Save the Date

Thanks Simon and Schuster who gave me a copy on netgalley to review.

This book will make you laugh, cry and wonder how many bad things will happen in the space of a weekend.
Super action packed, I found myself trying to read faster and my heart was racing wanting to find out what happens next.

17 year old Sasha totally relates to Charlie. Well the whole unrequited love thing was my teenage life.

There were hints of a love triangle but the main focus was on the family dynamics which I adored! It almost made me want to have a big family, almost.

Love the story and will always love Morgan Matson's work.

A big thank you to Netgalley for approving for me for a copy of one of my most anticipated reads of the year

There is a lot I want to discuss about Morgan Matson's latest summer contemporary book. It is not my favourite of her books but definitely not my least favourite of her works either. I absolutely adored the premise of this story .... wedding planning, chaos, mayhem, a big family where the main character has many siblings ... count me in! :)

Overall, this story gave me Cheaper by the Dozen vibes. It also has the feel of a romantic comedy because so much of the complications in the story are pretty unrealistic but also hilarious at the same time. It just works, even if the constant complications become repetitive. I also really enjoyed the section at the end which gives the story more substance.

The story is all about our main character Charlie who is part of a big family and all her older siblings will be coming together for the weekend, for her sister Linnie's wedding. A lot of the themes of the novel surround Charlie's inability to accept change and her strong connections to home and family.

I did find that because there were so many characters and there was a lot of chaotic plot occurring, that some characters felt flat or one-dimensional. It wasn't too big of an issue because a lot of my focus was on the plot, but I did notice it here and there.

The only other issue I sort of had with this book was that it was very stretched out. The story takes place over three days and I ended up feeling that there were many filler scenes. They were enjoyable but you could tell they were there to fill up space in the book. There was an entire 10-15 pages of our main character Charlie making her way from her bedroom to the kitchen, because so many things kept on happening. There was also a good five pages on Charlie getting her hair and make up done. Another five pages for Charlie to get to the shower.

I have to say, if I was in the Grant house with all of those guests and all the chaos and mayhem, I would go insane. I do not do well with bombardment of stimuli especially if there are a million people talking at once and you can't do one thing without being side-tracked by something else that is equally as important.

Anyways, I really enjoyed this book. It has flaws but it is still a fun, summer contemporary read that I flew through. It also has its laugh out loud moments, which is why I stand by my belief that this feels like a romantic comedy.

Highly recommend for contemporary fans, fans of Morgan Matson and fans of Huntley Fitzpatrick's works.

This book was so cute! I mean, to be expected just from the author, but it was absolutely adorable! And weddings!

This was a beautiful contemporary, but it was't a romance novel (I too was surprised by this). The romance only had like twelve pages, and though I really wish there was more, I'm also glad that there wasn't because I feel like it would have taken away from the story.

This book is all about family relationships in all their complexity, and it was so well done. There was so much happening in their cute little family and it was so amazing how it developed throughout the book.

Seriously, character development in this book was SO GOOD and I was blown away by it's amazingness!

However, it was very predictable. You could easily see everything that was going to happen quite a way in advance, and there were no big surprises in this book.

The plot never drew me in because it was so predictable, but the characters in this book are fabulous and I love them and it was so worth it! Super cute, and a great read!

Some other things I loved:
- Just weddings in general TBH
- Their alarm which always has perfect timing
- Waffles the dog who is just too cute
- Brooke who is one of the most under-utilised characters in the whole book
- THE CAMEO OF CLARK and Andy WAS SO PERFECT!
- Just like one disaster after another and I loved it
- The sign stealing in all its glory
- The comic snippets were so cool
- The interview at the end. PERFECTION!

"I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review"

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.

This is only the second Morgan Matson book I have read (not for long) and I loved it. I loved how it was more focused on the family not on a relationship, it was something I haven't read much about before.
This family was amazing, each family member brought something to the story and they had me laughing out loud a bit when reading it. J.J was amazing and would love to read more about him (hint, hint). He was incredibly funny and lovable. I have to say that I really wasn't a fan of Mike throughout the book, until close to the end. I found him very selfish and just not likeable, then I found out what happened and it made a little more sense. Charlie (the main character) was likable even though I wanted her to take her rose coloured glasses off but I loved that was part of the story line.
This book even though it is more on the extreme side is very relatable to a lot of people and showed how things can change and how you have to deal with those changes, which is a very important lesson to learn. I also loved the fact that characters from The Unexpected Everything had a brief story line in this book. I loved those characters and seeing a little more of them was amazing.
I ended up rating this book 4.5 stars out of 5. I was hooked early on and loved it right from the start. I would of loved more to happen with Charlie and Bill but I also understand that wasn't really the focus on the story. I am addicted to Morgan Matsons books now and I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

