Oh hell yes. This is everything I could have asked for and more in a contemporary book. I have been wanting to read this book for over a year now and for some reason I never got around to it. This book has one of the most GORGEOUS covers I have ever seen, the typography is beautiful, and the dust jacket even has a picture underneath it and omg, it's freaking gorgeous to look at. My favorite thing in the world is when a beautiful ass looking book has an even better beautiful ass story inside of it. I love a good story about friendship, and love, and discovering who you are. This is a beautiful coming of age story. I strongly recommend this to people who are the less-outgoing type of person in their group of friends. Or people who consider themselves shy and quiet. I feel those kind of people will relate to this the most, as I did.

Emily is one of the most relatable characters I've ever read about. I don't think I've related to a character as much since Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Sure, Emily is a little immature at times, but I totally get where she is coming from and she wears her heart on her sleeve. Emily and Sloane's friendship is amazing. It kind of hit me at home because it reminded me soooo much of this friendship I had with this girl in high school. She was so outgoing and popular and more spontaneous than I was and I envied her and wanted to be more like her at the same time, in the same way Emily sees Sloane. I completely understood what Emily meant when she said she "feared that someday Sloane would get bored of her or realize she's not as fun as she thought and go find someone who will be more adventurous with her" because I had those same exact fears with all of my relationships. I still do.

I love the idea that Sloane left behind a list of things for Emily to do that scared her, or at least pushed her out of her comfort zone. Sloane knew that Emily would be devastated without her, so she left her a list of things that would help Emily discover who she is as her own person, and I think that's amazing. I love how through the process of Emily trying to complete all these tasks, not only did she face her fears, but she unknowingly matured and really lived. I just love that. All these experiences will be some of the best memories she has, all thanks to Sloane. There's that saying that I really believe is true: "You don't know who you are until you lose who you are." and I think that applies here. Emily had to lose what she thought was her better half, Sloane, to discover who she really is and what she's capable of. I just love a good coming of age story if you couldn't tell.

"This felt like the way you get nervous right before something exciting happens- the moment you're balanced on the top of the roller coaster, the hush before the surprise, the second after the diving board but before the water, when you can close your eyes and imagine, for just a second, that you're flying. The feeling that good things were coming, almost here, any moment now."

Also, the romance. I adored Emily and Frank's interactions. It was so cute to see Emily come out of her shell around him and really open up. For so long Emily had experienced what it was like to be the 3rd wheel, and now it was finally her turn to be in the spotlight and left alone with someone of the opposite sex. One thing Emily said that I found so freaking relatable was: "If there had been three of us, I would have been able to sit quietly, happily, joining in with laughter, feeling part of it, comfortable enough to jump in with a comment or an aside, but knowing the weight of the interaction wasn't on me." Honestly, that is so completely relatable to me that it's insane and I didn't think anyone else really thought about that like I do. I find myself so nervous when I'm left alone with someone I don't know all that well for fear of running out of things to talk about and Emily experiences the same fears. It would be so much easier if Sloane were there to help with conversation and I'm the same way. I would want my sister or my best friend to be there and carry most of he conversation.

I will admit I didn't like Collins in the beginning, but he definitely grew on me as a character. He had some hilarious lines in this book. Also, I loved how whenever Emily and Frank went on runs they would listen to each other's iPods. It was just so cute. I love how Morgan Matson included the playlists in the book and I knew so many of the songs! It was exciting and she has really great taste in music! (Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Of Monsters And Men, The Cure, Young The Giant, Imagine Dragons, Florida Georgia Line, The Band Perry; I love all of those artists!) I love Frank and Collins obsession with The Beatles and how they were constantly debating over who was a bigger fan. I freaking love The Beatles. I loved Emily's spontaneous friendship with Dawn and how everything unfolded. I also loved Frank and Emilys obsession with the saying "In a well-ordered universe" and then reciting all these awesome things that they wish to be true. This book was just loads of fun to watch as Emily attempted to compete all these crazy tasks and even though this book is 450+ pages it flew by so fast because I got so invested in these characters and grew to love each and every one of them. I don't know what took me so long to read this book. I don't even care though because it was well worth the wait. I now realize I have been writing this review for over 30 minutes and I should stop now but I just LOVED this book.

So, the ending of this book didn't really surprise me. I had assumed that Sloane had moved away, I just couldn't wrap my head around why.. The ending kind of broke my heart and made me cry like a bitch. It was hard to read because I am moving this summer to a different state and I am leaving behind some close friends of mine so it literally hit home. When Emily and Sloane are talking about how they plan to stay in touch by being pen pals and sending each other lists and phone calls, and how no matter how many miles separated them nothing could change their friendship, that shit hit me hard because that's all the shit I'm going through right now. So it's safe to say I have a personal attachment to this book and it has helped me get through some shit I'm currently going through.

Also, my favorite scenes were when they did the indoor camping and Frank and Emily had to share a tent cause she forgot her pillow. I also loved when they "crashed the wedding" and she ended up literally dancing until dawn. I love the scene when they all went skinny dipping and Collins took all of their towels, I was dying of laughter. But most of all that last scene with her and Sloane finally seeing each other again. It was so great. And then how Emily left Sloane a list to do. That was adorable. And at the very end when Frank said "In a well-ordered universe, I'd be able to do this" and he kisses her. I was squealing because that was their thing and it made me all giddy inside. SO CUTE. If I had one complaint about the ending, it would be that I wanted a little more conclusion as to how things turned out with Collins and Dawn. Did they forgive her? Cause Dawn was pretty pissed in the last scene we saw her in and I love her friendship with Emily, so some conclusion there would have been nice. But other than that it was a damn perfect ending.

Sorry that this review is nearly as long as this novel but I just needed to express MY FEELS.