Review: Since You've Been Gone

Author: Morgan Matson
Rating: ★★★★

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for more than a year already and it was just recently that I decided to finally read it, and holy moly was it great!

Emily and Sloane have been friends for quite a long time now.  Where they have been studying, they have been known to be a team ⎯ almost always inseparable. While Sloane has been the one considered to be the more outgoing and bold, Emily, for other people, has just been "Sloane's friend." That hadn't been an issue to the both of them; Sloane even tried to push Emily out of her comfort zone and make her do the things she normally wouldn't dare to. Sloane usually gives to-do lists when Emily goes out of town and motivates her to be brave for at least a few moments. They have escapades together and even their summer has already been planned ahead of time, until Sloane disappears without any explanation, leaving only a list of Sloane-inspired tasks for Emily to accomplish.

After weeks of wondering what could have possibly happened to Sloane, Emily had the idea of doing the things Sloane had written down so that maybe she would be one task closer to finding out the reason why her best friend left. Apple picking at night? Easy-peasy. Sleep under the stars? Cool. Go skinny-dipping? My, my. Emily even thought that maybe these things left for her to do could be some kind of a code pointing to where she could reunite with Sloane. (Other readers might think this is similar to John Green's Paper Towns, but no, actually.)

What I really liked about this book is that somehow I see myself in the position of Emily. I've always been the shy-type person, almost never initiating something thrilling without the presence of my friends, and almost always afraid to speak what's on my mind without them supporting me. I truly liked the way Matson had written Emily's character development, how she let Emily find courage and  for once realize she can do something all on her own.

One thing I also absolutely loved about this book is: Frank Porter. Please. Goodness gracious was he so very ideal! Girl was he so adorable, he now passes as my favorite fictional boyfriend. Somebody please find me my own Frank Porter because my heart just cannot take it that he is simply a fictional character!

I highly recommend this book to all of you, hoping you'd love this as much as I did. This is just gold. I loved it!