Save the Date

By Morgan Matson

From the author of Since You've Been Gone and The Unexpected Everything comes a dreamy story of summer romance and finding yourself, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen

Charlie Grant tries to keep her life as normal as possible. Hanging out with her best friend, pining for Jesse Foster - who she’s loved since she was twelve - and generally flying under the radar as much as she can. 

But sometimes normal is just another word for stuck, and this weekend that's all going to change. Not only will everyone be back home for her sister’s wedding, but she’s also juggling:

- a rented dog that just won't stop howling
- an unexpectedly hot wedding-coordinator’s nephew
- her favourite brother bringing home his HORRIBLE new girlfriend
- fear that her parents’ marriage is falling apart
- and the return to town of the boy she’s loved practically all her life…

Over the course of four days Charlie will learn there's so much more to each member of her family than she imagined, even herself, and that maybe letting go of the things she's been holding on tightest to can help her find what really keeps them together.

Praise for Morgan Matson: 

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
"Funny and heartwarming, we love Amy & Roger's Epic Detour" - Bliss
"Strong literary romance, this is an ideal summer read choice" - The Bookseller
"A near perfect summer read" - Publisher's Weekly, starred review

And Second Chance Summer...
"Absolutely huge recommendation. Matson has become my favourite contemporary author." The Bookbag
"Heart-wrenching and beautifully portrayed" Prettybooks

And Since You've Been Gone...
"A heartwarming story of loss, taking risks, new beginnings and self-discovery along the journey" - The Guardian
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Jun 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781471163890

Morgan Matson

Morgan Matson is the New York Times bestselling author of six books for teens, including Since You’ve Been Gone and Save the Date, and the middle grade novel The Firefly Summer. She lives in Los Angeles but spends part of every summer in the Pocono Mountains. Visit her at MorganMatson.com.

Reviews for Save the Date

[simplykelina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have read several books by Morgan Matson, and just never fell in love with them. I was hesitant to start this one, but since I got it in my Uppercase I decided to give it a try. This is probably the best one I have read yet. I loved the prologue, and I really thought this was going to be more romance heavy with Charlie and Jesse. However; once the actual story started this was much more family oriented than I was expecting. You really start to learn more around the whole family and their current and past relationships/digressions. I found Charlie being very catty and a whiny brat at times. I did like her a little more as she continued to do whatever she could to help pull off the wedding for her sister. I really wish this followed the romance between Jesse and Charlie with the loving the brothers best friend trope. There was sporadic scenes with the two, but it really never became about that romance. Charlie ends up going on adventures with Bill (the wedding planner), but it also does not start until over 200 pages in and is not a huge focus on the story. I would definitely not go into this thinking this is a cute romance read. It does have a small romance, but it is never the focus of the story. I think if you go into this knowing it is a story around family more, you will enjoy it more. I related to the wedding planning mishaps so much in this story. Our wedding venue shut down one month before our wedding with no notice. The people who owned it were not answering and we had to get the police involved to get our money back. One of my bridesmaid dresses was the wrong color, and all of our decorations did not get delivered. I related to Charlie’s sister so much in regards to that point. I really enjoyed the comic strips thrown in as well, as they were a really cute addition to the story. Overall, I liked this more than I thought I would. I liked seeing that no matter what happened this family will stay strong together and be there for one another. It was cute.

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlie is determined that the weekend of her older sister’s wedding is going to be perfect — but it seems that everything that can possibly go wrong, is going wrong. This was a fun read, though I would not recommend it to anyone who might be involved in planning or participating in a wedding in the near future! I never completely connected with the characters, but that might just be me. (I also found the string of disasters more anxiety-inducing than entertaining, but I’m pretty sure that’s just me.) If you like light, realistic YA (and aren’t planning a wedding any time soon!), you might want to take a look at this one.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Charlie's sister Linnea is getting married on Saturday. On Friday, they find out the wedding planning they hired can no longer do the job and a new planner has been assigned. Charlie is only looking forward to having the entire family back at home, since the five children are spread far and wide with only Charlie being at home...until she decides which college to go to.As you can imagine, the loss of the wedding planner is only the first of the catastrophes that occurs over the wedding weekend. You'll need to read Save the Date to find out the others.Morgan Matson, one of the top young adult romance writers, brings her fantastic sense of humor to this book, parts of which are laugh out loud funny. Where her imagination came up with some of the scenes is beyond me., but I'm glad she did.There is humor, seriousness, romance and family in this recommended read. I always look forward to her next book and this one didn't disappoint at all. I don't know how she could have written a better book. Now I can wait until the next book.I highly recommended, thoroughly enjoyable read.

[fredamans · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a brilliant read!I thought I was reading a romance, and it was, but it was so much more than that too. It was a family, and their lives. There were moments that felt so raw and real, and moments when I laughed along with them. If this was a movie, it would be one helluva cast of characters. Each person was unique and had me wanting to know more about them.The Grant family. What a family indeed.I hope, even though this story completely ended, that there will be another book. I want to know what life is like after the divorce. Where does Charlie go when she goes home from university? These burning questions will linger in my mind.Another great read from Morgan Matson. She is quickly becoming a YA favorite of mine.

