Review: Since you’ve been Gone, by Morgan Matson

One summer, Emily’s best friend, Sloane, just disappears without a trace, leaving nothing behind besides a bucket list of 13 items for Emily to complete. She vows to cross every single item off… even the more terrifying ones… hoping it’ll lead her back to Sloane.

I raced through this book in two days. It’s a very easy, lovely read, and you’re desperate to get to the end and find out what happens. It’s a book of self-discovery, Emily trying to find her own identity without just being ‘Sloane’s best friend.’ The occasional flashbacks gave further insight into the girls’ friendship, which I loved. It gave them a history and made it a lot more believable.

Emily surprisingly gets help completing the list from the class president, assumed stereotypical nerdy guy, named Frank. There’s a slow building romance between them, without the usual ‘hot guy who knows all the moves and says the right things’.  During their time together, you see the stereotypes fall apart, and he gets his own wonderful identity too. Their summer is filled with adventures, some of which were a little too ‘perfectly coincidental’ as they work through the list, but it all slots together nicely.

Sloane is the idolized, confident and daring best friend, and you can feel Emily’s pain when she just disappears. But without her leaving, and the list, she would never have grown into her own person. I almost wish I had more from Sloane’s point of view, it would be fascinating to read her history and thoughts on the situation. Every single character, friends, parents, little brothers, were wonderfully developed and each had their own personality and history, which just enhanced the brilliance of the story.

I have only two qualms with this book. Firstly, the chapters were titled with the bucket list item she completes in that section. Personally, I found it spoilt the anticipation, as you already knew what was going to happen before you’d even started. Also, I found the ending, although satisfying, was a little unbelievable. I won’t spoil it, but I just thought it tied up just too neatly for my liking.

All in all, I really enjoyed it, an easy summer read I’d definitely recommend.