Think of chaos and then multiply that by thirteen and you have the setting of Morgan Matson’s new YA novel, Save the Date. Charlie Grant is in a state of longing - that is, she can’t wait to spend the entire weekend with all of her siblings at the family home. Yes, it’s for her sister’s wedding and yes, it will be crazy, but it has been so long since all of her brothers and sisters have been under one roof. So saying she’s excited is an understatement. But drama ensues and everything hits the fan - what could go wrong, does and what shouldn’t go wrong, epically does. It’s an achievement of crazy and it’s utterly spectacular.

I have to admit that I fell in love with Morgan Matson’s writing after reading, The Unexpected Everything. It gave me all the feels and I adored the characters and the storyline and it was just so adorable.

Save the Date did not disappoint. It follows the perspective of Charlie Grant, the youngest of five, on the weekend of her sister’s big day. There is less of an emphasis on romance in Save the Date than The Unexpected Everything, but I found it refreshing and honest. I believe that if Matson had focused entirely on Charlie’s supposed romance with her long-time crush Jesse, or the new wedding planner in-training, Bill, it would have detracted from the actual core of the story which is, family.

I loved the cast of characters foremost. The siblings and the extended family, even the neighbours, created such an incredible dynamic that added to the story’s honesty and reality-esque energy. The story’s main protagonist, Charlie, is an interesting character. I say interesting in the sense that Save the Date acts also as a coming-of-age novel where the readers get to witness Charlie growing out of her rose-tinted glasses and seeing the world and the people that she loves, for what it and they really are. There were times where Charlie became completely frustrating! Like girl! Snap! Out! Of! It! But she’s seventeen/eighteen, and she’s so young so I had to stop myself from being too hard on her because fundamentally, we have all been a little bit like her. She is strong and intelligent and able to deal with any sort of drama that throws itself in her path. She is the rock that holds her family together, that keeps her family sane; and she doesn’t realise it until the end of her journey, which was beautiful to witness. Charlie goes through considerable emotional upheaval in a small amount of time, but she keeps going and her love for her family is unwavering.

The one major critique I have is the length of the novel. The novel spans from Friday to Sunday in one weekend, with a prologue and epilogue, so to speak. The total number of pages was 436, in my eBook copy. However, it wasn’t so much that it went slowly; no, actually I found the pacing quite well done and everything flowed very well. I just found it strange how sudden the ending occurred. Without spoiling the major ‘twist’ of the novel, towards the end of the novel, Charlie and her siblings find out something that will irrevocably change their lives. But the emotional fallout following this is not portrayed. Instead, we have the ‘epilogue’ where everything is picture perfect and way to healthy. But I think a little more exploration into how Charlie deals with this situation, and her way of deciding which college to go, should have been done in slightly more detail.

Overall, I rate Save the Date by Morgan Matson a 4.5/5 stars. Honestly, anyone who is a fan of YA that is full of crazy family antics, drama with a side dish of cute flirting, should pick this book up and devour it.

NB: Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the publisher as well as Morgan Matson for giving me the opportunity to get an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I can't believe how much I actually missed reading Morgan Matson's books. I remember reading Second Chance Summer at least 5 years ago and I remember it being my favourite book ever at the time. And this did not disappoint. It was so full of heart and actually a little less romance than I thought there would be - something I usually wouldn't be so happy about, but it really worked for this book. Charlie is such a relatable and lovable character as are the rest of her crazy, wild, family. It was such a beautiful novel just about family, change and understanding that nothing and no one is ever truly perfect.
And yes, characters, even Charlie, certainly annoyed my a little bit at times (like when Charlie acted kind of rudely towards Brooke) I think that is what made it great. If the characters were all perfect, it wouldn't have been true to not only the story but to the wider message of the book. Throughout the novel, Charlie sees her family and others as 'perfect' like in Grant Central Station, but at the end, she finally realises and in doing so, grows up, that nobody is truly perfect least of all, her family.
I genuinely loved her family throughout the book and the way that Morgan Matson writes is so so good. There are some truly chaotic scenes at the wedding and at home that are well-written that while you can feel the chaos, you don't feel panicked by it and instead can visualise it. And of course, Morgan Matson just has a really beautiful ability to create a really poignant story and you can feel for the characters, so when things eventually fall apart you fall with them, but you get back up as well.

