vibes. The two are similar in that there is a wedding and things do go wrong. I just had to keep reading to find out what could possibly go wrong next. I won't include the whole synopsis in this review because you probably already read that for yourself. Charlie Grant's older sister is getting married at their family home. She is the youngest of five siblings who will be all under one roof for a weekend she is hoping will bring them all together before their family home is sold. She just wants the best time with her family with everything going perfectly. Nothing could go wrong; right? Wrong! This book was hilarious and heart felt at the same time. Oh, and of course there is a boy crush involved.

Charlie just wants everything to stay the same. She has lived in the family house her entire life and doesn't want to think about going off to college in the fall. I could picture every scene as I read it. It read like a movie. I would definitely watch this play out on a tv or movie screen.

Sadly unable to read it due to it being a pdf only. I need Kindle versions, NetGalley!
That said, the hype is real and I'll probably just buy it anyway.

Save the Date
By Morgan Matson
Release Date: June 5, 2018
An upbeat coming of age story about a wedding..... Or is it just chaos and disaster all around?
Honestly, reading this book feels like I'm reading a movie script or watching the movie inside my brain atleast. I also loved the small comic strip pages in between as well. I can't wait for June 5, so that I can purchase a physical copy of this book.

Charlie Grant's older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home. All of her siblings are coming home for the wedding. Charlie is excited to have her entire family under one roof before the house is sold. But things just won’t go her way. There is drama, mayhem, sibling unrest and so much more.

I adored the small comic strip pages, I really wanted more of them.

Although I had fun reading this book, there were places where I felt the story dragged, or rather slowed. I feel I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more had it been a movie or a tv show. I would’ve loved to explore each of the characters more kind of like in a Mockumentary. I felt this story was fun and had moments where, had it been a Mockumentary, the audience would laugh and want more and more each season. This kind of gave me the same feel as when I watch Modern Family and would’ve love to watch this just as much on tv.

I will have an in-depth summary of this book on my Reviews page after the release

I received an ARC copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has no impact on my review/thoughts.

Rating: 3 stars

I’ve read Since You’ve Been Gone and The Unexpected Everything from Morgan Matson and I’ve to say while Save the Date was entertaining to read, I wasn’t as invested as I was for the former two books. However, compared to those two, I got into Save the Date faster, which is pretty much when J.J., one of Charlie’s older brothers, made appearance.

Speaking of J.J., it’s obvious that this book focuses on the family more than anything. While the family dynamic was amazing, I didn’t feel connect to any of the characters at all. The only one I liked was J.J. because of how funny and random he is even so I didn’t connect with him either. I mean all of them were funny but J.J. just stood out for me. Charlie, on the other hand, did annoy me a bit. She’s so into her family bubble that she would ignore and being mean toward others (her best friend and other people). She did and said things before thinking about it, which could hurt other and this made her selfish in some way. In addition, she got sidetracked so easily that it became super annoying, especially when this started to happen in Chapter 2… She would think of doing something important but then totally forget about it and do something else because one of her family members appears.

As for the plot, it was unrealistic and made me feel like one day actually had more than 24 hours or the characters just don’t sleep. Although everything that happened could possibly happen in real life, it just felt unnatural/surreal when it all happened back to back on the same day/weekend. It was as mentioned in the synopsis: chaotic days. Speaking about plot, it’s supposed to be on this big wedding date for Charlie’s older sister but because of all those unrealistic events that kept on happening, it overshadowed the wedding itself. I felt any emotion for the wedding at all.

One thing I absolutely love: Andie and Clark cameo! Morgan Matson even gave us some update about their story in this book, which was amazing and I really loved it!

In overall, it was an entertaining read but definitely a bit too long and unrealistic. Again, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC!

Save the Date by Morgan Matson would have been a great movie, as a movie it would have made me laugh so much with all the unrealistic events that happen. But as a book I thought the story was draged out. At times I felt like I was watching a romcom instead of reading a book. I really like how the family was portrayed, Charlie was all about family and we don't see that a lot in books, especially in young adult. The fact that this was not a romance book made me so happy. Yes there is a little bit of romance, but it's not the center of attention. But with that being said, Charlie was not a good friend at all, actually she was not the best character I ever read about. I didn't get attached to any of the characters, I wanted to, but they were so unrelateable. They were all definitely a fiction family, the ending was super predictable.

