Just One Day by Gayle Foreman

by:  Gayle Foreman
published by:  Dutton Juvenile
publish date:  January 8, 2013

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.

So I was a big fan of If I Stay that made me really interested in reading Just One Day.  However, it sounds suspiciously like a YA Contemporary Romance.   While I read one every now and then, they aren't really my favorite.

I decided to go ahead and give it ago, because I liked Gayle Forman's writing so much before.  I'm glad I did.  It was a good book.  I liked the idea of the story and it was well told.

The characters though weren't my favorites.  I never really cared for Allyson.  All her angst and private drama was driving me crazy.  It wasn't until she became friends with Dee that I started to like her a little bit more.  I didn't particularly like Willem either.  I didn't understand their attraction.  I guess maybe you have to have a relationship like that in the past to be able to relate to it maybe.  Or it could just be me. 

This book is the first part of a 2 part series.  The second book, Just One Year, expected to be out some time later this year, will tell Willem's story.  I'm pretty sure I'll read this book.  I'm curious to know his story and what happened with him and what he was doing.  I think both of these books will be very popular this year.

If I Stay

by Gayle Forman


I read this book in about a day, which is a shame because I got it from interlibrary loan and I had to wait weeks for it. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t read anything about it beforehand. I saw an ad for it in Entertainment Weekly and decided I needed to read it. My first impression was that it was a “Lovely Bones” wannabe. It wasn’t bad though, it’s not a bad thing to aspire to be such a grand book. It’s classified as YA and that seems appropriate, but I think the story could appeal to adults. I appreciated the author’s ability to keep it fast paced and not languishing too much in the details. Would I tell everyone to run out and buy it? Maybe, if you had teenagers in the house that would read it as well. Definitely get it from the library, it’s worth the read. It’ll make you think.