Review - Save The Date

Save The Date

by Morgan Matson

Young Adult

417 pages

Release date 6/5/2018

4 out of 5 stars

"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."

Save The Date was a wild ride from start to finish.  With the characters alone, there is so much to unpack!  I am an only child, so I have always loved stories about big families, and this definitely fits the bill.  We have our main character Charlie, her parents, four siblings, a future brother-in-law, a brother's girlfriend, and a crazy dog, all coming together for one epic wedding weekend.  Obviously, it all does not quite go as planned.

One of the most charming aspects of this book is the exploration of the different family relationships.  The author definitely does not skimp on the details of each relationship; for me, it was fascinating to see how Charlie's relationships with each of her siblings differs, as do the relationships of  each of the siblings to the parents.  It would have been an easy way out for the author  to simply paint a picture of a static family and get to the wedding hijinks, but having the Grant family as a detailed and dynamic backdrop gave the story depth.  

While this is a story of a big family and their journey, it also focuses in more closely on Charlie, as she gets her own coming-of-age tale.  As Charlie goes from idolizing her crush and putting her memories of her family on her pedestal, there's some heartbreak, some laughs, and ultimately a happy ending.  You will spend the whole book rooting for Charlie, and you won't be disappointed when the book comes to a close.

This is definitely a feel-good story, despite its heavier moments.  This is the aspect that most gives the book a sense of realness.  Yes, everything going wrong at the wedding is silly, and at times feels like something out of a zany comedy movie, but the author really captures the essence of what it means to be a family.  Everything might go wrong, and you might not be able to stand each other half the time, but in the end, family always comes together because they love each other.  

I gave this book four stars because I really did enjoy it and I finished it with a smile on my face.  The reason it was not a five-star read for me was due to pacing.  At times, it felt like the story was really being dragged out unnecessarily.  In the end, all of the details and background information came together to make a great story, but while reading I did find myself wishing the story would progress faster.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!