Overall I did enjoy this book but it’s definitely not my favorite book of hers. Save the Date is a nice summer read, but don't expect your life to be changed after reading this book.

DNF
I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for this one but I just couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the family aspect of it but there was just something stopping me from loving it the way I loved Matson's other books. Maybe I'll try again after it comes out and I'm in the mood for a contemporary.

Well, this book is as cozy as they come! Imagine the lives of a family who’s mother essentially writes “Family Circus”. “Grant Central Station” has been going for as long as Charlie can remember. It’s the reflection of her family life… The way she THINKS her family is. But, do her siblings feel the same way? Is their family life really the solid, shining beacon she always thinks it is?

I loved that the romance story was almost a secondary part of the novel. The family dynamic, the fact that their house is being sold, their mother’s comic strip is coming to an end, and estranged family members coming together for Linnie and Rodney’s wedding were the main focus and I LOVED THAT! It was a refreshing story and the family was my favourite part of the book!

This was one of those books in which the main protagonist was actually my least favourite character! Charlie could be annoying with her idealistic view of her life and family. I liked her family being around to pull her out of the clouds and make her realize that it’s not all about her.

Now on to some of my favourite characters! With some quotes to get you interested!!

Siobhan (Charlie’s best friend)
“I got my mom to call me out. I’m taking the day off so I can help with wedding stuff.”

“I thought all of that was being taken care of my Tangerine.”

I shook my head, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “You know her name is Clementine. You just have a weird prejudice against her.”

“You know my policy,” Siobhan said. “never trust anyone named after a fruit.” I sighed; I’d heard this more times than I’d wanted to, and could practically feel Siobhan teeing up her punch line. “After all… They might be rotten.”

J.J. (Charlie’s brother)
“Hey, man!” Rodney said, smiling at J.J. “Welcome home. Want a donut?”

“Ummm… Sure?”

J.J. scoffed. But just as he’d done ever since he’d read this phrase when he was twelve, he said the word “scoff” instead of just making the sound, and none of us had been able to convince him this actually wasn’t correct.”

And the rest!
“J. J. shook his head. “Your job sounds exhausting, young Billiam.”

“It’s okay,” Bill said with another smile. “And, uh, it’s really not Billiam. Just Bill is good. Bill Barnes.”

“That’s a good name,” J. J. said, pointing at Bill. “That’s a superhero name.”

Rodney raised an eyebrow. “How is it a superhero name?”

“The double letter thing.”

“Alliteration,” I supplied.

“Danny smiled at me. “Charlie knows what’s what.” Then he turned to J. J. “I still don’t know how it’s a superhero name.”

“They all have them,” J. J. said, gesturing expansively.

“I’ll wait to hear the specifics.”

“It’s true,” Rodney agreed. “you can’t make a claim without evidence.”

“Rodney’s a lawyer,” J. J. explained to Bill.

“Not yet,” Rodney said, shaking his head. “Not until I pass the bar.”

“That’s a TOTAL lawyerly qualification to make,” J. J. sighed.

“Still waiting to hear those examples,” Danny said as he took a sip from his near empty glass.

“Fine!” J. J. said, slapping his hand down on the bar. “Okay. How about…?” He paused for a moment, furrow ing his brow. “Peter Parker? Or Sue Storm? Or Bruce Banner?”

“Woah,” Bill said, his eyebrows going up. “I guess I never realized that before. There are two Superheroes named Bruce?”

“Who else?” I asked.

“Bruce Wayne,” Danny, J. J., Bill and Rodney said at the same time.

“Oh, right, him.”

“Bruce Wayne is the exception,” J. J. said, shaking his head. “All the rest of them have the double letters.”

“Alliteration,” I supplied again, and Danny smiled.

“Reed Richards,” J. J. continued, starting to tick them off on his fingers. “Wade Wilson,Stephen Strange, Buck Buchanan, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane-“

“She’s not actually a superhero,” Bill pointed out.

“You’re not helping, Billiam,” J. J. snapped.

“What about… I don’t know…,” Danny said. “Diana Price, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Barbara Gordon, Clark Kent-“

“That SOUNDS alliterative,” I pointed out. “So it might count on a technicality.”

“Archie Andrews,” Rodney supplied, apparently joining J. J.’s side on this. “Jughead Jones…”

“Okay, in what universe is ARCHIE a superhero?” Danny asked, causing me to draw in a sharp breath.

