_edited.jpg)
5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
Charlie Grant, youngest of 5 siblings, is the last to leave the coup for college. Before all that happens, her older sister is getting married in their childhood home they will only have for a few more days. Charlie is ready to have the whole family back together to have one more perfect weekend and wedding before the house is sold and she has to make big decisions like where to go to college.
What could go wrong right? Everything. Everything is the answer to that question and it all starts with the wedding coordinator for her sister bowing out the day before the wedding and leaving Charlie, along with the very cute new wedding planner's nephew, an entire mess to clean up.
Initial thoughts:
THIS BOOK WAS WONDERFUL. I haven't read a contemporary book in a very long time and this was the perfect easy read I needed at this time in my life. I love nearly everything from Waffles the beagle, to the construction of the family dynamics, to all the characters main AND side, to the romance, and the whole plot! If I had anything to complain about it would be the fact that Charlie seemed much younger than a near high school grad and it was supremely annoying that she kept jinxing herself... STOP saying "nothing else is going to go wrong" ! Because you are just jinxing yourself for future reference!
Plot:
Let's start with how relatable and real this read is. Anyone can relate to at least one character in this story, if not Charlie. She's facing a lot of changes right now and that's scary and I'm sure many of us have gone through major life changing moments to understand that. That's probably my favorite thing about this book. Not to mention this book did a great job, at least in my opinion, of showing me the upsides and downsides to having a ton of siblings and having a big family and having much older siblings, which I've never experienced.
My second favorite would have to be Linny and Rodney's wedding going wrong in every which way you could think of AND THENSOME. Everything just kept building and snowballing into craziness that was extremely fun and hilarious to read. I'm still reeling from how well Charlie and Bill managed to patch up all the mishaps.
Speaking of whom, their cuteness was unbearable! I loved them together so much that I just wanted to push Jesse out of the picture from chapter one. They didn't seem instalovey either which I wholeheartedly appreciate from a contemporary. I SHIP!
Now, I can't divulge all the stuff that went awry obviously because spoilers, but just know that everything little moment (however small it seems while your reading it) has a purpose in the long run. I love that feeling when I read a plot twist I didn't seem coming and I think back to all the foreshadowing that hinted at it. Morgan Matson did not waste any pages in this compilation of craziness. I can, however, understand how some people may not love this book as much as I did. In the first half of the book I kept thinking that Charlie seemed rather childish for a kid thats about to graduate highschool (but who knows, I felt like a 30 year-old way back when I graduated highschool). Also, like I said above, Charlie has this incredible ability to make MORE things go wrong simply by saying, "nothing else is going to go wrong." Like NO. Don't jinx yourself. Still, these things didn't in the slightest make me want to dock off a star.
Then the ending broke my heart and put it back together and made me fall in love with all the Grants all over again. Such a heart-felt finale that was entirely realistic and, again, RELATABLE. I think I've found a new fave contemporary author!
Characters: THERE ARE A MILLION, but they are very easy to keep straight.
CHARLIE is so hopeful and naive sometimes that she just seems like a 13 y/o girl. Otherwise, I loved her as the MC. She would literally do anything for her family and that's something I love in YA contemporary. I can understand her so well and because of that she felt very real and relatable.
BILL is CLUTCH. What in the world would we have in this novel if Bill wasn't here. I appreciate everything he added in this novel: stability, romance, help! Help that was so desperately needed. A partner in crime for Charlie. He's great.
LINNY & RODNEY dear gods... How I felt so very anxious for their happy day the entire book! Rodney is what I hope for in a future husband and Linny is a goddess for keeping herself together throughout all the shenanigans. Rodney and his parents were also great! When his father helped to solve some of the wedding issues, I though, YES dad to the rescue!
MIKE is the complicated character. He the odd one out in the family and for that, I love the wrenches he threw into the wedding as well. Not all wedding disasters come from outside the family you know? Drama began before the wedding and a wedding is not necessarily the place for it to be solved, but it one way to bring people back together.
JJ is HILARIOUS. He is the cooky, weird, awkward family member that everyone needs. He was the comic relief that was absolutely needed in this edge-of-your-seat read.
DANNY & BROOKE... So Danny is probably my least favorite of the Grant family. He's kind of a douche to Brooke the entire story. And I like that this opens Charlie's eyes to his real self eventually. Other than that, Danny is kind of just there?
Overall:
You want something hilarious, fun, heart-warming, and heart-wrenching PICK UP THIS BOOK! You won't regret it. This was my first Morgan Matson book I've read and I will definitely be picking up more of her books in the future.