Wow. Just wow. Willem and Allyson. I wish there was more to the ending. The journey she goes on, all the new people that she meets. This book was so amazing. I can't wait to read his point of view! ( )

Just One Day/Gayle Forman Just One Day is well-written. Immensely well-written. If you pick this book up, you'll definitely get hours of entertainment. However, the plot line is lacking from the get go. This trilogy really could have been just one novel.The best thing about the entire trilogy for me was the locations. This one book is mainly set in Paris, but through the three we get to see a lot of Europe as well as the US. Trips through hostels and train rides feel very real and are a great way for us to experience the world through a book. The setting feels real, and though the premise isn't very likely, Forman convinces us that this could happen to you tomorrow.The romance between the two main characters feels very real, but when you pause to think about it, doesn't make any sense. Allyson, our main character, is very relatable. We can all feel like we've been in her shoes. However, as a character she doesn't stand up very much, and at times we want to slap her for the decisions she's making. The two main characters really don't have many commonalities between them.This entire book follows the course of two or three days, and in these days, Allyson makes several out of character decisions. While these move the plot along, they don't really fit in, and I'm appalled that her friend let her make them. At the same time, we are living vicariously through her and in a way she's living vicariously through herself--and will later through her memories--so in a meta way, we relate to her even more.I really enjoyed this book while I was reading it, but when I stepped back, I was left wondering what I'd just spent my time on. The sequels were available at my library so I read them, but I by no means felt compelled to. ( )

Just One Day is well-written. Immensely well-written. If you pick this book up, you'll definitely get hours of entertainment. However, the plot line is lacking from the get go. This trilogy really could have been just one novel.

The best thing about the entire trilogy for me was the locations. This one book is mainly set in Paris, but through the three we get to see a lot of Europe as well as the US. Trips through hostels and train rides feel very real and are a great way for us to experience the world through a book. The setting feels real, and though the premise isn't very likely, Forman convinces us that this could happen to you tomorrow.

The romance between the two main characters feels very real, but when you pause to think about it, doesn't make any sense. Allyson, our main character, is very relatable. We can all feel like we've been in her shoes. However, as a character she doesn't stand up very much, and at times we want to slap her for the decisions she's making. The two main characters really don't have many commonalities between them.

This entire book follows the course of two or three days, and in these days, Allyson makes several out of character decisions. While these move the plot along, they don't really fit in, and I'm appalled that her friend let her make them. At the same time, we are living vicariously through her and in a way she's living vicariously through herself--and will later through her memories--so in a meta way, we relate to her even more.

I really enjoyed this book while I was reading it, but when I stepped back, I was left wondering what I'd just spent my time on. The sequels were available at my library so I read them, but I by no means felt compelled to. ( )

1.5 Stars ( )

GUH.

GUH.

GUH.





How do I even begin? I am madly in love with Gayle Foreman and have been since all of Mia's ride in If I Stay/Where She Went.

This book was entirely new and entirely different and I still ate the whole thing in less than six hours, stayed up reading until one or two in the morning because I literally could not put it down and walk away from this book. This book is gorgeous and it handles so much about learning to grow up and be more than a child. How to reach out into the world and start tasting things. People. Life. Choices. Food. Countries. Travel. And, of course, love.

Allyson and Willem's "one day" is a gorgeous, faulted, but very learning filled day. But it is still One Day. One Day to change your life, your self, your heart, and how you see the world. Even if that means it might break all of those things into pieces you can no longer recognize when you wake up the morning after it.

My heart went so many different directions in this book. Allyson is compelling. Her learning to break out, her falling under the tide, and her fighting back. Especially her great epiphany at the end, when she realizes everything might not be little girl dreams of rainbows and ponies, but that this entire miracle-and-mistake trial has made her into an amazing human being, capable of so much walking, flying and stumbling. That she's a better person for all of it.



I can't wait to see how Willem's "One Year" went, but I have my grand theory already.

As Dee warned everyone from the reader to Allyson very, very early on, "Stop jumping to conclusions!" ( )