Pages: 369
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Buy It: Amazon • The Book Depository • Goodreads
My Rating: 4/5 Stars (or 3/5 I'm kinda undecided)
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! - Synopsis from Goodreads
To be quite honest, my rating should be lower, but I can't bring myself to do it because this book was so entertaining. The reason I feel like it should be lower is because of the insta-love and how unrealistic the whole story is. But it was so entertaining and such a fun, quick read that I gave it 4 instead of 3 or a 2.5. The insta love was pretty cringey and cliche, but hey not gonna lie it was kinda cute too. But at the same time very very unrealistic. I mean, if I'm a 18 year old girl and some attractive guy comes up to me and says hey go to Paris with me for a day, and I had just met him I'd be like
OK friends. Let's discuss. So even though I already touched upon the whole insta-love thing, I just want to go more in depth. Near the end of Allyson and Willem's last day things get intense. During this I was like WOAH WHAT CHILL A BIT PLS OH MY. I actually started laughing out loud a bit because of how ridiculous I thought it was. Jeez people you just friggin met. And then in the morning when Will's not there, Allyson just flips her shit. She starts freaking out and assumes the worst and to be honest, gurlllll you brought this upon yourself if he did just ditch you, (which later we find out is not the case). Honestly I just can't comprehend Allyson's rationale, YA BRB JUST GOING TO GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY WITH SOME GUY I JUST FRIGGEN MET!!!! Can you tell how much that bothered me??? Anyways, once she gets home she become very sad about the whole thing and it becomes kind of a cloud over her head, always there. It becomes kind of an obsession and then she spends the ending part of the book learning french, making money and stuff so that she can go back to Europe and find Willem. That whole ordeal is a whole other load of crap I mean come on that's pretty convenient that you find these people, and make these connections and you happen to hear about a performance and you go and wow would you look at that, its Willem and....another girl??????? I have to admit, I was pretty gutted when I read that part with the other girl. I was holdin out for Allyson to find Willem which she does!!! The ending did kill me a bit, I shut the book and was like wow I totally saw that coming and I hate it. Still going to read the next book though AYY.
But Allyson is super chill with it and says yeah, why not I never do anything adventurous. Let's be real: If Willem wasn't attractive, charming or remotely cute, Allyson would have definitely said uh no that's creepy. But that's a whole other discussion. Allyson is described as a shy, not so outgoing girl while her best friend is the total opposite. Allyson is the goody-two-shoes type: hates lying, always follows rules but when she meets Willem she starts to become a bit more adventurous and then everything goes very romance-y, very quick. Idk I just think the main part of the book that really bothered me was how quickly they fell in love and how Allyson just agreed to go to a different country with someone she met for like 2 seconds. But if insta-love is your cup of tea; THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!!
The ending was very predictable but I still liked it and have already bought the second book and will be picking it up soon!
PLOT: As mentioned above, the plot is pretty unrealistic but adventurous and quite entertaining to read. If you ignore the fact that Willem and Allyson just met it is quite a cute story. When the big thing happens (will discuss in the spoiler part of this review) it was quite a shock as I did not see that coming so if you like a pretty good twist, you'd like this book. The setting of Europe and especially Paris was so nice because I love it there and I would love to go back again. They even went to Shakespeare and Company!! *squeals*
WRITING: I'm not a huge fan of Gayle Foreman's writing, but I guess it was nicely written. Nothing very very special but it was easy to read and I got through this book in just one day (no pun intended).
CHARACTERS: There was definitely some character development with Allyson as she stepped out of her comfort zone with Willem and then entered her freshman year of college and made friends. She did bother me quite a bit in the moment of the big twist and after (so pretty much the whole book except for the end) but I still enjoyed reading about her. Dee, her friend in college, was probably my favourite character in the book. He was so funny, I loved it. Willem was pretty cool and I did like him too but he's not one of my absolute favourite characters. I also like the fact that there were more characters introduced when Allyson went to college, like her dorm mates. Interesting dynamic there. And I really like the scenes with Allyson's parents because it seems that in most YA books, the parents are barely there. My favourite character development was Ally near the end of the book as she really took matters into her own hands and did her own thing. I think that's what made the book likeable, was Ally's development.
SPOILER-Y DISCUSSION: DO NOT READ THIS SECTION UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED. SKIP TO THE QUOTES SECTION!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
OK friends. Let's discuss. So even though I already touched upon the whole insta-love thing, I just want to go more in depth. Near the end of Allyson and Willem's last day things get intense. During this I was like WOAH WHAT CHILL A BIT PLS OH MY. I actually started laughing out loud a bit because of how ridiculous I thought it was. Jeez people you just friggin met. And then in the morning when Will's not there, Allyson just flips her shit. She starts freaking out and assumes the worst and to be honest, gurlllll you brought this upon yourself if he did just ditch you, (which later we find out is not the case). Honestly I just can't comprehend Allyson's rationale, YA BRB JUST GOING TO GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY WITH SOME GUY I JUST FRIGGEN MET!!!! Can you tell how much that bothered me??? Anyways, once she gets home she become very sad about the whole thing and it becomes kind of a cloud over her head, always there. It becomes kind of an obsession and then she spends the ending part of the book learning french, making money and stuff so that she can go back to Europe and find Willem. That whole ordeal is a whole other load of crap I mean come on that's pretty convenient that you find these people, and make these connections and you happen to hear about a performance and you go and wow would you look at that, its Willem and....another girl??????? I have to admit, I was pretty gutted when I read that part with the other girl. I was holdin out for Allyson to find Willem which she does!!! The ending did kill me a bit, I shut the book and was like wow I totally saw that coming and I hate it. Still going to read the next book though AYY.
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QUOTES:
“Part of me knows one more day won't do anything except postpone the heartbreak. But another part of me believes differently. We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”
“Sometimes the best way to find out what you’re supposed to do is by doing the thing you’re not supposed to do.”
“C'est courageux d'aller dans l'inconnu': It is courageous to go into territory unknown.”
“Travelling's not something you're good at. It's something you do. Like breathing. You can't work too much at it, or it feels like work. You have to surrender yourself to the chaos. To the accidents.”
“He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found.”
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THIS BOOK IN ONE GIF:
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I think that if you really like contemporary's or you're looking for a quick read, you should definitely pick this up!
-Ana :)
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