Save the Date

Charlie’s the youngest member of the Grant family, a family whose life has been semi-fictionalised in a newspaper comic strip for as long as she can remember. Grant Central is coming to an end, and with it the sale of their family home, but first her older sister Linnie wants to get married there. With a rush wedding on the cards, they employ the help of a wedding planner… one that disappears days before the wedding, leaving behind chaos.

What fun. Everything that can go wrong with this wedding does! Whilst the outside world think they are the perfect family, things aren’t as they seem. Her brother Mike left for college and didn’t return for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, there’s no way he’ll come for the wedding? He hasn’t forgiven their mother for something, the what you’ll have to wait patiently to find out.

It’s a large family with lots of loud and lively characters. The missing wedding planner is replaced by William and his nephew Bill and Charlie does what she can to help fix the many disasters that happen. Despite family tensions, nothing was overly dramatic or mean. Things do get sorted out, often with humorous results.

All you’ve been talking about for months is this weekend, and getting to be with your family again. What happens when this weekend is over?

I liked that it focused more on familial relationships than romantic ones. Charlie’s mission to sleep with her long time crush is destined to go wrong, but she seems to be the only one that doesn’t realise what Jesse is doing. I am glad that wasn’t the main point of the story as I must admit to being irritated by that a bit.

It’s also about coming to terms with change, that nothing can stay the same forever and parents are not infallible. Charlie’s rose-tinted perspective on many things is disrupted by the end.

I feel I can rely on Morgan Matson for a good, uncomplicated contemporary YA. This is set in the same universe as The Unexpected Everything as a few characters pop up at one point, albeit in a very minor moment.

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Book Source: Purchased