#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Get ready to be swept up in a whirlwind romance. It absolutely charmed me.”—Reese Witherspoon (A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick) “The perfect book to get lost in . . . Josie Silver’s characters sneak their way into your heart and stay.”—Jill Santopolo, author of The Light We Lost Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.Laurie is pretty sure love at …
Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.
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.
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Loved this book. Haven’t enjoyed anything like this in quite a while.
Charmingly lovely. If you only read one holiday romance this Christmas, let this one be it.
I can’t scream loudly enough about this wonderful book. It’s both funny and sad, romantic and realistic, and I never wanted it to end. I need all the sequels and happily ever afters.
I’m such a sucker for sappy, hopeless romantic situations where the star-crossed lovers play a will they or won’t they that spans years. When Harry Met Sally is one of my all-time favorite movies. And when you throw in Christmas?? So when I read the plot of this new novel by Josie Silver, I knew it would be perfect for me. I read this one in day, totally setting aside the other book I was reading, even though it was really good, too. And while it’s super schmaltzy, it was completely entertaining!
I really enjoyed this story about two people who happen to lock gazes one day in December while she’s on a bus and he’s at the bus stop waiting, but fail to find one another until he shows up a year later as her best friend’s boyfriend. Funny, heart wrenching, and a testimony to the power of friendship and the power of real love. I became very invested in the characters–it was hard to put down!
I really enjoyed this warm-hearted, romantic read, and if you love romance, I’m pretty sure you will love it too!
If you treat yourself to one book this month, make it this one. It’s a “everyday” epic love story about friendship, romantic love, and the swallowing ones own feelings to make these types of relationships work together. Josie Silver does an amazing job taking us through the 10 year journey cataloguing the romantic entanglements of the 3 central characters, Laurie, Sarah and Jack. I subscribe to the notion that drives the story line; Laurie and Jack make eye contact that they both feel to the core. When nothing comes of that moment and fate brings them back together, it happens in circumstances that will test all three. Whose to say what and how things are supposed to work out and why.
Driven from the perspective of a young woman, Laurie, as she experiences a soul crushing moment discovering your best friend has unwittingly begun dating a new man who happened to the same mystery man that the two of you spent a year searching for. The situation has angst written all over it and there is angst a plenty. We get both Laurie and Jacks view directly, but also Sarah’s from the way these two perceive her. There’s no bad guys here, just bad timing. I really love the journeys the individuals take and how their relationships are with each other show us the characters in different light(s).
I inhaled this story. Between the reading of it and the reflecting on it and how it made me feel, it took a few days of my gladly given time. This one is a true gem and I highly recommend it be read by contemporary romance and womens fiction reader enthusiasts. This is definitely a 2018 favorite and a book to consider a #mustread 🙂
I knew what was going to happen in the end, but I liked how the Author got you there.
Stop what you are doing and read One Day in December. It was heartwarming and real. It reinforces your belief in love and second chances.
A top read of 2018 for me!
Favorite Quotes:
‘I’ve got a date next week… I met him in a lift. I held him to ransom with the stop button until he agreed to ask me out.’ I really need to take life lessons from Sarah… I need to make ‘What would Sarah do?’ my life motto.
I’ll have to take a rain check. I’ve got a double date tonight with Ben and Jerry. They’re sweet… We’re going to work our way through the Karamel Sutra. It’s going to be a thrill a minute.
If I tell you something, do you promise to never tell another living soul, not even a goldfish?
I’ve only met Oscar’s brother once before. All I can recall is that Gerry doesn’t seem to be much like his easy-going younger brother, and his poker-thin wife, Felicity, looks as if she exists on fresh air and Chanel No. 5.
… how very tangled and complicated our lives have become over the years. We are a triangle, but our sides have kept changing length. Nothing has ever quite been equal. Perhaps it’s time to learn how to stand on our own, rather than lean on each other.
My Review:
A pair of strangers shared a fleeting connection when their eyes met and locked at a bus stop. Laurie was on the crowded bus, while Jack was sitting at the bus stop. They did not speak to each other but their profound gaze left a deep and lasting impression before the bus pulled away and parted them yet again. Neither ever forgot that interaction and though they had each searched, they did not meet up again until Laurie’s roommate, Sarah, introduced Jack as her new boyfriend a year later. Oops, what a mess… but what to do about it? Denial and avoidance was apparently the unspoken plan. This engaging tale covers a decade of unfortunately bad timing in the life these two conflicted soul mates as well as their small group of friends. Written in my favorite dual POV, this clever scribe’s writing was crisp and sparkled with wit and levity during the first half, although, to my consternation, grew steadily heavier with angst and conflict as the characters matured and struggled with various life stressors, relationships foibles, family, and work issues. I was running out of pages and hope for resolution when the crafty author pulled a sly and smooth move, which provided that much desired and highly satisfactory HEA. This was my first exposure to the delightful Josie Silver – what a trickster!
