Title: The Unexpected Everything
Author: Morgan Matson
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 528
Source: ARC provided by Simon & Schuster Canada
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Overall: 5 STARS

SUMMARY

From Morgan Matson, the bestselling author of Since You’ve Been Gone comes a feel-good story of friendship, finding yourself, and all the joys in life that happen while you’re busy making other plans.

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’s got 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? 

MY THOUGHTS 
The Unexpected Everything was actually my very first time reading a Morgan Matson book. I know! How could this be? You'd think since she's one of my sister's absolute favourite YA authors, I would totally be on top of this, so it's kind of unfathomable that it's taken me all this time to read one of her books. And now I totally regret it. Because reading The Unexpected Everything made me realize just how much I was seriously missing out!

When her father's political scandal derails Andie's prestigious internship at Johns Hopkins, suddenly all her carefully laid out plans are falling apart. Ever since Andie's mother passed away several years ago, Congressman Walker has been more concerned about his work than his teenage daughter. And now they'll be forced to be in the same house all summer. Andie has long grown used to his absence in her life, and the perfect image she must maintain for the sake of their family's reputation, but now there's just an uncomfortable silence between them. They've become two strangers in the same home, and Andie doesn't know how to fix it. 

A life under the media's spotlight may have taught Andie to be wary of outsiders, but with her three best friends, she can drop her guard. Palmer, Bri, Toby, and Andie are an inseparable squad, always only a quick group text chat away. They're the only people Andie has ever felt she can say anything and trust she'll never be judged. A summer at home means more time with the girls, but Andie needs more than that to stop feeling restless—she needs a job. Working as a dog walker and meeting the super cute Clark were never in Andie's plans, but it might just be the unexpected everything her life needed.

Heartfelt, funny, and just so adorably awkward at times, Morgan Matson's The Unexpected Everything is truly a perfect summer read! The emoji conversations, dog walks with playful Bertie, every moment with geeky Clark—there's just so much to endearingly love about this book and its genuine characters. It's an unforgettable summer filled with fresh possibilities, mending complex family relationships, and the inevitable change that signals you're growing up. Friendship, romance, and delicious ice cream, you'll find it all in Morgan Matson's incredibly addictive The Unexpected Everything. You need to move this book to the top of your TBR. Right. Now. 
 


Summer is my all-time FAVORITE season. I always wish it was about a month longer. Though I suppose the fact that it is shorter is what makes it seem that much more special and magical!

Every summer there are a few must do things I have to make sure happen. If I miss one, it just doesn’t feel like summer.

One of my favorite things about summer is traveling somewhere. It can be across the world or just upstate – but every summer, I like to take a trip somewhere. I like going out of my comfort zone, discover a new place, and maybe have an adventure.

It’s not summer until I get my feet in a lake or ocean, and get some sand between my toes. I’ve been lucky the past two summers to get to spend time in a beach house in Orange County, California. There’s just something about being in your bathing suit all day, long walks along the beach, finding sea glass, getting flip flop tan lines. At least once a summer, I like to spend time by the beach. It’s not summer without it!

My favorite kind of outdoor movie to see is at the drive-in, but I can’t always get to one every summer. But as long as I can see a movie outside, I’m happy. There’s a place in California where I live where you can pack a picnic and hang out with friends before the actual film starts. There’s just something so magical and summery about watching a movie as the sun goes down – with stars both above you and up on the screen.

All in caps because it’s the MOST IMPORTANT. I never want to look back in February and know that there was a time that I could have had ice cream in the heat of July and chose not to. I schedule ice cream dates with friends, and plan my schedule around ice cream/ shave ice/ froyo/ gelato runs. No ice cream regrets, that’s my summer motto.

It doesn’t have to be anything too crazy – but I feel like every summer, I need to have something where I can look back and point to it, as that awesome thing that happened that summer. It can be a road trip, or a concert with friends, or anything that’s going to be the summer memory you think about when it’s cold and dark in January. A little bit of sunshine to carry you through the winter months! 

• Siobhan Vivian's The Last Boy and Girl in the World (plus a signed bookplate and collector pin!)
• Morgan Matson's The Unexpected Everything (plus the exclusive T-shirt!)
• Meg Leder's The Museum of Heartbreak

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