Overall, just a beautiful book, one that I am very very pleased I got to review.

Charlotte (Charlie) Grant is the youngest child in the Grant family, the real family behind the comic strip series Grant Central Station and is excited to have all of her older siblings back home for her older sister's wedding. All Charlie wants is one last perfect weekend with her siblings before they have to leave the family home she grew up in. However, with a rented dog, her favourite brother bringing his secret girlfriend, her life-long crush being back in town, fears about the future of her family and almost everything that could possibly go wrong going terribly wrong, the weekend is shaping up to be a disaster.

Charlie is kind and seems like a normal, happy teenager, though she is slightly obsessed with her family being back together, so much so that almost everything else ceases to exist. The one exception is Jesse Foster - her longtime crush and one-time-make-out-and-almost-no-pants-dance buddy. Charlie spends the wedding weekend stressing over wedding plans, how she can get alone time with Jesse and making sure she has the perfect weekend with her siblings:

~ Linnie is the one getting married and nice but seems to have zero luck when it comes to this wedding;
~ Danny is the brother Charlie idolises but is not as perfect as she thinks he is;
~ J.J. is the larrikin of the family;
~ Mike is the angry brother who publicly dissed their mother and is also the friend of Jesse.

When the fruit named wedding planner, Clementine, is found to be embezzling and mixing up event bookings, she is replaced with Will of Where There's a Will and his nephew Bill. Although we do not see much of Will in the story, Bill is a great event planner and is ready to do whatever is needed to make sure the wedding happens, even decorate a birthday party with Australian marsupials, stalk down a judge and dance in a supermarket to pick up the cake.

A little thing I liked about the story was that the family had chat groups that they communicate with each other even though they are all in the same house just different rooms. They so much like my family - we have a nerd, a socialite, a larrikin and a young one that gets excited when he gets to see the rest of us - but there were certain elements of the book that I predicted solely because of the similarities to my family.

The book was well written and the characters were brilliantly developed, but the plot was only a 'good' for me. The main issue I had with the plot was that it seemed like a comedy film where everything goes wrong but in a humorous way so it was not as realistic or believable as I would have liked it to be. A fun read with great characters, I just was hoping for something a little more realistic plot-wise.

~ Paperback Princess Summary ~

Save the Date by Morgan Matson is about The Grants; a large and somewhat close family. Preparing for a family wedding; their bond is surely going to be tested. Will they have a lovely and beautiful wedding filled with laughter, joy and love, or will all the family tension bubble up before the wedding march begins?

~ Paperback Princess Review ~

Charlie Grant, the youngest of the Grant children fear change, and with the impending sale of the family home and her sister's wedding, she is determined to bring it back to the old-school days when her and her siblings were all in one roof and getting up to mischief together...their last hurrah in their childhood home.

She had high expectations on how the weekend was going to play out...unfortunately reality does not always co-operate, and soon all her plans seem to be getting further and further from her reach. Will she find a way to reign in all the family and wedding drama or will she just need to find acceptance that the new chapter of their lives are beginning?

I loved this book! It's got all the trademarks of a Morgan Matson book; it's beautifully written, plot is absolutely entertaining, true to life characters that will have you talking about them as if you really know them, love-filled story that will not only tug at your heart strings, but will grip it, pull it and demand your whole attention!

If there was such a thing as a book made for a person, this would've been mine. I'm an Event Manager by trade and am aiming to be a Wedding Planner, and I come from a large extended family that is very close, so I related to this book in so many levels.

The plot was truly entertaining to me. Fair warning though, be prepared to look crazy as you laugh out loud in public. This book had me in stitches so many times. The humour blended in so well with the characters and dialogue, it nearly feels like Morgan wrote about something she had watched, that's how realistic the characters, their relationship and their interactions were.

Save the Date by Morgan Matson is a beautifully written YA contemporary that will truly appeal to your emotions. This book is filled with so much love, laughter, joy and tension, all bundled in a neat bundle that is the Grants.

