Blog Tour | My review of One Day in December

I received this book in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour.

tw// death, grief

❥ THE PLOT

A love story about what happens after you meet, or rather, don’t meet the one.

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.

Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.

What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

Via Goodreads

❥ MY THOUGHTS ON IT

Let’s be honest here: If you loved the movies and/or books Love, Actually, One Day and Bridget Jones, you‘ll probably fall in love with One Day in Decemberlike I did. It’s honestly the perfect feel-good book to read around Christmas.

I was a tad sceptic when I was asked to be part of its blog tour . It was sold to me as the novelistic equivalent to Love, Actually but never thought it would actually be it. To be honest, it’s one of my favourite movies and I watch it every year on Christmas day – that’s why I didn’t want to have high expectations for this book, because I couldn’t quite imagine how it could compete with it. Well, even though it wasn’t exactly like it, it did give me the same vibes and made me just as happy.

What I loved the most about One Day in December was how the story was told: It all started in 2018 and ended in 2017, but it was only told through important moments of each year between those two dates. It means that we saw Laurie and Jack’s relationship evolves through time only during important moments of their lives, what made them who they were and why everything went in one or another direction. I personally adore those kind of stories, which is why I brought up One Day to this review as it was told the same way and is one book I adore. I understand that not everyone loves this format but I love seeing how people change during the years, how they were so young and naïve at one time, then learned and became someone else a few years afterwards. It always gives me so much hope for the future and this book was so joyful, merry and bright – after all, it’s the perfect book for Christmas.

For once I also loved every single characters. They weren’t all perfect, they all made mistakes but they all learned and grew up throughout the story. I never thought they were cheesy or cliché – there was some kind of love triangle but I understood it all and it never bugged me. On another hand I adored Laurie and Sarah’s relationship: It felt so good to see two women being so close to each other and supporting each other! There wasn’t any jealousy involved, it was only love and sisterhood and it truly felt amazing to read such a sweet and kind story. I have to say that every relationship in this book was beautifully written.

I gave One Day in December 4/5 stars instead of 5, not because something disappointed me, but only because it wasn’t my favourite book in the whole wide world. I had such a great time reading it, it made me feel good and happy, and it was what I needed at this time of my life. I would highly recommend anyone who loves feel-good books to pick it up in December to get all the feels! You’ll probably want to read it with a huge blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. Be careful: You may want to fall in love once you’ll be done with it.

The book is already out as an e-book but the paperback edition will be released on the 16th of October (a day before my birthday, so it must be good, right?).

❥ WHERE TO PRE-ORDER IT

• Amazon (paperback, kindle, audio CD)
• Bookdepository

Love always,

Clara