One Day in December

It is one of the books where you know exactly what the ending will be, right from the beginning. But I would not call it a shallow romance either. The story line is simple and straight forward. But the author takes time to describe the situations and feelings that a lot of us have experienced in our 20s - such as balancing your new career and relationship, choosing between 'settling ' for a current relationship or moving on, in hope of the perfect one. I felt pretty nostalgic while reading it. I would actually recommend it for teens or people in their early 20s. Maybe someone will feel better knowing that others go through the same struggles too.

I love enjoyable romance books, I really do. Emphasis on enjoyable. Sadly for me this book didn't quite do it. There were cute parts, sure, but overall the pacing and plot just did not keep my attention. I can't point to anything in particular, so maybe someone would disagree with me (books are subjective, after all), but I just found this one to be quite boring.

It's not a horrible book but there's a lot that was unlogical and quite cringe-worthy. Like it's very unrealistic to see someone through a bus window for a few seconds and then be hung up on them. To the point that you can't even move on when your best friend starts dating him.
The characters were kinda bleak. Especially Laurie and Jack. Laurie spent most of the book being a horrible friend and gave off major pick-me vibes. And Jack was a mediocre guy that treated his girlfriend badly and kept stringing her best friend along. I was actually rooting for Oscar and Laurie to work out although he really deserved better than her. I'm glad that Sarah got her happy ending though.

If you hate insta-love, this book is definitely not for you. If you love insta-love, I am sure that you will very much enjoy how the characters must navigate their love at first sight when, one year later, the man is introduced to the woman as her best friend's boyfriend. I do think it is a little dramatic for a character to be somewhat crippled in the dating realm for an entire year simply because they made eye contact one time with someone.

I was intrigued by the story based on the synopsis. I was curious about how everyone's relationships would play out in the end because of how much just making eye contact with Jack took a toll on Laurie.

But Jack's character is extremely unlikable. He is rude a lot of the time, especially when Laurie is dating other people. He has no right to be so rude to her and to others because she is dating someone else. He literally dates her best friend for years and won't break up with her even though he clearly likes Laurie a lot. The love interest should at least be a likable person. I think his only redeeming quality is that he's handsome, but that only goes so far.

Story is also pretty slow. It spans a lot of years, but not a lot seems to happen in all those years.
I will say I actually read about 60% of the book and skimmed the rest, so take all my comments as you will.

This WOULD have been a 4 star read for me if it wasn't for the fact that it romanticized cheating. Like seriously? It is possible to have a love triangle without having them straight up cheat. Other than that, I loved the multiple missed chances trope and the fact that it spanned over many years. Also, I always love books told from multiple perspectives.

This was a great story about the lives of Laurie, Sarah and Jack and people they meet along the way. If Laurie had of told Sarah straight away who Jack was, there would have been no story. I was so gutted when Laurie and Sarah who had been best friends forever had that awful fight! I am glad everything worked out in the end. I did get a lump in my throat at the end.

I wanted to read this book before it even came out, because reading the synopsis was right up my alley. However, I watched some vlogs and read reviews online that led me to believe it wasn't going to be as good as I was hoping it would be so I passed on it. Now I'm kicking myself for waiting almost a whole year on it! I should have trusted Reese! I almost always like her picks and this book was no exception. This was such a romantic love story and it had me crying, laughing, and pacing as I read it! It was painful in parts and to watch the pure emotion unfold was tormenting to read, yes, but that's what made it so good! Josie Silver did such a great job on this, her very first book. I'm a new fan! This will make an incredible movie or mini-series. I fell in love with the main characters in this book and I was so hooked on their story that I read this book every hour I wasn't sleeping or working the past 2 days. Now that I'm done, I miss these characters. I really would like to see a part 2 to the story.

  December 26, 2020 I finished this book over one day on Christmas for the ultimate meta experience.

This book had potential.. but man it was a chore sometimes. The whole premise of a girl falling for a guy just by locking eyes with him was shaky of a premise enough. But I really feel that they didn't do enough to convince me that Jack and Laurie were really made for each other. Oh, they like action movies and pineapple on their pizza? SOULMATES clearly.

Jack spends a lot of the novel being a jerk and I don't really feel like he's changed at the end of it.

Also, poor Oscar. He seems like a good dude, and he really got the shaft. In hindsight, they should have had him cheat on Laurie so I would hate him more. I was really rooting for them to stay together and for him to be Laurie's happily ever after. And it was so frustrating she breaks up with Oscar because she doesn't want to move to Brussels but apparently later she can do her job remotely and considers moving to Australia? I feel like the author isn't even trying to have me like the main characters. Am I being trolled?

Finally... soooo much buildup to Laurie and Jack getting together and then a kiss.. and that's it? We don't get to hear how the rest of their life plays out?? I feel cheated!! 

Not quite sure how I feel about this one. It had its moments. Cute, sweet, funny moments. There were even a couple of moments that made me get a little bit sniffle-y. And I actually liked Laurie and Sarah and Jack. Oscar not so much, but whatever. My biggest problem was that it dragged on for way too many pages. Like say 75 pages too many. This should have been 300 (give or take 10 pages) page count book. Because you get to the point that Sara figures out the bus boy mystery and you know exactly what is going happen. (Which is fine, I knew going in what this book was.) But then the story time line sloooooowwwwwsssss to an absolute crawl. The reader is left to turn pages, hoping that the two daft idiots with the encouragement of their mutual friend will suddenly be sharing the same space just so the reader can stop turning pages. Yep, less pages would have been fantastic.

