Kat and Stevie need an adventure. Kat’s anxious after the theatre teacher postponed the casting of the school play. Stevie pretends everything is okay after he dad cancels her birthday dinner to work, but she’s secretly devastated.
Kat and Stevie head into New York City, lying to their parents that they are staying at their friend Teri’s house and not leaving suburban Connecticut. Since Stevie’s dad never cancelled the reservation at the fancy restaurant, the two girls expect to have an epic night.
Except, nothing goes as planned as soon as they enter Grand Central Station. Stevie runs into her step sister, who needs a favor. That one action spirals into a crazy night of losing phones, having no money, getting completely lost and meeting some interesting characters along the way.
Kat and Stevie, with their futures in front of them, learn a lot about themselves and the people they want to be in a one night crazy adventure through the Big Apple.
Like all of Matson’s YA books, we had so much fun reading Take Me Home Tonight. We’re a huge fan of her other books, The Unexpected Everything and Save the Date, so we couldn’t wait to read her latest.
One thing that stood out to us right away was how different Kat and Stevie’s personalities are, even though they are besties. I think it helped their character growth for the two of them to have a disagreement and to get separated in the city.
For Stevie, she needed to open up her eyes to new possibilities and let people into her life. Her journey takes her (and a cute puppy named Brad) through Central Park, Columbia University and all across Midtown. She also makes a few unexpected friends along the way.
Kat had to learn not to be so controlling and be able to have fun, let loose and be open to an unexpected romance. We loved the chemistry Kat had with a guy she can’t stop running into in a city of over 8 million people.
The night that consisted of a crazy amount of comedy of errors made the two friends even stronger in the end and we appreciated how much Matson put into their stories. Also, we loved the NYC setting, which felt different from any other book we read set in the city. Matson took time to describe the different neighborhoods and we could tell how familiar she was with each location.
Take Me Home Tonight had a great ending that left us satisfied. Something about unsupervised teens in a big city made the adventure that much more fun.
The only parts we had trouble with were the mini-chapters that featured Teri. They were so bizarre and unrealistic that it distracted for the rest of the story.
Overall, pick up Take Me Home Tonight when it releases on May 4, 2021 if you’re in the mood for a YA contemporary that’s both heartwarming and hilarious.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm All Booked Up - a young adult book blog 
This is a great post!
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Thank you!
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This sounds like a fun book & I like that the characters grew during their experience in New York City.
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It was so much fun to read and we enjoyed the character development.
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Heartwarming and hilarious makes this a must read for me! I appreciate the point on running into the same person in a city of over 8 million, but that is all part of the charm and learning curve. 🙃
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We hope you give this a read!
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I usually like books in multiple pov so this may be a good one to try. Thanks so much!
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We hope you read it 🙂
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This book sounds amazing. I love the sound the characters and the plot. I cannot wait until this book comes out.
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We hope you like it!
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Thank you so much for sharing this! Awesome as always!
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Thank you!
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This sounds like such a fun read! I love books set in New York ! Thanks for sharing your great review!
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Thank you!!
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I never read anything from Matson, but this sounds like a fun read just up my alley and what is not to love when it’s set in new York! Thank you for sharing x
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Thank you! The setting is really great for the book.
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What a glowing review, this sounds like a great read. I haven’t actually heard of Matson before but sounds like she needs to be on my radar. Thanks for the recommendation!
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She does! Her contemporaries are always hilarious and she does excellent character development.
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Ohh, I totally didn’t know Morgan Matson had a new book coming out! HYPE! Great review, and I guess if I get this book I will be skipping those Teri parts. Haha. XD
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A lot of other reviews had the same thoughts on Teri. It honestly just distracted us from the story. We hope you like it. 🙂
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I am loving all these books that are a tribute to oldies music “Carry On”, “Wayward Son” by Rainbow Rowell. I just finished “You Can Go Your Own Way” by Eric Smith. Like I’ll pick it up and read it just from the title every time!
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The title hooked us right away too!
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Also, this book sounds like it has an “Adventures in Babysitting” the original vibe
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It does a bit.
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