Morgan Matson Books Ranked || Is Summer Already Over?

This March or April or something (already off to a great start you see) I read my first Morgan Matson book, Since You’ve Been Gone. Funnily enough, I didn’t even read it because I heard of her, I just read it because the cover caught my eye at the library and the blurb sounded interesting haha. But since then, this summer I embarked on the task that was binging on her other books since, as they all say, Morgan Matson is the queen of the summer contemporaries! Here, in this post, I wanted to share my personal opinion of the best, the worst, and all the in between 🙂

Links in the titles to go my full length reviews of all the books!

5. Second Chance Summer: 3.5 stars

Cynical Summary: Girl with second home at lake angsts about her ex boyfriend and best friend and some middle school drama while her dad is kicking the bucket.
Glowing Summary: A beautiful story about a teenage girl coming back to her summer home, old friends, and old life in the face of heartbreaking tragedy.
Favorite Moment: The showing of Casablanca. Here’s looking at you, kid ❤
Favorite Quote: “And I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need—love is all there is.”

4. The Unexpected Everything: 4 stars

Cynical Summary: Irritating snobbish girl who goes through boyfriends like food has to deal with being a dog walker (including pooper scooper) instead of micromaneging everything.
Glowing Summary: An amazing coming of age story as a teenage girl learns the value of living in the moment and taking risks, filled with fun adventures of friends, loves, and dogs.
Favorite Moment: The ending with Malory and Karl in the bookstore oaseirjfkldasoijafsmd it was SO CUTE I went back and reread so many times and couldn’t stop smiling.
Favorite Quote: ““You have to try. You have to take your chances. Go and attempt and see what happens…And then later you can say, without regret or hesitation… ‘Once, I dared to dare greatly’”

3. Since You’ve Been Gone: 4 stars

Cynical Summary: Barnacle-like girl who’s always clung to her bff is suddenly forced to get off her butt and actually do crap for herself.
Glowing Summary: Incredible story about a girl getting outside of her comfort zone and discovering all the things she’s capable of while making everlasting friendships in a magical summer.
Favorite Moment: Crashing a party and dancing all night long ahh why can’t this happen to me??
Favorite Quote: “Real friends are the ones you can count on no matter what. The ones who go into the forest to find you and bring you home. And real friends never have to tell you that they’re your friends.”

2. Save The Date: 4.5 stars

Cynical Summary: Unrealistic story of all the possible ways something can go wrong while a childish girl won’t let go of her perfect image of the past.
Glowing Summary: A hilarious story filled with family and fun as a girl learning to let go of the past through her sister’s wedding.
Favorite Moment: The supermarket cake run!
Favorite Quote: “You don’t get to freeze the picture when you want it. It would have been living in the past eventually, you just start doing the same jokes over and over again.”

1. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour: 5 stars

Cynical Summary: Girl is forced to spend way too many hours cooped up in a car with a stranger awkwardly.
Glowing Summary: Beautiful tale of a teenage girl coping with loss and growing up, accompanied by an incredible road trip across all the memorable parts of America.
Favorite Part: That part after Dairy Queen ❤ 😉
Favorite Quote: “The best discoveries always happened to the people who weren’t looking for them.”