The Night We Said Yes - Lauren Gibaldi

Goodreads summary:

A fun, romantic read, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Susane Colasanti!

Before Matt, Ella had a plan. Get over a no-good ex-boyfriend. Graduate from high school without any more distractions. Move away from Orlando, Florida, where she’s lived her entire life. 

But Matt—the cute, shy, bespectacled bass player who just moved to town—was never part of that plan.

And neither was attending a party that was crashed by the cops just minutes after they arrived. Or spending an entire night saying “yes” to every crazy, fun thing they could think of.

Then Matt abruptly left town, and he broke not only Ella’s heart but those of their best friends, too. So when he shows up a year later with a plan of his own—to relive the night that brought them together—Ella isn’t sure whether Matt’s worth a second chance. Or if re-creating the past can help them create a different future. 

In alternating then and now chapters, debut author Lauren Gibaldi crafts a charming, romantic story of first loves, lifelong friendships, uncovered secrets, and, ultimately, finding out how to be brave.


My review:

4/5

HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I love the entire concept of this book, saying yes. As a predictable person who has a hard time getting out of her comfort zone, I basically need someone to push me like that to make me enjoy life fully. In general, I think most of us, especially readers, since we tend to be more reserved, should say yes more often, to smaller and bigger things. It's the reason why I reached for this book in the first place, because it reminded me of what I should be doing. 

I really liked the "Then" and "Now" chapters, since the past is as, or sometimes even more, interesting as the present. Matt and Ella's love story is a beautiful one, at least at first. I loved how confident she felt with him and how she could trust him so much without even knowing him. Being so similar to Ella, I was really happy to see that someone could make her feel this way. Matt's character is really intriguing and I absolutely loved his passion for notes and pictures left behind. Even without knowing someone like him, I felt like I could understand his character really well and I immediately liked him, maybe a little bit too much, actually. 

Liking Matt so much made me see the whole "Now" story as repetitive and overly complicated. I was biased, obviously, because I immediately forgave him and I thought Ella was a bit too dramatic. I could understand where she was coming from, but I mostly understood Matt's attitude, even if I wouldn't have acted the way he did. The only reason why I didn't like this story as much as I thought I would was simply because I couldn't really see the point of arguing and hesitating when it was so obvious to me that Ella and Matt would get back together and I just wanted to see it happen. 

I would recommend this book to everyone, even to those who aren't fans of dramatic love stories, because I like what the story tells us. Confidence and self-esteem are an important part of this book and it leaves us with a great moral.