Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Best friends Sloane and Emily had planned their summer to be the best one yet. But then all of a sudden Sloane just disappears. 

After checking her house and her phone many, many times for Sloane, Emily finds a to-do list that Sloane left behind. On that list there are thirteen different tasks that Sloane planned for Emily. Except Emily would never do any of the things on the list without Sloane. Especially "Kiss a Stranger" and "Go Skinny-Dipping". But maybe Emily could try if completing these tasks could somehow lead Emily to Sloane...

Rate: 4 stars

This book is perfect if you are looking for a light, fun, summery read. The tasks that Emily had to complete made for a fun and entertaining read, and the characters weren't bad either. If you are looking for a contemporary to read this summer, I would definitely recommend this one. However, I don't think I enjoyed this as much as most people did. There was one aspect of the book that rubbed me the wrong way, which I will get into in the spoilery part of this review. But over all I enjoyed reading this book.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

So I liked the majority of the characters in this book. Emily was a good main character and she developed as the book went on. She started out as a super shy character that needed a friend with her in all social situations. She then became more independent and less shy. I also liked her friendship with Frank, Collins and Dawn, it developed very nicely. I liked their characters as well. But the one character that bothered me was Sloane.

She was portrayed as this super amazing best friend, but I didn't really see her that way. When we got the flash backs of her and Emily, it always seemed that she was making Emily into someone else. She seemed to have made a lot of changes to her wardrobe and appearance. Then we got the flash back before the "Penelope" scene. I really didn't like how she was making Emily do things she wasn't comfortable with. And then she spent a ton of time with her boyfriend, and ended up ditching Emily many times. Trust me, I know that is not a fun experience. End at the end I still didn't like her that much.

Moving on from the characters, let's talk about the actual plot. I enjoyed all the different tasks that Emily had to go through. I though they were very fun to read. Some of my favourites were "Share Some Secrets", "Dance Until Dawn" and "Go Skinny Dipping". I also liked the scene where Fran and Emily drove down to find Sloane.

The ending was good. Everything was wrapped up and seemed as good as can be. Sloane and Emily met up and everything was explained. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Sloane, I liked the scene between Emily and her. I thought her story was interesting and I have to admit I kind of felt bad for her.

Overall this was a solid contemporary.