Book Review: One Day in December

You Might Like This Book If You Like…

• Other titles from Reese’s Book Club
• Holiday movies, or British movies, or British holiday movies like Love Actually and Bridget Jones’s Diary
• Stories that deal with twenty-something problems
• Romances that have mature character development, showing characters growing over time and dealing with more than just their romantic woes

The Story (NO SPOILERS)

After a rough day of work during a cold December day in London, Laurie looks out her window at a bus stop and has a perfectly magical moment with a complete stranger. He sees her, she sees him, and he just about gets up to get on the bus, too, when—it moves on. And they miss each other. She spends a year looking for him, and when she finds him, he’s dating her best friend. Because both of them are mad for Sarah—the bubbly, bright woman that is stuck between them—neither mentions that perfect moment in December. The story continues, following the three friends as they grow through changes in their careers, family lives, and friendships.

Review (NO SPOILERS)

I read this as an audiobook and I loved it. The chapters bounce back and forth between Jack and Laurie, and the narrators are just perfect for their roles. Laurie has a sarcastic, self-deprecating voice that I absolutely love. Jack’s narrator has a gravelly voice that had me swooning.

I am not a huge fan of books that dwell on how much growing up and becoming an adult sucks. I tried reading First Comes Love by Emily Giffin last year (I enjoyed Something Borrowed and Something Blue), but stopped after 2 weeks of reading because I couldn’t take such whiny, flawed characters. I have enough of my own problems without having to deal with those of my fictional characters as well, thank you very much.

One Day in December has its moments of characters going through rough patches. In fact, there’s one rough patch so bad that some of you may be inclined to dislike a major character. However, I think Josie Silver manages to balance the mood by switching to a different character’s perspective or by inserting humor or a sweet moment at just the right time.

And I want to talk about the end, because GAH. It was… MAGIC. But I won’t. I will just say that I took my dogs on a particularly long walk on a cold December day just so I could finish it. And I could not stop smiling. It will probably go down as one of my favorite chill Christmas memories: exploring my neighborhood, looking at my neighbors’ Christmas decorations, not minding the cold bite in the air because my cheeks were hurting from smiling too much.