Just One Day by Gayle Forman

 

Just One Day

author : gayle forman

pages : [paperback] 400

memorable quote : Sometimes the best way to find out what you’re supposed to do is by doing the thing you’re not supposed to do.

favorite character : allyson

summary :

Allyson Healey’s life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the “accidents” of fate,Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.

The first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

review :

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for ages. I absolutely loved If I Stay and Where She Went, also by Gayle Forman, but I suppose I was just waiting for the perfect moment to pick up Just One Day. I was on vacation and thought maybe it’d be time for a cute little romance. I was wrong about one thing: This novel is anything but a simple romance. Instead, it’s the story of a young woman, fresh out of high school, finding herself in the most amazing way possible.

Allyson seemed so real to me, probably because she was relatable. I’ve had friendships like she has with Melanie, where it’s difficult to know if you’re growing apart from a person because you’ve known them for so long, you just don’t want to let them go. She is also a little awkward in college and doesn’t really get on with her roommates. Again, I could relate to that (except I think my problem was that my freshman roommate decided to ignore me all year). Just One Day is just that. One day that changes Allyson’s entire life, though it does take her a little while to realize that it changes her in ways that are different from what she first expected.

I’ve never been anywhere in Europe so I have to admit that I was jealous of Allyson’s post-grad tour, even if she didn’t exactly enjoy herself too much on it. She couldn’t tell her parents this because it was meant to be the ‘trip of a lifetime’. Here I think that most readers can relate to her. Her parents meant well but she can’t be honest with them because she wants to spare their happiness. I think things like this cause many problems in families everywhere.

I also liked how this was a romance . . just not as much about love as I’d first thought that it would be, if that makes any sense. There is a love story in this novel but there are several other facets that make it into a meaningful book to read, rather than an easy, simple summer book. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone and it’s a novel that I feel like I need to read again because I probably missed a few things in it. I certainly need to read the companion novel! Also, I’ve never had the urge to learn French before, and now I sort of do. I don’t see this as a problem and you won’t either if you take the leap and read Just One Day.

5/5 stars