New additions to my Brit Vocabulary List include squiffy which Mr. Google said was a stuffy or unheated room; naff – which apparently has several meanings such as tacky, lame or uncool, and go away; and my new favorite of cock-a-hoop which means highly pleased or excited. I’m cock-a-hoop to have found a new author to fangirl.
One Day in December is a lovely holiday offering by Josie Silver. This story covers the decade between when Laurie and Jack first make eye contact at a distance in December of 2008 and today.
Laurie had never believed in love at first sight, that is until it happens to her. On a snowy December evening, Laurie looks out the window of her double decker bus to make eye contact with a handsome stranger at the bus stop below. Something magical happens in that moment, but neither one is able to move quickly enough to meet on that fateful night.
Laurie and her best friend and flat mate Sarah spend much of the following year looking for “busboy” at bus stops, coffee shops, and evenings out without any luck. Just when Laurie has about given up, she does find him. However, she just happens to be introduced to Jack as the love of Sarah’s life.
The following decade is a mix of love and loss, missed opportunities and self sacrifice, all leading to what fate appears to have ordained on a snowy December night. This is the intertwining tale of three lovely people finding their way in an uncertain world. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it.
3.5 -4 stars
Time is such a cruel mistress. Chance encounters and near misses happen every day. What if you left the house 1 minute earlier? A minute later? Withheld a truth to spare someone’s feelings? Would any of these seemingly insignificant things be enough to alter the trajectory of your entire life? I asked myself many of these questions while reading One Day in December and found myself devouring this book so I could find out what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time.
As much as I enjoyed Laurie and Jack’s story, I’m not sure if I truly loved it. It was well written (though a bit long) and poignant, but as much as I sympathized with the characters and their decisions, part of me wasn’t sure if I truly wanted them to end up together. I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t particularly feel the intense bond they shared or if so much “life” had happened over the span of this book. The story is told from both Jack and Laurie’s POV, and illustrates just how different the perspectives of men and women can be. 10 years. 10 years of longing, tears, laughs, joys, ups, downs, distance, stolen moments, lovers, and heartbreaks. One issue I had with the time span was that I often had to check the date at the start of each chapter to determine how much time had passed for our characters. This broke up the flow of the book for me and was a bit distracting.
The book actually reminded me a lot of Renee Carlino’s Blind Kiss, except One Day in December didn’t quite evoke such ragey feelings in me. The book isn’t as light and heartwarming as the blurb and cover make it sound though. The author does attempt to keep things lighter at times with references to famous rom coms and the wonderful cast of secondary characters added to the story, but besides Sara, everyone else was just a plot device or passing fancy. I actually liked Oscar a lot and felt more between him and Laurie than her and Jack. Ultimately, the book could be boiled down to one question for me. In life and love, is close enough, enough? Something Sara said about love not being a constant effort and that you shouldn’t have to be someone even slightly different to who you really are, truly struck a chord with me. Though I don’t agree with all the decisions these characters made over the 10 year span of this book, I did feel most were necessary for their character to truly grow and come into their own. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed (after all that build-up), but I was satisfied as I turned the last page.
Overall, One Day in December is a solid read that romantics at heart will adore.
*I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book*
Absolutely loved this book from start to finish! Didn’t want it to end! Looking forward to more Josie Silver books. Highly recommend!
This book gripped me from the first scene. Pulled on my heart strings the entire time, got teary at times. Couldn’t put this one down! I don’t give 5 stars very often as I reserve it for books that resonate with me on different levels, leaving me thinking about it long after it’s finished. I hope to see more from her!
My head is still spinning after finishing this book. What an incredibly intense, emotional, page turning read! I loved it from beginning to end!