[Aleksandra Jamrowska · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazing! Morgan Matson never disappoints and this story was no exception!
I thought those kind of mixups and wedding disasters only happen in movies but here somehow everything felt so real. Charlie troubles gave me a serious anxiety, how much can happen in one weekend?!
I love big family dynamics,
I miss romance, I wanted more cute romantic moments - this book is very family oriented, more then usual.
Loved it!

[sarah220-732610 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I would probably give it a 3.5 if I had the option. The main character was annoying in the way teenage girls often are but she did eventually grow and learn and become more mature. Also, the idea of the "perfect" wedding is a little ridiculous to me (now that I've been married for 14 years, it's easy to dismiss the panic). But the book was funny and I found myself turning pages to see what would happen next so clearly my irritations were not deal breakers.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although this book features wedding crisis after wedding crisis, too often it felt as if there wasn’t enough going on.Seventeen year old Charlie is super excited that her sister’s wedding means having her many siblings under one roof before the family home is sold and Charlie heads off to college, but the weekend isn’t as smooth sailing as she’d hoped with a boatload of wedding prep issues, some family baggage to navigate and two potential love interests. I loved that the mom is a cartoonist, not only did it remind me of the comic strip For Better Or For Worse (I don’t know if that was the inspiration) which was a favorite of mine, it also made for a believable and at the same time unique source of family drama. My only complaint about the comic is that I would have enjoyed seeing more panels generously sprinkled throughout the book. Save The Date struggled as far as pacing and predictability goes. Too many things such as who Charlie would end up with, the reason her parents were selling the house, Max’s big secret, etc., were far too obvious far too early, and it made Charlie seem almost dense for not figuring things out sooner. And if she had figured out a certain family bombshell from the outset, if the book had been driven by Charlie’s desire to fix the problem rather than driven by the improbability of heaping most of the wedding responsibilities on a teenager (am I the only one who wondered what the many adult family members were doing while Charlie handled nearly every issue?), perhaps the pacing wouldn’t have seemed so sluggish at times and there may have been more to invest in emotionally. Other than Jesse who didn’t have much depth, considering the number of characters, most of their personalities managed to be well-conveyed, some, like J.J., to humorous affect and the unwelcome girlfriend, Brooke, turned out to be one of the most layered, engaging, likable characters in the book to the point where I wondered if I might have enjoyed this story more had it come from Brooke’s point of view (which, yes would have made this an adult book, but as I mentioned, a teen being the only one holding together her sister’s wedding seemed a bit of a stretch, so perhaps the premise might have made more sense with an adult at it’s center). While Save The Date didn’t feel like quite as much of a chore to finish as the author’s previous novel The Unexpected Everything did, it still went on for too many pages and suffered from a meandering plot and pace. I’d love to see what Morgan Matson could achieve again if limited to a streamlined three hundred pages so there would really be no option other than to tell the story in a more concise fashion and really stick to the spine of the plot (actually have a spine to the plot), and maybe then the emotion and the heart I originally loved in her books will shine through again.

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you know someone that is getting married, do not let them read this book. As the Grant family comes together for the wedding of the oldest sibling, Linnie to Rodney, Charlie is hoping it will be like old times. Unfortunately from the moment J.J. shows up at the house until the end of the story, there is one disaster after another. The story is basically told from Charlie's perspective. She is the youngest Grant and will be heading off to college in the fall. A lot of decisions for her to makes, specifically what college to attend.

The Grant Family is a happy well-adjusted family on the surface, but when their mother uses Mike's situation in her comic strip after he specifically asked her not to, he ends up estranged from his family. He comes home for the wedding but stays at a friend's house, the friend that Charlie has had a crush on since she was a little girl. Charlie was so hoping this would be a wonderful family get together for the wedding weekend, but when her oldest brother and the one she idolizes shows up with his girlfriend, the weekend takes a turn. With their home being sold, the Grant Family Comic strip coming to an end, Good Morning America doing an interview for their Monday morning segment and the wedding planner skipping town with all the funds, you know this will be a disastrous weekend. Charlie and the new wedding planner's nephew Bill, come to the rescue and even though things are not as planned, they try to save the day.

Overall this was a fun story. It showed how families can love one another, yet still be angry at each other. It also was a growing experience, especially for Charlie but others as well. They were not the perfect family, but they were the Grant Family and they made the best of their time together. It would be nice if there were another books showing what came next in Charlie's life but we shall see. I laughed a lot while reading this book and cringed at other times but it was a great YA story that adults could enjoy as well. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

[sboren-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book in my @uppercasebookbox in June. All opinions are my own. ????? Save The Date by Morgan Matson. Charlie's senior year of high school has her making decisions for her future for college, but her parents decide to sell their family home and her sister is planning her wedding. Heading into the wedding weekend chaos is in the air. Her brother Mike hasn't been home in over a year, she has a crush on his best friend Jessie, and just when things couldn't get anymore complicated her mom's famous comic strip is ending too. *spoiler alert* As a family of 7 (8 including the new groom) embark on wedding weekend every detail seems to shuffle the family into slight messes. The home alarm system keeps sounding, the wrong band, a dog, the wedding planner goes MIA, a cake debacle, the wrong suit from the cleaners, and much, much more to make for the perfect wedding day. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com