The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Title: The Unexpected Everything

Author: Morgan Matson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Andie had it all planned out.

When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future.

Important internship? Check.

Amazing friends? Check.

Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks)

But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life.

Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected.

And where’s the fun in that?

There only thing I love more than finding out about a new Morgan Matson book is getting to read a new Morgan Matson book. It feels like I had been waiting to read The Unexpected Everything for forever. And now that I’ve read it, I can say it was everything I expected and so much more.

Andie had a plan for her summer. One that involved spending her summer at John Hopkins in one of the best programs for future premed students to build up her resumé. But that was before a scandal rocked her father’s political career and changed everything. Now, Andie can look forward to a spending her summer at home with the father she hasn’t had a relationship with in five years. But maybe not having any plans is just what Andie needs. If her summer had gone according to plan, Andie wouldn’t have ever realized everything she was missing by sticking to the plan. Because sometimes, the best parts of life are the ones you never planned on.

Morgan Matson is one of my all-time favourite authors, there is no doubt about it. There is nothing I love more than picking up one of her books and immersing myself in the world she created for a few hours. And when I’m done, I can’t help but be sad that I won’t get to that again for quite some time. Sure, I can reread books, but it’s never the same as reading them for the first time. When I picked up Morgan Matson’s latest release, The Unexpected Everything, I wanted to take my time, to really savour the story and the time I would spend in this story with these characters. And I loved every single page of it. Morgan Matson is a master at writing contemporary stories that just suck the reader in. I got so wrapped up in this story, in all the relationships and the way they were connected and woven together. And all those complex relationship is what made this story so fantastic. I loved seeing all those relationships. The friendship between Andie and her three best friends Bri, Toby and Palmer made me wish for a group of friends who have known me for my whole life. Andie’s relationship with her father, seeing them reconnect after years of just sharing the same space, made me miss my own father even though I talk to him on a weekly basis. And Annie’s relationship with Clark just made me so stupidly happy. The reason I completely bought into all of these relationships? The characters all felt so incredibly real.

There was never a time while I was reading that all the characters in The Unexpected Everything didn’t really like real people. In fact there were plenty of times while I was reading that I desperately wanted to be a part of the group of friends I was reading out. I wanted to be friends with Andie, Tobi, Bri and Palmer, and by extension Tom, Clark and Wyatt. I wanted to participate in Palmer’s crazy scavenger hunt, I wanted to have Bri sneak me in to not-so-great movies, I wanted  Toby to guide me through the museum, and I wanted to walk dogs with Andie. I loved all four of these girls, but most of all I loved Andie. I loved seeing Andie’s personal growth over the course of the story, seeing her go from following a plan she felt she had to follow to someone who was doing things for herself. It wasn’t always easy for her to let go of her plans and there were definitely some bumps along the way. And as much as I loved who Andie was at the start of the story, I loved who she was even more by the time I reached the end. Also Clark. Clark is quite possibly my new favourite book boy ever. I can’t even handle how freaking adorable Clark was. If he and Andie weren’t so great together, I would totally want him for myself. 

Morgan Matson’s The Unexpected Everything was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. There wasn’t a single moment of this story that I didn’t love. Also, if I could maybe have a book about each of Andie’s best friends, that would be awesome.