Thursday 6 December 2018

One Day In December By Josie Silver Book Review

I'm sure you know by now, I'm a big fan of a soppy love story. I've read some absolutely gorgeous books this year like Pictures Of Lily and Some Kind Of Wonderful but one that caught my eye many months ago was One Day In December by Josie Silver. I ended up pre-ordering it because once I saw the synopsis, I was desperate to read the whole book and I didn't want to end up missing out. Well, I read this last month and it didn't disappoint. It's one of those books that will stay with me for quite a while I think.
One day in december book, christmas props
Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist. After all, life isn't a scene from the movies, is it? But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away. Laurie thinks she'll never see the boy from the bus again. But at their Christmas party a year later, her best friend Sarah introduces her to the new life of her life. Who is, of course, the boy from the bus. Determined to let him go, Laurie gets on with her life. But what if fate has other plans?

My review

Okay, isn't the cover of this book absolutely beautiful? It's so simple yet so festive, making it a perfect read this Christmas. I think the reason I was so drawn to this book is because it seemed very similar to one of the best books I've ever read, Five Years From Now, with the story been very much about two people who are clearly meant to be but have an endless amount of obstacles in their way. Luckily I was pleased to find out it has a very different ending but let's go back to the start.

I've mentioned before I sometimes struggle with a two person narrative, if it's not written well it can be so confusing but this was really cleverly done, and it was told by both Laurie and Jack. In the books I've read before with more than one person narrating it's always been women so I absolutely loved that we got to hear Jack's point of view too. From the minute Jack and Laurie lock eyes, we know she's head over heels in love but often in books like this, you never really know properly how the man is feeling. It was so nice to find out Jack's feelings too and know actually he was just as mad about her as she was him, and what he was really thinking despite not letting it show to Laurie because of Sarah.

The love story of Laurie and Jack was never going to be plain-sailing but right from the start I was willing for it to work out. You really feel Laurie's anguish though as what can you possibly do in that situation? Risk her friendship with Sarah for this boy she actually didn't even know anything about for a long time, or chance it and possibly lose everything? She's in this massive dilemma so you really did never how it was going to end. It's made harder to know what to think as Laurie and Sarah's friendship is so lovely. I loved that this book was just as much about those two aswell as about Jack and it wasn't just a typical love story. It really does focus on everyone in Laurie's life.

Josie has written this in a way that you really do get invested in each person and you just want the best for them no matter what. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. I genuinely picked it up at about 1pm on a Sunday afternoon and I read and read until I'd finished at about 4pm. It was that good. I was gripped all the way through. At the end I felt like I needed to just have a massive sob as I'd felt so tense throughout, desperate for everyone to be happy, by the end I just felt relief. It made me emotional several times throughout, there is a beautiful moment between Laurie and Jack about half way through where they realise it may never actually be possible for them to be together and I still keep thinking about it. Every single time you think it's heading in the right direction, something comes along to stop it, again very much like Five Years From Now so the ending isn't predictable at all. It's just heartbreaking at times but also uplifting and heart-warming too. It just has everything you could possibly want in a love story and it's definitely a contender as my favourite book of the year. 

If you want a festive read this December, please please please, give this a go. It reminds me a lot of Love Actually so if you're a fan of that film (who isn't?!) I think you'll love this.


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1 comment

Jessica Khater said...

I love love stories and this one doesn't seem cliché so I would definitely give it a try.

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