Ok, so this is confusing. 
 I thought I'd like this book, so I bought it. Then in the meantime, I read The Unexpected Everything and was a little bit disappointed but well...I still bought Since You've Been Gone to complete my Morgan Matson collection. 
 Anyway, I go away for a week, find it in the mail box and decide to read it. At that point I was half-expecting to be disappointed again, and was actually worried after reading a few pages. 
 I go for contemporary romances for what they are, and I love them for it. Yet, there is so many times you can read about "cliche-to-do-lists" missions. And it's pretty much hit or miss. You find the same tropes and characters. The "artsy family", "the stuck up parents", "cute little sibling", "awesome and mysterious best friend/sister/whoever", the "serious and goofy buddy-bros", etc... and really, you have everything in this book. Hence my initial worries. 
 But BEHOLD MY FRIENDS, many authors, and that's why I said I love those books, can give life to a perfectly "normal" story, and I thing that's what M. Matson did here (and missed a little bit for me with the Unexpected Everything). I found myself taken up with the characters and their newly found summer routines and loved how they came together. 
 I don't think I ever did a "what-I-loved/didn't* kind of review so here it is. 
 What I loved: 
 -no drama. Sure, there is some more "serious" moments but really it IS nice to read stories about people that don't suffer life-changing tragedies or such and that still have something to them. They're not boring. They're alive (well, fictionally speaking ;) and I love them. 
 And I found myself expecting some things that didn't come and I was glad to be wrong ahah 
 -how the characters got "together" as a group of friends. It's really a book about friendship, way way far before anything else. About mysteriously-lost Sloane and Emily, and Frank, and Dawn and Collins. 
 -Emily. I think she's a good MC, who's learned to be herself and while the "tasks" can seem little and tame for some, I think she did really well and lots of it on her own. You don't need grand gestures and I know from experience that some things, little as they seem, can be difficult to overcome. Confidence doesn't come that easy for many people. 
 And in any case, I don't need my characters to jump buildings and swallow fire to be interesting. 
 The list was just a way to open up and built the story and I think it was smoothly done. 
 -the cover 
 - The Playlists. I'm bad at knowing what to listen to and always welcome new songs. I remember trying to put together A&R's Epic Detour playlists and I was missing a few songs. I need to see if I can do better here with Em and Frank's titles. 
 -Also, it was really cute. GIMME ALL THE CUTE 
 What I didn't love: 
 -among the tropes I cited, the "artsy" parents with not much supervision felt the most annoying and unecessary since we didn't see much of them. Sure, they're quirky and sounds nice but they didn't bring anything and paid no attention to anything accept themselves so... 
 I mean, I appreciate that they were not completely absent, I probably would have complained too in that case, and yet, why bother with them at the same time. Yes, quirky parents stuff. But well, this is a summer story so I can let it slide. 
 -as I thought it was a book about friendship, I felt let down with the quite quick ending. We got Sloane's story resolved but somehow Dawn and Collins dropped off the face of the book, in a total 360* flip. 
 Sure they were secondary characters but I felt the book concluded with a love story (which I absolutely supported, they go well together), which is fine it itself but left me wanting more, especially with the way it awkwardly "ended" between Emily with both Dawn and Collins. 
 I mean, I'm sure they'll get past the big misunderstanding, I just wish I got to read it. I don't care if it would have been corny. Gimme a group of friend forever pact or something! 
 Anyway, I LOVED THIS BOOK SO WHO CARES. 
 4 stars, book. Well done.