The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The perfect book to kick off the summer reading season, The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson is filled with emotional depth and heart, as well as humor, romance, and endearing characters.

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?

This is a book that really packs a punch. Rich with so many layers, there’s a lot of really wonderful things to take in. The Unexpected Everything tackles family drama, friendships, romance, and a really wonderful story arc for its main character. Andie shows incredible growth over the course of the book, and that’s one of the things I loved most: seeing how she matures and changes.

Part of what makes her growth and development as a character so successful is the fact that Matson has also filled her life with so much, making it feel genuine. She doesn’t just have one problem to grapple with; she has many. And don’t we all? In life, nothing is tied up in a neat little package — and Matson captures that messiness of real life so perfectly here. We see Andie work on repairing her relationship with her father. We see her struggle with new and changing dynamics in her longtime friendships. We see her develop an insanely sweet romance, with emotional depth unlike any of her previous relationships. We see her accept a new view of herself and what she wants out of life. We see her take on new challenges and flounder as she makes mistakes and suffers the consequences.

And yes, the love story in The Unexpected Everything is to die for; it’s sweet and funny and toe-curl-inducing! But it’s only one facet of a really fantastic book. In so many ways, Matson lives up to her book’s title: The Unexpected Everything. Because this book really is about one young woman’s everything — everything in her life becomes a part of this story. It’s messy and beautiful and hard and so, so rewarding.

I loved getting to live inside Andie’s world for these 500-some pages, and I’d gladly do it all over again. Look for The Unexpected Everything in stores May 3rd.