A chance sighting, an instant connection and a decade of chasing that feeling you had for a stranger you saw for only a moment, one day in December. Laurie looks for “Bus Boy” for a year before finding him and immediately realizing that she can’t have him. Life goes on, new love is found, love is lost, relationships are severed and everyone grows up. This read was an emotional roller coaster! One minute I was smiling from ear to ear and the next I was gasping and sobbing. The author took her sweet time crossing back and forth between Laurie and Jack’s stories, spanning a decade in the process.
I loved the writing style and the depth she gave the characters and their individual personalities. Laurie might be my favorite female character with her sassy wit and introverted nature. I laughed so hard during her POV parts of the story.
Laurie and Jack’s story was captivating, heartbreaking, thrilling and satisfying. I didn’t want it to end but I was so happy with how it did. I had no idea how it would get there but I wasn’t disappointed. The only reason I rated this a 4 star instead of a 5, was because I felt like Jack’s side of the story was lacking a bit in depth and perspective. I’d love to see a follow up or extended epilogue to curb my book hangover!
I received this book for free, in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
This was just lovely.
Covers lots of love adages…love-at-first-sight, right person-wrong time, serendipity. Some laughs, some tears and some “Really??!!” moments.
While I did enjoy the love story (but occasionally wanted to throttle both Laurie and Jack), I absolutely LOVED the bff friendship depicted between Laurie and Sarah! Selfless love, sisterhood, it was wonderful!
Only complaint was staying atop the timeline, but I managed. 4.5/5
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Crown for the ARC! The opinions are strictly my own.
Reading this book was easy and writing this review is hard because there are so many things I want to say about it, but I don’t want to spoil anything for the next person who picks up this book to read it.
One Day In December is a wonderful story. From the very first chapter I was drawn in and I honestly didn’t want to put the book down until I had read every single page and knew where the story concluded. Laurie, Sarah and Jack are three of the nicest people you could wish to meet. I love the close friendship that Laurie and Sarah share, they have such a special bond and a relationship they would put first above anything else.
If you have read the blurb you will already know that Jack is Laurie’s ‘one’. The man of her dreams that she has been searching for since locking eyes with him from a crowded bus. Unfortunately for Laurie, Sarah finds him first and I was absolutely heartbroken for her when she discovers that Jack is also Sarah’s ‘one’. The author wrote their wonderful and complex story so perfectly that I could feel every emotion. There were moments during the book where my tears flowed freely and other times when I would be laughing out loud, but throughout the story I could feel my stomach in turmoil as I read and subsequently empathised with what each of the characters was going through. My heart and my head were often in two different places as I wanted Laurie, Sarah and Jack to have the happiness that I felt they deserved, however I knew that this could potentially result in one or more of them being hurt and dejected.
Please don’t think for one minute that this is your usual love triangle romance. This is a story of love, loss, friendship, missed chances and about finding your own way in life. It is a book that I would urge you to read as I am certain you will love it as much as I do.
Reviewed by Sharon Thérèse at KFF
Although ‘One Day in December’ is a full-length standalone Christmassy love story, I read it in spring and can assure you that it’s very readable at any time of the year! That being said, it’s not difficult for me to imagine myself snuggled up under my blanket, steaming hot cuppa nearby, Xmas lights twinkling while rereading this book. Ahh, and even better if your tribe leave you undisturbed. Why? You may ask. Well, not only did I do an all-nighter, but also devoured every page from beginning to end without stopping. You see, the author’s narrative is as such that I yearned to discover if the two protagonists really had missed the boat. I couldn’t possibly have gone to sleep not knowing or done this with interruptions. So here I am, writing this review with an almighty sleep deficit I regret not one bit. I have to admit that the first couple of chapters had me wondering if there was going to be more dialogue, but as I sank deeper and deeper into the story, this desire somehow disappeared into the thin night air. And there is banter; and it’s extremely well-written. A fact which I have to reiterate because apart from the protagonists’ innermost thoughts which brought out all the feels, some of the light-hearted chit-chat helped counterbalance other heartbreaking moments Yes, get your man-sized hankies ready folks, you’ll need them and ohh, earplugs for your partner isn’t a bad idea, either!
‘You just have a way about you, Laurie. Being around you makes people feel good.’
‘Do you really mean that?’
