For most of Emily’s life, Sloane was the one leading the charge, whether that was a good or bad thing, eh who can tell. Throughout these many years, Emily and Sloane have been inseparable, and this summer wasn’t supposed to be any different. Just as Emily arrives at Sloane’s house to start off these three months of bliss, Sloane is just gone. All that’s left is a note, well not even a note, just a list really. A list of 13 things for Emily to do by the end of the summer, now this list might bring her back to her best friend, or it might show her something that even Emily didn’t even know she needed.

Morgan Matson writes this coming of age story Since You’ve Been Gone showing how just a few months can change everything. With the summer feeling in the air, this book brings fun characters who feel like they could actually be in high school to life, going through the ups and downs of just trying to survive being a teenager. As a coming of age story this is just like any other out there, which makes it a fun read, and likable characters that make you want to read more. This book shows how everyone feels, not even just as a teenager, but anyone in life.

The absolute best part of this book is that not only is this a great story, but also Matson puts in many playlists sprinkled throughout the book. This adds so much to the book because it gives another look into who each character is, and lets you be able to understand them even more. Not only do these playlists show you who each character is, but also how each character is changing, because you can compare each playlist and it shows how Emily and others are expanding who they are, and how they look at life. Here is an example of one of those playlists in the book down below, where you can listen to it now.

http://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Ah0nEomtSlJ3AtSPd8lU2?si=LJ_3DJmaQBu4waW_TozIjQ

This story keeps the plot moving, but also isn’t too fast paced for the reader to feel any anticipation, or feel like they are being rushed through the book. All of the characters make the story better, and they are the only reason that the story is as good as it is. Although this story is a great read, there was something that always bugged me throughout the book, which was why Emily didn’t have any other friends at the beginning of this.

I personally don’t think that part of the story is accurate because Emily seems like a great person and throughout the story she is able to make friends so easily, so why did she start out the story without anyone else except Sloane as her friend. I would understand if Sloane was her best friend and they did everything, and Emily just had a couple other friends that she wasn’t very close to. I just don’t think that with a personality like Emily’s she wouldn’t have any friends.

Now this is just a small little tidbit about one thing that I would change, but it doesn’t take anything away from the story or the lesson that Matson wanted to share. I would recommend this book to anyone who literally has just had a friend that they were close to at one point, but not so much anymore. I would give this book a 9/10 because it is one of my favorites based off of the story and characters that blend so well together. If you would like to check out this book for yourself you can buy it here.