Flat-Out-Matt by Jessica Park

Matty, Matty, Matty…..what have you done to me!! I thought I loved Matt after Flat Out Love, who knew I could love him even more after reading pretty much the same thing just from his POV.

Some readers will call this a choppy companion to Flat Out Love….NOT ME! That is what I loved about this book. We didn’t have to re-read the entire story from Matt’s POV, just the main points….and the extra stuff….that just made the story whole.

I should learn to never doubt Jessica Park for what she can do. I was worried at first to read FOM. I knew I HAD to (really, it was a life or death situation), but I was just like…what if this ruins FOL for me. What if it changes my opinions on Jessica Park’s writing and my love for Matt all together!? (Ahhh the horror!!!!) But, like I said. I should learn to never doubt Jessica, she hasn’t failed me yet, and she didn’t disappoint with FOM.

From Matt’s POV I understood more on why they kept Julie in the dark for so long. I understood the unstableness of his family and why Celeste was the center of Matt’s attention. We also got a look at Finn in the beginning. The real Finn, not Flat Finn. That rounded the story out even more for me. A more in depth look at Matt’s family, it just really made me connect even more with the characters.

In FOM we also get to see what happened on Matt’s date with Julie’s friend (this was funny!) and when his feelings for Julie started, the desperate need he had to be close to her when he knew he couldn’t. I wanted to cry for him so many times. Julie was in love with Finn, when Finn was really Matt—yet Finn got all of the credit and Matt got the shit end of the stick. When Julie left Matt in the end, I broke into a million pieces again. But when she came back…..now that was worth the million pieces. To feel what Matt felt, the happiness, the urge…I just loved it so.

If you loved Flat Out Love, I highly recommend Flat Out Matt. Some readers won’t like it because they will feel like pieces are missing and choppy. But if you are familiar with the story of FOL, you should have no problems following along with the jumps in time. At least the book doesn’t go back and forth and back and forth. It is all forward and simply wonderful! 4.5 stars!