Pages: 417
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 5, 2018
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads Synopsis
“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. There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.
There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo. Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractedly cute.
Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.”
What Did I Think?
Let’s jump right into the overall concept of this beauty, shall we? This book was seriously jam-packed with a little bit of everything. I loved how the Grant family dynamic was placed right at the core of this book and how the reader gets to see the Grant’s fraying edges get put back to together (and start to unravel more, at times, too). There were also great coming-of-age aspects of this book, mostly surrounding Charlie and how so many things in her life begin changing at once as she prepares to leave home for college. Aside from the writing itself, I thoroughly enjoyed the illustrations of Charlie’s mom’s comics. I think this added yet another unique touch to a book that already has so many elements that help it stand apart from the crowd.
Charlie’s character really surprised me in a lot of ways. At the beginning of the book, her characterization seemed pretty standard for someone her age (i.e. thinking about college, exploring new relationships, so much teenage angst, etc.). Later on, though, it became clear that Charlie had some seriously drastic character development going on, particularly when it came to the relationships she has with her siblings and parents. It was so interesting to me to see Charlie come to the realization that everyone in the Grant family has their own secrets that she doesn’t know about, regardless of how tight-knit of a family they are. I appreciated that this aspect of her character was very well-developed, rather than Charlie just doing a complete 180 without any kind of doubt or emotional reaction to what she was having to come to terms with once these secrets were exposed. This progression of Charlie’s character development and her reactions to various events going on around her made her that much more lovable and relatable. It also didn’t hurt that when I was reading this book, I was experiencing and working through a lot of the same things Charlie was having to and could totally understand where she was coming from!
Gotta give Bill the credit he deserves, right? I LOVED Bill’s character! It’s clear that he’s hardworking, funny, and just such a sweetheart, even when he’s having to deal with a freaked-out Charlie while they try and find alternatives for things at the wedding that have fallen apart. While it was clear that he and Charlie were feelin’ some type of way about each other, I thought the friendship they were able to form with one another was a connection that would last a lifetime, if nothing else were to happen with these two. Plus, they also make such a dynamite team!
There were so many deep moments that led to great life lessons the reader can take away that I wasn’t expecting from this book. Because of this, I feel like I have to share one of my favorites: Betrayal sure can cut deep, especially when it comes from someone you’re close to. Matson does a brilliant job of highlighting both the pain and anger that comes along with that, but also shows the reader that if you truly care for someone, you shouldn’t let that stop you from trying to mend bridges, especially if you know the person genuinely loves and cares for you. It’s easy to hold a grudge, but the only thing that comes out of that is two hurt people, and why be that way, when you can both take the high road and grant each other forgiveness when it’s deserved? This lesson is so important, yet also quickly forgotten in our day-to-day lives that I just felt a need to share it specifically in this review!
The only issue that’s holding me back from a five-star review is that there were elements of the book that felt unrealistic to me. A really good example of this was the fact that there were so many issues with the wedding preparations that l happened on the exact day of Charlie’s sister’s wedding. Trust me when I say that I’ve seen my fair share of last minute wedding day disasters, but the ones in this book were just too much to be realistic. It’s not that I didn’t find some of them funny/really unfortunate, because I totally did, but it was just TOO MUCH.
Overall, the pacing of Save the Date was nicely done with little lag. I really enjoyed the characters and Charlie’s development totally stole the show for me. I fell in love with the Grant family dynamic, even though all members of the family had their flaws that they had to work through on their own and together as a unit. As a whole, I thought Save the Date was a super cute, fluffy, adorable read that throws some serious curveballs at you when you least expect them, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it!
Who Would I Recommend This Book To?
I’m going to start with the obvious first: If you’ve enjoyed Morgan Matson’s previous books, it’s likely you’ll fall in love with Charlie, the rest of the Grant crew, and Bill, so definitely give Save the Date a shot!
Fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenna Evens Welch, Siobhan Vivian, and Kasie West will also likely take a liking to this book.
And, if you’re like me and love a good contemporary with a strong emphasis on family over romance, this may be a great option for you. I also highly recommend this book to anyone who is going through any kind of big change in their life (i.e. heading to college, moving away from home, etc.). I think readers adjusting to brand new things life has to offer will greatly benefit from giving Save the Date a try!
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