Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children Books
Page Count: 417

I can’t believe this is the first book review this month, but at least it is a good one! I read Save the Date as part of a buddy read with Marie @Drizzle and Hurricane Books. We always have a great time reading books together and it was no different time time around. Keep an eye out for a review on her blog as well!

There is something about Morgan Matson books that just always works for me. She somehow manages to give her books a similar, summery vibe with adorable and relatable characters, while also giving each story its own spin and different focus. This time she added little comic strips between the main parts of the book and they didn’t just add a really fun element, but also are way more crucial to the plot than you might think. Despite the setting of a wedding, I was very happy to see that Save the Date was barely about romance but far more about family. I will never get tired of reading about messy sibling-dynamics, inside jokes and complicated family relationships. Add a dog to that (and Morgan Matson did) and you’ve captured my heart as a reader.

Charlie is the youngest of the bunch and I feel it shows in some of her reactions, while she was simultaneously mature and great at helping out whenever things went south during the wedding. I am not sure I would have stayed as cool as her or found a solution as quickly. Hands down, that family would have been screwed without her and Bill intervening at every bad turn. While I didn’t always agree with her behaviour, I could relate to her a lot. She adores her family and thinks that they have something special, which I think is great. Nobody is perfect and maybe she had a bit of a hard time seeing that when it came to her family, but she still loves them and cherishes their bond. I know that families can be complicated and tricky, but I really loved reading about a family that makes it work despite the struggles.

The only reason I am not giving this a full 5 stars is that I felt like a couple conflicts were resolved too easily. The fighting parties made good points, at least some of them, and it was barely addressed afterwards. I know that sibling fights can be blown out of proportion when they happen and then everyone just acts like nothing happened afterwards, but this was something that had gone on for longer and I felt like it deserved more time.

Overall Save the Date was a really fun read! It never had a dull moment, even if I could predict a lot of the developments. I liked this family and wouldn’t mind hearing more about them in future books, just like there were a couple references to The Unexpected Everything here. There are few things I love more than seemingly unconnected books being connected.

Fazit: 4/5 stars! Morgan Matson just proved once more that she doesn’t disappoint.

What did you think of my review? Have you read the book? Do you want to? Also, I haven’t read much this month, but I did read a couple comics, how would you feel about a mini-review post for them? Any interest in that?