“Hey now,” I said, and Danny rolled his eyes.

“Oh, sorry,” he said. “I forgot your thing for those comics.”

“It’s J. J.’s fault,” I said, and Danny muttered, “Most things are.” J. J. had had a huge collection of Archie books that he’d declared himself over and too old for when he started eighth grade, so he passed them on to me. I’d loved them, nursing an elementary school girl crush on Reggie that I’d told nobody except Linnie about.

“There’s also Beetle Bailey-” Rodney continued, and Danny threw up his hands.

“So, we’ve just moved arbitrarily into the newspaper comics?”

“You think Superman was never a newspaper comic?” Rodney challenged, raising his eyebrows.

“I still think the majority of Superheroes have them,” J. J. said stubbornly, clearly trying to get us back on track.”

This book was just what I needed. Something to sit in the sun with, sip on my chosen beverage, and not think too much! When I had one of my readers tell me that she hadn’t seen me give anything over 3 Stars, I realized that I’d been in a bit of a slump!! But, NO MORE! I highly recommend this book for those who love a great family oriented romantic read!

I had a lot of trouble getting into the story... at first, i really tought there were too many characters to the strory, and because of that number...i could just not get attached to any of them... Il still kept on reading and my overall comment on Save the date is that it's an okay book. I liked it, but will not be rereading it. finishing it was an effort.

3.5 stars. I was super excited to pick up this book as I love all of Morgan Matsons books. I really loved some of the characters like j.j. I also really liked that you never really knew what was going to happen next and it had me guessing pretty much the entire time. This book was also filled with some really great quotes such as

“It didn’t say anything about that on the STD.”
We all just stared at him for a moment, and I noticed that Bill was looking fixedly at his shoes. “What?” Linnie finally asked
“When you and Rodney gave me the STD, J.J. said, shaking his head, clearly impatient that we weren’t keeping up. “There wasn’t any disclaimer that-“
“You mean the save the date?” Rodney asked, and J.J. nodded. “Dude acronyms aren’t always a good idea.”

I think I died from laughing at that point ahaha


I did find the book to be a little bit longer than necessary and could definitely have been shortened. I was also disappointed that there wasn’t very much romance in this book compared to her other books. I really wasn’t a huge fan of the little amount of romance that was in this book either.

Overall I did enjoy this book but it’s definitely not my favourite book of hers.

Morgan Matson just gained a new fan.

This book was a mess, but it was such a great mess. Essentially the plot can be summed up with if something could go wrong at Charlie's sister's wedding, then it will. Plus the business of a 7-person household. Charlie is the youngest of her five siblings and is coming to terms with things changing within her family; the home she grew up on is being sold, the comic strip her mom has been writing for decades is coming to an end, and she's trying to decide where college will take her next year. The book takes place over three days (plus a mini epilogue) and we get so much over the course of those few days.

First off, I became totally immersed with the characters in this book. We learn so much about the different family members, and it's super easy to relate to the family. I, myself, am from a busy household so this busy hectic event seems far from being unrealistic. Being the oldest child of my family, I couldn't relate entirely to Charlie as she's the youngest, but she was well-written so I could immerse myself into her story. I began to love this family and there was even a point they almost made me cry (if a book makes me cry, it's a good book). Matson nailed it on the family dynamic.

The story was constantly moving. I found it dragged a bit in the beginning and there was some scenes I was just ready to be over with, but once it picked up, I was hooked and had a hard time putting the book down. It was a bit longer than I'm usually used to for contemporaries, and this book could've been a bit shorter, but overall I was content with the pacing and content.

There were some character dynamics that bugged me (view spoiler), but overall most of my issues were resolved by the end of the story. Charlie had many great internal revelations and I grew to really appreciate her as a character.

Overall, I'm super impressed with this story because I'm not always the biggest when it comes to contemporaries, but this one left me wanting to jump right into another Matson book. So 10/10 I will recommend this book to people who are interested. From the sounds of it, this book gives what a reader is used to receiving with a Matson novel, so fans will not be disappointed.

This ended up being a semi-decent story but it took a long time to get into and enjoy. The only reason I kept reading is because it was available on my phone when I didn't have anything else to do. I felt it was over the top with everything that could go wrong, going wrong. And it wasn't believable that this high school student was the only one who was able to know and handle everything. It seemed like a very formulaic plot line that an adult authoring a ya novel writes to get views instead of actually writing something good.