I really love this book. I love the wedding-chaos and Charlie doing her best to help out with the wedding preparations. I love their big family and how, despite the differences in the characters, they somehow just work together so well.

This book made me laugh and cry and frustrated - I felt every emotion the characters were going through. It seemed like I was actually there experiencing all the 'craziness' with them.

'Save the Date' is worth the read!

BIG, LOUD, DELIGHTFULLY MESSY FAMILIES

The Grant siblings are wonderful. Typically families portrayed within young adult literature are rarely present or created as a character of superiority, the Grant siblings are blemished. The narrative focus is on seventeen year old Charlie. Charlie understands the significance of the upcoming celebrations, the youngest Grant sibling is feeling displaced. Eldest sibling Danny is Charlie's partner in crime, so when Danny surprises the family by bringing home a new girlfriend from California, Charlie begins to see the imperfections within the brother she idolised. Linnie is becoming increasingly overwhelmed by her nuptials, a missing wedding planner and feuding relatives, brother J.J is desperately seeking a date to the event and estranged brother Mike has chosen to stay with friend James, Charlie's crush. Over the course of three days of celebrations, I fell in love with the compassionate, boisterous and completely imperfect Grant family.

A TOUCH OF SWOON

For a narrative that takes place during wedding celebrations, the romance was virtually non existent. There is however, plenty of moments to swoon. For the past several years, Charlie has held a flame for James, Mike's best friend that until recently, seemed to be an unrequited love affair. James is a nice young man but he's certainly no Bill, the nephew of the new wedding planner. Bill and Charlie together are lovely and I enjoyed their subtle flirtations. With the amount of mayhem and adventure afoot, their friendship and attraction felt genuine. #TeamBill

PEE YOUR PANTS A LITTLE

Snorting, unattractive laughter. The kitchen is often the heart of every home, especially for the Grant family. The reader is welcomed into their boisterous, frantic home where the coffee is freshly brewed and siblings feud over the last doughnut. Their familiarity is lovely. The banter and sarcasm providing plenty of laugh out loud moments.

I absolutely loved it. Morgan Matson is a phenomenal contemporary author, creating genuine characters and a sincere storyline of perfectly imperfect families. Infused with humour, mayhem and adventure, Save The Date is a feel great read and instant classic.

Save The Date is a fun, laugh out loud but also surprisingly deep story about growing up and family. I found certain aspects particularly relatable. Being the youngest myself I understood Charlies desire to keep her siblings close and to avoid change. That feeling of something slipping away from you as you desperately try to hold on is something we’ve probably all experienced in one way or another.
There was a good balance between humour and emotion and I found myself often laughing but also feeling for the characters. J.J. was my favourite and the parts with him had me laughing out loud a lot. Particularly his unique take on things

"J.J. scoffed. But just as he’d done ever since he 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. "

The story involving Mike made me equal parts sympathetic, frustrated and angry. I could relate to his feeling of betrayal but also understood Charlies anger and frustration in wanting to move past it. It highlighted how two people (ie: Charlie and Mike) could be brought up in the same household but have very different feelings towards their family and regarding their upbringing.
The chaos surrounding the wedding was a good underlying narrative and gave the story a focal point and reason for the ensuing drama. All in all I found it to be a funny and touching read and would recommend for someone looking for something enjoyable and light hearted.
*Thanks to Author, Netgalley and Publisher for ARC*

Save the Date is a fun, young adult contemporary book about finding yourself and understanding that your family are people, too.

Charlie Grant is the youngest child in her family, and loves her siblings and her life to bits, but struggles with change, even though it’s happening all around her – her siblings have all moved out, one’s getting married, her parents are selling their family home, and she’s soon to discover that all of them have secrets that she’s chosen to turn a blind eye to for the sake of nostalgia.

She throws herself head first into making sure her sister’s wedding day goes smoothly, addressing each and every obstacle and set-back with a determination that’s admirable, if at times a little worrying. She tries to keep the peace between her family and the guests and puts herself and her needs on the back burner until she can’t anymore and she’s forced to see the world as it is, and not as she wants it to be.

