seriously romantic: the unexpected everything by morgan matson

at 500+ pages the unexpected everything is a "big" book. and i think the size intimidated me a bit because i had to borrow it twice from the library before i found the time to sit down and read it. but once i got caught up in the plot and with the characters i found myself breezing through the novel in just two marathon sessions.

the plot goes something like this, we meet alexandra "andie" walker on the day her father has to announce that he is taking a leave of absence from his congressional role due to allegations of misconduct. she and her father barely have a relationship, he's too busy avoiding anything that isn't work and she has her life carefully scripted to avoid getting close to people and any messy emotions. she has a group of friends she's known forever, and she's got plans to go to a pre-college program for students intending to major in pre-med. but with the scandal surrounding her father, her admission is revoked and suddenly she finds that she has to make a new plan.

here's the thing, the way this all goes down is super last minute and doesn't really make any sense. sure this had to happen to get the rest of the plot going, but i wish it had happened in a somewhat more believable manner. i mean, maybe people can revoke their letters of recommendation, but for the program to act so unilaterally seemed insane. especially since the revocation had nothing to do with andie the person and everything to do with her father's situation. that just seems like such a dick move from the recommendation letter revoker and the school. but like i said, this had to happen to keep andie in town.

so she ends up finding a job as a dog walker, which is so not what she wants to be doing. except she meets a cute guy named clark. and slowly she opens up to him. and as she opens up to him, she starts opening up to the other people in her life. and suddenly she's not in her bubble anymore. and this is a good thing. you really get to see andie grow as a person, and you get to see how her relationships expand and deepen as she lets herself be real with more people.

it's a wonderful story about friendship and family and surviving loss and first love. in the end, andie learns that sometimes it's okay to not have a plan, or at least it's okay to be open to amending the plan.

so this brings us to the end of ya week on my blog. that was fun!