REVIEW--Just One Day

Happy Monday!

We are straggling a little today due to Daylight Savings Time...I'm sure we'll be back to our energized selves within a few days!

Today's review is on Just One Day by Gayle Forman.  I read this for my monthly book club, but it had been on my radar for awhile.  I really enjoyed If I Stay by Forman (never got around to reading the sequel!) and had heard great things about this one.  So let's jump right in!

• First in the Just One Day series
• Romance/Realistic

The Gist:
Allyson is a good girl--she's a rule follower, a stand-on-the-sidelines and do-what-you're-told kind of girl.  When she goes on a tour of Europe with a Teen Tours! group (her parents' graduation gift to her), she's actually kind of bummed by it.  She's rushed from place to place on buses and just doesn't get to experience real European life.  So it is completely opposite Allyson to take on the name "Lulu," go to Paris for just one day with a guy named Willem (who she just met), and experience Parisian life.  But that's what she does.  And her one day in Paris not only has her falling in love but seeking her true self.

What I Loved:

• I thought this book was going to be predictable.  I had it all mapped out in my head.  And it completely surprised me!  It threw in a twist that I didn't see coming and I loved it.  Unpredictable yet very addicting!
• There is so much involving self-discovery and taking risks and going on a journey, and I think I needed to hear that in my own life right now.  I loved the themes of the book.
• There are some, albeit bizarre, great "family" groups.  Allyson finds identity with her co-workers at the cafe, her Shakespeare partner's family, another tour group, and more.  They all help her in different ways and act as her family when she needs one.
• The ending.  I'll say it--I liked the ending.  My book club disagreed with me, but I'll stand by it!
• I want to go to Paris, eat macarons, and read Shakespeare.  This book had me fully engaged.

What I Didn't Love:

• I really enjoyed Wren's story, but she appeared so late in the book that it almost seemed odd to have her at all.
• I don't believe an ER doctor would remember Willem so clearly a year later.  I don't believe an art squat owner wouldn't be freaked out by people sleeping over in his place.  I don't believe Allyson could run away from skinheads who live for violence.  Just some unbelievable parts for me.
• I found myself rooting that Allyson WOULDN'T get back together with Willem (and even found myself siding with her friend Melanie for part of the book).  So not as romance-y as I would have expected.

My favorite quote:  "'Look, no lenses.'  She pokes through the air right to her eyes to demonstrate.  'it's part of my whole punk-rock librarian look.'"

A great read--I definitely recommend it and can't wait to read the sequel!  Maybe it will make me like Willem more...?

Be back soon with either a Top Ten Tuesday or an outfit post...see you then!