Save the Date Book Club Discussion: Part 1

       Over the summer, two of my friends and I thought it would be fun to start a book club together! We decided to read Save the Date by Morgan Matson together, and have been reading a chapter or two a night for the past week and a half. This weekend, we got together to eat lunch and discuss the first half of the book, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to get my IRL friends in on the book blogging fun!*

*Please note that this blog post is in a discussion format, and our answers may contain minor spoilers for the first half of Save the Date. 

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Save the Date by: Morgan Matson

       Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can 

​wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.
       The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.
       There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.
       There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.
       Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.
       Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.

Goodreads

Book Depository

Amazon

What is your current rating out of five stars?

@the_bookinsider: ​★★★★☆

@sidneywatsonn: ​★★★★☆

@jackiewatson_: ​★★★★☆

Who is your favorite sibling and why?

@the_bookinsider: Danny. His relationship with Charlie is so cute! I love that even though there is such a big age gap between them, they still get along really well. The story that Charlie told Brooke about the Coke bottle contest was so cute!

​@sidneywatsonn: JJ, because he is always cracking jokes. His joke about 98% of statistics being made up on the spot was definitely my favorite.

​@jackiewatson_: Charlie. I love being inside her head throughout the story. She is a great narrator.

Who is your favorite character not in Charlie’s immediate family and why?

@the_bookinsider: Rodney is the best! I think that he is the perfect match for Linnie, and I love that he fits right in with the family. He is so comfortable with the family, and it seems like he is already a part of the group.

​@sidneywatsonn: Rodney (although he basically is part of the family), there’s no question. I love how well he gets along with the family and how sweet he is to everyone. 

​@jackiewatson_: Bill is my favorite because I have a sense that he and Charlie will have something going on. I love all the small moments that they have together (like the decoration arguments and the night they stayed in the living room together).

Who is your least favorite character overall?

@the_bookinsider: Sarah Stevens, the newspaper delivery girl. I don’t know what her deal is, but she is really annoying.

​@sidneywatsonn: The Uncle, because he is always asking people for money. I don’t understand how the rest of the family tolerates him; he is so annoying.

​@jackiewatson_: Jesse is so sketchy. I get a feeling that he is using Charlie, especially when he made a comment about not wanting to talk about little kid things anymore. I am just not getting good vibes from him.

Who do you think is right: Mike or his mom? Why?

@the_bookinsider: I side with Mike in this situation. While I think he has blown the whole incident out of proportion, his mom shouldn’t have thrown him and his girlfriend under the bus. She had seen what happened when she put the street sign episode in the strip, so she knew what the consequences could be. It was definitely a costly decision on her part.

​@sidneywatsonn: ​Mike, for sure. He may have overreacted about the whole thing, but the mom shouldn’t have done that to him when it was clear he wanted to pretend it never happened.

​@jackiewatson_: Mike. I think it was absurd of her to put something personal like that in the strip, especially when he asked her not to.

Team Bill or Team Jesse?

@the_bookinsider: Bill. He is so sweet and classy whenever he talks to Charlie. It’s clear that he has feelings for her, but doesn’t want to impose. I love him!

​@sidneywatsonn: Bill. I think Charlie just likes the idea of Jesse because she has always had a thing for him, but Bill is very friendly to her.

​@jackiewatson_:
​Bill!!!!!! <3<3<3

What are your thoughts on having the Christmas Break scene as the prologue?

@the_bookinsider: I liked how it was both memorable and impactful. Morgan Matson jumped straight into the story, which is a perfect feeling for this book. It sucked me right in from the very beginning.

​@sidneywatsonn: It was exciting, mainly because of the introduction it gave to Charlie’s character. I think her actions in the central part of the story is a lot different than the way she acted in that first scene.

​@jackiewatson_: I thought it was a great beginning. I love reading books that jump straight to the action (😉) because it grabs my interest. 

Do you think Charlie will stick to her guns and go to Stanwich University, or do you think she’ll change her mind?

@the_bookinsider: I think that she will end up changing her mind, although I don’t know where she’ll end up. She’s kind of hard to read right now but is quick to defend her decision whenever anyone questions her.

​@sidneywatsonn: Nooooo, I would bet money that she goes to Northwestern for their journalism program.

​@jackiewatson_: Definitely not; she seems weirdly embarrassed and defensive about it whenever other people bring it up in conversation. 

What has been your favorite Grant Family activity up to this point in the story?

@the_bookinsider: CTF. I loved the descriptions the author used during that scene. It brought out a strong sense of comradery between the siblings.

​@sidneywatsonn: ​Capture the Flag, for sure. :)

​@jackiewatson_: The Capture the Flag game!!! That was so fun to read about.

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       Thank you to Jackie and Sidney for being good sports and joining in on the book blogging fun! If you have read Save the Date or are planning to, let us know in the comments so we can keep the discussion going!

Your three bookish amigos,
Ashton, Jackie, & Sidney

J.J. scoffed. But just as he’d done ever since he’d read this phrase when he was twelve, he said the word “scoff” instead of just making the sound, and none of us had been able to convince him this actually wasn’t correct.

― Morgan Matson, Save the Date