‘Yes.’ ‘Of course I do…’
What happened at the beginning of the book I strongly believe in. Things happen in all our lives we can’t control; however, whether it was Laurie’s fate or her destiny is for you to decide. I was gobsmacked. But not straightaway. The story’s timespan is a long one so understandably, while I was rooting for her happiness, never did I expect the outcome of such a fleeting moment held in limbo to have such an impact later on. I found the pacing perfect since it gave me time to absorb every little detail, every nuance and it even got me thinking ahead…trying to silently encourage Laurie and Jack to persevere. When others have our love and respect, you don’t go out of your way to hurt them; the reverse, you protect them. This was brought home in the author’s storytelling. She wanted them to pursue righteousness, for them to have clear consciences, for them to be able to live with themselves. The trouble is what is right for one, might be wrong for another, meaning actions can often be interpreted incorrectly. Deflecting truths to save hurt obscures, changing the pattern of what could have been, too.
‘Perhaps one day I might even deserve to be happy.’
The story’s originality impressed me no end. Two friends tied together with heartstrings, who will do anything for each other, who know how the other thinks, stay sisters-in-arms until… It was on the cards; nonetheless, before getting to this part Ms Silver had already put me through an emotional wringer, turning me into a nervous wreck. I felt as if this particular scenario where the fickle finger of fate was played out, slowed down to a snail’s pace but at the same time, was over in a flash leaving me devastated. I might add that this brilliant piece of writing was the result of a build up like none other. Consequently, I balled my eyes out while trying hard not to wake my better half. Of course, this couldn’t have happened without damn good character development and a strong plot.
‘Life can be really **** sometimes,’ ‘It’ll come good again. It always does.’
‘You think so? It sounds so stupid but I just feel like I’m failing at everything…’
I loved all the characters’ backgrounds. It was like being given a unique look at how they all lived; their quirks, their traits, likes and dislikes and the humour…mustn’t forget that Brit wit, now can we? The men in the lives of Laurie and Sarah, so very different, both gorgeous and sensitive in their own ways. I loved how the author focused on family values, everyday issues and struggles and didn’t skim over any details. Nothing was left unturned, everything told was relevant consequently making ‘One Day in December’ one of the best love stories of the year.
‘Despite the fairy-tale snowstorm out there, this isn’t Narnia. This is London, real life, where hearts get kicked and bruised and broken, but somehow they still keep beating.’
Hmm…so we have a girl, a guy and another girl. We have the bestest of friends. Kinda looks like we could have a triangle on the go, doesn’t it? But is it really? Folks, there’s only one way to find out and that’s reading the book! I’m eternally grateful that I was given the opportunity to get to know Laurie, Jack, Sarah and Oscar. And you might ask yourselves if there’s a third wheel in this little group of four; again, read it…please! All are unforgettable characters who I liked in equal parts, all of them were a joy to get to know and I don’t doubt you’ll like them as much as me.
‘You’re beautiful and kind, and you make me laugh, and when you look at me like that with your summer hedgerow eyes . . . only a ******* saint wouldn’t kiss you.’
Interestingly, I realised there was no epilogue when I reached the end of the book that happens to be without a prologue. Obviously, I’d jumped into it head first taking little notice of this detail. But the ending…ooh boy, it was so intense, I actually wondered right up to the last minute how it would pan out seeing as the author had left virtually no breathing space for either the reader or more important, her characters. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this story. I really can’t. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for me to award an infinite number of stars to a book that certainly deserves them. Therefore, I’ll give it five shiny ones. Bravo Ms Silver!
Love at first sight?! A chance look at a bus stop, leads this couple to search for their happily ever after. A sweet read! If you are in the mood for an romantic read, this book will be it. Stretch out on the beach, or curl up with hot tea and an Afghan, this book will make you believe in a happily ever after, even if it takes a while!
One Day In December by Josie Silver a five-star read filled with missed opportunities so don’t be a fool and buy this book so you don’t miss your opportunity. This is one of those books/films that become a firm favourite and one you will pick up at every opportunity when you need a pick me up, when you need a time out, this book will be the one you will pick up its filled with emotion and drama, anguish and heartbreak, but most of all its just got the most captivating and compelling story. When my non book friends ask me to recommend a book, I struggle as I read so many god books and it’s a personal choice about what story you will enjoy, the level of heat people like and a multitude of other thoughts that run through my head in that moment, but now I know what I will be recommending to everyone, it will be this book. No matter the genre you love, this book will give you something. It gave me chills as well as smiles of joy and sadness, Laurie, Jack and Sarah have a way with their story and the web they have weaved, and Josie Silver has a way of catching you up in that web, ensuring you will stay and read and become the pray rather than run away. Thank you Josie Silver for a great and compelling read.