One Day in December by Josie Silver

Pages: 392
Method: Kindle
Rating: 4.5

I saw this book on Instagram during the holidays, as the title would suggest. I was a little hesitant to read it in July because it could’ve been Christmas heavy but it wasn’t, and the structure of the time setting was actually one of my favorite things about the book. The female main character, Laurie, sees the male main character, Jack, for the first time one day in December, but the book ends up spanning over 10 years of them wandering in and out of each other’s lives. It was a very different take on a love story and because it wasn’t cookie cutter, I actually found myself in tension and conflict about what I wanted to happen which was refreshing.

I say I was in conflict because almost every interaction the characters had I had an inner dialogue that was fighting over whether I wanted something to happen or wanted them to just grow up and let it go. I rarely find myself in that predicament in romance novels so it was a fun experience to be forced to examine my thoughts and beliefs and how that would affect my behavior if I was in the same scenario. The first time they kissed was beautifully written because it was sincere and heartwarming and normally I would’ve been all over it if there weren’t complicating factors. But at the same time I was screaming at them not to do anything in my head because of the external circumstances and how it would affect the side characters (and their own mental health). 

Speaking of side characters, I genuinely loved the way that she wrote Laurie’s relationship with her best friend Sarah. I rarely read books where as much detail and attention is given to a friendship in contrast to the relationship with the love interest but this book was different. Of course, that is partly to do with the fact that when her “dream man” finally comes into her life it’s in the form of her best friend’s boyfriend so the whole love triangle dynamic has to be prevalent. But Sarah wasn’t written into the book just to create conflict, their friendship was sincerely represented and explored. There was backstory, chill nights, inside jokes, conflict, and enduring love for each other that I found beautiful and a highlight of the book.

This was where the structure of time played into the story as well because it allowed space for the development of their friendship as well as the relationships in each of their lives. If there hadn’t been a significant passage of time I would’ve hated the fact that Laurie and Jack ended up together because it would’ve been so disrespectful to Sarah (although they weren’t exactly saintly). And for the record, the cheating trope is one thing I will NEVER enjoy, and I will not get going on that or we could be here for a while.

Another area in which I found myself conflicted was in Laurie’s relationship with Oscar. I could do an entire deep dive on the nuances and thoughts I have, but I will just touch on a couple of things. I thought their relationship was realistic but that actually made me sad to think that so many relationships are like that. There was an element of feeling like she had to be slightly off from who she truly was when she was with Oscar and that was off putting for me because I think that the “love of your life” should be the person you are the MOST yourself with and with whom you feel safe enough to be that. There were certain things she said about marriage that I agreed with but then they weren’t followed through on, but then I understood her circumstances and it was often one-sided so it felt justified…you can see my internal dilemma. 

Anyways, I’ll finish up with a couple more points that I loved. I thought the representation of shock and trauma was very well done because there were multiple perspectives and reactions and that is reality. Everyone handles shock and trauma differently and if we don’t talk about it or see it represented in books, it is even harder to manage and deal with it when it happens to us in our own lives. I also loved the little details around the gifts that the characters gave to each other. As someone with gift giving as one of my top love languages, you rarely see that being well thought out. But in this book it was the little things that had sentimental value that had the most impact and meant the most to the characters. Receiving a good gift from someone is one of the best ways to feel loved because it shows that they see you and they know you well enough that they don’t have to throw money at it, they can pull from their experience and knowledge of you.

And lastly, I know the book was good because while I was reading I laughed, I was upset, I cried and then when I was going through my highlights and rereading some of the quotes, I started tearing up again. If the quotes can bring me to tears, out of context, you know they are even better in context and some of my favorites books are the ones that pull out the widest range of emotions in me.

Favorite quotes:
“You tread lightly through life but you leave deep footprints that are hard for other people to fill.”
The man who has broken the beats of my heart.