Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Release Date: May 3rd 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback, 560 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

Andie has a plan. And she always sticks to her plan.

Future? A top-tier medical school.
Dad? Avoid him as much as possible (which isn’t that hard considering he’s a Congressman and he’s never around).
Friends? Palmer, Bri, and Toby—pretty much the most awesome people on the planet, who needs anyone else?
Relationships? No one’s worth more than three weeks.

So it’s no surprise that Andie has her summer all planned out too.

Until a political scandal costs Andie her summer pre-med internship, and lands both she and Dad back in the same house together for the first time in years. Suddenly she’s doing things that aren’t Andie at all—working as a dog walker, doing an epic scavenger hunt with her dad, and maybe, just maybe, letting the super cute Clark get closer than she expected. Palmer, Bri, and Toby tell her to embrace all the chaos, but can she really let go of her control?

This was a really fun read! A little on the long side, but still an absolute blast to make my way through. I regret not reading it during the summer since it’s a very summery book, but, living in Florida, you can’t really tell the difference anyway. It certainly made me want to go outside and do stuff, which was maybe not the best thing considering COVID is still a thing right now, but, hey. You can’t win them all.

I think my favorite things, outdoor summer vibes aside, were the characters. Naturally, there were a few of them I couldn’t stand (it’s a decent-sized cast of friends, so I was bound not to like at least one of them), but in general I really enjoyed the group of friends out main character Andie has, along with all her interactions with them. They were funny, fun, and just the right amount of chaotic for a book that happens to have a scavenger hunt plopped into it (maybe a little randomly, but it was still a ton of fun). My favorite character, though was, by far, Clark.

Clark? Was so relatable. Maybe not completely, because who the hell is a published author by 19? But the writer’s block, the awkwardness, the fact he was homeschooled for a time. I felt it. I related to it. Also, he’s nerdy as all hell, and it was a lot of fun watching him nerd out with the other friends who just happened to be total nerds themselves.

(Speaking of, bold move for a main book character to not read books. You’d think that would be kind of weird — why would the main character of a BOOK not read books? But it was refreshing, and it fit Andie’s personality perfectly, so I ended up really enjoying that aspect of her character. It was extra funny since her love interest is Clark, and he’s literally the youngest published author I’ve ever heard of. What a match of opposites! Totally cute as hell, though.)

It wasn’t a five-star read for me, though. A few factors went into this, such as length, unnecessary drama (though, they’re teenagers, so I guess that’s realistic), and Andie occasionally being flat out annoying. But the thing that really got me annoyed was a specific event towards the end of the book, regarding a certain set of characters, that I can’t talk about because it’s major spoilers. If you know, you know. I thought it was going to be something else, and I was so disappointed when it wasn’t! Because, with what it ended up being, it was so unnecessary! I hated it!

Okay, sorry, that’s vague as all hell, but I had to get that off my chest. Anyway.

I’m absolutely going to be picking up another of Matson’s books, even if they’re long as hell. I hear a lot of good things about Since You’ve Been Gone. I might just give it a go.

Thanks for reading!