Release Date: January 8th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, realistic fiction, romance
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 369
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5
Summary:A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

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

Review: 

I didn’t expect any less from Gayle Forman, really my expecations for Just One Day were pretty high, considering If I Stay and Where She Went are two of my favourite books. Yet somehow, even with my ridiculously high expectations for this book, Gayle manages to do the impossible, she makes it ever better than I had ever imagined it could be. Every moment I spent reading it became increasingly difficult to put down, which eventually led to devour this book in Just One Day! Haha I know lame joke, oops!

The characters in this book were just so vivid to me, and honest and real.  I got such a perfect sense of each and everyone of them, including the minor secondary characters that I grew to love  all! Just One Day was nothing short of what I expected, it’s very different from If I Stay and Where She Went but the emotions these books stirred inside of me are honestly, undescribable.

“I think everything is happening all the time, but if you don’t put yourself in the path of it, you miss it.” – Just One Day 

The story in Just One Day is so simple–and utterly amazing! It’s so much more different than just your average self-discovery book, I relished in the spark between Willem and Allyson and the one day they spend together. I found myself relating to both of them too in the sense of someone with an adventurous side too them and travelling like Willem, and bits of pieces of self discovery Alyson went through were sometimes similar to little moments I’ve had in my life where I’ve just had to rip the band-aid quickly, wait for the sting to pass and move on.

Every aspect of this book was delightful, the romance, the characters, the travel, you name it! What I really enjoyed most in this book was watching how Allyson grew into her own skin, found herself or rather created herself. I loved how she strives to find “Lulu” in herself too. Allyson’s journey isn’t a quick one, she takes one step forward only to take three steps back but gradually with Gayle’s perfect pacing Alyson get’s there. Even though Allyson’s journey did begin with a boy, her journey isn’t necessarily about a boy but rather how this boy opened the door to a world of possibilities Alyson hadn’t imagained for herself. Willem posed the question she had dear to ask herself “What If?” and thus begins Alyson’s year of self discovery,

“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.” -Just One Day

Just One Day is the type of book that really makes you want to became more adventourus, to say “Yes” more often and take a chance or two. The ending was beautiful, it left me content, with leaving quite a few questions for it’s duet, Just One Year told from Willem’s POV. I felt though that Allyson’s journey is indeed complete. All I can say is, prepare to get blown away from another book by Gayle Forman!