Book Club August 2018- Save the Date
The first book was my choice and I picked Save the Date by Morgan Matson. The second part will talk about our classic for the year.
By: Morgan Matson
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Schuster
Pages 432
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.
The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.
There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.
There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.
Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.
Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.
What I thought
Morgan Matson is one of my favorite authors. When I saw that her newest novel was coming out at the beginning of June, and that July’s book was my choice, I knew that I had to pick her newest novel to share with my friends. Stephanie, one of the book club members, was the one to introduce me to Matson, so that made it even better.
Charlie’s sister Lennie is getting married. For the first time in a long time, Charlie’s whole family will be together and she can’t wait. Charlie is the youngest of her family, with three older brothers and her older sister Lennie. Danny, the eldest, is 29, and it goes all the way down to Charlie at 17. She is preparing to finish up her senior year of high school and coming to terms with her family selling their home. She loves her siblings and is excited to have everyone back in their family home together for the first time in years.
One of the things I love about Matson’s books is the relationships. She always has such wonderful parent/children relationships and it was fun to see the sibling dynamics in Save the Date.
Each sibling had such personality, and I would quickly read a book about each of them. Danny, the eldest, is Charlie’s favorite sibling and lives in California. Lennie is marrying Reynold who she met at Dartmouth and has been dating for about 1- years. JJ is a successful analyst for the Pittsburg Pirates, but is very immature (yet somehow maybe my favorite Grant sibling?). And then there is Mike. Mike hasn’t been home in a year and a half and hasn’t talked to his parents in as long. Charlie doesn’t want Mike to come home and is worried that if he does, he will cause drama.
Charlie’s mom is the author of a newspaper comic, Grant Central Station. I was an avid reader of Sunday comics, so I loved this storyline. The comic very much reminded me of For Better or For Worse. A family comic about siblings, parents, and a fun loving dog, who grew up in real time. I loved that Matson included a few comics within the book and honestly, I’d probably read a full book of them if they came out.
Grant Central Station has been running for years, but Charlie’s mom has finally decided to end it at the same time of selling the house. As a result, in addition to the wedding, the family is appearing on Good Morning America to discuss what it’s like to have their life mimicking comic come to an end.
Of course, in amongst the family drama is wedding drama. The wedding planner bails (sort of) at the last minute, leaving the family with a new planner and some left over screw-ups from the original. I loved the drama and thought it was so much fun.
The only part(s) that disappointed me in this novel was the romance and the friendship. While I appreciated that Matson went a bit different with this book by focusing on the sibling relationships, I usually love the romance and in this one it was kind of meh. Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters that had the romance, so it wasn’t that. It was just such a minor part of the story that I almost don’t even know why it was there? Also, Matson typically writes such amazing friendships, so I was a little disappointed by this one.
I enjoyed this book a lot, and it just continued to cement my love for Matson’s writing. However, it wasn’t one of my favorites and I find myself nervous that this is the one that will be some of my friends’ first introduction to her. I truly hope that they love her writing as much as I do and continue to want to read her in the future!!
What Book Club Thought
The fun part about this month's book club is that 3 of the girls had not finished the book before we went p to the cabin, so it was as though we were all reading it together. We were able to talk about certain parts that were funny as it was being read. It was amusing to hear someone's reaction to a scene and then find out what that scene was.
Everyone enjoyed the book for the most part. People were annoyed by Charlie and her family, but everyone loved JJ! Overall, it was a really fun book to read and talk about.