Save The Date by Morgan Matson was a little different than I expected. There was almost no romance, it was actually centered on family. I liked it a lot. You can never go wrong with a Matson book. Perfect for summer!

Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook copy.

I fell in love with this book when I seen the cover, and when as I read the book I found myself laughing from cover to cover. From the added comic strips, to the family drama, to the "rented for the weekend" dog named Waffles, to the fact that anything and everything that could have gone wrong the weekend of the wedding basically did go wrong....This book was simply hilarious and heartwarming. A perfect rom-com for a sunny summer afternoon.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

If you're looking for a fun summer read you HAVE TO READ SAVE THE DATE. I'm so tempted to write this entire post in caps lock because this was such a fun read. If you're going to the beach or sitting on your deck or even hibernating inside because it's too hot outside you have to have this book in your hands. Trust me. I don't usually read contemporary and chick-lit is one of those hit or miss for me but this was clear perfection. I'm definitely rambling now but that's how you know I loved a book :)

Well written however a little too long to hold my interest . I kept moving on to other books and going back

I received a copy from NetGalley; this is my honest review. #SaveTheDate #NetGalley
-I don't think it should be categorized for young readers. Certainly not after reading the prologue, and chapters 24-25.
-LOL funny from the beginning. Over-the-top unbelievable situations coming one after the other. It came as a bit too much, though, because really, who had ever had to live through all that?
-The heroine is mostly living through the comic strips - a fantasy - up until she (really) opens her eyes and starts to make new assessments of her world and those who live in it.
-Unusual: The youngest member of the family takes care of absolutely everything; she's the one who's called during an emergency or to fix some kind of problem.
-I thought the extended family and friends were a bit disrespectful of the bride and groom and their immediate family. It's plausible but there were too many of them.
-Fact: It was mentioned a few few times that the wedding day was the happiest day for Rodney and Linnea. If they think that’s their happiest, then they are doomed the next day because it’s downhill from there...

Weddings are such a fun, exciting, hectic time for all, and Morgan Matson has done an excellent job of capturing that sentiment in her newest book. Getting to watch and experience this new milestone with the Grants was such a wonderful experience. I loved the family dynamics and relationships that was explored through each of the siblings and their interactions with each other.

The addition of comics was probably my favourite part of the book. It really made it unique and attention grabbing with those little slides in between chapters. I adore the themes Matson portrays in all her books. From acceptance to kindness and forgiving, it's so much more than a romantic contemporary.

I did, however, find it difficult to connect with the main character, Charlie. Although she checked all the boxes of what a great contemporary main character should have, it felt like her character's essence relied on her family. I didn't feel particularly inclined towards her and her personality blended into the background in the presence of any of her family members.

That being said, this book was so filled with summer cuteness, it would make the best fun, summer read.

This is a contemporary book done right. There are so few contemporaries that have this amount of drama, laughter and heartfelt moments.

Save the Date is a little ridiculous. So much goes wrong. It's definitely like watching a romcom. There are wacky hijinks that are absolutely impossible to believe - but Matson makes it work. Most importantly she balances out the humour and wacky antics with genuine touching family moments.

The characters in this book are SO well done. Each sibling, parent, extended family member, and friend feels real. Even the ones who get limited screentime feel like people I know in real life. No character is cast in an entirely faultless or entirely negative (except Don, screw Don) light. Despite that, just like the Grants from the fictional Grant Central Station comic this is a family you want to be a part of. 

Speaking of Grant Central Station the included comics were absolutely charming. It reminded me a lot of For Better or For Worse a comic that I personally grew up with. I wish there had been more and honestly the portions of the book focusing on their mother's comic were some of the most exciting for me. There was this intense sense of nostalgia even though it wasn't real.

There's so much going on in this book but ultimately it's a story about growing up. About learning that people are all human. They're messy, and good, and bad, and most importantly complicated. Charlie is a fantastic protagonist who, over the court of only a few fast-paced days, learns to accept that change is inevitable but not necessarily bad.

This is a YA read that I would champion to become a film. It has all the right elements, a fantastic cast and an exciting plot. My only nitpick would be that the beginning of the novel was a bit slow until the real story started but overall this is one of my favourite contemporaries by far. I was not a fan of Matson before, but I am now.