#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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Very enjoyable chick lit/fiction/romance novel about a young woman who, over a span of a decade, endures love, loss and missed opportunities. The story went on a little longer then what was necessary but thankfully with dynamic characters and well written dialogue the pages flew by.
This was one book I couldn’t put down! What a great first novel for this talented author! Would love a sequel!!!!
I loved this little book so much. Sweet, heartbreaking, real….a great read.
As an author myself, I look for three things in a book in order to earn five stars. Well-written prose, great character arcs and a story that surprises me. I will still honour the author with a solid 3.5 or 4 stars if they’ve written their tale well even if the storyline or genre doesn’t appeal to me personally – but I needn’t have worried with this fabulous debut as Josie has knocked it out of the park. So much so that I wondered if this tale was inspired by true life events – it’s that realistic. What would you do if your best friend fell in love with the love of your life?
I thought I’d figured out how the tale would unravel by the end of the first chapter, so it was refreshing that she managed to twist and turn the story over a 10year period before unleashing the happy ever after – which although inevitable (and by then you were secretly rooting for) I had no clue how she would tie all the loose ends together until all came good.
As many others have said – Richard Curtis needs to option this film. It’s got all the hallmarks of a feel-good romcom that we’ll all be watching every Christmas for years to come.
Some people don’t like novels that jump time-frames and alternate from different POVs, but that’s the exact style I write in, so I loved it and gobbled it up in two days.
Highly recommended – 5stars
What a charming story! I loved these characters, the setting, and the progression. If you’re looking for a well told, witty, romantic story that’s as much about romantic love as it is friendship, this is for you.
I listened to the audio version of this book. It was so fantastic (story and performance) that I really felt like I was watching a play. This is by far the best audio book I’ve listened to in a while.
The story is done in first person by two different characters. It starts out with the age old premise of falling in love at first sight. That’s what happens to Laurie and Jack. However, their first sight of each other is with one on a bus and the other on the bench at the bus stop. They do eventually find each other, but life seems determined to keep them from actually being together. The story takes place over the next decade. They share a friendship, but the time and events just don’t allow for more. Will their hearts ever be brought together?
This was an incredible story told in an incredible way. I got this from the library, but it was so good I’m thinking about buying it!
This book kept a smile on my face the whole time! It reminded me of my favorite rom-com movies and definitely has a Love, Actually kind of feel. I highly recommend!
This was an excellent read! It was the perfect December book club pick! I got lost in their fairytale and loved every single page.
Talk about a book filled with missed opportunities and passing chances! Laurie, Sarah, and Jack. Three’s a crowd when there’s feelings involved. Laurie and Jack didn’t know one another when they first caught sight of the other from a distance and their chance was gone. Or was it?
Laurie and Sarah were roommates and besties. When Sarah brings Jack home to meet Laurie, none of them knew Jack was the one Laurie had been searching for. What followed was ten years…YEARS…of Laurie and Jack playing ships passing in the night. I couldn’t help but feel for all of them! It was quite the twist to take the reader on a ten year journey of friendship, romance, grief, marriage, divorce, and new beginnings. Laurie and Jack had the most growing up to do and I think they needed the ten years to figure themselves out. Sarah was the one most grounded from the start. She had a plan and determination to chase after her dreams.
This book turned out to be quite a surprise because I wasn’t expecting it to go the way it did! I think I was expecting some kind of angsty, drama filled love triangle. Instead, I found a thoughtful, well written story of opportunities, friendship, and fate. This book reminded me a bit of the movie Love Actually. The variety of relationships portrayed all bled into one another for one reason or other, with each person leaving their mark in different ways and the same went for this story. Good read.
Oh the feels you will get reading this book! It will have you laughing, crying, and falling in love with the characters! Josie Silver’s debut novel is a sure winner!
Timing is everything in this realistic contemporary romance. Loved the characters, the setting, and the happily-ever-after. I could see this as a movie!
Loved this book!
It was a fun read–great for the evenings around a crackling fire. Can so see this becoming a movie.
I usually don’t follow celebrity book lists, but this book caught my eye. I enjoyed how the story flowed and couldn’t put this book down. I read it in under 24 hours and that says a lot because it is hard for me to sit still for more than an hour. I had to know what happened next.
I definitely recommend this book!
I received and Advanced Reader Copy. I am voluntarily leaving a review. This book is about a woman, who spies a man at a bus stop and they have a moment. She spends the next year trying to find the man, but to no avail…until the day her best friend and roommate introduces her to her new boyfriend, Jack. Yes, it is the man from the bus stop. The book covers the question, what do you do when your friend is dating the man you thought you were destined for. Ten years of friendships, misunderstandings, relationships and breakups and what ifs. You will be laughing, crying and yelling at this book. An enjoyable read.
One day in December I picked up this aptly named book and much like it was for the characters nestled inside these pages, everything changed for me in the first few moments.
When you lose track of chapters, pages, and words and simply feel every single letter melt into the next… it may not make any sense… until you begin reading this story yourself. The way Ms. Silver evokes emotion goes well beyond silver and gold, catapulting to something nearer to platinum.
There is heartbreak, longing, anger, jealousy, and unconditional love wrapped around each of the finely crafted characters in this novel. But that’s not different from many other books. It’s how Josie portrays these sentiments in such a genuine and deep way that sets this book apart from others.
Laurie, Jack, Sarah, Oscar… even the more minor characters are so well fleshed out that I can see them walking down the street. I can hear their voices. I can sense the mannerisms that make them who they are. When you become so immersed in a world, forgetting that it’s fictional, the author has done their job and the reader has found a small slice of heaven to inhabit.
I will be the first person in line to purchase Ms. Silver’s next book (and every one thereafter). Her evocative prose is an inspiration for my own writing, and it’s easy to give my highest recommendation to anyone searching for a modern love story with timeless qualities, told in a way that will leave you smiling, crying, and feeling every single letter.
Adding this to one of my favorite books ever. I laughed. I cried. I swooned. I’ve just finished reading it and I want to read it again. Such a sweeping, gorgeous story about love and friendship. I highly recommend it!!
This book was an exceptional read.
It was the kind of story that had me engaging with the characters and wanting them to find the happiness that they all desired, and for them to have all their hopes and dreams come true. It was a story filled with so much heartache and anguish that it made my heart feel at times like it was gripped in a vice but it also had so much love, laughter and romance that it made me all feel better in the end. An original story with plenty of twists to keep you reading until the very end and a story that will stay with you forever.
Still thinking about these characters. Didn’tike Jack for awhile, but HD matured and redeemed himself.
Interesting book structure—it worked.
This was a wonderful book and an easy read but I had a hard time getting through it. It was very slow moving and created a huge build up with a fast ending. i would have liked to have seen the relationship between two characters blossom a little more. If you are looking for an easy, light read, I would recommend this book.