Dear One Day in December,
I came for a cheesy Christmas romance and left feeling a little gypped on love. I enjoyed the entertainment for a couple hours, but may re-evaluate my annual reading next year.
With Love,
Hannah
P.S. Book Details
Author: Josie Silver
Book Length: 393 pages // 10 hrs 27 min
Book Genre: Romance
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
Awards: N/A
Synopsis: Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic… and then her bus drives away.
Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.
What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
………………………………………………………….
My annual read of One Day in December left me… wanting.
This came as a shock to me, as I have read this book almost every year since it came out. I have always enjoyed the star-crossed lovers/love at first sight trope. The opening scene pulls at the heartstrings when Laurie and Jack’s eyes meet at a bus stop with Laurie in the bus and Jack off. Before Jack can get on the bus to meet Laurie, the bus drives away. Thus begins a decade long story of love, loss, and the journey of life.
Since I don’t want to spoil the book, I will keep away from any major plot points. The voice in the novel was engaging for me. I enjoyed the first person narration of both Jack and Laurie, because it was fun to see their inner thoughts. Even within one event, Silver will jump between Laurie and Jack’s perspective. They were both cute characters trying to discover who they are. They were enjoyable, but not always likeable.
What bothered me this time about reading One Day in December is how unnecessarily complicated they (Laurie and Jack) both made their lives and how rude they were Sarah through it all. I enjoy drama, but in recent years it has been feeling over done… excessive maybe. If I learned one thing from this novel it is: honestly is the best policy. Also, if you are going to call a person your friend, it is best to have open communication. Especially when that person is your significant other. But, there I go off on a tangent.
There was a lot going on in the novel, yet not a lot happens. Silver seems to be trying to hit on a couple big points and I felt like it lost some of the power it could have had with a primary message. I am not exactly sure what she was hoping readers to get out of the story. I got a couple hours of entertainment and warnings about emotional affairs.
All in all, One Day in December is a cute romance. Yet, after this reading, I am not sure I would recommend this book to others. If you want to read it, I don’t think it is a bad book by any means. But I would have you go to anything by Helen Hoang first. The characters in her books feel respectful towards one another and she balances cute love story with real life in a healthier manner.
To Books, With Love 