This is an easy-to-read coming of age story that addresses love, lust, loss and family in an easily accessible way. Charlie comes across as quite young for her age, but only because she’s chosen to play the part of the youngest sibling, the baby of the family, for so long that it’s a role she falls into and it’s great to see her start to take steps into her own life and how she plans to create her own story parallel to the story of her family.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

I will say, Morgan Matson is one of my favorite authors, and I was super excited to read the new book! I didn't know what to expect, but I went in knowing that so many people had liked this book before me and I was sure I would enjoy it too. At first it was hard to keep track of the characters, especially when you add in that all of the five children have an alter ego in the comic strip. There was one point where they were talking abour Danny/Donny and I just kept reading that page trying to work out where this Donny character had come from and if it was a misprint. Duh.

Although I liked the themes, characters and the writing, the plot line is absolutely absurd at times and yes, it's been said multiple times, this reads like a movie script instead of a book. Just a few less things happening and I would have been happier with this book. I know it's odd, but I don't really like comedy because it makes me feel awkward and stupid that I don't understand it.

This FEELS like a Matson book though? It's all heart and fluffy but deals with big issues too. I liked that.

I have no idea if any of the new editions have the same problem, but for some reason the letter 'e' never capitalized in my copy? Like elizabeth, elanore etc were never capped, and it a sign was all capitalized, it read like this 'ReAD' just an oddity that annoyed me.

All in all I loved this book at it's heart, and look forward to everything Morgan Matson writes. Four stars.

Save the Date focuses on protagonist Charlie Grant, who is part of a family with five children, and about to head off to college. Her sister Linnie is about to get married, and she wants to do it in the family home- which is about to be sold off. Basically the entire novel is a massive scramble for everyone to put together the pieces of the wedding ceremony and unsurprisingly, little goes the way they want.

Unlike the rest of Morgan Matson's novels, there is actually surprisingly very little focus on romance in the book. It's so minor that I wouldn't even deem it a subplot. And I felt that this was actually a good thing, because the story wasn't about the romance- it was much more about Charlie and her family, and trying to put together what seemed very much like a nightmare of a wedding. On the other hand, I do feel that if Matson had wanted to put more focus on the romance, that would have been fine as well (because her romances are pretty damn well writen).

Save the Date was overall a very fun book that at its core had messages about the importance of family. Definitely recommended to fans of contemporary novels.

Ratings
Overall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 2/5

This book was hectic. The story moves along at a rapid pace, despite only occurring over a few days. It was exactly what it feels like to be caught up in a big, messy family. I am a big fan of family relationships being the core of contemporary novels, with some romance on the side.

The only thing I didn't really like was I felt the whole sub-plot about Jesse was unnecessary, and kind of boring.

Morgan Matson's stories are always super sweet and fun and Save the Date was no exception. It's fun and funny and heartwarming and I recommend it.

I've always had a bit of a rocky relationship with Morgan Matson. I LOVED Since You've Been Gone, but The Unexpected Everything was super EH from me.
And for some reason I went into this book expecting to hate it (but still wanting to read it), but as I kept reading I realised I just couldn't.
*cheery music suddenly starts playing*
The overall story was so freaking cute, and the family was THE BEST. It was without a doubt, THE MOST ACCURATE representation of a family I've read about in a book. So there!
If you're wondering about one of the main reasons I was prepared to hate this book, it was because the book is SO BIG. The physical form of this book has a large amount of pages for a contemporary novel, and the writing is SUPER small. It's so intimidating!
Alas, it was an intimidation that was worth pushing through because I really, really loved this! It also had a very Foxtrot vibe to it. And I love me some Foxtrot comics so that was a welcome surprise!
Would I recommend? Absolutely! Especially if you were someone who was questioning about whether this would be as good or better than other Morgan Matson books. You will love this.

This was a really cute read. It had the perfect amount of teen angst and love. I love the setting of the wedding preparations. The book was interesting as it only was about one weekend and flashbacks. It’s the perfect romcom for anyone needing a sweet, cute and funny read. I really enjoyed it.

This is the first Morgan Matson book I've read, and I'm pleased I finally did get around to reading it! While I was initially going to give it 3 stars, that perfect ending just bumped it back up to 4 stars.
Reasoning behind the 3 stars:
It just got all a bit too much for me. And I don't even have anxiety normally. This book just stressed me out to the max. Wasn't feasible/believable to me, just how wrong everything that went wrong could go. I was groaning throughout, annoyed by how messed up everything was getting.
I just loved their interview that was aired on the tv, it was perfect!
And that September chapter right at the end, ended things off perfectly!
I'll definitely give her other books a shot, but not sure how they'll go.