BOOK REVIEW: Since You've Been Gone

Hello All,

I'm back with another post! I'm actually trying to marathon write post today so that there may be content on my blog again. I know I've been bad, if you miss me I have been active on YouTube (same name as blog), Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat which all use the user name @judy_judy94. But that's not important. Today I am here to do another book review!

I have officially completed my third book this year! My goal is to read at least fifteen books this year and review as many as possible. I did review the first one (You can read it here) although I didn't review the second one because I was pretty busy around the time I finished it and never got around to writing it. 

So, what was the third book I read this year? I read Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson. Which a book about Emily during the summer between junior and senior year of high school. She goes away on family vacation and returns to find out her best friend, Sloane, has basically disappeared. But Sloane left behind a list of challenges for Emily to complete. The list was:

 1. Kiss a stranger 

2. Go Skinny Dipping 

3. Steal Something 

4. Break Something 

5. Penelope 

6. Ride a horse 

7. 55 S. Avenue, ask for Mona 

8. The Backless dress and somewhere to wear it 

9. Dance until dawn 

10. Share some secrets in the dark 

11. Hug a Jamie 

12. Apple picking at dawn 

13. Sleep under the stars. 

Emily becomes convinced that if she completes all these activities she will find Sloane. Along the way Emily develops a friendship with classmates Frank and Collins. And with Dawn the girl who works in the pizza place next to the ice cream shop Emily works in. Along with the help of her new friends Emily sets off to cross things off her list. 

I must say I loved this book. At the beginning I was worried I would hate the book because Emily fell in a YA troupe I'm not a huge fan of, where the main character is shy and let's her loud best friend does all the "talking" for her. But the more I got to know Emily the more I liked her. Matson also did a great shop of showing the good and bad of having a best friend like that. 

I love reading books that have a romantic element, even if it's not the main element. This book did have a sub plot of romance and I will say I shipped Emily with the book's love interest so hard. Although there was a character who was Emily's boyfriend from before the story started that I low key liked him a little more. 

My favorite part of the book was how developed the side characters were. I feel like I truly got to know the side characters and really could put myself into Emily's shoes. So, many of these characters feel like they could one day get their own novels and stories. 

Overall I rated this book a 4.35 out of 5. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoy YA books, especially if you like the more emotional adventure ones or the ones about friendships. 

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Have you read Since You've Been Gone? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments below!