Other than that, it wasn't bad. But it wasn't yell about it from the rooftops great either. I'd be willing to give another book by this author a chance.

This book came recommended as a solid romance novel without the sex (essentially). It's a pretty thick book—it follows the characters over years—and does take some time to read, but it's enjoyable. There were moments that it brought me to tears, to be honest. It is a book about love, friendship, and choice, really. A good, light read that will have you not wanting to put it down.

This was a tough one for me to review. Usually I really hate when books/films/etc embrace the whole “the end justifies the means” thing when it comes to cheating. Giving the characters a happy ending makes the cheating seem okay and worth it. But ultimately I felt that this book explored enough of the guilt and conflict that came from the indiscretion that it avoided this problem.

Some things I loved about this book: it wasn't obnoxiously Christmassy. Sarah and Laurie's friendship. The handling of Laurie and Oscar's relationship and divorce. Also, there's something to be said for the fact that I couldn't put it down and stayed up until 3am reading it.

Things I struggled with: how much time passed, yet how little of that passing we got to see. Hard to help, I know, but it affected how I felt about the characters. They didn't FEEL 30 at the end. And also I didn't particularly like Jack at any point. I don't like to hold unlikeable characters against the author too much as it makes it more real, but he is the romantic lead, so it's not ideal.

So, 4 stars from me. Objectively I think it was probably 3 stars, but reading isn't objective, and I think the author managed to hit that subjective sensibility inside me and make me care even if I wasn't always happy about it. Props for that.

~Check out more on my blog, The Bent Bookworm!~One Day in December was my local bookstore's book club pick for December (the meeting of which I did not get to attend, to much sadness). I was a bit dismayed, to be honest, as I don't typically read a lot of romance and often find myself too jaded and cynical to enjoy books with a heavy romantic focus. I am very happy to report that this book warmed even my crusty old heart!While this book is, yes, a story of love, it is also a story of friendship. Laurie and Sarah have been best friends for years, and their friendship is really the glue that holds this book together. I loved them both, even if I definitely identified more with Laurie's feelings and experiences. I've never been glamorous or someone who shines in the spotlight, so I was right there with her! The story spans 10 years from the time Laurie first spots her Mr. Right at a bus stop, and while Laurie and Sarah have their disagreements and even fights at times, they stick together through it all. Even when thousands of miles separate them! Again, having many long distance friendships, this really struck a chord with me. They aren't all sunshine and roses, and Laurie really struggles sometimes with Sarah being in a relationship with Jack, but in the end she does the absolute best that a best friend could do and tries to be rational. After all, it's pure silliness to think that you could be destined for someone you took a fancy to through the window of a bus...right?Whoever the hell is in charge of TV scheduling needs a bullet between their eyes. Surely they could work out that anyone who needs to resort to watching TV on Valentine's night is single and potentially bitter, so why they thought The Notebook would make suitable viewing is beyond me.Despite the somewhat serious tone of the book - three young people seeking their own path in life as well as seeking for someone to share it with - there are moments of humor sprinkled throughout. More than once I giggled to myself while reading.The storyline does move relatively fast, skipping over large chunks of each year and only coming back to “big” events or conversations. I was leery of that concept too, but it really seemed to work well for this type of growth in relationships and characters. All of the main characters grow, and growth includes some “mistakes” that are rather painful and costly at times. Some of the choices they made had me gasping in horror and feeling pains in my own heart, as again I just found them SO relatable (and in a couple of cases I've even walked the exact same path and could see the impending danger). Jack starts off as a classic nice guy, goes through some shit and turns into a complete asshole. Not because that's who he really is, but because he sinks into depression after a major accident and it completely changes his personality. He can see this, himself, but seems powerless to stop it. I found this to be a very accurate portrayal of how depression can wreck havoc on a person AND their relationships with other people - again, having been on both sides of that coin to some extent. Thankfully this was only temporary but it did leave his mark on him and the people around him. I did have a couple little...bothers with this story. First of all, Jack lies to Laurie right from jump. It's a little white lie, but it affects her more than he could possibly know and it just felt...bleh. And then, there is a certain THING that happens, that results in lies of omission that (naturally) create problems further down the road. It bothered me, and yet I can't say what I would have done in the same circumstance would really have been any different. People make mistakes, and sometimes it is better for other people - people who might be hurt by the truth - to not find out. Sometimes. It's such a gray area, which I guess was the point here. 5/5 stars. Overall I loved this story because yes (as I have already said MANY times, I know), it was relatable for me, and because I felt it was so true to life. Life is messy. Sometimes life sucks. Relationships and love are EXTREMELY messy and often uncomfortable. But people and relationships ARE worth it! I loved that even after all the heartache and struggle, Laurie and Sarah and Jack all have hope and love in life, no matter how long they had to wait or look to find it. Sometimes the road to get to where we need to go is long, but life isn't just about the destination.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

I have to admit...the beginning had me a little irritated with the love at first sight scene. I stuck with it though and ended up really enjoying this one. While at times it may feel like love may be more of a chance meeting than a choice made, the journey of Jack and Lu certainly shows that sometimes it's a bit of both. Perfect holiday read. ❤️❄️