Weekend Writing: Reviewing Josie Silver's "One Day in December"

Josie Silver's One Day in December.

"If anyone ever asks if I've ever fallen in love at first sight, I shall say yes. For one glorious moment on the 21st of December 2006." - Josie Silver, "One Day in December" 

And so this begins Josie Silver's 2018 debut novel, One Day in December. At its core, the novel is about love at first sight, but it quickly evolves into something much more complex, heartbreaking, and dynamic.

On a winter day in London, Laurie is traveling home on the bus when she sees Jack sitting at the bus stop. He's reading a book, and she's instantly enamored by him. By some miracle, he looks up from his book at the right moment and they lock eyes. He stares at her and she stares back. He sparks a feeling in her so deep that she pleads for him to get on the bus. She wants to know him. She wants to love him. She knows he's the one. 

Jack isn't a fool, for he feels their instant connection. He stands up from his seat and walks over to the bus, but the doors close in his face. Laurie's bus drives away and Jack is left standing on the sidewalk, staring at the bus. Laurie blows him a kiss--knowing she will probably never see him again. She'll never again see the boy she fell in love with one day in December.

Josie Silver's One Day in December. 

Laurie spends the next year searching for him. She hopes she can bump into him at a coffee shop, at the library, on the street, or at a pub. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, even knows about the "bus boy" and tries to help Laurie find him. But Sarah ends the search when she meets Jack and starts dating him. When she introduces Jack to Laurie, of course, Laurie is crushed. She knows who Jack is and she can't believe her luck that her best friend met him first.

She makes the hasty decision not to tell her because Sarah's happiness is far more important to Laurie. She dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. She tries so hard, but a part of her heart will forever belong to Jack. But she'll make this sacrifice because she believes Jack doesn't even remember her. She is the only person hurting.

But Jack does remember her. He remembers the deep connection he once had for her--and he still has that connection with her. Of course, he likes Sarah and he doesn't want to hurt his girlfriend. But every time he's with Laurie, he has a hard time resisting the urge to touch her arm or kiss her lips. He has a hard time pulling away from her, and that's trouble.

"Sometimes, you just meet the right person at the wrong time," I say softly. 

"Yeah," he says. "And then you spend every day afterwards wishing that time could be rearranged."

As you can see, One Day in December is different than your typical "love triangle" story. I absolutely fell head over heels for this book, and I'm not the only person who has felt this way. Even Reese Witherspoon gushed about the book and added it to her Hello Sunshine Book Club recommendations list.

Josie Silver was completely honest with her readers and she captured the realistic relationship between the main characters and their complicated situation. Written in alternating point-of-views, readers understand each character's perspective. We got to watch Laurie and Jack's evolving friendship (and blurred relationship) over the span of ten years. We saw Jack's relationship with Sarah, and we couldn't be mad at Sarah. It's not her fault she met Jack, too. Sarah was a force of nature and a wonderful friend to Laurie. Even though I wanted Laurie and Jack to end up together, I didn't want Laurie to lose Sarah as a friend. She's the kind of friend everyone would be so lucky to have.

In ten years, these characters change and grow in ways we see every day. We know people just like Laurie and Jack. We know people who should be together but aren't. Silver wrote these characters in a way where we really got to know them and we cared about their outcomes. Laurie is down to earth and has a special quality that draws people to her. It's fun to watch her truly become an adult and see how she handles every issue and challenge she faces.

(photo/berryduchess.com)

Silver didn't write perfect characters. Jack didn't handle things very well several times throughout the story's timeline. He made mistakes and handled them poorly, but that's realistic. At its core, this is a novel about people growing up in their 20s and trying to figure out how to be adults. How to handle their careers and relationships. How to find themselves and where they fit in someone else's life. How to pull yourself together and have the life you truly deserve.

An emotional story of friendship, missed chances, fated love, and life's unexpected circumstances, One Day in December is a book to be relished by fans of modern romance. And before you ask, you can read it any time of the year. Not just in December.

-KJL-