BLOG TOUR - TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT BY MORGAN MATSON - YA FICTION [REVIEW + GIVEAWAY]

Title: Take Me Home Tonight

Authors(s): Morgan Matson
Publication Date: May 4, 2021
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook; 416 pgs
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Kindle - Audible - 

iBooks - Kobo - The Book Depository - 

Bookshop.org - Barnes & Noble

Disclaimer: I received a copy from the publisher as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tour Schedule

Week One

4/26/2021 - For the Love of KidLit - Excerpt

4/27/2021 - PopTheButterfly - Review

4/28/2021 - The Book Nut : A Book Lovers Guide - Review

4/29/2021 - Do You Dog-ear? - Review

4/30/2021 - Book-Keeping - Review

5/1/2021 - Kait Plus Books - Review

Week Two

5/2/2021 - Eli to the nth - Review

5/3/2021 - BookInNeverland - Review

5/4/2021 - Fictitiouswonderland - Review

5/5/2021 - Emelie's Books - Review

5/6/2021 - onemused - Review

5/7/2021 - What A Nerd Girl Says - Review

5/8/2021 - Not In Jersey - Review

Week Three

5/9/2021 - Fire and Ice - Review

5/10/2021 - Moonlight Rendezvous - Review

5/11/2021 - booksaremagictoo - Review

5/12/2021 - Feed Your Fiction Addiction - Review

5/13/2021 - BookHounds YA - Spotlight

5/14/2021 - Midnightbooklover - Review

5/15/2021 - I'm Shelfish - Review

Week Four

5/16/2021 - Book Briefs - Review

5/17/2021 - Dazzled by Books - Review

5/18/2021 - A Dream Within A Dream - Review

5/19/2021 - Books and Zebras  - Review

5/20/2021 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers - Review

5/21/2021 - fictitious.fox - Review

The Summary

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist in this romp through the city that never sleeps from the New York Times bestselling author of Since You’ve Been Gone.

Kat and Stevie—best friends, theater kids, polar opposites—have snuck away from the suburbs to spend a night in New York City. They have it all planned out. They’ll see a play, eat at the city’s hottest restaurant, and have the best. Night. Ever. What could go wrong?

Well. Kind of a lot?

They’re barely off the train before they’re dealing with destroyed phones, family drama, and unexpected Pomeranians. Over the next few hours, they’ll have to grapple with old flames, terrible theater, and unhelpful cab drivers. But there are also cute boys to kiss, parties to crash, dry cleaning to deliver (don’t ask), and the world’s best museum to explore.

Over the course of a wild night in the city that never sleeps, both Kat and Stevie will get a wake-up call about their friendship, their choices…and finally discover what they really want for their future.

That is, assuming they can make it to Grand Central before the clock strikes midnight.

(Goodreads)

My Review

This book was so great! I have read a lot of contemporaries, but every time I pick up a Morgan Matson book, I am never disappointed, and Take Me Home Tonight is no exception!  It had everything: humor, romance, hijinks, drama, and crime.  Sucks you right in, and keeps it coming until the end!

The book starts off normal enough, with two friends, Stevie and Kat, awaiting the casting announcement for their Fall play, King Lear.  But, alas, the norm is disrupted when their Theater teacher says he "needs more time" on it.  This sends panic through the group, but none more than Kat, who has played up this role as the most important thing for her Senior year.  And of course, she expects her best friend, Stevie, to feel the same.  But Stevie doesn't, and is focused on her own drama in the form of her Dad canceling on her for her 18th birthday dinner.  

Typical high school drama, and Matson could've just kept it that way.  But nope, Kat and Stevie are off to magical New York City (being from Connecticut) to try and salvage both Stevie's birthday night and (secretly) Kat's chances at her "once-in-a-senior-year" role.  
What could go wrong?

Matson focuses on the relationship between Stevie and Kat in such a realistic and beautiful way.  My best friends in high school were my everything, and that is what Kat and Stevie have, as well.  But growing up sometimes means growing apart, and the girls realize this in a very inconvenient, stuck in NYC kind of way.  They have to fall apart to come back together, and the events that plague the girls (some good, some bad, and some outrageous) all add up to develop a deeper friendship than they had before.

The supporting cast in this book is a delight, and if you're a Matson fan, you will see some returning characters from her previous books, so keep a sharp eye out for that.  Within these supporting roles, both Kat and Stevie have some really great friends and family, and Matson takes the opportunity to explore, albeit lightly, how love works romantically and familiarly.  But the love one has for their friends is the overarching focus, and each encounter leads, in a way, to Kat and Stevie's relationship.

Now, all that makes this book sound very serious, and it is in some parts, but this is a plot filled with crazy, the kind that you always read about happening in NYC, but even more crazy (at least to me) then I think actually happens.  I loved it though; I think that the over-the-top escapades helped highlight the realistic, more grounded instances within the book.  Also, they were just so fun to read about.  And live yourself (I can't be the only person who dreams of the fantasy of NYC, no?).

Fast-paced, twisty, and turney - Kat and Stevie's adventure through one New York night will keep you entertained and glued to the page (oh and their friend Teri has some very crazy stuff happen to her that takes place simultaneously - all I'm going to say).  Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson is a real winner, and might just be one of my favorite of her books so far.  Pick up your copy wherever books are sold on May 4, 2021!

Final Rating

Except

About the Author

Morgan Matson is a New York Times bestselling author. She received her MFA in writing for children from the New School and was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start author for her first book, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, which was also recognized as an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. Her second book, Second Chance Summer, won the California State Book Award. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her at MorganMatson.com.

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Giveaway

4 winners will receive a finished copy of TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT, US Only.

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