Unexpected Everything

by Morgan Matson

[liz089]

Read more about this review and others on my blog Freyja Eats Books

REVIEW.
So this is a standalone from Morgan Matson, an author I heard a lot about, but never have read anything about ! I’ve been meaning to grab one and read, but until now it just never happened. This one has been trending a lot, but because of the +500 pages I was kind of scared to start on it.
Because honestly? Most contemporary (romances) around that amount of pages gets dull after a while. I recently read The Problem with Forever and I was incredibly disappointed.. for such a big and trending book, it was definitely not worth it on hindsight.
But, because that one wasn’t for me, does not mean that I should not try again ! I’ve heard so many good stories about Morgan Matson’s romances, that my curiosity won out in the end.

And I’m glad I did choose to read it, because I ended up very pleased with this book, despite its length.

So this story is about Andy, a big control freak who has always been watched. Because of her father’s job she is always in the picture and needs to watch out what she does; everything can be harmful for her father’s career. She needs to be picture perfect. But when her father gets an unexpected break from his job things change last minute, her summer job gets cancelled and suddenly she finds herself at home with her father, who she hasn’t really seen or interacted with in 5 years.
She ends up finding a job as a dog walker and meets a cute guy along the way. But (mainly because of her father and their life) she hasn’t really been capable to keep a relationship. She has her walls up and when Clark starts to break them away she doesn’t know what to do anymore. Chaos has never been part of her life, and she has to accept the change and live with it to be happy.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Even though it was clear from the beginning who would end up with who, it did have some surprising elements in it that kept me hooked. She wrote so easily that I just flew through the pages and was finished before I knew what happened.

I liked the romance, it was cute and fluffy, and even though they did have some issues to work out before they could really be together, it all made sense and well… I LOVED the ending. It was movie worthy, an epic romantic ending that made me smile.

What I also really loved was the relationship between Andie and her father. How they realised that they weren’t a family anymore and both tried to change that. It added something extra to the story, to not only see her develop her relationship with the boy she likes, but how she and her father become a family again.

This just makes me realise that it is so well-rounded. She improves on every surface, with her romance, with her family, but also with her friends. We get to know them better as well, and learn from their mistakes too.

I also really liked the main character, she is not at all like me, I’m all for chaos haha, but I still related to her and felt along with her throughout the story. She really learned a lot over the summer and became a better person. I really miss this with a lot of romance books, but in this one there was a lot of character development.

And not just for the main character, but for the others too. Her father for example, and her friends. Like Toby and Bri, how they have been best friends forever, and how that made them kind of TOO close. That they needed some distance to get to know themselves as persons, what they like for themselves and not together.

The only downside? Once again this was just a little too long. Yes it needs time for the characters to develop and build relationships.. but 528 pages ? It is just too long and had some duller sections that she could have left out. The plus side though that I did not start skimming, and she did keep me interested enough to read every word.

FINAL THOUGHTS.
This is not a deep, hurtful book, but still it has a lot of emotions that made me all happy and fluffy towards the ending. It is just such a well-rounded book that hits every point. I would totally recommend reading this book, if you have the time to get through the 500+ pages, it was a great, romantic read with a lot of stuff on the side. I loved it, 4 Freyja’s !